Tourism Club had its annual Appreciation Dinner two days ago at Shogun 1Utama.

Haha!

This dinner was made specially for the Hi-Comms and Excos of the club who had worked so hard for the club in the previous academic year.

Shogun is one of the rather famous Japanese buffet restaurants in the PJ area, and, Japanese food + all you can eat = a very tempting combination indeed!

We arrived at around 6.50PM and started gathering our food at 7.15PM, once everybody had arrived.

It is no secret that I always lose out in buffets because of my average appetite size… People always say that I can’t even ‘eat back the price‘ in buffets…

Shogun might be slightly expensive, but with the club paying for it, nobody’s going to care!

Our group occupied three long tables and was probably the noisiest and most attention-grabbing group in the restaurant.

There was another group of people beside us celebrating a birthday – and our side sang with them too!

Everyone ate for only around the first hour, and spent the next two hours or so taking pictures, and like… simply moving around…

For some of us, this dinner marks the end of our active involvement in this club as we are ‘retiring’ from the Committee. Many are entering their final year next year, and are going to be less active…

Of course, we will be glad to help out and participate in trips, and I’m very sure the new batch of Hi-Comms are going to do an even better job in this coming academic year!

It is difficult to find such a dedicated and energetic (and noisy) group!

It’s kinda sad that some senior members are leaving as well….

A picture of the current (old) Exco:

Jon, Me, Suzanne, Shuh Yin, Rebecca and Wee TIng.

… and the upcoming (new) Exco:

Kean Kong, Jansen, Nicole and Shirly.

To make sure that Shogun blacklists Kean Kong’s name, our handsome upcoming President, for making noisy reservations, here’s our extravagant Tourism Club yum seng!

Haha, just kidding!

Finally, came the scary RM1.6K bill…

… which our pretty Treasurer smartly paid with a card…

… err, what card?

Haha, no lah… In the end it was Kean Kong who paid it!

The dinner was truly wonderful, and to cap it all, the club treated us all to a movie before leaving!

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For photos please click here!

Finally, I am no longer deaf!

I was (sort of) deaf since I came back from Redang, and I think some of my closer friends would know that…

Apparently, some Redang seawater, or sand – or fish – had gone into my right ear, causing it to be somehow ‘blocked’!

A GP (ordinary doctor) had suspected that there could have been an infection in the ear, and recommended me to an Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) Specialist in Damansara Specialist Hospital.

I didn’t have the time to go and see the doctor because it has been a busy couple of weeks, plus the fact that the hospital is so far away!

So, all this while, I could only hear with ONE ear – my left ear!

When friends talk to me, I had to tilt my head to the right side and concentrate listening with my left ear! Huhu…

… and when I talk to friends, they told me, I would uncontrollably talk softly, much softer than usual… I think that was due to fact that I couldn’t even hear my own voice completely; so even when I tried my best, I couldn’t effectively control my volume.

I knew this problem had to be solved, the Nemo that had swum into my right ear had to be removed immediately – so, two weeks ago, I went to see the ENT Surgeon for the first time; and yesterday for the second time.

Both times, the doctor peered deeply into my ear with some strange metal device and used a really small but loud (considering it was operating just beside my eardrum!) ‘vacuum cleaner’ to ‘clean’ the insides!

It was quite painful also!

Anyway, since yesterday, I have totally recovered. Now I can hear with both ears… and talk normally! YAY!

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I didn’t have a phone for the past two weeks. Ever since my phone was spoiled, I had been using Jon’s ‘backup’ phone!

I could have easily continued using Jon’s phone until, at least, I’ve passed my current ‘financial crisis’…

But unfortunately, Jon’s phone is not at all suitable for ordinary use – calling, SMSing etc. If it is ever suitable for something, I think it would be doing magic tricks!

Why magic tricks? Because, you don’t need to press the ON/OFF button on the top of the phone to switch it off!

All that is needed is a tiny little knock or impact to the back of the phone, and the power’s gone!

Jon had even removed the battery cover because the cover itself was enough to cause the small ‘impact’!

Basically, whenever there’s a small knock to the back, or when the phone is held too tightly, it switches off!

