2012

12 things I did in 2012 

:D :D :D :D :D :D

If you've been reading my blog for quite some time now.
Around this time of they year, I would write a post to generally, sum up my year. :P

10 thing in 2010, 11 things in 2011 and now 12 in 2012. Well you get the idea. XD
Got inspired by Kenny Sia's "26 things I did when I was 26".
But I wanna be more focused, hence.. :)

2010 : http://xxvirgogurlxx.blogspot.com/2010/12/1o-things-i-did-in-2010-1.html
2011 : http://xxvirgogurlxx.blogspot.com/2011/12/11-things-i-did-in-2011.html

Unlike my random blog posts, these posts records things that are really really close to my heart.

The reasons behind these annual "reports" is not just to keep track of my life, for future reminiscence and to review back on my year for personal reflections, but mainly to motivate myself to do more and better things each year.
Life's indeed unpredictable.

*********************************************************************************

1. Survived the Mayan Apocalypse 

Okay la, I couldn't really say survive since it didn't happen. =___=
But to be fair, it wassss predicted! :D
And it's actually one of the the most widely publicised apocalypse in the human history.

I never really believed in it tbh. It seemed like a hoax right from the start.

But whether the world would end or not, it doesn't really bug me.

If it were to end, everyone dies. together.

It's not like one individual dies and everyone who knows him/her suffer over the death.

Life would eventually end anyways

But! It does sort of got me thinking. If it WERE to end, what would I do to have no regrets.

Ultimately, I just wanna be happy.

'Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence'

So this year, 2012 is indeed a happy one. I don't remember getting reallllly depressed.

Family. If you were to ask me what's the most important thing in my life. I would answer you without hesitation. After going through several ups and downs, it suddenly downed on me. No one would be by your side at your worst time and help you unconditionally, other then your family.

Mom and I may have occasional disagreements, but i know she loves me, and i love her.

Sis and I too get into small fights sometimes, we may find each other annoying, unhelpful and unbearable. But something bad were to happen to either of us, we'll be there for each other no doubt. 

Since it's alse 冬至 on the 21st, I'll spam you with some 汤圆 mom & I made. :)

Spor the polka dot tang yuens. :D I made those! Aren't they cute. ^____^

So to sum it up, I'll try hard to show and return the unconditional love I have for them. Put them the first on my priority list and control my temper. To let little arguments pass, become more selfless and put for efforts and time into the family. 

2. Graduated College

Seems a bit slow for my age. Considering most of my high school friends graduated way earlier and i have classmates 2 years younger than me. =____=

But it's a decision I don't regret. College is a pleasant experience, much muchhhh better than high school.
Although evidently I've had to study much harder. A Levels is such a pain.

But i enjoyed being in a surrounding that no one knew me previously, I know no one in my class when i first started. (since everyone's in Taylors) And only occasionally bumping into Joo, Jia yee and Chong sheng in coll.

camwhored in the library XD

This has allowed me to change myself a lot since no one knew how i was before.
I sort of became more hardworking and more sociable.
I've never paid attention in class back then. "You were never awake in class", quote Chong Sheng. Having earned the Class Sleeper title in S4, and was called to the counselling room TWICE for sleeping in class (Malay teacher submitted my name. Man, she must have really disliked me since I was the only one sent in the whole freaking class. Obviously no one paid attention in her class, although i admit.. i went to the extreme).
That being said, I paid absolute attention in college classes, because SOME classes are indeed, worth staying awake for.

Physics is my favourite class, Mr Lee made everything so interesting. Ridded from all those useless subjects in high school, e.g. Malay, Chinese, English, Moral, Civic, History, Geography, Art, Biology.. It's easy to see how college is far more enjoyable.

