Of Innocent Days

My mum introduced to me the world of books when I was at a young, tender and 'innocent' age. Therefore, it is thus right that I list down my top 10 children's books of all time so that if you guys want to relive your 'innocent' childhood, I recommend these particular books/ book series that captured my young, tender and 'innocent' imagination:

In no particular order:
1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
(what more can a brat want than a book filled to the brim with chocolate, chocolate and chocolate)

2. The Witches by Roald Dahl
(i like the fact that he put witches as bald, possessing square feet and large nostrils. also another reason was that this book encourages us to be stinky and for a kid, that was a good thing)

3. Animorphs series by K.A. Applegate
(awesome! kids saving the world by turning into animals. the plot is pretty good too. too bad i missed the last book- book 55 out of 55 books but it was a good 54 throughout)

4. The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton
(land on top of a very tall tree, which practically grows any fruit imaginable and which houses unique characters like Moon-Face, Silky the Elf (not Legolas-type) and Dame Washalot)

5. The Five Find-Outers series by Enid Blyton
(the book which made fat look cool. main character Fatty is smart, witty, cheery and of course, fat)

6. The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton
(how can i forget the book that got me started into reading. Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy, I owe you guys one!)

7. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
(got you, didn't I? a very good children's literature classic. and check out the movie starring a young Winona Ryder and a very, very young Kirsten Dunst)

8. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
(thats nothing much to say about the book which the whole world is talking about, which spawned three movies, introduced Emma Watson and made J.K Rowling the richest woman in the United Kingdom)

9. Spooksville series by Christopher Pike
(the best horror series created for kids. this is so unlike the childish creations of a Mr. R.L Stine. these books are fantastic. i never get tired of them!)

10. Charlotte's Web by E.B White
(Synopsis: The tale of how a little girl named Fern, with the help of a friendly spider, saved her pig Wilbur from the usual fate of nice fat pigs (as quoted from the back page of Puffin)

There you go. 10 books/ book series which I personally recommend to those who want to remain young at heart. Any others that I miss out?

Of Facing the Facts

Have just completed two chapters of Contract Law : Misrepresentation and Mistake and continuing to the third : Damages. My Law teacher would be so proud!

For those who are uninitiated, my lack of updates is due mainly to the fact that my A-Levels are coming up and that I am addicted to DOTA.

If I have the time...

Of Surviving and Coming Out Stronger

What a week! Took the weekend off to recover but still can't seem to get over the emotional turmoil I suffered from the past week.

Monday (11/4/05)
Just returned from a JPA camp. Wished it didn't end so early though. It was a camp designed to ssek potential. Potential in being a future politician. Don't actually want the extra scholarship, no that I don't want to be one (i believe Parliament could do with some people like me), but that I prefer not to have the extra strain imposed by it. But then, camp was great fun! Wasn't expecting it but managed to flirt with some girls, play UNO till dawn, exchange crappy jokes and have a dream vacation. Returned with college and was loaded with lots of Law stuff by Ying Khai to be ready for the moot. Sigh. Back to sad, sad reality.

Tuesday (12/4/05)
Am depressed. And stressed. Notice last post at bottom. I just needed to vent out. Burdened with studying for trials as well as preparing for the moot. I thought that multi-tasking was my forte but apparently its not going too smoothly. The only saving grace was that it was a Math paper today and I could release a bit of my stress by doing something I love - Math, not Law - note. I didn't know that mooting required so much reading and reading and reading. My eyes were drooping, I looked haggered, my head was pounding, I was more tired than I should be. Mooting really was taking a lot of my time and my energy and my sanity.

Wednesday (13/4/05)
Today was Law. Tort actually. I didn't like the way I studied for this paper - namely relying on my photographic memory to recall all the stuff two hours before the exam. I know that I can do it, just didn't like the way I did it. It is my belief that though I had mooting to do, I refused to blame mooting for me doing badly in the exam. I should know my priorities, and it would be my fault for not putting some things first than the other. Prepared my moot speech. Practised with it for a while. Had a fever. Go figure whether I was happy then.

Thursday (14/4/05)
Relieved and elated. Believe it or not, we won the moot!!! Surprise, surprise! Went up against the most senior team with little - only the endless support of the lecturers- backing us up. I did the best I could and in the end - suddenly all the three days of hard labour seemed worth it. (not!). It was definitely not worth it, the three weeks of us being thrown into the abyss of dismay. But I would not regret this experience. Had a great time. And I could finally control my emotions when I spoke- for once- something I had been longing to do for a long time. This sealed it. I am so glad that I am doing Actuarial Science and not Law. Give me surds and trigonometry and calculus, but no Law. Please, I'm begging you. Most of the credit should be given to Ying Khai though. Dude, I really respect your passion and enthusiasm for Law. And I guess the hope that I would not dissappoint you was the only incentive to keep me going. Just remember the next time you ask me to moot again, I shall throw the Law reports at your head.

Friday (15/4/05)
Three exams today!!! Die liao. Economics was a blur. My brain wasn't functioning properly. Aftermath of the win, perhaps. Next came three straight hours of Accounting, which was annoying because we were the only two left in the examination hall (due to the fact that we had to postpone the test for mooting) So we ended up talking during the exams, which was ample entertainment. By the way, costing sucked.

Saturday (16/4/05)
Played DOTA the entire day. What a way to destress! Spent about RM40 doing absolutely nothing. I deserve a break, don't I?

Sunday (17/4/05)
I took the day to catch up on my sleep. Sometimes the best way to relax is just to catch some shut eye.

Will You Be There for Me?

Will you be there for me?
When I need somebody there.

Will you listen honestly
To all the probems I have to share?

Will you only let me speak?
And never utter a single word?

There are answers which I seek
But I can't do it when I'm not heard.

The life I have I do not own
But intermixed with highs and lows

Sometimes I'm lost and all alone
And I put on a brave face just for show

That is when I really need you
And all the comfort your presence gives

Just know that I am human too
So just be there when all hope leaves

It really means a lot when a friend understands

So will you be there for me?
When even I can't be there for me.

By: smartass