I've finally finished Tash Aw's 'The Harmony Silk Factory'. I didn't like his writing style. Yes, it had a pretty decent storyline but something in the story didn't click with me. There's a resonating harsh tone to the lines and a lack of connection between the characters and the reader. Maybe it's just me, but I find the book overrated.

Taking on Daniel Silva again. I read 'The Confessor' and his writing is somewhat reminiscent of Dan Brown. What reiterated that was the huge sticker on the book saying 'as good as Dan Brown'. Thinking back now, it might have been my initial madness over the plot of Brown's books that made me overlook what Vincent seemed to describe as a not engaging enough writing style. *shrug* Maybe now, I'll be of the opinion that Silva is better than Brown.

I also bought 'When In Rome' by Penelope Green, which entitled me to get 'Odd One Out' by Monica McInerney free. I first caught sight of Green's book in a book guide and reading the synopsis, I was sure I wanted it badly enough. Weirdly enough, it was on sale in a store despite being a spanking new book, so I bought it. I'm savouring my time before exams approach with books. ;)

What good books have YOU read lately?

Dad gave the okay. I am gonna get Internet tonight, woohoo! I'll just have to hope they install it before my whole head turns white. :) I now know the full effects of being Internet-deprived. Holy mackerel, I hateeeee it! I feel like I've missed out on so much when in reality, nothing in my life has been on hold. Uni, the house, finding a job (crossing my fingers that Nine West calls me for an interview!)

Guess that's what the Internet does to me; it just gives me a sense of release, that everything might be controversial online but it'll never get as hectic as it does in my everyday life. I mean, blog wars will never get as messy as finding a roommate who will help you survive the mad rent. ;)

My new place is lovely, guys. I would have pictures if not for the fact that I somehow misplaced the USB cable to my new camera. Ooh, did I mention I got a new hand-me-down? Yes, I realise that that's an oxymoron but that's how it is when you have older siblings. It's a Nikon 5 megapixel camera, but see, I can't show off when I don't have pictures. :(

Anyway, besides small problems with ants, a tiny broken cupboard door, not enough light, the morning noise that comes with living beside the main street leading to uni (Trinity said this includes ducks and birds squawking unnecessarily), it's lovely! I can now wake up maybe 40 minutes before the bus comes. Way enough time for a leisurely breakfast. No more pizza for dinner, guys thundering down the stairs, a cramped room, or a messy kitchen!

Best part: we have a garage. I can hold a garage sale for my junk that's accumulated over 2 years. Honest to God, I have no idea where they all come from. Really! Okay, so I do remember coming back from Malaysia with 30 kg of stuff every fricking holiday but hello, who's gonna buy my clothes here? I might as well buy them when Mom's around, even if I have to put up with the size tags reading 'L'.

There's so much pressure with being skinny back home. Mom loves asking me to step on the weighing scale. She's not obsessive, but she likes me to be normal, which to her is like 52. I think it hasn't occured to her that I haven't been 52 for about 4 years now, hah! So I never used to put on weight after 3 plates of nasi lemak at school during lunchtimes. Those days are OVER. Hahahaha.

And see, there's just no way of losing weight here. Who's ever heard of losing weight in the land of pasta and potatoes anyway? *snort* Especially when last night, Trinity and I sat down to a lovely supper of roti bantal* + Nutella  (chocolate flavoured hazelnut spread). If you've never tried it, please whack yourself hard now because it's the best. thing. ever. Do yourself and a favour and buy yourself Nutella, bread (preferably those ones meant for hot dogs) and ice cream, any flavour of your choice.

Slap Nutella on the bread. Thick layers are good for you. Have you never heard Nutella's low GI? ;) Then put loads of ice cream. Fold the bread (sort of) and INDULGE. Guarantee you'll love it. Did you know that most Australians have never eaten ice-cream on bread? Honestly, where have they been?!

I love my community messages. ;) Enjoy, babes!

* Aiyaiyai if you don't know what roti bantal is! Watch Gubra already! It's bread with ice-cream, which is so yum!

