Of CNY

My first Chinese New Year abroad and it was awesome!!! ('awesome' sounds too American :P)

We made steamboat for reunion dinner. I thought we didn't have enough food but we actually had more than enough. Started cooking since 12 in the afternoon, and we ate from 7 at night to 12. Had two broths - chicken and tomyam. And our selection of food was chicken, salmon, quail's eggs, fu zhu, mushrooms and many many balls. Lol. =) We just talked and talked and laughed and laughed. Reminded me of mamaks back at home.

The next day, we went to Chinatown and Trafalgar Square to check out the crowds. Damn, it was so packed. And the prices were rip offs. I saw 1 stick of chicken satay costs 1 pounds. Had lunch/dinner at Pizza Hut. I missed the firecrackers though.

To all readers, Gong Xi Fa Cai! And as an afterthought, Hong Bao Na Lai.

Of Malaysia's Largest Export

There was this once, when Darren, proudly showed us Malaysians his newly acquired pirated DVD from the good ole Britain. Without a doubt, it was in good quality - pirated wise. Then, one of my friends spotted right at the upper corner of the DVD cover, written in big letters, in a big glowing star - "RM 5!"

So much for the cracking down of piracy - they are Malaysia's largest export!

(P/s: thanks for all the support i have been receiving when I revived my blog. Its just too much, guys. sniff, sniff. Heh =))

Of Basketballs and Pictionary

Stupid me slept at 7 pm and woke up at 9 pm. Now I can't sleep at all. Argh.

The start of classes. Really miss hanging out with my classmates - all of them. Its just so fun talking with them and criticising every single lecturer again. Hehe. No matter whichever country you are from, the similiarities are actually much more than the differences.

I had the most depressing lecture of Economics ever. Found out I can only get a maximum of 67 marks. Argh. I can't wait to get my other scores. If I have an average way higher than that score, it is just prove to the testament that that paper is screwed up.

Finally had my first game of basketball. Took me ages for me to get the motivation to walk out in the blistering cold for a nice game. And yes, it was blistering cold. Furthermore, it rained. So I played basketball in the cold, wet weather of winter. Nice. =)

And I can't say how much I LIKE eBay. Bought Pictionary!!!!! And am having a great time playing it with friends. Worthwhile purchase, I must say.

I somewhat enjoyed this week.

Of (Relatively) Cheap Cuisine

My apettite has grown really really small. I used to be able to gulp down food by the mountains, and now, sometimes, I feel it a chore just to eat some stuff. Granted that I am still the largest eater among the other Malaysians here (even been credited as a bottomless pit), I still feel I am just not eating as much.

Its funny how much you really miss Malaysian food when you don't have loads of it. Funnier thing is: there will always be a discussion on the best Malaysian food at least once a week, thrice when we are feeling particularly hungry. Ah... to have all those food at our disposal (I refuse to mention any for fear of salivating over my keyboard).

I had a discussion on relative prices in the UK just today. The average meal in Malaysia is around RM3. The average meal in the UK is well, 3 pounds. Relatively, they are of the actual same price. BUT, a musical ticket here is roughly 20 pounds, 7 times the price of food here, where as in Malaysia, one ticket will set you aside RM80, about 27 times the price. Comparing both of them, it is actually more worth it to buy expensive stuff here as it is relatively cheaper, i.e just setting you aside a few meals, whereas in Malaysia it is definitely cheaper to eat, eat and well, eat. Now, we know why we Malaysians are a greedy lot. Its not because we just love it, its also because food is so, so, so , so much cheaper there.

As a side note, with this thought in mind, no wonder i've been spending so much time on eBay recently. =)

Of More and More Stress

Of all the ways to start the end of the holidays (Hey, this sounds familiar), Mr. Karlsson just had to give us ridiculously tough questions for our Introduction to Economics paper, which (I felt) was impossible to solve. Argh. I should have studied. Damn.

That being said, I just realised something. If someone was to Google Mr. Karlsson's or Dr. Gerard's name, will they go to this blog? Haha, free publicity. =)

I just rediscovered Dungeon Siege 2. Ah, killing creeps has never felt so, so, satisfactory. =) Since talking with God has proven boring and stupid, I have to resort to other factors to de-stress.

3 down, 3 more to go! When will it end?

Of Post-Traumatic Stress

Of all ways to start the end of the holidays, Dr. Gerrard just had to give us ridiculously tough questions for our Probability and Statistics 1 paper, with minimal time to solve. Expected us to find median, quartiles and outliers where the working is oh-so-long and the marks oh-so-little (worth only a meagre 4 marks)

Just did my laundry. I could hand-wash them but I wouldn't. Could just use the extra time to write this entry, study, sleep, watch anime or play Black & White. I dislike exams. All those precious time wasted away doing meaningless stuff. Well, if I was to waste my life doing meaningless stuff, I would at least make sure I LIKE doing those meaningless stuff. =) (just coming up with a reason to support my fetish with sleep and anime)

Come to think of it: studying for exams have taken up almost a quarter of our lives away. To think that we could have used that time to er... have more fun, enjoy our childhood, learn how to scuba dive, improve DoTa skills, scale and name a new mountain, discover some miraculous new drug which can cure whatever disease in the world. See? Exams deprive us from achieving these goals. The world might end up a worse place thanks to exams.

I am just ranting here... This is what we call post-traumatic stress. Lucky for you guys I decide to vent it out on you lot. =)

Of Absence Maketh the Heart Groweth Fonder

Dear constant patrons who have finally given up on my blog,

Its the year 2006. My name is Zijian, Chong (now more commonly known as ZJ) trying my best in the field of actuarial science at City University, London.

I went through a short (3 months) phase of hibernation, what with all the stuff I went through: I have already watched 6 musicals, travelled to Nottingham, Manchester and Newcastle, and visited almost all the touristy places in London already. All of which I had a blast doing (well most of it anyway)

I have decided to revive my once-dead blog, bringing it back to its original splendour. It is a new year after all. Time for change.

Time for me to change.

Happy New Year,
ZJ