*Poof!* and it disappeared

I just made a darn fool of myself. I called someone from Tourism Malaysia to ask for flags and/or posters, and I had such a hard time putting a sentence together. My formal BM is so rusty!!! Even when I was writing the e-mail to the embassy (or more like JPA) I had to think so hard for the words to use...well, at least they replied quickly to tell me to phone the Tourism Malaysia people...unlike some people...

Well, they asked me to send them an e-mail. So I sent the same one I sent to the embassy...hopefully they'll be able to send me the stuff in time.

(the title's referring to my BM)

Rant rant rant...dumb and dumber

Okay, I wanna rant. If you're not in the mood to hear a rant (who's ever in the mood?) then don't read on.

First I sent out this e-mail about giving out Ling Sin's stuff. (by the way, I've got to thank Ling Sin for some of her stuff that I took, especially the cleaver!) Only 2 people replied, individually, even though I had asked them to try to come and take a look at that stuff at the same time, thus saving me having to take out that stuff several times. But no, since only these 2 people had replied, and they didn't even contact each other, okay...they came separately. And until now I haven't heard a thing from the others. Isn't it a common courtesy to at least let me know whether you want some thing or not?!

Then I sent a second e-mail, about the Semaine Asiatique. I wanted to do a village malaisien this year, but with all the delays (argh, the SA people didn't ever ever contact me, or contacted me "halfway", as in telling me there was a meeting but not telling me where, or the exact time!) I couldn't do anything about it, until a few weeks ago when I found out that I wasn't going to be free to be at the village 'cos that Thursday they chose to do it was a Thursday I was occupied. So, I told them I couldn't do it. And, almost 2 weeks later, they suddenly come and ask me to ask other Malaysians to do it. And at this time, the village is in less than 2 weeks! (and the SA in one!)

Okay, never mind, so I sent out this e-mail (the one mentioned at the beginning of the last paragraph) I mention clearly that I need a reply quickly, and that I want a reply yes or no, either way! Or else, what, I'm supposed to sit around waiting for the people who aren't interested to change their minds and tell me they're interested? Even if I hadn't asked for a reply, it should have been common sense, simple etiquette, just to reply! BUT, noooo, I get ONE reply by e-mail (thank you Chee Keat!) I asked 3 people online right after sending the e-mail, so I guess I can consider that they replied. But the others?! Hey...reply, you people!!

Darn it, I wonder why I even bother. This year I'm crazily kind, I said I'd help out with ADEGE 'cos there seemed to be no one interested, I said I'd help with the SA but then no one contacted me for meetings, I said I'd help with the ping pong permanences but goodness knows whether they even listened...why do I even bother?! I'm so dumb. Period!

The morning after

Okay, so yesterday morning (more towards noon actually) it snowed. Then in the afternoon the sun came out and the weather was great! Dinie went to play tennis, I would have joined them if I didn't have this nasty cold :/

And this morning...guess what I saw when I woke up?

A picture is worth a thousand words ;)
(click on it to enlarge)

I wonder what's going to happen next.

What's it for?

This:

I got it when I went to the Forum Rhône-Alpes a few weeks ago. (it's a forum where companies set up booths and you can go there and ask about jobs or internships) There was a sticker stuck onto the back that had instructions on how to use it. So I decided to try it out.

You're supposed to click the metal plate that's inside the pouch, then the blue liquid will cristallise and release heat. I was surprised at how fast it cristallised! The instructions said "click several times at short intervals", and I clicked it twice (in quick succession :P) and the liquid just turned solid so quickly starting from the metal plate, until the pouch became like this:

It definitely released heat...and it stayed hot for quite some time too! To reuse it, you need to put it in boiling water until the contents turn liquid again.

So I know how to use it. But I wonder, what exactly did they make it for? Is it supposed to replace a hot water bottle? Does anyone know?

It's snowing!

In March! In spring!

When I checked, the temperature wasn't at zero, though, it was 2 or 3°C.

