As a brigadier

Today, it's the second time I attend the Fire Brigade meeting.

I was a little flabbergasted when the instructors who came in the class were not the ones I met last week. These two new guys were actually from the Perak Fire Brigade headquarters in Ipoh. They must have left Ipoh in the wee hours of the morning to Tanjung Malim because they had to reach here at 8 a.m.

After some briefing, we went out for drill. Basically, the moves were easy. I was in the Boys' Brigade prior to this and I had been familiar with this kind of drill. Even though we were under the bright morning Sun, it was not a difficult task for me. Good that I didn't register for the 11 a.m. slot. That would be crazy. Imagine doing drill under the afternoon Sun.

The drill, however, made me miss my days when I was in the Boys' Brigade. I love the fellowship. I love the friendship. But I didn't like the band. I was and still am a person with minimal musical talents.

For that reason, today I also emailed a lecturer from the Music Faculty to seek for her advice as I may not be able to learn to play flute with her this semester. My timetable is packed.

Hopefully she'll give me the best suggestion. I would still love to learn to play flute. Just maybe, not now.

Tired like...

It's a tiring day today. Weather was good. It was sunny all day long. Probably that was the reason I got so tired. The hot weather could have drained my energy out. As if the Sun sucked out the last bit of my energy.

Anyway, this was my day. I never liked, in fact, never did, to play truant. Perhaps I was blur after a tiresome week. I just had too many things at hand. I had Japanese and Tamil classes, labs to go for, uncertain lab times to be determined, money matters etc. According to the subject schedule that was published some time ago, my Inorganic Chemistry class was supposed to be today evening at 5pm. After running my errands, I went to the classroom at about 4.30pm.

To my surprise, a senior was there and I was wondering whether she got into the wrong classroom. She was sure that she didn't mistakenly enter the wrong room. So I went to the computer in front of the classroom to check my timetable.

MY INORGANIC CHEMISTRY CLASS HAS BEEN SHIFTED TO 8AM THIS MORNING!!!

Therefore, without knowing, I had become a naughty boy who skipped class. Later, another course mate who happened to register for the same subject called me. She, too, missed the class and we agreed to meet the lecturer on Monday morning.

Oh yea by the way, my scholarship is in today. Time to pay for my course fees and other expenses.

En peyar Andrew. Unggal peyar enne?

This morning I started sneezing again. As fast as I could, I popped in a pill, the flu suppressor prescribed by the Health Centre. You probably wouldn't believe how fast it worked. IT WAS ALMOST IMMEDIATELY MY SNEEZING STOPPED!

But you also wouldn't believe the side effects. It was about 10 minutes before Miss Fairus' class that I took the medication. As the class was going on, I started to feel a little drowsy. Oh no.. not now! I've been hearing stories of medications from UPSI's Health Centre will surely cause drowsiness and sleepiness, and it's happening to me right there, during the class. I could not pay attention and all I wanted was the class to end at that very moment.

Today, my dream had come true! I was hoping to learn Tamil the moment I stepped into this university. What a bummer! For the past to semesters, I only took French and Tamil classes were closed because of the lack of enrollment. But today, I was so thrilled that I actually get to learn one of the oldest language on earth!

I learnt to introduce myself. En peyar Andrew. My name is Andrew. Unggal peyar enna? What is your name? I also learnt to write a little Tamil characters. Not too difficult as it seems.

Later in the evening, I went to KHAR and KZ to promote the English Debate Club to the junior TESLians. Though I may not be one of them, but as a science student, I would love to sharpen the way I speak. That is why I joined this club last semester. I participated in the Malaysia Debate Open in Melaka and our own Vice Chancellor Cup in the Proton City campus and even won myself the title as one of the three Best Speaker.

Hopefully this visit will not be in vain. Good night. Bonne nuit!