Being able to study HARD for subjects I like (not so much for Chem, but at least i don't hate it) is indeed a bliss. ( So so hard =____= )

my last AL exam docket

Btw, I'm not technically done with college. Since I still have my last finals to deal with in Jan. Results in March. But since there's no more classes, I'll say I've graduated. XD


3. Wrote a Personal Statement

November was filled with 1) Uni applications 2)Uni applications and 3) Moreeee uni applications. =___=

I applaud UCAS for the quick and easy online application. But HKUST and HKU technically drove me crazy. zzzz.
BE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR USAGE OF TERMS, FOR.. MY SAKE!!
It was confusion all the way and i had to consult the a lvls admin several times.
and I'm not even done with Singapore applications. :O

Top of my priority list

Wrote personal statements for all the uni applications. Except that UCAS has the 4000 characters limitation and I wasted a lot of time to slashing out words just to fit!
Browse through many personal statement essays, How-to videos to get ideas. Basically you just brag all the way.
I cant post my personal statement yet, in case of plagiarism. :P
But haha I probably won't even if i can. Cause after reading it, you might probably think I'm a narcissist. XD

Glad that I'm done with it. Satisfied with the final version.
Now it's all fingers crossed.
Waiting for Universities to offer me a place. wish me luck!


4. Became The President!

Of United States! :D
Nah.. of HELP Science Club. :)

Promotional posters i desigend. ;D

Well the funny thing is.. I'm also the founder. (I find it funny :O )
I wouldn't lie. But the MAIN reason I formed a club is to decorate my CV.

I've only been Chinese Orchestra, PMO throughout high school.
And being a normal member in numerous clubs doesn't seem to help my ECA.
So.. I started a club with a few coll mates.
They thought i was just joking at first. But i wasn't. :P

First thing to do to start up a club is.. 'How to start up a club.' XD
Had to go to DSA and consult the heads to get paper works and to read up rules and regulations!
And i assure you it's no easy task. But that's just the start.

Why Science Club?
It's initially named 'Experimental Science Club', but due to the similarity to Environmental Science, i was made to cancel out the Experimental.

All we do during meetings are..
Experiments. Experiments. and Experiments!
I myself, has always wanted to do the fun experiments I've watched on Youtube.
But due to the lack in apparatus and materials at home i've never really tried many of them.
Experiments set my A lvls are mostly quite boring.
And if i personally applied to use coll lab to do personal experiments, I'll have to go through all those tedious paper works... just for myself. Isn't that kinda selfish? XD

Sharing is Caring. I've decided to let more ppl benefit through all these Experiments. :D

Here are some of the experiments we did: -

Slime. Making polymers. :)

Eirene doing her thang. XD

Blue Bottle Experiment.

It's like a magic trick where it's colourless when u leave it still and turns blue immediately when you shake it. :)

 Cornstarch in water. hahahaha.
It's pretty cool for such a common thing.
You can try this at home it's super cool.

It's a non-Newtonian fluid.
So when u apply impulsive force, it's solid.
when you leave it still, it's a liquid. :D

Have you seen those magic trick when the magician burn a bank note.

And when the flames were extinguished, the bank note was left unscathed?

We did it. (Although we accidently burned a small part of the RM1 note. heh)

Science explains to you why. :D

Colour changing milk.

The colours swirl and swirl when u put soap in it.

Chemical fire.

The reaction generates heat and causes a flame.

It's like a bomb. XD

Which was the reason why science master deemed it as dangerous.

Elephant toothpaste.

This has to be one of the most memorable one.

The bubble exploded immediately after i mixed the reactants.

Chemical Garden.

Salts that grow like plants. ;)

I hope everyone got to learn a little bit more about science and manage to see that science is much more than just what you learn in the textbooks. and realise that it's so friggin fun! ..
At least i did. :)

The shower in the lab that we never get to use.

Desmond washing his slime coated hair. XDDD

Different coloured transition metal salts. 

Measuring KOH crytals. the shape is so cute! :3
it's hemispherical.
























Choosing which experiments to do is by no means an easy task.
First it has to be fun! We've been doing boring exps in class, why would we wanna do some in club again?
I had to gather reports from committee members. Run up and down get signature from science master and teacher advisor.
Consult lab technician to see whether the required chemicals are available. Which in most cases, it's not.
Due to the fact that it's a college lab, the lack of chemicals can be annoying.

