Sick Xiong

You know BeaR is sick when:-
i) He drinks hot soup
ii) He drinks a hot lemon tea
iii) He bathes at maximum temperature
iv) He wears a jacket in his room
v) His air conditioner is not even on

Eff Emm Elle

Buttons' ass in the picture

Yeah, What the dousche? This will be the LAST TIME I EVER attempt to do ANYTHING about IKEA's Do-It-Yourself crap. While trying to pry the hinge off the bed with a screwdriver, the hinge popped off resulting in the screwdriver dashing forward towards my left hand's second finger that was waiting in anticipation with open arms.

The Veterinary

While watching New Moon yesterday with Princess, I realised that my throat was feeling a lot worse than a few days before. This is not completely surprising having said I have been sneezing for about 1.5 weeks due to a bloody flu. So I decided it was time to seek professional help. Princess brought me to the vet after we had dinner.

Cough Syrup and the pink tablets taste awfully like crap.

The vet kept trying to make me admit that I had h1n1 based on the series of questions he was asking.

Vet: How long have you had this flu?
BeaR: A week and a half... Or so.
Vet: Do you have a fever?
BeaR: No.
Vet: DID you have a fever?
BeaR: No.
Vet: Do you feel feverish?
BeaR: No.

Vet takes out a thermometer

Vet: You are sure you did not, and currently do not have a fever?
BeaR: Yes.

Vet puts thermometer in my mouth, takes it out after a while and checks the reading.

Vet: Yeah, you do not have a fever, it is just a common flu.
BeaR: ...

Off topic, Buttons loving marshmallows.

And The List Has Not Ended...

I just found out TODAY during dinner with Princess and her friends that I have a wound underneath my tongue.

Eff
Emm
Elle

A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Ok, we all know about the bed frame that tried to kill me, but it did not stop there. Right after I finished hammering the last bloody bar into the bed, climbing over my bed frame, my knee decided to make love with one of the corners of my tabletop.

At Shabu: Princess wants a piece of the action

Decided to have Shabu-shabu at night to commemorate my broken fingers. Shabu's chairs consist of a bottom cushion attached to a square face metal frame. As for my chair, the cushion somehow was not attached properly to the square metal frame, therefore it lifted itself up while I was pulling my chair under my ass. My left hand found its way under the cushion and when my obese body laid weight to the cushion, BAM, fingernails collided with the corner of the square metal frame.

At Shabu: Princess' shoes want a piece of the action

I have this bad habit of rubbing my face in a circular motion very aggressively whenever its wet. Therefore the following night, after a nice long bath, I started doing my usual-face-rubbing-procedure, but this time my last finger of my left hand found its way into my left nostril puncturing a hole near the entrance.

In Class

Today I cleaned Buttons' cage and got his urine and feces on my bandage, therefore the most appropriate choice of action was to change it, and so I did. After winding the bandage round my third finger, I tugged it hard so that the tape could come into contact with the jagged side of the holder allowing me to tear the tape with ease. BUT alongside with the tape, my hand followed shortly after resulting in an additional shallow cut on my last finger barely missing the deeper one caused by my bed frame.

Twas 3 excruciating days...

Thus now I'm stuck with:
i) 3 severely cut fingers on my right hand, becauase of which I cannot write properly yet, nor even hold a pair of chopsticks.
ii) 2 bruised nails on my left hand, which hurt whenever I accidentally tap my nail onto anything.
iii) a bruise on my left thigh.
iv) a shallow gash near the entrance of my left nostril
v) an additional shallow cut on my last right finger.

Sigh... What next?

And Major Clumsy Strikes again.

While trying to fix his bed.

Before

After

Bandages not really doing justice.

The Amazing Walk

Last night, I went to bed with the intention to get 3 things done today
1) Pass up Princess' enrollment form along with mine
2) Get my laundry done
3) Buy food for Buttons

I then woke up this morning, wishing that I did not have those intentions. Bah, I was lazy. Probably because I have taken it for granted for so long. Since Princess, Rue and Anthony are always willing to ferry me around, I have not walked on my own two feet for a very very long time.

