PROcrastinator

Yes, I know this is quite a cliche topic, but I can't help but to rant something about this here. I have to admit, I am quite a procrastinator. A PRO(fessional)crastinator indeed!

Why am I saying that? Well, your dumb kiddo here actually forgotten to hand in his assignment!!

Yes people, we need to hand in IS 44 assignment online, and the deadline is at 9pm, Thursday. I actually completed the assignment on Monday, but didn't hand it in because I thought it may need some changes some where, and also purely I want to hand it in at the last minute possible.

Guess what? Actuarial Evening was on Thursday night. I was so caught up with all the preparation for the evening, attended the event all suited up, and came back well before 9pm as the event end at 7pm. But, this kiddo here actually went and chilled out in a friend's room, too lazy to walk all the way back to his room, and totally forgotten about the assignment.

At roughly 11pm, he happened to check the assignment website aka Blackboard, realized he has a quiz to take, and suddenly realized he haven't hand in his assignment. The link to hand in the assignment was long gone, and along with it goes the 15 marks. All he could do? Slap and laugh and blame himself for his stupidity. And because he scored a big fat 0, the class average dropped to 11 out of 15. What a b*^%$@#!

Well, maybe he has learnt his lesson this time, and will hand in his assignment well before the due date next time. But then again, he is so lazy that this post is actually 2 days late. Wonderful side of life, isn't it?

Want to see him all suited up for Actuarial Evening?

Never mind the slippers and shoes, he's in someone else's room.

There you go! Look at his face and you will know he is lazy. It is written all over his face, isn't it?

Another month to Paper FM/2, and he is still procrastinating. Can some body come and wake him up from his bed, and give him a big slap on the face? No? Zzzzzzzzzz...

On a side note, the moon here on the fifteen day of the eight month on the lunar calendar is as bright as the street lights! The moon appear bigger and brighter here than in Malaysia.

Time management

After being stressed out with some ridiculous assignment and two tests, I finally get to de-stress and debrief a little here.

Studies studies. The way of studying in a university and college and high school is so so different.

I still remembered how I was studying for high school's public examination. All I did? Paid attention in the last few classes of the year, skipped class the last few weeks to hang out with friends, and start to flip through the books in the last 24 hours. Now you know why the shirt in the earlier post fitted me, right? I am hooked on laziness!

After that, I ended up in college. The first semester was a breeze, partly because the subjects were easy enough. I screwed up the second semester, since then I started to recover from the dramatic drop of CGPA. It wasn't until my 5th semester that I managed to get it to satisfactory level. After using that semester's result to apply for entry to university, I didn't care much to maintain the CGPA. The way I studied here varied. I paid more attention to some subjects, then there are some subjects which I just do last minute revision. Heck, I even skipped so many classes for breakfast one semester! It was fun though.

After college came the emotional departure from home in Malaysia to bring my arse all the way to the proud land of United States of America. It's only 1 month and 2 days here, with 3 weeks into classes, and I am starting to feel the heat. Well, the work load is way higher than college and high school. I think that's what everyone should expect, isn't it? Here, studying before class is expected, which till now I haven't even done it! If I did it, I wouldn't struggle before the test! To add salt to wound, I had two test on the same day, with an hour gap in between, after two other classes for the day, and an assignment to hand in. I was trying hard to study, finish the assignment, keeping my eyes open, and holding up my head from the headache I was suffering from. I couldn't stand the pressure, but luckily I don't go beserk. Ice cream and a poor guy became my victim. Thanks to him who spent time talking to me when he was quite busy as well.

In the end, the tests wasn't as tough as expected, though I ought to put in more effort. One more test coming up next Tuesday, 8 am in the morning! Ruining all my sleeping time! The question whether should I change my major kept running through my mind, keeping me unsure of what I am pursuing. My dreams seem so far away from reach! If only I have more time. Well, time management is important in university I must say. Maybe I have learnt my lesson this week; maybe I must arrange my time better; maybe I should cut down on my social activities, possibly make it to the least possible, or zero. Well, no sacrifice no victory, right?