But at the end of the day. Seeing members having fun in the lab is all that matters.
Although we're by no means a big club, but its a small and joyful one.
Not many academic clubs can achieve this level of fun-ness. Math club was a very boring one for me. *no offense*
Unlike high school when it's compulsory to join clubs and societies, it's optional in college and hence it was relatively harder to recruit members.

I have to thank all the members who have supported us. For their eagerness to do experiments and the passion for science. Wei Loon for suggesting some of the experiments we did. Various source online that made my life easier. And most importantly, Yuan si and Changie who had accompanied me through this journey, from start till end and believing in this crazy idea of mine. ;)

Ending this part with my own vain pic. ^____^

5. Bought New Gadgets

If you ask me now, whether I have any more essential items I have yet to own.
The answer is.. No.

I basically bought every gadgets I need.. so far, this year.

(a) Samsung galaxy Y

It's a simple phone. Since i can download all the apps i need so.. it's fine.

Samsung just recently launched the Hello Kitty version of this phone. :OOOOOOO T____T

It's light and cute. Tad bit slow but i can read my news on it.. so (Y).

I even bought this Rilakkuma phone cover online to dress it up. :D

Sho cute! :3

(b) Canon EOS 650D 

Bought it righttt after it was launched! :D

Have to thank Zhi Hao for telling me prior it's launch, cause I nearly bought 600D.

If i did, I'll probably cry in vain. T___T

It's so goodddd :D Massive improvement from my EOS 1000D.

The most prized feature is probably the 9 point AF system.

and the 360 degree flip out screen is helpful too. :)

Although i don't find much use for the touch screen. :X

(3) Lenovo Z480

Soooo pretty ain't it. Love the blue. It has pink too.

Asked cousin bro to recommend a few good models to me and this was one of them.

Got it at cheaper price because he used to work at lowyat.

Haveeee to thank him for temaning me all the way to Lowyat, carry this heavy laptop and take monorail---> LRT. My hands would probably break without him. >__<

Thank you cheng cheng gor gor. :D

Considering I was using a HP mini previously, which drove me crazy.

This is muchhhhhhhh muchhhhhhhh better. =___=

The display is good. Can do all my photoshop editting.

The speed is fast.. so far i've got nothing to complain about.

Except for it's weight..  slightly heavy. ):

I'm not much of a Techy techy person. So these possessions satisfy my needs. ^____^

6. Visited Hong Kong

Went HK for about a week, 10-18 Nov with mom,sis, aunt and cousin sis.
Stayed over at cousin bro's apartment in 铜锣湾, Causeway bay.

Let the photos do the talking.
(p.s: photos are in chronological order.)
(p.p.s: Photos are unedited, so excuse any imperfections. :P )

 Ate lunch with my Granma's younger sister's family.. :D

Visited some temple on a hill.

Sleepy dog that ignored me while i happily snapped photos of him. ^__^V

Authentic 许留山。Some HK dessert shop.

So expensive! Eating the same stuff in m'sia is cheaper. =__=

The peak.

Thanks jia jia for teman-ing. :D

She's such a darling. :D

City view.

You can't leave HK before trying their egg tarts. :D

Followed jia into HKU. Met up with Chong Sheng. :)

Visited the cultural museum.

And Science museum. :D

 Went to 澳洲牛奶公司 Jia jia recommended to try their awesome 炖奶.

 SUPER NICE. X) one of the most memorable food i've tried in HK. :D
Thanks jia. x)

Peninsular Hotel.

I was here 10 years ago. :O

Some cute art exhibition.

Vain self shot. :P

 Avenue of stars.

Mom's famous! She has her name printed :O!!!!

(no lah, its LI LI HUANG.. I photoshopped off the HUANG xD )

赤柱。

Stanley waterfront bay.

HK Mc Cafe has christmas menu!

The gingerbread man drink is sooo cute. :3

Adorable dog owned by a japanese lady. :3

And on the way home~ <3>

Didn't take many photos because most of the time we're shopping.. ngek ngek ngek.

