I wasn't even nominated...

I was anticipating the award of 'Best Procrastinating Blogger of the Year'. Unfortunately, I found that this is an unexpectedly competitive award as procrastinating is the norm for many bloggers that practice hibernation. Anyway, here goes the summary of the various things that I've wanted to (but didn't) blog. =p

A) Semester break

Aw, my recent semester break gotta be the longest break i've ever had. It was supposed to be a usual three weeks, but i had five. Thanks to my examination which ended a week earlier and the 'skip-able' first week of Semester 4 with my 'P' licence ('P' for 'ponteng').

Five weeks at home? For some, it might be darn boring, but not for me, especially the weekends. All of my weekends, except one, were spent in outstations. Being a patriot, I cuti-cuti locally. We have set foot on Penang, Ipoh and Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, KL and KL, again. Guess what, I was the one who drove for most of the journeys. The most enjoyable one was the route that leads all the way up to Cameron Highlands. :)

A great place to film 'Cameron' Drift.

As correctly pointed out by my friend who blogs at hiddenmcky, there isn't much 'oomph!' in Cameron Highlands. Nevertheless, it's always fun for me to revisit a place where I've been absent for years.

The Smoke House at Tanah Rata, Cameron Highlands.

Cameron Highlands is more than just tea leaves, it also supplies fresh vegetables and fruits for the country. I especially like their unique pearl corns and strawberries. Unlike the strawberry farm which I visited in Paignton, the growers in Cameron Highlands use the hydroponics-way of planting, rather than growing them on earth. Besides that, it also grows flowers for overseas market, which made Malaysia one of the largest exporters of flowers. Hm, I guess these are all the 'oomph' of the highlands. Anymore? I guess no. Sigh, how pathetic. =p
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B) Being a Cantonese Semi-illiterate
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I've been watching Cantonese soap dramas since I was a small kid. So I expect myself to converse reasonably well in the dialect. Besides, mixing around with my KL friends has also improved my Cantonese vocabulary in some ways. I know 'Petpet' isn't merely a disposable diapers' brand. I also know that what's the meaning of 'tiu', though I've problem understanding what 'nia seng' means. Despite that, I still found my proficiency below the 'pre-beginner' level. Sigh, here are some of my embarrassing moments of being a Cantonese Semi-illiterate:

i) A few months ago, I thought of ordering a glass of soya bean milk in a food court near my college. Since he asked for order in Cantonese, so I answered "tao sui". He (apparently a foreign immigrant) said "mou!". Then my roomate corrected me that I should call it as "tau ziong". I thought "ziong" means "glue"... Anyway I was wrong. Cantonese is as complex as Mandarin.

ii) Recently, we were having dimsum as dinner in Ipoh, and I asked the waiter for a "zi kan (tissue)", and he gave me a spoon. I thought he was stupid, but he wasn't. I then realised that tissue and spoon have almost the same pronunciation. Maybe I as a Cantonese-stupid pronounced it misleadingly. tsk tsk tsk.

Dimsum at Leong Sin Nam Street.

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C) May 23rd, the day I became a senior.
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Time flies and it has been a year since I started my college on the same date, last year. College life has been fulfilling and fun. The things that I've learnt over here are possibly something that I wouldn't have learnt if I studied elsewhere - simply priceless and made me happy with the path that I've chosen.

On the May 23rd this year, I, together with other Course Committees hosted part of the Mass Call orientation programme for our juniors. The enrollment for my course, Finance & Investment, has increased from last year's 92 students to 120 students, but the number of juniors in the lecture hall during the 'Get-To-Know-You Session' that we hosted was far more than that as the students from the course of Banking & Finance were joining us too. The best part? We were the speakers!


The whole session went on pretty smoothly, except for the campus tour, which we were required by the organizer to bring hundreds of them for a tour around the darn huge 186-acre campus! Anyway, it's really sweet knowing that many of them will be reading the map and asking for directions to the lecture halls, tutorial rooms and so on in this transition period of theirs. =p

Lecturer gotta face this if his students couldn't locate the lecture hall.

He lectures alone. He listens alone.
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