A driving exam.

No matter what I wrote, just wanna let you know that I recovered again, waiting for my next challenge and chance.

I met up with some of my friends a few days ago (not you guys, Peta and friends), they told me that my blog is too damn long till they don't even want to read it at all. At first I've been thinking why and how to shorten it. Then I realized that I'm just sharing my life and experience IN DETAILS. XD So nope, I'm still writing it my way. =)

About the driving exam. I failed. Funny to sound, eh? To think that I can pass in one go, only to find out that I'll actually get nervous while driving. I never knew that, not until my last turn on the steering wheel which drove me and the examiner right into the grassy area. Instead of the road. I thought I was cool and calm while handling matters, but why not driving? =(

I passed the mountains, the parking and the 'tiga penjuru', thanks to God's strength and supports from many of you guys. =) But I can't imagine why did I failed the road test. Perhaps I'm still not steady enough for it. Just like when I was getting 17/20, while reaching THE LAST T-junction and ready to turn right, this car suddenly speeds up right in front of me. I took a strong turn to the left, and we ended up in the grass. She (the examiner) crossed out "Kawalan steering tidak baik" and "Memandu secara berbahaya".

You can say it's the car's fault. I know it isn't but I can stop blaming it. Haha! But actually it's my fault for not being calm enough while driving. If I'm not quick enough, we may end up in the drains and the examiner's life is at risk. They have their difficulties too, for always sitting in a car that may crash anytime. But still, is it true that this is part of who I am? To be clumsy and unsteady while dealing with serious matters? Like driving or cooking?

Is that a reason why I don't have the courage to do something I really wanted to do for the past few months? Just because I'm afraid I can't take care of myself?

Blog Update

So hey guys! I can see that it's been a while since I updated my blog on a frequent basis. I guess it's time for me to refresh it before it gets dusty again. Well, I'll just put up a few points on what I've been doing or undergoing these days.



- Having bad hair days. After that awful haircut, I can't get a hair style that I'm comfortable with. Yes yes, I know I don't have a hair style, but hey, this hair style I'm having right now is really depressing compared to the last ones. T.T



- My driving exam is chosen on the 4th day of CNY, right at the day at our hangout at Mr. E's house. I'm the 40th in line to take the exam, and I'm not sure when can I get back to his house. Both the JPJ exam and our Mr. E's house visit is important to me...but anyway, gambateh for the driving exam~



- Currently working on a big video project for 10 days and still counting. But thanks to Corel VideoStudio, I've made wonders in video clips I have, compared to Windows Movie Maker. Anyone who wants subtitles or effects on their memorable video clips, you can find me, or get that program. XD



- Thought about my life in plenty of ways, kinda regret for some attitudes I had back at college and right here. Will start to redeem myself once again.



- Getting my slippers bitten away by Mira everyday.



- Receiving lesser angpaus this year. Sob...



- Feeling bad because I'm too busy with the clips till I don't have time to practice the guitar.



- Waiting to get back to college to settle more things and re-meet my friends over there.



- Damn looking forwards to CNY Day 5.



- Most importantly, I'm always wishing everyone I know to stay healthy, stay cool, stay active and stay happy all the time. ^ ^

Mira - The Pup Who Lived

Mira is really a cute lovable essence.

Meet Mira.

Her name is pronounced 'Mee-rah' instead of 'My-ra', not even 'Mir-ror'. Like any other ordinary puppies, Mira is cute with her soft fur and beautiful eyes, of course very mischievious, loves to sink her small fangs in almost everything she sees or smells especially plastic bags, sometimes a little annoying to the family, but nonetheless there's is this something you can't hate at all no matter what.

Oh, don't get deceived by her innocent look, as she pretends to raise her front paw to 'shake your hand'. When you stretch your hand to shake her paw, you're in for a big surprise. =)
One thing you must know. She's far more special than any other puppies out there. The name 'Mira' also exists for a reason. For those who've known or seen my sister's blog, or touched Mira before MAY know the reason why.