Spent quite a lot this trip, about RM600. :I 

7. Went Langkawi

In August during my 3 weeks sem break with mom, sis and maternal families.
For 3 days, Jetstar had cheap flight tickets.
It's my 2nd time there i think, but it was fun. ;)

Eagle Icon.

Sumptuous seafood dinner. :D

Drank loads of beer this trip! :D
But didn't take pictures of them...
I like Kanpai and Taiwan fruity beer! ^___^

 My collection of yachts. ;) hehe

 Had luxurious breakfast at The Loaf.

(It's a bakery owned by Dr Mahathir.)

I think it cost about RM200 for 7 of us.. that's abt RM30 per pax. :O

My aunt. ^___^

Iced coffee.

 Mmmm~

 Soup in bread.

 Yoghurt with cornflakes.

Superb.

 Gloomy.

 My poser cousin bro. :P

 Then we headed to the Langkawi Cable Car. :D

 heh. :)

http://musiciousity.carbonmade.com/

It was very misty that day, due to the rain.

But the mist scenery's special too! 

  Then we visited Underwater world,

Penguinniee says hi! :D

kyaaaaaa~ <3 p="p">

Okay this's a stranger's baby that i snapped a pic of without permission. :O

But he's so cute omggggggg look at those eyessss

i couldn't resist. x) 

 yeah?

Reminds me of a cartoon.. what is it again? o___o

 This creeps me out.

Don't you think it has a human face?? the noseeee :O

  he escaped the fence. XD

Beach~

 Amount of Chocolates we bought.

duty free mah~

I still have some in fridge..

 Breakfast at Breakfast bar!

So yummy!!!

 They look yummy too!! don't they?? :D

They're also famous for their tea tarik.

And I can see why. :)

Paddy field~

 Got bitten by fleas here.

Terrible. about 40 bites all over my legs. :O

Left with some scar till now. T___T

 Unsuspecting cows.

On our way to the airport.
The sky was so blue.
Stopped by the roadside for the amazing scenery. ;)

  

That's all! :)
I'll sum up this trip in 2 words..
Chocolates & Flea bites.
oh and beer!! 3 then. XD

8. Improvised My Definition of 'Friends'

'Good friend' is a very subjective term. For me, it's meaning changes from time to time.
Remember when it was  all like,
A friend that,
always spend time with you
always there for you
always make you special
tells you everything
be there for you no matter what..

Those are impractical. Even your lover might not do that for you.
I don't actually rank my friends.
Like what we used to do when we're in primary school, writing stuff in a book and passed it around for others to write "their personal stuff"... rmb?

Technically, now it's just simply.. 'Friends that i feel happy to be with.'
Some ppl tend to be too clingy and often disappointed when their "friends" don't do what she think they should do.

'FRIEND'
Read this word and some ppl will pop up in your head.
I'm glad.. that they did.

(a) High school 

KK's bday

Wan Ning's Farewell

Photos are just S4-ians. Strangely i think i've only got to know them afterrr i've graduated high school.

I must have been really anti-social back then in class. XD

The 2B5 gang. :D

Every time we meet up.. I always get a stomachache from laughing too hard. XD

Although we get 70% our laughs from zhat-ing Gerald. x)

Wenn even baked me a huge choco cake for my bday! :')

Touched max. oh and also a shirt she bought in Redang.

(b) PMO

Karaoke at Neway.

Farewell for des, pooi ling and hao jian.

I can never forget them. We've been through ups and downs for 5 whole years!!

They're one of the best bunch of friends I've ever had. :)

Miss them loads.

(c) College

 The 2nd from right is my chem teacher. Many mistook her as classmate.

I've got not many photos of them this year.. because you know. you see them every single day and you're in coll to study.. not to snap pics. XD

Most of the photos are with the others.

(d) NS

Eunice.

She's the only one i met up with this year. I'm so glad she came to meet me. 

Because i once casually said she'll forget bout me once we leave NS camp.. when were in NS.

So.. :')

***

I'm sure i missed out a lot more. 

