For you, a thousand times over.. =)

I've finished reading "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, a New York Times bestseller. And the book is the best i've read in this sem break.

I managed to read 4 novels but the one that got me stuck to it was this one.

I bought the book because it was a bestseller and i remembered reading a good review about it somewhere.Even after i've bought it, i left it aside until i've read the other novels. But once i've started reading, i was really stuck to it.

It's a riveting story, narrated by an Afghanistan boy, from his childhood until he grew up.

The story was set in Afghanistan, from its pre-Russian-invasion until the reigns of the Talibans. And as the story unfolds, the setting changed from Afghanistan to the US.

Initially, i thought this novel would be politics based but i was wrong.

It is a book rich with Afghan culture and tradition, the differences between the different ethnic groups and life in Afghanistan over the years.

A heartbreaking tale of friendship and betrayal, of a son yearning for his father's affection. I would say that this book is a must read.

It gave me an insight of Afghanistan and surprisingly, suddenly i was interested in Afghanistan, from the history to the culture to the geography, which led me to the destruction of Bamiyan, a heritage site that has been forever destroyed. Haha. Guess what? All i've been surfing about for the past few days have been all about Afghanistan and i am surprised to actually find that it used to be a beautiful place before the war broke out.

Anyway, a quote from the book that i like " For you, a thousand times over.. " =)

p/s: For the other novels that i've read, I liked "Sundays at Tiffany's" by James Patterson but the ending was a bit off for me.. i didn't like the way they end it. "The Cupid Effect" by Dorothy Koomson was =.=.. I didn't quite grasp the message that the author wanted to send across. "My Best Friend's Girl" also by Dorothy Koomson was quite a good book too. =)

-1 Ling-

I need to chill.

Sometimes..
When i'm feeling so not myself..
Or maybe toooooo myself...
I just wanna be alone...
Shut the world away from me..
And just be alone for the moment..
I think i need that now.

emo-ish? sounds like..
anything major happened? no..
moodswing? maybe..
screw me.. i just need to chill and RANT..
Off to read my novel..

-1 Ling-

Updates.

Updates. To prevent my blog from dying off like all my previous ones.
Just a peek to let you know what have i been up to after camp. =)
Well.. count me lucky to be down with food poisoning two days after i got back from camp.
Didn't know how i got it. But then i started feeling bloated and having stomachache after having pasta for dinner. Initially, i thought i was only having indigestion but apparently, that was not the case. =( I was supposed to attend a malay wedding dinner and go for a drive with mum and dad at Kuala Sepetang on Sunday. But thanks to my illness, i stayed home. FOR TWO WHOLE DAYS. Sleeping and throwing up. =.= great way to spend a weekend and to slim down. Whatever went into my mouth came out through my mouth again after half an hour. So all i had was Gatorade and no solid food at all. =(

The moment i can get solid food down my throat and i was feeling a biiiittttt better, i was out of the house. =D hehe. Yumcha with the girls and then off to school to visit camp. Actually, it's more like being a big kepo at camp. =p owh well.. i miss scouting, i miss being part of camp, i miss being a part of a big family where we work together to achieve the same thing. It's rare for me to have that kind of bond i used to have now. Anyway, the juniors were having some cooking competition when i arrived. Backwood's cooking. Which means, no cooking utensils are allowed. Only bamboo, leaves and whatever stuff you can get naturally can be used. No ajinomoto, no flavorings, no artificial stuff whatsoever. During my scouting days, this is one of the activities that i actually like. =) it's really quite a challenge especially to get everything u're cooking COOKED. Pictures below are pics of my juniors and their hasil kerja. =)

The chicken isn't cooked yet. That bamboo sitting over the fire should contain rice. Those longish stuff- some kind of bread like thing that we call "twist".

Aha! This one is partially cooked. Those 3 things- fishes wrapped in banana leaves. Those white clumps near the bricks- potato wrapped with dough.

Dad, mum and i had the famous kuey teow goreng basah for supper. Lots of food programmes have been intoducing it and saying its a must try. And yet me, staying only like less than 10km away had never try it. Anyway, the kuey teow was ok to me. nothing very special except that it has gravy. Dad didn't like it though, claims that it's too salty.