Warning: Objects in the map may be a lot bigger than they seem

Tada, this would be the route that I took. Practically took a tour round Bandar Sunway. Dropped my laundry off at the dobi next to my house, walked over to the College itself to hand in the enrollment forms, and finally walked to pyramid to buy Buttons' food.

While walking to Pyramid, it dawned upon me that I was feeling very nostalgic about this route. The route starting from Sunway's side gate through all the old apartments ending up at Pyramid would be the route that I used to take every time I wanted to go to Pyramid back in 2003, my first year in college.

It also struck me shortly after which that I suddenly feel different about walking. Then I figured it is probably because Princess has always been so caring, insisting to fetch me to class and back, and many a time to go pak thor as well. This would be the reason I have not walked for a while, I told myself.

In all my years of tertiary education, I have never once had a car, nor have I ever insisted that I should have one. My dad has always tried to make sure that we live within walking distance from wherever we study so that a car would never be necessary. Which would be why I had gotten so use to commuting from A to B and back to A again.

Then it got me thinking even further. I always wanted to have my own mode of transportation. I never really liked relying on other people as it did not feel good. And due to our remarkable city planning that was probably completed within a 3 and a half minute meeting., there are destinations that cannot be accessed through the medium of railed transportation.

Then my brain persisted on thinking EVEN further. Throughout my tertiary life, I always liked upgrading my mobile phone:

2003: 6800

2004: 7200

2005: 6630

2006: n73

2007: n95 8gb

2009: n97 (waiting since 2008 =.=)

Then it struck me how annoyed I would always get when people would make a big fuss about the money I spend on my phones. Yes, I know they cost about RM2000 on average, and they were all paid for with my own cash, not my dad's. But think about it this way, I have never had a car to drive, and even if I did, RM2000 would be barely enough to make it through half the year on petrol alone.

Many people do not know how lucky they are to get their own brand new bumper car as soon as they pass their driving examinations. Instead they want to compare with other people over other petty things like how often that person buys new mobile phones. If you have so much free time, how about you start counting your own blessings before you take the liberty of counting others'

I did spend the last 2 months stressing over my future pay vs. the fixed cost I would have to pay. It comes as no surprise to me why non-Selangor people usually end up returning to their hometown to work. For us to work in KL, lodging comes as a fixed cost probably ranging anything from rm300-rm500 per month depending on location. Furthermore back at home, we have the privilege of using family cars to transport ourselves.

But God answered my prayers, and my mum told me that when my sister goes overseas to pursue her studies, my beloved car will be given back to me so that I will not have to incur any car installments as soon as I begin working.

The Epitome of Clumsiness

Today while going to give Princess a hug on my bed, I, clumsily, rammed my left foot straight into my dumbbell that I usually leave just beneath the foot of my bed. I literally let out a roar of pain, scaring her for a micro second. Only when I did come to my senses, did I realise that the top right bit of my left foot's third toe nail had been, well, knocked hard enough to cause it to bleed.

Blood's not so obvious cause I washed it while bathing, which equally, was not pleasant

Not the first time I've been this clumsy. In fact, I am actually very clumsy with my legs. My Penang house has this wooden plank of wood, or sometimes marble, about 1 foot tall, at the base of all the walls. And almost everytime I turn a corner in my house, for some reason, one of my feet will always lag behind and/or my body will turn round the corner too quickly, resulting in the lagging foot ramming straight into the wooden/marble bottom of the wall.

Followed by a long groan of pain, my mum would always have something to say about it.

About 10 years ago, she would say, "My poor yun, (I am called yun as I had the inability to pronounce 's' when I was young, and always replacing it with a 'y', thus son became yun) are you ok?"

About 5 years ago, that gesture of concern became a more impatient and less sentimental one. She would say, "Please walk properly and stop being so clumsy"

Eventually, even now, she has given up on concern and has decided to just go along with, "Will you stop hurting my house?"

Oh well, I suppose this would be an appropriate time to say something like fml.