October 1, 2008 is the day we met. But unfortunately not the way we intended to. One afternoon, my sister heard yelps outside the house. She was restess at that point, but as the yelps kept continuing non-stop, she decided to check it out. When she reached the drain outside our house, she was shocked. She found a small, feeble puppy in the grass-overgrown drain. When she picked her up, the puppy was so weak you can't even feel her breathing. But to have the strength to keep yelping, it really is amazing already.

She brought the puppy back to our house. I left my laptop to see the ill-fated puppy. We were dumbstruck when we inspected her entire body. She was covered with many fire-ants, perhaps over one hundred of them, all sinking their jaws right into the flesh of the poor puppy. Something else caught our eyes and left us flabbergasted. On 3 parts of its body, there are HOLES filled and infested by fire-ants, larvae and maggots. They were crawling all around the holes. You can even see its brain, slowly moving constantly. Other than that, we turned her around and saw more fire-ants sticking on the puppy's flesh. I will not provide any pictures of the puppy's condition that time, because trust me, it really is an unbearable sight to behold.

We felt so helpless, we did not know what to do. Anything we do to try help the puppy may result in worsening her condition, or for the worst. The puppy was getting weaker and weaker every minute. We can't watch her die just like that! We have to help her at all cause! Then I did one of the most disgusting thing ever in my life so far - to pluck out all the fire-ants from her body. The puppy whimpered in agony as one by one the fire-ants are plucked out. When I pluck out one fire-ant, it feels exactly like taking out the cover of a pen. I'm serious. I believe no one would like to experience something like that, but for the puppy's sake, I don't care and I'll keep doing anything I can to rescue her from her misery.

After taking out ALL the damned fire-ants (except those stuck in her 3 deep flesh wounds), we brought her to the vet to get her healed and wounds all sealed up. This is how she was right after the operation: Creepy-crawlies removed and hole remains.

The doctor said she has only a 50/50 chance of survival. This puppy has been too lucky to ever survive this mishap. Other puppies might just give in to Nature's Act. As we placed her into a small basket covered with cloth, the puppy showed no sign of breathing. At first we thought she wasn't going to make it, also giving in to Nature's Act. But we sincerely prayed to God so that this puppy will be able to overcome this horror befalling her. Survive, little puppy! We have faith in you!

Then, after the days pass by, she started to show some signs of recovering and fighting to survive.

Soon after that, she started to walk and eat normally. All her wounds were also healing. In the end, we were all touched deeply when we heard her first joyful bark.

Till now, she is still the same puppy, biting whatever she smells, giving surprises to people trying to shake her hand, and giving us a hard time to make her quiet. But she's still special. That's why we all love her. We may get bitten and have our shoes dragged to any corner of the backyard. Well, what's that compared to our unconditional love towards dear Mira?

To look back at my first sentence of the blog, despite the grammar error, there's actually a meaning inside it. That's also the reason why we called her 'Mira'.

Mira Is Really A Cute Lovable Essence

Work

For the past few days, I've been working. For money.

This is my house's desktop computer. My job is to input all the bills and receipts of my dad's company into a database software, which many of you have heard of, which is UBS Accounting System. For Art Class students, this surely rings a bell in you. For Science students, some of you may heard of it and some may not. But it's an accounting/database management software.

Okay, so I wasn't really working with the outside world, but hey, my dad promises me to give me some 'salary' once I finished with the work. Data after data, documents after documents, day after day, I kept typing and typing, basically doing the same thing all over again.

I have to admit that over the 'working days', I've dozed off over the same old work twice already. Till today, I still cannot imagine how boring and dull and meaningless it may seem to keep repeating everyday all over again, keep doing the same thing with no slight changes in life, keep going through the daily routine every time till you retire... Sorry if this sounds sensitive and personal, but I have to tell the truth that this is how I feel about working life. Dull. Un-'lively'. Sooner or later, depressing and in the end, making an enjoyable life not enjoyable. I just couldn't stand doing the same thing for the rest of my life. Perhaps that's life. Perhaps that's reality indeed. Maybe I'm still too naive and not ready to face the facts yet, still standing tall and boastful about having the best life I can have. But, I've heard from some of my friends that they actually like this kind of lifestyle. Doing the same thing all over again till they stop working and live happy at old age. Without doing anything adventurous. Exciting. Lively. At first, I don't understand why. Then again, I felt that I'm too selfish and self-centered. I should respect others' opinions and perspectives as well.

