Sunday, July 14, 2013

Lumut 2013: Of Food, Friends, and Forced Balding...

Lumut. On the 8th to the 11th of July 2013, I and a 9 more friends from Monash University took a holiday to Lumut, Perak..... ALRIGHT. that sounded VERY preppy. I shall continue in a more casual tone.

Yes, we went to Lumut, three Year 3 Sem 1 seniors, and eight of us Year 2 Sem 1 semi-juniors. We had a blast of a time there, we ate, swam, watched telly, and pranked each other. For eating, we had a barbecue on the first night, and it was most enjoyable. Friends, food, fellowship, and fire make a great recipe for joy. In the next few days, we enjoyed Hockchew food, as well as some snacks. Among this was the red-wine mee suah, a most curious blending of ingredients to produce a delicious burst of flavours. Also there was the kong peah, a form of confectionery with biscuit-like consistency and an onion filling. I drool as I recall these wonderful flavours.


For entertainment it revolved mostly around the jokes told and situations that occured. However, one of the best memories of this was one morning where we all sat around a TV to watch a sci-fi film. It is well said that you should never bring an author to a film based on his book, a detective to a mystery film, and an actor to any film. To this I add that you should NEVER let a group of aspiring scientists watch a science fiction film. The result of this is most hilariously destructive. We fought and debated with the scientists in the film on their inaccurate and invalid assumptions, accusations, and conclusions on the science of the film with hilarious results. (OK, Fine, the filmmakers weren't scientists, but could they at LEAST do some decent research on their topic?)

Finally, the pranking...As a matter of personal pride, I managed to dunk almost everyone in the pool except for two of the seniors (lucky boys...I'll get y'all some other time). As a direct result, the girls in the group decided to get some retribution (personally, I don't know what took them so long to decide on it. I'd have avenged myself long before).

On the third day, three of the girls kindly decided to drive out to buy breakfast. However, it took them so long to come back that they decided to bring back lunch as well. Little did I know that they also decided to buy a pack of waxing strips for my legs, something that they had discussed for the past semester as a respite from the stress of exams and assignments (for those of you that do not know, I have a semi forest covering my legs, and I am proud of those beautiful hairs). That night, after a movie, I was sitting on the floor minding my own innocent business, and enjoying the relaxing environment of friendship and camaraderie. Oh how unexpected was the betrayal. Within a blink of an eye, my life changed. From peacefully sitting on the floor, I recall being piled upon by my friends. The next thing my mind registered was being pinned down with the weight of about five people and not being able to move. While struggling, I looked down, and to my horror, I saw a clear patch of plastic stuck to my right calf muscle. At that point, I knew I was doomed and that resistance would be futile. I ceased to struggle and braced myself for the hair wrenching pain of a waxing strip and the heart wrenching pain of the loss of my pride. This came quickly and did not cause much pain. I thought to myself "There, they have waxed me once. I hope they are satisfied". Never was I more wrong. Unbeknownst to me, the waxing strip could be used up to four times. As I turned away, I felt an impact on my other calf muscle. Dreading to look, I came to the harsh reality that I had indeed been pasted with the waxing strip again. Attempting to remove it, I felt a shot of pain rush up through my skin. I knew then that once the wax was applied, it wasn't going to come out without taking my beautiful strands of disulphide bonded proteins with it. I had to submit to being waxed yet again.  After the second removal of the waxing strip, I again thought that I was done. However, it had to happen yet once more before my vengeful friends were satisfied that I had been justly recompensed for my pool pushing crimes. They say that the third time's a charm, and that it usually is the best. This was proven wrong this time. On the third time, my inexperienced friend thought that it would be kinder to slowly remove the waxing strip, instead of tearing it out with lightning rapidity. Guess what? It hurt WAAAAY worse. But this was the last wax for the night. I was happy to escape with the majority of my leg hairs still intact.

The next morning, after a delicious (Fine, I was probably famished, hence the word "delicious")  breakfast of instant noodles and scrambled eggs, I accidentally turned my back on my friends as I bent over to throw away what remained of my breakfast. I felt a slight pressure on my right calf, and looked down. To my horror, not only had I been pasted with waxing paper yet again, but this time, there were TWO strips. Needless to say, the torture continued, with one strip being removed, and repasted before the process was repeated with the other strip. It took me about five times to successfully obtain both strips and hence save myself from any more waxing. At the end of this rite of torture, I experienced a potent concoction of emotions. Sadness at the loss of my hair, rage at the perpetrators of this horrific crime, and a hilarious need to laugh at the absurd patchiness of my legs and the blatant asymmetry of the bald patches. What an experience.

