August 2010

wow wow wow. its been a whole damn month since my last post. I'm ashamed of myself. I'm not doing justice to the treasure trove of mind shit in my head. my apologies to my mind, and my readers (oh whoever you may be). To make up for lost time, here's a hellavalongpost.

AUGUST 2010....has been awesome...

For some reason, this month I've been able to hang out quite a lot with my friends. McDs la, gerais la, Utara Burgers la, overnight-ing at friend's house la. The occasional "Iylia, free x mlm ni?", or "mlm ni ETR kat mcd ok?" definitely puts a smile on my face every time. It feels great to just hang out over supper and late night drinks, just chit chatting away (I used to wonder what all the hype was about with staying up late and mamak-ing till wee hours in the morning, now I know...silly me).

Beside those fun happenings, this month is also fasting month for those who didn't know and so far this has been my most pleasant Ramadhan here. Breaking fast with my whole class in the dark (the food court we chose suddenly blacked out right before we started), finishing off whatever couldn't be finished (to avoid wastage..ehem), having an awesome break-fast at a friend's house with a bunch of my classmates, where we were served Shaz's Special Spaghetti with Cheese and Oatmeal Meatballs (thousands of thanks to the cooks for that day, Shaz a.k.a my Bonnie, Am a.k.a Pingu, and Cha Cha a.k.a The Food or Dance) The joy and pleasure of combining great food with a fun and joyful crowd is deeply memorable. I don't know why I've only had such fun with my college friends at my last semester here. So I wanna make the very best of it while I can.

Another awesome thing that made this month great was Black and Red Parade, A Gathering for HM110 Students. It was my last freaking gathering as a HM110 Student, here in UiTM Penang. I must say, Part 4 July - Nov 2010 did a hellavagreat job. The deco made me feel like I was at some Prom Night or something like that. Musta cost a BOMB. That night, it was so nice to see my batch mates all glammed up to the theme of the night. We even had this mencapub (mencari publisiti murahan) idea to gather at 1 particular spot first and later enter the hall together as 1 batch, for the dramatic effect. Heads turned indeed, but not because of the dramatic idea, but cos my batch was the latest to arrive and register (plan backfire if you ask me..but what the hey). The Gathering itself set off to an awesome start with a cool opening gimmick, the VIP had to shoot an arrow at a rolled up scroll which was hung from the ceiling, then the scroll dropped open releasing confetti rain...clap clap clap. The presentations and activities they organized were also quite interesting and remarkable. But alas, nothing is perfect, half way through the show, there was a problem with the AC, and the hall turned into an oven. There went the crowd's mood. Regardless of the discomfort, the show went. Due to time constraint, many presentations were cut short, but as rushed as things were, the most awaited activity of the night was not left out. BEST DRESSED AWARDS. Why is this caps locked? well, because, yours truly, was

declared BEST DRESSED for HM110 Gathering Jul - Nov 2010.

Aha. The one semester I really put effort into dressing up for the gathering, I win best dressed award. Maybe it was the all black mafia godfather persona, maybe it was the shades at night effect, or maybe...it was just cos the most fashionable guy in my batch didn't dress up that night (that's the reason preferred by the public...sigh). WHO CARES!! I was once BEST DRESSED!! haha.

Self praising aside, the biggest, most awesome, highlight of the month so far has to be...

ISLESCAPE 2010

My first ever Pulau Perhentian experience. Unforgettable. The journey to Kuala Besut, Terengganu, was an agonizing 8 hours bus ride, with cases of mother-f**king slow and poor service at the gerais we pit-stopped at, dining with Charlie and other flying insects, and dissatisfaction from DVDs getting stuck halfway through. Luckily the crowd in the bus was fun and sporting all the way. Reaching Kuala Besut around 2300 hours, with a brief scare that we might have to sleep in the bus due to complications, I was relieved that we actually got to stay at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu for a night. The next day getting up at 6am, to be on the bus by 7am for another 2 hours bus ride to Jetty Kuala Besut. Hoping that was the end of agonizing travel for the past 24 hours, shit didn't stop there. We had to wait for about 2 more hours till our designated boat was available. On the positive side, I got chance to buy a I heart Pulau Perhentian T-shirt while waiting. When the boat finally arrived, I was expecting a speed boat transport, but to my surprise, a shabby tugboat like vessel was awaiting us. HAHAHAHAHAHA I though in my head.

Quite the unforgettable experience I must say. Stepping into the creaky boat, passing bags along a human chain as if we were smuggling goods, heaping up the bags at the front part of the boat, finding "comfortable" spots anywhere we could on that Tongkang (Malay term for fishing boat), reluctantly sunbathing under the open sea sun, feeling the sea breeze and occasional moist in the air from splashes, watching the shoreline get smaller as we moved deeper into the sea, seeing the clutter of islands getting bigger along the horizon. Suddenly, the torment of long travelling hours just seemed worthwhile. It was a remarkable experience. After about 1 and a half hours, the water gradually turned clear blue. A clearness I have never seen before. So beautiful. We're here. Our Tongkang had to stop far away from shore because it was too shallow to get to the beach. So we had to take turns to ride a smaller speedboat to be taxied to the beach of Perhentian Island. Another unforgettable experience (cos me and 2 other guys were left to deal with the bags..hmph) Setting foot on dry land again, the sand was white like salt, and it felt so smooth underneath my feet. wow. That was my first ever experience entering Perhentian.

Over the 3 days 2 nights at Perhentian, I had many activities such as, exciting Explorace, Free Time on the beach (I actually picked up a sea cucumber. Weird creature), hilarious Truth or Dare, full day snorkeling at 4 diving spots (I almost drowned out of exhaustion at one spot, but the experience was breathtaking, seeing so many fishes swim right pass your face, snatching bites of bread from your fingers, all the different types of fish, the corals, the sea urchins, even a brief encounter with a baby shark....awesome), hitting the sand at beach volleyball, on the last night we had BBQ, Games, Award Presentation Ceremony, Present Exchanging Session (getting scolded by the resort owners for being too noisy), and ended it with sitting at the beach while gazing at the night sky that was beyond any other I have personally seen. On the last day, we had to wake up early to go for jungle trekking (which was totally nothing great, in fact it was shit tiring especially after snorkeling the day before), after that, we cleaned up, packed, and had to wait for out transports back to the mainland and later endured almost 10 hours journey back to Permatang Pauh, Penang with more less same issues as the journey from Penang (except the journey back was awfully quiet cos everyone was worn out and sleeping). I am now officially 3 skin tones darker from the Perhentian trip (despite nearly finishing a tube of SPF 50 sunblock). All in all, it was definitely a wonderful experience. Thank You Islescape 2010!

Well, I warned you guys this would be hellavalongpost. haha. And this is only for half a month. At the end of this month, I'll be going to Kelantan and Terengganu for my ENTREPRENEURSHIP subject Field Trip. Looking forward to greater times. God Bless. To those who made it this far, thanks for viewing. Crap Master Out.