Hajimashite

Today is the day that seemed to be a little nicer to me. I was recuperating from my sinus. I requested for medicine at the Health Centre in campus, which I was prescribed two types of medicines, namely chewable Vitamin C tablets and some kind of flu/sinus suppressor. Vitamin C is to prevent cold and to strengthen my immunity while the suppressor is supposed to be taken only when I sneeze like there's no tomorrow.

After two semesters of learning French, I had my first Japanese class today. The lecturer was such a kind lady. And she's so understanding. She knew very well that chances of us logging into the Myguru system is low, so she told us to add her as a friend on Facebook instead.

We introduced ourselves in Japanese. It's just so different. The feeling was good. However, I was still rather influenced by the French I learnt. Automatically, the answer that ran in my mind was in French. Funny, huh?

Still missing the moments when I learnt how to say bonjour, comment allez-vous, Merci beaucoup, tres bien and so on... Hopefully I get to complete my third level of French next semester.

Out of bleakness, something sweet

After a long wait, my salary from Sunway is now deposited into my account. At least I can have decent meals now and I don't have to worry about the expenses I have to make.

I fell ill. There were two possibilities. It could be yesterday's rain or I didn't sleep well due to my noisy roommates. I chose to believe the latter. No.. no that they were really noisy, but the slightest whisper could wake me up. I'm a light sleeper. The second reason I chose this believe was that throughout the day, I didn't feel a slight bit of cold. It was purely sinus and my nose became even more sensitive to dust and soot. So there goes my day, sneezing and perspiring profusely at every class and laboratory session.

After dinner, I had a meeting with my English Debate Club. We planned to meet up with the juniors to recruit them at their respective colleges. It was also a meet up with the seniors after four months not meeting with each other. Had a very bad day but that cheered me up and made my day.

Monday Blues?

Rain just came pouring down the moment I was about to leave the house to campus. I was supposed to deal with some matters before class starts at 4pm. I had to choose a lab session for Biology, meet some university staffs to settle my scholarship matters, check out some foreign language classes, before I could take my brunch. Huhhh.... endless tasks... And obviously the rain just made things worse. I had to put on my poncho but still got my pants wet. The poncho was just not long enough to cover my height.

In the afternoon, I carried some books to be returned to a lecturer. They were heavy. I went around the campus with them and the weight is like crushing my arms. Very soon, I returned them to the designated lecturer, but that wasn't the end. The effect was still felt by my tired arms. I can't type a text message without shaking my hands and they became restless when I had my class at 4pm. My hands we just not comfortable and they had to be moved about. Still not the end yet, I had to collect fees from my classmates. What could I do? It's the monitor's job and I am the one!

And now, when I'm typing this, the lights are actually off. The electricity isn't stable. The lights flickered and blackouts happened since evening. Guess we have to sleep early then. Good night. Bonne nuit!

Les Miserables

The moment I woke up today, I knew it will be a miserable day. Which was true enough...

As usual, at around 7am, I tried to wake my friend up because I thought he has to be early in church. He woke up, looked at me and continue sleeping. All I can think of was, "What the h*ll." Am I a nobody that can be ignored as you like? Perhaps I was a little too sensitive. Then I went to church. A different church from the one my friend attends.

Later after service, I noticed the sky was a little dark. I texted this friend and asked whether he needs an umbrella. He may be busy in his church for some time. He replied, saying that he is already back at home and was asking whether I was at the umbrella shop. Was he joking or what? I would appreciate a thank you for the thoughtfulness, but definitely not a dry humour like this. I felt bad.

A little later, the cloud of worries gloomed over me. I started to think again about my bank accounts that are about to 'dry up'. No way the money is coming today. Today's Sunday! How am I going to pay my fees? How am I going to pay the rental? What am I going to eat? I had not have a proper meal today and my wallet has less than MYR 10. Books to be paid? Provisions to be purchased? My life sucked. And I can't help but to feel bad whole day. Don't feel like doing anything.

What a miserable day!