But because we didn't meet up this year/ take a photo together.. 

plus i don't usually take pics when i meet up with friends, like when hanging out with the bros.

I usually leave the taking pic job to others. :P

9. Competed in Math Competitions

Hahaha.. this is a short one. XD
Well I've never taken part in ANY academic competitions before.
NIL.

So this is the first time.

 Australian Mathematics Competition. (Credit)

Slightly disappointed with this one.

Made a few careless mistakes, could have done better. );

Euclid Mathematics Contest. (Distinction)

This was fun! :D 

The questions are very non-textbook-ish.

Heh. Only entered music competitions in high school.

Now, only entered math competitions in college. XD

At least they decorated my CV. :P

and i had fun too la. heh.

10. Flew to Singapore

To attend Mom's mom's brother's son's son's wedding... I dono if i got it right. :O

This is actually my first time in Sg. O____O

Most of the time it's just airline transit at changi airport. heh

The preparation for the wedding was horrendous. Buy shoes buy dress. >___<

Cause it's a wealthy family so i dowan sat lai. :O

Oh well. Glad it's over.

Here goes the pictures:-

Breakfast at the airport.

The groom and my family.

He's so tall omg.

Oh and he's in the army, flies the fighter jet.

hence the uniform. :P

At the Marriot Hotel.

Bride and Groom~ <3 p="p">

Next day we went to the Marina Bay Sands, MBS.

Taking pictures anywhere, everywhere. :D

MBS Hotel.

No i didn't to anything to the sky.

It was going to rain, hence the gloomy sky.

Dandelions. :D

You have to excuse all my self-shots.

Since i'm the photographer, I'm not in most of the group shots. :O

I very kesian one. ):

So let me camwhore a bit. ^___^V

Pwettie~~ <3 p="p">

The hairy leafs. XD

I didn't know purple and yellow goes together so so well! O.O

It's a bridge up there.

The bay view. :)

A river in the mall.

No plane shots because flight's super short.

It was a short trip.. 3 days 2 night. But it's cool too! :)
Albeit slightly hectic.

11. Climbed the Broga Hills & ate Klang Satay

've always wanted to climb the broga hills after seeing all the picturesque photos others have taken.

But until then, no one wanted to bring me go.. ))):

It takes about an hour to drive there..

There were 3 with DSLR that day. Me, Zhi Hao & Jeremy. Mostly taken by me la since Zhi Hao was tired by the time we reached the top.. exhausted I would say... terribly. And Jeremy was plainly a lazy bump, he was even too lazy to upload the few photos he took on fb. =____=

disclaimer: Photos marked with asterisk(*) are taken with Zhi Hao's EOS600D. do take note and make comparison. :P

do note that all the following photos are unprocessed.

 There was a delay (usual malaysian timing) and we missed the dawn DDD;
Had to just take photos of the dawn while on our ride there. )):

Driver of the day! Ngai Foong. :)

I would say he has a very good driving skills. :)

Model of the day! Changie.

YOU ABSOLUTELY DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW DIFFICULT IT WAS TO PERSUADE HER. she's camera shy...

But she's so pretty! O___O I'm sure you agree.

I've never have a friend that i wanna take photos of SO MUCH! :O

(*)

Before the climb, waiting for Jeremy. =__=

Nearest yet latest.

Oh and this was when i realised i forgot to bring my Portrait lens, F1.8.

OMGGGG I CAN'T BELIEVE MYSELF. =____=

Aih... dreading it till now. I have to go Broga again.

Jump shot.

Desmond posing for me. :)

A photo of the icon of Broga.

Lalang grass.

(*)

(*)

Favourite pic of the trip.

Hence i slightly processed it and submitted to deviantart.

http://musiciousity.deviantart.com/

TOLD YOU SHE'S PRETTY. :P

pls help me tell her that so she let me take more photos of her. XD

Satay at Kajang.

See the difference between mine and (*)? I don't know bout you, but i can see quite many.

Other than the low in saturation and contrast, which i suppose ZH set his at neutral.. so nvm.