I'm Internet deprived.
They won't install broadband on a 6-month contract.
Whyyyyy?!

I'm going to start paying electricity bills.
Besides already paying my bond of an obscene sum...
I feel old!

I woke up this morning and thought that the tenants upstairs flooded their place and the water leaked down to ours.
Actually, it was just condensation from our leaking shower head.
Ugh, I can just hear the word 'stupid' echoing in MY brainless head.

I'm hungry.
Trina thinks I'm ALWAYS hungry.
I just don't like that empty feeling. =)
Making excuses for myself makes me feel less inadequate.

Two full buses drove past today; I'm sure everyone was having a ball getting to class on time.
So I was late.
And sat on the aisle for an hour.
In. a. skirt.
=.=
The sign 'no sitting on aisles' glared at me with its non-existent eyes.

Then I entered the wrong tutorial.
Yes, embarassing.
I'm sure now that the amount of people who think I'm a fool has multiplied to a thrillion at very least.

Now they've cut down my original 4-day weekends by allocating me to my single class on Friday.
WHATTTTT!

Too much shopping.
Too many smses.
The hole in my wallet is so big that my cellphone would fall right through.

Can I just say this fucking sucks?
I'm sure you'd agree with me.
RIGHT?

Trinity and I are no longer homeless! We won't have to join the Bag Man, we can reject Tristin's offer to share his cardboard box, woohoo! We're gonna move in tomorrow, but Internet's gonna take a bit longer. All the ISPs here are bitches, so we're gonna have to nail one that isn't gonna eat us alive, fats and all.

Now that that problem's down, we're getting harassed to do a housewarming. What the hell, guys? You must all be short of 'uni's only in its first fricking week' parties'. I'll bet the enthusiasm will die once I tell them it'll be a BYO event if it materialises. That's Bring Your Own (Alcohol). In my defence, I am not of legal age, haha. 

Tristin laughed when I told him BYO in this case also meant 'bring your own alcohol and feed me'. ;)

Some places we viewed were absolute rip-offs, so disgusting you wouldn't wish someone such a horrid fate, or so bloody far that there's no way we would've considered it, even if it was dirt cheap. Or maybe it'd just have to be free of charge. Trinity might shout bloody murder if any housemate smokes too, so that ruled out one of the real-life COTTAGES we considered. 

In any case, we now have a place of our own, and we're hoping someone (gullible) will come along and be our housemate so the rent doesn't burn a big enough hole that you can see us mooning everyone. I'm kidding, they have to be gullible and lovely and according to my older brother, love heavy housework. Haha, you didn't need me to tell you that my bro's a lawyer, right?

Just kidding lah. Please don't kill me, hehe.

Anyway, it's a win-win situation if they fit the criteria, see. Don't you just adore my generosity? ;)

Now, I shall continue to fend off housewarming enthusiasts!

Jason Lo's 'The Fall' opens with 'Feel No One', which is a heavy rock track. I think it's always good to get me hyped up in the beginning, especially when I'm listening to an entire album at one go, so this one did it for me.

The next track to follow is 'Operator, The Line Is Dead'. It's frequently played on Hitz FM so it should not be new to Malaysians. I'm sure you all love this one. It's not as hyper as the first track. If you've never seen the video, you should definitely try to catch it on his website. Only thing I don't understand: why aren't there Malaysians in the video? *scratches head*

And then of course there's 'Sleepy Head', the very track that saw Jason Lo in the spotlight again. Again, catch the video. Simply awesome. It's definitely one of my favourite tracks in the album.

The progression of an album is extremely important to me, especially when I'm listening to an entire album at one go. I tune out after 2 songs of the same flavour. This album definitely fared well with the track listing. 'Impress Them' right after the first three tracks was definitely a good move. It was a good slowing down process, especially because I really like this song.

The lyrics for this album is tasteful. It's not empty screaming, or rumbling rubbish that you can't decipher. I think there are enough empty songs out there to deafen the universe, so thank God this album does not fall into that category.