Had a post camp dinner with the camp committees and the other facilitators at tambun. and.. seafood is just... GOOOOOODDDD... Lol.. =D

Guess that's about it. I have other stuffs to be updated but i don't have the pictures with me. so.. next time. =)

-1 Ling-

09 Leadership Camp. =)

I'm back from camp. =) and i have to say that this camp is indeed one of the memorable ones that i will remember for a long time. It wasn't the activities that were interesting. It wasn't the seminars that caught my attention. It wasn't because i got to meet up with lots of people whom i've not seen since i left high school. It was the bond that was formed in 3 days between 2 facilitators and a bunch of form 4 kids that made me feel spending the last 4 days in school, feeling extremely tired worth while. =)

It all started with yih yin who was part of the committee for this Leadership Camp asking me and yin yin whether we are interested in helping out in this camp as facilitators. I agreed half hearted-ly promising her that if yin yin attends, i would too. So.. come monday and the three of us reported to camp and we started off with cleaning the classrooms. That wasn't too bad. But i guess what we didn't expect was the chairperson of the camp being so strict, imposing punishment and all. Afterall, we haven't been treated like this ever since we left scouts.. haha. It really did remind me of our good old scouting days.. =)

By evening of monday, yin yin and I have started questioning ourselves.. "what the hell have we gotten ourselves into??" "bo su chui su... =.=" haha.. The both of us found ourselves being put in charged of facilitating the same group. That night, we were actually both worried that what if our group members turn out to be a bunch of very passive people.

Come day 2, the day where the "kids" were supposed to report to camp, during ice breaking, when they were all still shy and a bit unresponsive, we really did worry. But after spending some time with them and after they had their first activity, these bunch of kids, begin to warm up to each other and to us. In fact, when we were carrying out the first activity, i can feel the bond forming slowly. They already can make me laugh. That night, during dinner time, we were already talking and laughing together. And when they were given the task to prepare an item for the campfire the following night, all of them were full of ideas and so eager to make it a success. yin yin and i were real glad to see that but we were tired to the core. I honestly didn't know that being a facilitator, so much energy is needed. And to top it off, I had only two hours of sleep that night. Waking up at 6am the next morning, all yin yin and I wanted was to go home to our comfy bed.. LOL.. Our scouting days were 10 times tougher than this, but we didn't even complain those days. But then again, it has been 3 years since the last time i seriously camp.. dah tua.. LOL..

Day 3, the kids were more energetic now and they have begin to work as a team. And they were nice to us, offering to clean our dishes for us after every meal. By then, the 16 of them and the 2 of us were already like a family. That night, during the campfire, their item was quite a success and the two of us were so proud of them we were grinning from ear to ear. That night before we went to bed, i told yin yin, i'm going to miss them when the camp ends tomorrow and yin yin nodded silently in agreement, not wanting to meet my eye.

Come the last day, the bond between us was strong. When we sang together for the last time, i can't helped but noticed everyone of us didn't want the camp to end. I, myself was on the brink of tears. haha. And the kids keep telling us that they will miss us. haha. =)

I don't have a lot of pictures of the camp. In fact, i only have like 3 or 4. But i have lotsa awesome memories. =) To the kids, though they claim that we are not that old to call them "kids", XD thank you for giving me such wonderful memories. =)

My nametag.. with quite a few errors.. the major one being my chinese surname.. =.=

Me, Yin Yin and the group leader-Kean Li. =)

The "KIDS" XD

-1 Ling-

Random Babbling.

I guess dad was in the mood to drive today... he drove us almost around half of penang island...with me almost dying from the heat in the car... =.= owh well.. we drove across the bridge and took the Gelugor way to Gertak Sanggul... and then to Teluk Kumbar passing a lot of i-don't-know-where small malay towns on the way and finally ending up in Balik Pulau.. If you have ever took the road before, you'd know that it's uphill and windy... i'm not complaining... but then why take such a long drive on a hot day like this huh? =.=

So upon reaching Balik Pulau, we decided to hunt for the famous Laksa stall.. which we spotted easily... since there were so many cars and so many people crowding around... most of them from out station. i think. The laksa wasn't exactly the perfect laksa... LoL.. but then it's pretty good.. just that its not sour enough... with a bit of lime.. it'd be perfect.. =D and i had nutmeg juice... you know what? i didn't know Penang was famous for nutmeg until i was 18... malu.. =p nutmeg juice with a tinge of "sui buey" with ice on a hot sunny day... PERFECT!! too bad.. mine was hot... =.=