To be honest, I still enjoyed working these few days. There are indeed many challenges (not physically) while doing my work. Wonder how much will I get? XD So, that's all for my post then. Oh, and Alison? Please take note that I'll be making a post about dear Mira. If you want to do it first, or you've done it already, or maybe you got something to say, better say it now, or I'll begin typing after a few days from now. Haha!

I guess I'm still not ready to enter the real world...

A terrifying driving lesson

I failed my QTI.

To be honest, I nearly forgotten how afraid I was to sit in any kind of transport, for example, buses, trains and even airplanes. The reason is because I fear that at anytime if the transport malfunctions or explodes, I'll die in it and there's nothing I can do but have my life ended. Well, that's thinking too pessimistic, you may say. Whatsoever, I FEARED being in transportations, soon after sitting on KTMs, LRTs and 'AirAsia's, I forgotten how afraid I was about this matter. After my QTI, I FEAR being in transportations. Not as serious as before, but it kept my hear pounding insanely.

So after 8 hours of driving lessons, I gained plenty practices and experience on 'Naik Bukit', 'Parking' and 'Tiga Penjuru'. Which is my most confident part? It's the driving-on-the-highway part. XD Then, my QTI (Pra-Ujian) started and a so-called examiner entered the small lime green Kancil. He wasn't as friendly as my instructor before, so I got a little uncomfortable and started driving.

The way he instructs is completely different than the previous instructor. The aunty taught me to go slow and steady, make sure you have a long distance afar before U-turning or switching lanes. But this uncle rushes. Just like those ordinary drivers. He will ask me to switch gear even before I gain speed and he wants me to switch lanes as fast as I could, even though a speeding car is heading my way. In other words, the aunty is 'slow' and 'steady', the uncle is 'fast' and 'aggresive'. Maybe I'm too slow and steady already even though it's not a bad thing. But I admit, I was very nervous and panicking when he kept instructing me to rush and rush. I wasn't used to it, so I didn't know what I was doing. Just after that, when I turned out of the U-junction, suddenly, way too abruptly due to losing control over his instructions...

I hit the brakes on the opposite road after the junction. The car stopped dead.

The uncle was yelling at me like hell. I stared to my left and stunned as I saw cars speeding towards me. My whole mind went blank. It's a feeling similar to you standing in front of a locomotive train's railways, head on with the light-speed train. The cars started horning frenzily without decelerating, the instructor starts yelling at me like hell, forcing me to keep rushing and drew his hands on my steering wheel to take over. This could sound dramatic, but at that moment, everything was like moving in slow-motion. My whole body paralyzed with fear, there was nothing in this world that could knock me out of this feeling. For the first time of my life, I felt so afraid and lost. I had no idea what would happen next, perhaps I don't even know what to do at all. Then... suddenly, uncertain of who or what made me snap back to reality...

I pressed down the accelerator with full force and released my foot from the clutch. The whole car jerked and sped off the road, right into another safe lane for U-turning. Without hesitation, I grabbed the steering wheel and spun with all my might. My heart was pounding like crazy, pounding as if it never pounded before. After much hard work, I finally regained control over the Kancil. The uncle was extremely furious but petrified as well. I turned out of the safe lane and resumed my journey back to the JPJ HQ.

After reaching the HQ, he left the car in a hurry, sat on a table nearby and wrote my marks for this QTI. I didn't care at all on how much marks I got, at the moment I was still recalling the events that happened not long ago, on how careless and reckless I was, on how I could get myself and the uncle killed right on the spot, on how I treated all these driving lessons as a game just because I assumed I got the hang on it...... The reason I disliked driving and refused to learn driving all came to surface.

Before much thoughts, the uncle handed over my results. I stared at the paper and I was stunned once again.

