'Have it your way'

Despite the title of this post, no, I haven't had Burger King in months. SACE Results will be out in one week's time. If anything, it means I've got to milk this week's worth of reading, video gaming and uh, 'movie'ing.

I have given up trying to play Resident Evil 5 by myself. I've admitted defeat and surrendered the console to my little brother and cousin. I just watch them play in co-op mode. Them zombies are just, yeugh. Pity.

Am currently reading The Magicians by Lev Grossman. Since I'm a vicious Potter fan, I quite hate the book. The protagonist, Quentin Coldwater, is a Holden Caufield wannabe. Eh, I just hate him. He's exceptionally prodigious, pathetically depressed and ultimately boring. I don't know, he just doesn't come across as an enigmatic and witty tortured soul that I belief the author's trying to get him to be.

Basically, book's about Quentin being mopey. Dude stumbles on a magic college where he studies 'Magic'. Stuff happens, he does a card trick, pulls a sword out of a table, and vwalla passes the entrance exam, becomes a magic undergrad boy, makes friends. Then he's turned into a goose- know what? It's actually about him being mopey all the time. And the 'Magic', gah. Dullest most unromantic and unattractive take on 'Magic' I've ever read. Imaginative, yes but viciously repellant. I'm not even going to explain.

Also, the Potter jokes annoy me. Unworthy of having Rowling's masterpiece adorned in its back cover, unworthy of being related with the Potter series in any way whatsoever. It's a wonder I'm still reading it. But esh, I paid for this book and I will finish it. Within this past 3 weeks I've read 7 books yet my reading list seems to have grown instead.

Holiday's been great so far. Watched Rapunzel (I like it~) in Pavilion and ate at the Tarbush Restaurant in JW Mariott across Pavi last night. Cousin's birthday. Had a nice time. Finally got to eat real food. My new maid's horrid cooking only grazes the category of being 'edible'. I mean really, she's as bad as me! And I only know how to 'cook' rice in theory (Yea yea, I deserve to be stoned to death).

On another note, the streets of KL in the night time is quite fascinating. The lights, the assorted people, and I just love the musky scent of rain. The smoke, the loitering teenagers and the bottles of booze in plain sight on the other hand...mortifying.

To think that this indulgent, carefree and jovial mood of mine will be replaced with manic anxiety as I expectantly wait for my results next week is a bit of a downer. But whatever, I'll worry about that later. Now, we sing, we dance and steal things (Nah).

P.S: Happy 23rd Birthday Abang :) Made up with our little clone trooper by threatening to return them borrowed PS3 games. Cruel yes, but effective. Called you back on Skype didn't he? Heh.

My apologies

Candle-lit faces, Candle-lit gazes

Last night was AUSMAT 21's grand dinner. I went and that is to be considered an achievement (yeah, boo-hoo I'm a loser). I mean, I paid RM80 and all. I believe, it's the first time I ever went to any social gathering (of such scale) quite so willingly. I really wanted to see everybody all dressed up and happy and stuff.

It was nice. I don't know. I wimped out when everybody started singing at the end of the dinner. I left. It was dark so people didn't really notice.

It was dark because the committee planned a surprise gift thingy for the lecturers. They gave twenty of us one of those small perfumed candles and had another twenty carrying roses and a small gift follow us in the dark to where the lecturers sat. The candle bearers stood in a circle around the lecturers' table, the gift bearers handed their gifts, then the lecturers blew each of the candles out. Pagan much? Hahah. Naww, it was nice. Some of the lecturers actually cried and that probably worthed much more than RM80 I'd say.

It was after the candle-gift event that the singing started. It was still dark while I made my getaway. Pretty darn rude of me to sneak off like that and not tell my classmates. They looked nice in the diffused light and I want to remember them like that. I only bid farewell to Alia (fellow victim of Otago's mass interview slaughter session. Egh, I'm just sore. Ignore me). She insisted that I at least say goodbye to the others but I just gave her hand another squeeze, an apologetic smile and left.

I bet she cried when the singing ended. She's such a nice person and she always cries when things gets a bit, uh, 'feely' and I don't want to see her cry. Saw her cry plenty of times already. After the interview, after the interview results came out, at the class party... so none of that for me.

Blame my conspicuous avoidant nature but really I just don't want to say goodbye and that's that. Hopefully, I won't ever have to say goodbye to any of them at any point in the near or not-so-near future. Let everything stay as if we'll all just meet up in class tomorrow (though thank god NOT! Haha).

Thus the end of the College phase. What's next remains to be seen.

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P.S:

I've finished reading 3 of my Big Bad Wolf purchases. One was crappy (Exurbia by Molly McGrann), the other two were absolutely brilliant (The Reminder by Rune Michaels & Beat The Reaper by Josh Bazell). Also, Beat The Reaper has this 'medical/mobster' game at its website. If you have nothing to do, then do click.

Exurbia was an unplanned purchase anyway. *sigh* Never judge 'Young Adult' books by their covers. Never. Not that Exurbia's cover is particularly attractive anyway though.

6 for 24

On a lighter note, today INTEC Library had an open day. They had a secondhand book sale and I nabbed some precious titles I've been wanting. I've always dreamed of secondhand sales that'd have titles such as these. 6 books for RM24.00 is an excellent bargain. INTEC Library ought to have these sales more often.

A Wrinkle In Time

Hey there. Hi. I feel like writing something.

First week of holiday's been swell so far. Not 'far out' but 'okay' for a holiday, which is perfectly 'swell' in non-holiday terms. Uh, yeah, you get what I mean.

Got myself a bunch more books to read and got my spectacles back yesterday. Believe me, it does NOT pay to be half blind. Seriously. Went to Kinokuniya yesterday...(or was it the day before that? Whatev) and had a singularly terrible time. I NEVER feel terrible in bookstores, they're like a temple to me, but I sure as heck felt bad yesterday (?). I mean, there's all these books and I could touch em' and all but I can't read em'. Not unless I'm like an inch away from their spines.

Egh. Anyway got myself Palahniuk's Survivor, The Dice Man and Tales of the MADMAN Underground. I've only a few shillings left in my wallet haha.

And since it's the holidays, I pretty much lost my bearings on time. I don't know what day or date it is. I've been living this week a day late actually, til a friend of mine pointed out that my Wednesday was actually a Thursday. I dunno, it's hard to keep track of days and dates when you're reading. I mean, in this particular book it'd be 1973 and then it's 1999 in another one and then it'd be 2006 or 1984 or something. Frankly, it's nice not having to care what day and date it is. Very relaxing.

In this past few days I've been living the life of the protagonist of whatever I might be reading at the moment. Last week I was a midget terrorist, then I was a couple of siblings with too much brains for my own good with a great deal of depression to deal with, then I was a white collar psycho with dissociative personality disorder and now I'm a head case teenager living in the 70s trying to be normal but not quite nailing it, yet.

Ha. Dang. It looks like I've been reading some pretty off the rails stuff eh? But it's not like that really. No. They're all really good books. I read a lot of Fantasy, Magic-Me and Classics-with-flowery-prose stuff last time. So, am taking a departure from that for a bit. Variety is good.

Oh yeah, went to a chocolate fair today. Well, it wasn't really a fair. Just Beryl's factory giving out free chocolate samples :) Free chocolates are good.

P.S: I'm done with Hugh Grant, since he's not making anymore films off late. So, say hello to Edward Norton. He's precious *smiles*