After Laksa, we headed to the old bookstore at Chowrasta Road... hehehe... =D

and i spent on novels again... =p this time... rm110 for 5 novels... which includes "Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult, "The Cupid Effect" by Dorothy Koomson (i'm beginning to like books written by her.. =D), "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini and owwwwwhhhhhhhh... the book i wanted to get... "Sundays at Tiffany's" by James Patterson.. =D =D but then.. i didn't manage to grab any of Sparks or Ahern.. =( anyway... my reading progress this time round is slow.. haha... i've only read one so far by Koomson... but i guess that's good cause it means i'm caught up with something else... XD and i bought 4 Princess Diaries for rm15 yesterday... =.= i know i'm too old for that.. LOL.. that's actually a diary of a 14-year-old princess... =.= but owh who cares... its so cheap... =p and i don't mind reading some easily digested stuff now... XD

Next up was shopping... which i spent again on blouses... XD then it was dinner with my aunt, uncle and lil cousins... It was a restaurant overlooking Gurney Drive and the hawker place... food was expensive.. portion was small... but ambience was good... haha..

After coming back from the island, i went for round 2 yum cha with my cousin and his friends... who will be my housemate-to-be if everything goes well... =)

On other note, i've got my sem 4 results... and... Wan Ling passed... ;D though not brilliantly.. but i'm contented for everything except ONE.. you know... there're some things which you have high expectations for it... I know I could've done better... bah!! whatever... it's over... i'm just disappointed with myself =.=

so far... holidays have been great.. =D watched terminator.. though i don't like it... =p uhmm... met up with the girls for a looooong chat and chiam chiam... finished watching tvb drama "Sweetness in the Salt" or something like that... LOL.. guess what? that's like one of the RARE tvb dramas that i don't hit the fast forward button while watching.. so its a pretty good one to me... XD and... i'm currently reading "My Favourite Wife" by Tony Parsons.

owhkay... enough of babbling on and on... i'm signing off.. Will be away for a few days... Will update when i'm back... so till then.. see ya.. =) if i bore you with my babbling... too bad la har... =p

p/s: suppose to upload a few pictures to go with this post... but i'm too lazy to do that now... so... hehehehe...

-1 Ling-

Langkawi. Belated. =)

I dunno what's with me.. but right now.. i'm just not feeling like myself...

maybe its the after effect of browsing through some photos.. or maybe anxiety..

i duno which... hmm.. whatever...

So.. i'm trying to blog about the langkawi trip.. to shut the thoughts away...

Langkawi.. Full of myths and stories...

and now.. our memories... =)

the trip wasn't a reaaalllyyyy smooth one...

in fact.. there were a few quite unfortunate stuff that happened...

but then.. i had fun.. =)

hope those that went did too..

Some pictures here to share with you...

Others are already up on facebook.. =)

Check them out.

Dataran Lang.

A very nice quay next to the petrol station. =)

We went there to look at a bowl of burnt rice.. and started taking pictures.. XD


The car rental people told me that this is the second best car among all the 6 cars.. kp rebut the best one awal-awal already.. so.. i thought i was damn smart for getting it before the other drivers who weren't there... =p but turns out.. it wasn't that good afterall huh? the stupid car key broke into half when we attempted to unlock the car... =.= but then.. not too bad la har... we were given a waja as a temporary until the key was fixed.. =) anyway.. thank you wei ping and andrew for being the drivers... =D

The perfect picture of us and our rides.. =)

Langkawi 18052009-20052009. 29 people. 6 cars. 1 destination.

LOTSA FUN!! =D

Signing off.. Kepping fingers crossed.. =)

-1 Ling-

Lil Things that Carved a Smile . =)

After i came back from Langkawi, I paid my two close friends a visit cause i wont be seeing them in Penang this sem break. They brought me around PJ, feeding me with GOOD FOOD. XD So... Thank you CS and LX for being good hosts and for everything else. The picture above was taken when Lx fetched me to the Lrt station before he went to uni. =)

I came back to Penang and was given THIS for my 21st birthday.. =)

From my parents, with love. <3

And today.. I went hiking with my parents... taking a trail that i don't normally take.. tougher than the tokun trail.. but... i guess i need the exercise... XD and it has been a long time since the last time i actually hiked with mum and dad... =)

On another note, i have been wanting to blog about my trip to Langkawi.. But i'm not done with editting the pictures yet... =( will post them up when they're done.. =) So.. till then.. happy holidays people.. =D

-1 Ling-