On another note, to prolong the unfortunate series of events, it dawned upon me that my keys had gone missing, in my own room. I searched high and low but alas, my search bore no fruit. fmlx2.

Sawadee-leh mah leh-kap

Yesterday hor, I was sleeping VERY VERY peacefully.

All of a sudden, I got a call from a mysterious 014 number, which ALSO called me the night before as well (but I missed it).

As my mind begin to shift and understand that the sudden noise infecting my ears came from my phone, I started to get very irritated as I hate being woken up. After all, the only person I permit to call me when I am sleeping is Princess. IF it is anyone else, then it had better important...

... And seeing how it turned out to be a 014 number and, most certainly NOT Princess' personal ringtone, it was, more obvious than not, NOT Princess.

So through my pain and my anguish, I reached out to my phone trying hard not to open my eyes so I could go back to sleep immediately after I tell the bugger that I am sleeping.

But the first thing I heard on the phone was
014: สวัสดี! อรุณสวัสดิ์! สบายดีไหม? (Sawadee! Aroonsawas! Sabaideemai?) [Hello! Good Morning! How Are You?]

In the midst of my beautiful slumber, I hear my phone ring, and upon picking up the call this is the first thing I hear, NOT a good thing.

So I sat up, and responded in a VERY irritated tone
Eddy: WRONG number.

The caller sounded, shocked, at my response.

014: Huh?

Eddy: wrong... NUMBER!



The only one thought that raced through my mind was (Of all things I am awoken by this m*****f***ing knnccb pkmcblc Tha....)

014: SAW! IT'S ME SIN JERN LA, YOUR FAVOURITE FAT FRIEND!

Hearing that, it only took me not more than half a second to recompose myself

Eddy: Oh.. ok..

014: Cibai, you cannot recognise my voice meh?

Eddy: Sorry lo, Ba lu khun cheh nia (Just woke up nia)

He began telling me how he is back for a few days to settle some visa issues, as he is studying in Thailand, hence, the excruciatingly painful greeting that awaited me somewhere around 8-9am yesterday morning

That's Sin Jern on the far left, followed by Samantha (Samster the Hamster) and Joel, X'mas 2006

Chuah Sin Jern, is one of my two bestest best friends (bbf) from my hometown, the Pearl of the Orient, Penang. The other being Joel Lim Siew Cheang of course. I've known these two since 1999, when Sin Jern and I were in form 2 and Joel was in form 1. Hence this year marks 10 years of unshattered friendship, eventhough we've been separated so many times.

Samantha pointed out during our last major gettogether, Chinese New Year 2008, that it is very amusing to observe the three of us conversing as we have absolutely nothing in common and yet our conversations are funny, hilarious, entertaining to listen to and can last for hours.

Sin Jern ended up being science stream student back in form 4, but not really enjoying it as he had the mentality of an arts stream student, like me, which would revolve around something like, couldn't be arsed about getting 9A's in SPM.

I believe it was in form 4 that we actually started getting closer. His dad works in KL so occasionally he'd take a bus down to visit, so one time he randomly asked me if I would like to follow him, and so I did.

Yes people, back then, we considered coming to KL a holiday, as oppose to what most of you think, and I am pretty sure you'd equally consider going to Penang a holiday as well, but guess what, I do not think that going to Penang constitutes as a holiday.

We did another trip post SPM, probably in december. We were more well prepared this time, with hotel numbers and designated destinations, as opposed to going in 2001 blindly not knowing what we wanted to do.

After SPM I went to Sunway College to pursue MUFY, and he went to every college in Penang over the period of 3 years. But every other weekend, I would come back and he would be one of the 2 people I would call, the other being Joel of course.

Taylor's UWE Year End Party, 2005, with Sin Jern being on the top right

In 2005 I entered Taylor's and he was already studying in TarCollege, but every once in a while he'd take the LRT all the way down to find me as there were more things to do in Subang than Setapak and my house was well equipped for guest.