I can say that the above narration (yes, no names of my friends...for their sakes :P ) was greatly paraphrased due to the need to  quickly convey my fondest memories of this wonderful trip. However, I'm sure that you can see that it was a trip of much joy, fun, bonding, and an extreme amount of laughter. I can honestly say that I do not miss the place, but I miss the closeness and friendship of this trip. May our friendship and camaraderie grow in the semesters to come, and may we have more trips like this in the near future!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Back.... and its 2013. What has happened in 3 years?


Wow... I'm back in Blogger. I'm personally quite surprised at myself since I thought I'd leave this blog to die due to lack of attention. But let's try to do a summary of all that has happened since my last post in 2010. 
Its now 2013, and a LOT has happened. Let's see:

2010: Entered college, and had a LOT of lessons learnt. Matured in both thinking, and physical skills. One major memory was when I dropped Psychology due to the fact that I couldn't accept what was being said about the human mind. The lecturer was most kind, and said this to me: "A wise person understands, but does not have to accept". I have never forgotten that.


2011: Messed up my AS units, and learnt humility the hard way. Fought to regain confidence and momentum to pass the A-Levels, and by God's grace (Cliched term, but definitely true) I passed. After that, I spent 8 months not doing much, but did spend a month working for my uncle. ( I assembled SMATV antennae with him, and I learnt some stuff about the signals side of construction). I also spent 10 days in Cambodia with some children from underprivileged homes. Again, another year passed that I learnt a LOT of lessons on maturity and character


2012: Started Uni in March, I'm now pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Food Science and Technology (BSc. Food Sci/Tech). I learnt several things:
1) Times New Roman is quite nice as a font. It grows on you. So is a Justified allignment. FYI, I really love the way science cites stuff as well (Nerdmax, 2012) 
2) Studying alone helps to a certain point. But, the addition of friends to the studying helps tremendously (Ok fine, we do chat and laugh a lot, but ah well, we get the job done :P )
3) I LOVE science, but HATE exams

2013:  Worked for a month in MCKL Marketing Office and learnt a lot of lessons on how to handle people and situations. It was also a great way to learn how God puts me in places for definite reasons. Through a friend in MCKL I was introduced to a company that offered me an internship for my year end commercial attachment. I don't think it's luck, I think it's God. AND, I started Year 2...IT.WAS.TERRIBLE. Long hours, tough lectures, and tough labs. However, again by God's grace, I made it out alive. I'm currently waiting to start Sem 2. And that's where I am now.

It can be definitely concluded that I've changed a lot since 2010. I've matured, and expanded my view of life and approaches to situations and people. I've learnt a lot, and experienced a lot. Let's see how it goes from now on ;)

Monday, September 20, 2010

The awesome E2DL


Definately I've been in denial of my true nature. I cannot deny it any longer. I'm a light addict!!!! Recently, I just revisited the Surefire site, and I found out that my favorite light, the E2 Defender LED (E2DL) just had some new modes added, AND, the price(which was formerly RM 750+), fell. But, sadly the new price of my beloved light is still WAAAY above my "affordable" budget. The price is now about RM 500+..... sighs.... A RM200 drop, and I STILL have that light WAAAAAAY out of my reach.... Sighs... I shall go into a corner and emo...

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

My new blog title

Yesh, if you have noticed, my old blog title has disappeared... I hereby present to you, BENTROPY.
Ok, Its apparent I need to elaborate on this point. Entropy is the amount of disorderliness, or randomness,in a reaction system. Therefore, BEN-tropy is the amount of randomness in Ben Liew!!!! YAY!!!

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

For AGK

Why is lightning faster than thunder ?

Ah Beng and Ah Lian were on the beach on a stormy night. There were lightning and thunder all over the place. Ah Lian asked Ah Beng, “Why is it we always see the lightning before we hear the thunder ?

Ah Beng replied, “Ai yah. So simple also you don’t know. Because our eyes are in front of our ears, mah ???”

Ah Beng’s Theory on English Spelling

Aoccdrnig to Ah Beng's theroy on Enlgish, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a
toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.

I think all of us can understand what Ah Beng wrote above. So he must be right. So Ah Beng can be quite clever after all.

Ordering food at an Italian Restaurant

To impress Ah Lian, Ah Beng took her to a very expensive Italian restaurant. After sipping some fine wine, he picked up the menu but could not understand anything as it was all in Italian. Still wanting to impress Ah Lian, he went down the list in the menu and decided to pick the last item. Ah Beng confidently told the waiter "We'll have the last item, Giuseppe Spomdalucci,". The waiter replied, "I am sorry, Sir, that’s the name of the owner."

Thursday, September 2, 2010

My dead blog revived

Yes, you read that right. My blog has now been revived. But, alas, I don't know what to do. My writings have wholly been by inspiration. But, now, I have lack of inspiration... can anyone give me a topic that is suitably random for me to blog on? Can anyone provide the energy to post a new piece of randomness? HELLLLP MEEEE!!!!!