Really, this entire album is good. 'Redondo' sent me jumping up and down, seriously. 'In My Way' has a very angsty vibe. I like the beats at the beginning. Very catchy. And Jason Lo's suddenly haunting voice going 'testing'? Rocked.

When I heard the first few seconds of 'The Inside', I thought that Jay Chou had somehow magically taken over my speakers. Obviously, I was proven wrong. This song seems as if it tried to break off from the 'angry songs' path, but it failed. Hehe. Okay, so it's not that songs can't fall in between; I'm saying it wasn't too successful.

'Paid' is a bit of a reflection of an artist's life, or you can replace artist with any other profession that is commonly perceived as one that you enter and shouldn't hope to make big bucks, concerns about getting paid, etc. Not too big on this song, sorry, but I'm sure it caters to a lot of other people's tastes (and I'm not trying to be nice about it cause J. Lo is obviously not going to read this!).

The first part of 'The Fall' wasn't very impressive to me, even if I like the lyrics. If it hadn't been included, I doubt I would've missed much. The second part of 'The Fall' is, of course, that song you've all heard on radio that screams 'Old Newspaper!!' If it can get any more Malaysian... well, it can't! I love it. You might change the 'sau kau pou zhi' to 'sau kau tilam' since I've heard recordings of those around my neighbourhood.

I give this album 8.5 out of 10. I might be a tad biased cause J. Lo is Malaysian and I feel pride knowing that he can better a lot of other bands out there that are big internationally. ;) I think 30 bucks for an album like this was definitely worth it. :) Especially if you like rock music that isn't empty. Mine was from Rock Corner at Mid Valley; Tower Records had already ran out when we tried it.

Get your hands on a copy!

I opened my eyes. But it wasn't relief that I felt first.

It was the fear that was still holding me hostage, the leash so tight I wondered how I was breathing.

The hidden morning sun, the body clock that confirmed the light, the phone alarm set to go off at any moment,

but the significance of a new day is wasted upon me.

After a few moments with my cousin who had just awoken from her deep slumber, I picked myself up from the bed.

And then I slouched, slumped against the wall and slowly fell to the floor.

I closed my eyes.

The glimmering sunlight through the blinds weren't as powerful as the horrid images that ran through my head like an old black and white film, refusing to switch off.

But they kept going.

I pulled the hood of my jacket down, covered my eyes.

I silently longed for them to stop and disappear.

So tired... but so afraid to go back.

And suddenly, I felt it.

An emptiness where it used to be.

I waited several moments and it became a very loud emptiness that sent me into a descent of panic.

Oh God, there's an overwhelming desire to feel it beating.

I put my hands against my jacket. Nothing.

I dug through to the next layer of my cotton long-sleeved shirt. Still nothing.

Against the warmth of my body, I desperately searched for it... And when I found it, I stubbornly pressed my fingers onto my left wrist.

Yes, it was there. Strangely calm.

And I still closed my eyes again... wanting to wake up in last night when everything was still okay.

***********

An hour more to sleep and I get the worst nightmare, after 2 already not-so-nice dreams. So much for making it 8 hours of sleep. Now I feel like I haven't slept in 2 days...

Last night, I was gonna tell you guys about this place Trinity and I found, but someone made a better offer and I think it's almost definite we've lost it. I refused to offer a higher price, because... well, I'm not falling for it, whether or not that higher offer exists.

I hate it when people take me for joyrides, expecting me to be completely oblivious and stupid to their dumb tricks and follies, or be completely grateful and kiss their feet when they stop the damn ride. Rip someone else off, why don't you?

Cis... since my day is starting out horrid, I hope you guys have a brilliant day to make up for it! :)

Laziness + Choosiness + Lack of $$$ = No habitat home
No home = no Internet
No Internet = no blogging

The equations aren't hard, but I have trouble accepting them. :(

I'll be back soon! I can't survive without my dose of blogs anyway.

(Yah, this yells 'addict', right?)