After reaching home at the end of my lesson, as I sit in front of my laptop typing this, I still could not forget what happened today. Because of today, I learnt a valuable lesson. Don't take driving too lightly. As a driver, you put every passenger's safety in your hands, not just that, all those pedestrians, motorcyclists and cars near you are also indirectly under your mercy. One careless move and tragedies will happen. Just keep that in mind guys. Anyway, I passed my QTI actually, but to me, I'll take it as a fail, because I screwed up in the end. Badly. The only words the uncle written are these:

I was willing to go for another 2 hours. I don't mind. I will not repeat the same mistake again. I will not! The next time I step into a car, I will not be careless! I will always be in constant vigilance at all cause! It's a promise to myself and I will keep it!

Anyway, if you guys have any terrible driving experiences, whether before, during or after the JPJ exam, feel free to comment them here for all of us, I'll appreciate that. Oh, for some of you who don't know how to post comments (a friend of mine doesn't know), just click on 'Comments' and click the third tab: Name/URL. You can put your name but not the URL. The comment will go up as usual. =)

Till next time, JPJ exam, I'll be ready!

Movies I recommend once again.

Well! Happy New Year everybody! Although it's quite late already, but nah, who cares? XD

So, there I am, pretending that I'm a great movie reviewer. D= I didn't watch Quarantine at all due to my exams. The Day The Earth Stood Still was nice, but it lacks a proper climax. In the end, for The Spirit? Ha.Ha.Ha. I found out that plenty people left even before the showed reached halfway, even including those who left from the movie hall me and my friends were in. Haha! To me, this is a fair movie, but to others, it sucked like hell. Haha! Sorry for recommending this movie to you guys, but don't worry, I 'll try better next time!
Anyway, wanna see the reviews on this movie? =D

So, here we go with 3 more movies!

(1) Inkheart

This movie will be released around January 22. This is one movie many are talking about.

(with proper reference from the synopsis at GSC.com) One night, a bunch of thugs arrive at the house and kidnap Mo (Brendan Fraser) to take him to see , a cruel and evil dictator. Mo’s daughter, Meggie (Eliza Bennett) soon finds out that Mo has the ability to read characters out of books. The only drawback is that when he brings something out of a story, something must go back in to replace it. This is how her mother (Sienna Guillory) went in to the book, “Inkheart”. Determined to get Mo and her mother back, Meggie together with Eleanor, Dustfinger (Paul Bettany) and Farid (characters from “Inkheart”) set-out an epic quest. Can they find another copy of Inkheart to send Capricorn and his thieves back into its pages?


(2) Red Cliff II

I can't believe I'm posting this. XD

Well, I have to admit that I don't watch Red Cliff at all, but not just Asians, but plenty of people around the world are amazed of John Woo's directing skills. His movies never fail anyone and keeps them clinging to their seats throughout his movies. One of the many fantastic series he directed is "Red Cliff". To tell you the truth, when Red Cliff first went on the screens, it struck down Hancock in its gross, estimated by $550,000. With a budget of US$80million, Red Cliff is the most expensive Asian-financed film to date. Although it sounds like a big movie gamble, but through all the positive reviews from millions of people, Red Cliff scored glory and hence the expected second part of it. This movie will be released at 23 January.


(3) Valkyrie

A not-so-attractive-from-the-outside movie that I recommend. =)

Tom Cruise is leading in this act. Although this movie had been shown around the U.S., but Malaysia's having it shown this year, at 12 February 2009. I wouldn't want to post its sypnosis because it's damn long, so I'll just give a brief. This is a true story about an unknown hero in a "July 20 plot" to kill Hitler during the World War II. I believe this will be an interesting movie (far better than The Spirit), so I recommend this movie for you all. As a reminder, I rather you save the money for other movies if THIS movie sounds uncertain to you. But trust me, this is one great movie with great casting. Anyone who likes Body of Lies, try this.


So, that's all for the recommended movies. Some other movies which I have not mentioned but good to see - can be viewed by you guys. Such as Underworld: Rice of the Lycans, the movie inspired by Quarantine, Rec[●] and maybe Pink Panther 2! For the time being, till then my friends. And you can check out the 3 movies' trailers at the right side of this blog.