Anyhow, I think the best thing that happened to me this week was I didn't break down and gave up right away. Luckily I still managed to stand up and face the challenge, and now learnt my lesson. A test next week, and my professional paper in 6 weeks time, I guess I should really manage my time more wisely and pay more attention to studies, shouldn't I?

Difference between cash flow and water flow -- no difference

Three more days and I am here in Iowa, USA for a month already. Old fashioned as it is, I must still say, time flies. Being here for nearly a month, I couldn't help but to spend money. Well, some are necessities, but there are also impulse buy. Out of boredom, I decided to take pictures of what I have bought so far and list them here.

Warning: Don't spend money like how I did, you'll be shocked over how many things I am about to list here.

Necessities:


toiletries container, along with tooth paste, face wash, hair and body shampoo


detergent and softener (it's supposed to be purple colored, but it turned out dark blue. Blame my camera!)


gloves


laundry bag


jeans


comforter


belt


socks


bowl


forks and spoons, well, it's more worth it buying a set. Anyone in need of utensils? I don't mind selling. =p


Lamp

Impulse buy:


T-shirt


T-shirt, again. Heck, one is USD18, two will be USD18.88, whadda you think?


M&Ms-my third packet!


Green tea lemonade


Sweater. I bought it because it looks very nice. Bad impulse!

I even bought ice cream to eat. Twice!

Impulse buy, but there's a necessity for it:


Shoes


Headphones with microphone


Breakfast cereals


Milk and Gatorade


Sandals

The biggest chunk of my money goes to:


Text books!

Well, some of these stuffs listed above will end up as junk.


Sigh, so much for getting my debit card, with the pretty Minnesota Timberwolves design.


What are you looking for? Like the clip art? =p I am showing you the design, not the number!

I need to constraint myself from further spending!

Today's topic -- Weather.

People here say there's a lot to talk about the weather. I was skeptical at it at first, but later found out that it was quite true.

I was at the health center the other day to get consultation for my worsening cough. The first thing the receptionist said to me was, "it's cold out there, isn't it?" Boy oh boy, it WAS freezing! In between my coughs, I replied, "it sure is!" Guess what she say? "This is only the beginning, young man." O. M. G. Beginning?! It's already 10 Celsius and it's only the beginning? Sigh.

The next day, it was still freezing, just minus the rain. I got into Bell Center for basketball in the evening, and mentioned it was cold outside. The guy at the front desk said, "that's cold? There's more to come! And today ain't cold dude!" Sigh. Looks like I'll need to get use to the weather here as soon as possible! I wonder what will happen if I were to go back to Malaysia for tropical weather. Lolz.

Today's weather isn't too bad. For those who live in Malaysia, today's weather is slightly colder than Genting Highlands, or rather Cameron Highlands nowadays. I am not too sure about the temperature today, but it shouldn't deviate too much from the past few days.

There's one more thing about the weather here. The temperature fluctuates quite a bit between the days and the nights compared to Malaysia. I guess the main reason is the lack of clouds. And why there's a lack of clouds? Well, I was walking with a few of my friends the other day and we came up with a few theories.

First, no people dry their clothes out on the line here like Malaysia, therefore there's a lack in water evaporation to create clouds. Crappy and funny theory. Lolz.

Next, and makes more sense, Iowa is not surrounded or bordered by the sea unlike Selangor back in Malaysia. The lack of water surrounding Iowa will lead to a decrease in evaporation, and therefore lack of clouds. Sounds similar to the desert? Well, quite true, just that we do get rain fall here, although the rain fall can be a whole day! We call that chang ming yu in Mandarin, don't we?

There were one or two more crappy theories which came up, and we ended up having a good laugh. I can't seem to recall what were the other theories, but it sure was a good joke! =)

Well, there you go. Who says we can't talk much about the weather here in Iowa? I have a whole post on it! Try talking about the weather in Malaysian bus stops to some stranger, I'll bet you get some quizzical looks! Lolz.

Good food!

For the past two days, I had good food for lunch. =) What a relief.