But the focus is not good and the colour of the photo is also slightly off.

I thought 600D was suppose to be quite similar to 650D. O.O

I wanna go Broga again! I wanna go early in the morning, it'll be better if it rained the previous night, so i can get mist the next morning. :DDD

Anyone wan bring me go? ^___^

12. Lost A Friend

颖齐

I never really brought this up. It breaks my heart.

But i feel like there is a need to show that she did indeed left a great mark in my heart.

We met in NS, It's always so fun to be around her. She always makes me laugh so so hard that my tummy hurts and i burst in tears.

Although she's in Delta, and i'm in Charlie. But we got real close due to the amount of time we spent in buddhism class. And since Charlie and Delta are next to next in line and we're almost of the same height, we always get to be around each other.

During our break times when we had to spend in the canteen when the malays are in surau (which sums up to almost 5 hours a day), I'm always over at Delta's table with the usual bunch.

I remember I used to hug her huge and comfy bag during our Thursday Buddhism class, and we would eat snacks in class because teacher is so so boring. =___=

Our favourite song 

張韶涵-夢裡花

We would replace the lyrics with ridiculous ones, I rmb something about 我要睡觉. XD She would attack me from the back give me a real shock. =__= We occasionally lie down at the pondok and have a short nap, breathing in fresh air and have creepy crawlies creep up on us. XD

She would hug me and lift me off the ground.. never underestimate her strength.

I was a few days late to hear about the news, was having my sem2 externals so i deactivated my fb. When i reactivated it on a saturday, I saw NS friends sharing a link and so i clicked to find out what happened.

My mind was utterly blanked. Time froze around me. My body went numb.

I thought i read the article wrongly, i can't believe the name stated was indeed.. her.

There was a flash flood in Sarawak, and she caught up in the current in the drain and was flushed away.

..

Before i knew it, tears were trickling down and i was lost for words. It went on like that for hours, I called Wenn and Joo because i urgently needed someone to talk to.

Her body was not recovered yet. Police and bomba launched a search for her but to no avail. For the next 2 weeks i checked the Sarawak Online news everyday. Everytime i scrolled through the page, my heart skips a beat. I still had hope. I thought, she may be washed up the river bank and someone saved her. I thought of infinite possibilities for her to survive. After 1 week, the search was stopped, they gave up.. and i sort of gave up too. And on 21st Jan, about 2 weeks later, her body was recovered.

I was having mixed feelings, sad because she's.. no longer here. happy for at least.. she's back.

I wouldn't say she's my Best friend in life. But she certainly was one of the BEST in NS. She was the ONLY one that occasionally smsed me after NS. Although i must admit, sometimes i ran out of topic to talk of and i'm not much of an smsing person because i take ages to type in chinese, sometimes i feel like i've neglected her.

And to think that right before the day this accident happened, I posted on her FB wall!

Who would have thought.

We see death cases everyday on the newspaper, but to recognise one of the names published. Is indeed.. devastating. This is my first, and hopefully.. the last.

If you've watched "49 days", there's one part on the '100% pure tears'. I regretfully say that would not have come from me. Mine would only be only about 50% pure. 50% because i truthfully miss her. The other half mixed with sympathy and resentment.

This incident has such a great impact on me, to show how fragile one's life can be.

She made me more appreciate ppl around me, because really, 人真的是失去后才会珍惜。

I've so blessed to have met her in NS and in life. Although we've barely known each other for more than a year..

Ying Qi was such a nice, friendly and helpful person.. i have no doubt that she'd accumulated a lot of karma and would reincarnate to a better being next life.

Few days ago I stumbled over our pictures together and i visited her fb wall.

Her friends were updating her on the latest Jay Chou album.

I really miss her. Tears were trickling down and i know i really really missed her.

I clicked the 'See friendship' feature on FB and read the stuff we said to each other.

She promised me come find me and Sing K. But she never came back.

She didn't even bade me goodbye..

颖齐，我这一辈子都会记得你。你安息吧。:')

**********

The End.

I'm ready for 2013. 

It'll be even better. :)