All set up?

I watched a little Malaysian Dreamgirl during the weekend. And I must say that there are some parts that are so fake! I really really hope that those girls aren't really all like that...

Take the makeover session. The girls all chorused "hi" when the stylist was introduced and then chorused "yes" when they were asked in the end whether they liked their makeovers. What are the odds of having a chorused reply? (when there are 12 girls, mind you, not two!) Next to zero, unless they've been told what to say (like zombies, ya know?) A scattering of "yes"-es would have been more believable. Really, that "yes" chorus makes me think of primary school students replying to their teacher. "Have you done your homework, children?" "Yes, teacher!" -_-

And when they got home after the makeover session. There was a gift on the table and all of them just ran over and gathered around the table like excited little schoolgirls, looking cute. I'm guessing that they were told beforehand to do this!

But then, that isn't so bad. Even though I found it rather fake, it's quite possible that they'd do that in real life (or they probably figured out that a camera had to be focused on that table ;) - strategy!) What's worst is what came next. Upon discovering that the gift was a bottle of (goodness-knows-what famous) perfume for each of them, they went "aaaah!!" (for quite a long time too!) I hope, I hope, that they had been told to do so! Do all Malaysian Dreamgirl candidates have to be the screaming type? A few, maybe, but all??! Don't we have a choice whether we want our Malaysian Dreamgirl to be the screaming type or not?

Note: Malaysian Dreamgirl is a reality show where the participants "learn" how to become models.

The pastor's ass

The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again.

The local paper read: PASTOR'S ASS OUT FRONT.
The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.

The next day, the local paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR'S ASS.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey. The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent.
The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline the next day: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.

The bishop fainted. He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10. The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild. The next day the ad lines read: NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The bishop was buried the next day.

The moral of the story is . . .

Being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery . . even shorten your life. So be yourself and enjoy life. Stop worrying about everyone else's ass and you'll be a lot happier and live longer!

Thanks to J.T.

A day trip to Luxembourg

Here are photos of Luxembourg:






It rained for a while when we were there, but thankfully not for very long. We went into a Mexican restaurant for lunch, and the dish looks too nice not to post here:

enchiladas with Mexican rice and beans

Discovering Metz at last

I went to Metz last Thursday. Here are some photos of the town:

The bottom-left building is their engineering school (for mechanical engineering); all the Malaysians in Metz are doing mechanical engineering.

And now for some photos of people:

the three on the left are the visitors

from left: Dinie, Hsin Shen, Iman, Azizi, Alex

These photos were taken on Thursday and Saturday. (the unis in France usually don't have class on Thursday afternoon)

On Thursday night we went to an Italian restaurant:

Hmm...the flash didn't light things up far enough...

What I ordered: tagliatelles with smoked salmon, foie gras, and scallops

On Friday Dinie and I went to Luxembourg while they had class, and after they came back from class we played a little ping pong. (Hsin Shen didn't go to Luxembourg with us because she had been there before) In their residence they have a gym with a ping pong table! And what's more, they actually play! So jealous... -_- If I had known I would have gone to Metz :P

After playing ping pong the Metz boys made us a home-cooked meal ;)

(I think there are a few dishes I don't have photos of...there's at least one soup missing)

We were leaving on Saturday, and most of them had class in the morning. Kai Lun came back after his class ended at 10 o'clock and we walked around a bit. At twelve we met up with some of the others for lunch, and after that walked around again before returning to their residence. Then we stayed in Alex's room until it was time to leave.

Japanese food for Saturday's lunch

fooling around in front of the train station
Clockwise from my shoe at the bottom: Kai Lun, Hsin Shen, Azizi, Joe and Alex. (I hope I didn’t make a mistake :P)

Alex entertaining us in his room ;P

And lastly, on the train from Metz to Lyon:


The train wasn't completely empty...there were some people at the far end. Well, it's normal since it was a Saturday...and usually students would return to Lyon on Sunday.