First was Indian food at a restaurant named Indian Star. It is Indian food, buffet style, but Americanize. It was good. To add on suffering from campus food, it made the Indian food taste extraordinarily great. There was Roti Naan, which taste similiar to Malaysia's Roti Canai! Then there was the curry chicken. Oh my god! Curry! I have never tasted curry for almost a month! It was Americanize though, meaning it wasn't hot. It has all the taste of a curry, just that it wasn't spicy/hot enough. But all in all, it was good food, buffet style. Me and Adrian helped ourselves big time! Thanks to Anthony who brought us there. =)

Next was lunch with my host family today. Yes people, I have a host family here in Des Moines. It's wonderful to have a host family, get to play with the kids, and talk to someone. I would say it's very interesting. Anyway, back to the topic, FOOD. Well, it's American food, but still taste way better than campus food. The corn was cooked to perfection, unlike Hubbel's, which is overcooked. Then there was grilled chicken fillet, and baked potato cubes with onion and green pepper, and toasted cheese bread and garlic bread.

Oh what heaven! Good food entering my mouth to my digestive system! Wonderful!

Okay, a little about my host family. They came to pick me up, together with Shze Yeong, who happens to have the same host family as me. We hit the freeways, with me enjoying the sceneries. There was golf course and corn fields and cars. Then came their housing area.

O. M. G.



Every house look so pretty. Each with a big piece of land as their backyard, and another piece of land as their front yard. Well, I have seen this in Australia, but I still got fascinated with it. When we reached the house, I can't help but to think that this family is quite well to do.



A few things other than the food worth mentioning here are:

1. They have a basketball rim at the front yard, which like almost every house in the area has one some where in the yard.
2. They have 5 cars, and one of them is a Pontiac sports car.
3. They have a foosball table, though it's those kind for kids. I got my hands on it a while though.
4. They have a a huge flat screen tv. How huge? Roughly 50'' I would say. Maybe a little bigger.
5. I lost count on how many bicycles they have.
6. Their children, 3 boys and 1 girl, are so adorable.
7. The way children are brought up here is very different from the way children are brought up back in Malaysia.
8. They have a cat, a huge cat; a tortoise which have blood red eyes looking so fierce; and a few fish.

I wish I will have the chance to own a house some sort like that later in life, whether here or any where else on Earth. =p It's just too nice. Okay, maybe I need more time to get use to it. But I still love it, won't deny and never will deny. =)



I am coughing yet I ate ice cream. I had a sudden urge to eat ice cream. Yes, I am crazy. Good night folks.

A Malaysian perspective of food

Someone asked me this: "How come you never update your blog?" Did my previous post lapse that long? I wonder. Anyway, succumb to pressure you can say, I decided to post something today.

As Malaysians, we cannot, I repeat, can NOT, live without food. I must say, Malaysians generally live to eat. The food we can get in Malaysia is quite unique. Don't believe me? Tell me, where else on Earth can you get food like asam laksa, nasi lemak, roti canai, curry mee, or even maggi mee? Well, you may get maggi mee some where else other than Malaysia, but it does not taste the same as the one in Malaysia. Roti canai is unique to Malaysians, because India only have capati, not roti canai. =)

Why am I suddenly talking about food? Well, the answer is clear. I don't fancy the food here. It is either too bland or too salty. Yes, it is that bad after having 20 years of great food, what more, Malaysian food! The closest food we can get to Malaysian food is the fried rice here, which still taste quite a distance off from the fried rice we get in Malaysia.

The food here are quite easy to prepare. Everything here is either throw into the pan together or wrap it all up together. Okay, maybe the pasta is different. Guess what, I can count how many good meals I have had here in US! First is the pasta, which wasn't that bad. Then there is the roast pork on gravy, which I personally think that it was very nice. Another one is when I went off campus to a Mexican restaurant. This is the best meal I have had by far, and the most satisfying. Thanks to Grace who brought us there. =)

So, if you are in Malaysia and in the process of transferring to US, remember to enjoy and treasure Malaysian food to the best you can! Yes, I must admit, I miss Malaysian food very much, very very much. Anyone kind enough to courier over some for me? =p

Disclaimer: the title only stands for me as a Malaysian, not every Malaysian. =)