When I left for UK, he too left, but for Thailand instead, Bangkok in fact (hence the ability to call me up and greet me in Thai). Since then I haven't really gotten the chance to see him. He did come back during Chinese New Year in 2008 but that's about it. Of course, we look forward to meeting up next during Chinese New Year 2009.

My 22nd Birthday, Red Box, Gurney, 2007

We share an interesting bond with each other, probably cause we have known each other for so long. And I will never, ever, forget all the years he used to miss call me because he never had enough credit to call me properly, even when it was him who needed someone to talk to. I always, ALWAYS, always had to call him back. But not like I minded anyway, a friend in need is a friend indeed, no? I even took the liberty of subscribing to DiGi for the Friends and Family package reducing the price per call to a very low amount. But, much to my dismay, he ended up miss calling THAT line as well saying it was cheaper for ME to call HIM back using THAT line.

Jane's Farewell, 2006

Joel's my other bestest best friend, as lame as it sounds. Joel grew up in high school not being liked by many, even students from other schools did not really like him much either. But it was easy to understand why. Flaw in many people around him was, they all knew how to complain and dislike, but no one ever wanted to give him a chance, or to help him change. Joel basically can be very well mannered yet lack social ethicate, but he's improved a lot since we've been close friends.

Joel progressively studied in Penang, till he graduated, never leaving his hometown. Proved to be far more patriotic than me.

Joyce's random "I WANT TO GO TO THE BEACH" outing, 2006

Even up til now, many people still ask me:
How can you tolerate him?
Do you not think it is embarrassing to be around him in public?
What if people assume the two of you are the same?
Won't it tarnish your reputation as well?

and other mean and vile questions like that.

I even had this conversation even with my mother, and the point I shall throw across, siding Joel of course, would be: As dumbfounded and imbecilic he can be, he is one friend who has never ONCE let me down, of course until he had a bitch for a girlfriend a couple of years back, and like it or not, he's stood by me for 10 years up til now.

But leaving form 5 in school, all my classmates said the same goddamn thing to me. Something about not forgetting each other, best friends forever, give me your handphone number, keep in touch!

Bollocks. Joel never once said that to me yet he still contacts me till now. We do favours for each other without expecting anything in return. Whenever he wants to come down to KL, he will bunk in with me. Whenever he needs someone to fetch his girlfriend, especially back then when all he had was his bike, as I live a lot nearer to her, I would fetch her for him. Whenever I need someone to help me run errands, he'd always help. Even now he is patiently going through lowyat forums everyday to look for desktop parts for me because I personally do not have the patience to read post by post.

Also my Birthday back in 2007

But amazingly, that is how our friendship stands. Joel is the one friend, as oppose to all of my classmates in high school, especially those that hated him, that I can always rely on. We even went to see our high school headmaster retire June this year. Yup, we still hold strong to our Alma Mater.

Brother Paul Ho's Retirement Dinner, 2009

Joel and Sin Jern started mingling more around 2003 when we all gained to ability to maneuver our own vehicles. I still miss all our 12 hour cybercafe marathons. We used to do them everytime I found time to come back from KL, followed by a midnight scrumptious meal at rafee.

Remarkably we have seen each other through trials and our tribulations, even all our relationships. We have stood by each other when we needed each other the most. We know that if ever we need someone to rely on, the 3 of us would genuinely be prepared to help each other out. I even think we have reached that point in our friendship whereby we can read each others minds without needing anything to be said.

When we fall, we would never fret, not just because the mightiest have fallen, but because we know we will always be there to pick each other up as and when we fall.

We've cried
We've laughed
We've yelled
We've ki siao-ed
We've probably done every darn thing right and wrong in Penang, many memories to last us a lifetime.

We do not brag about our exceptional friendship, we do not talk to each other everyday, we do not fake the stereotype "we should meet up again"s comments or messages in facebook, we do not even get to see each other very often. But as and when we do, it always feels like time has not passed since high school when we first understood that we would be best friends forever.

"Many people spend their whole life searching, for true friends like mine."

Happy 10 years anniversary lo, and many more to come. We shall celebrate the belated version during Chinese New Year 2010 ok?