Here’s a demonstration:

If David Blaine sees this and wants to buy it from Jon, contact me! I want a commission! Kakaka…

Anyway, this phone would turn itself off simply by the pressure of my jeans! So, basically it was useless… I was still missing all my calls and messages carrying this phone in my pocket…

Yesterday, I went to Low Yat to get my new phone. I could not wait any longer…

I had always wanted to buy this phone, even when I had my original phone; I had wanted it as my ’second’ phone.

It is not exactly a new phone, and the functions are so-so only… but it is a 3G phone nevertheless. Anyway, I really like the design!

My humble new phone – Sony Ericsson Z610i!

And, its MP3 player is really quite OK, so I think it can also replace my lost iPod for the time being!

It has been quite a long time since I last updated on the smaller and more ‘random’ areas of my regular life… Let’s take a look…

Update on my room:

It’s April and my Christmas tree is still standing!

Haha!

I can still remember, this magnificent Christmas tree was bought and built on December 2, 2007. The date today is April 19th, 2008, and I still haven’t got time to remove the decorations and store away the tree!

Or maybe it’s because it is too beautiful that I don’t really want to take it away…

Or maybe I was just lazy… Hehe…

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Update on my house:

We’re moving out next month. This house is still in danger of flooding!

Oh no no, the piping problem is still not fixed yet!

We’ve been having this problem since last year, and we were pretty sure that we hadn’t done anything to stuck the toilet pipes and stuff…

Check out this video of us sweeping the overflowing (and still flowing/moving) water down the staircase from the upper floor!

But the problem is, the agent / landlord isn’t claiming responsibility either!

One of the most famous (and totally annoying) sentences ever uttered by our agent to us about this piping problem was:

“Oh… If you think you didn’t cause the blockage, but the problem happened during your tenancy wor… So, I guess you are just… err… unlucky lor…”

… meaning we’ve gotta pay for the fixing! How much? The last price quotation was more than RM3,000.

Really geng lor, these agents! UNLUCKY wor…?!!

Besides, the rental prices of townhouses around this area are rocketing sky-high – A typical RM1,200/month house will cost RM1,500/month starting next month; and RM1,600/month penthouses are going for RM2,200!

Staying in Cyberia is really going to bankrupt us before we can graduate!

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Update on my studies:

I’ve successfully and officially changed my academic major! I’m no longer taking Electronics Majoring in Telecommunications. Instead, it’s still Electronics, but – Majoring in Multimedia.

The official, unnecessarily long title is Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng) (Hons.), Electronics Majoring in Multimedia.

If you asked me what the heck is the difference between the two; in words that we are more familiar with, I’d say that, in my previous major, I was going to be involved with phones, the internet, satellites and radio signals; stuff from how you received text messages from your boyfriend, to how EPL football matches get broadcast live from England to your local mamak stall.

Well-known brands in Telecommunications are like Maxis, Streamyx, Nokia and Skype.

But now, with my new major, I will likely be more involved in the designing of, perhaps, your latest high-resolution digital / video recorder, a better and faster YouTube (video-streaming), the next HD plasma TV display etc.

Technically anything involving an electronic combination of two or more of the following – Graphics, Text, Sounds and Videos – that’s Multimedia!

Well-known brands in Multimedia are like Sony, Samsung, Astro and GSC/TGV Cinemas.

Wish me luck! Hehe…

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Update on Jon’s rabbits:

I’ve done quite a regular coverage of Jon’s ‘baby’ rabbits ever since they were born four months ago…

But this is probably the last time I can update about them, because Jon is moving out of Cyberjaya next month, and the baby rabbits are, after all, all grown up already!

Only 3 left!

The other two babies, plus their daddy, were sadly given away due to, err… cost and ’spatial’ considerations.

They are all grown-ups now! No longer babies… and we’ve got proof – one of them, according to Jon, apparently tried to hump its mother! Rabbit porn!

Anyway… They are so big now, really… I think each of them can turn into a very full, BBQ dinner meal already…

(Still) my all-time favorite rabbit – MAYA!

So big that I can no longer hold with one hand – like I used to do a couple of months ago…

Huhu… Won’t be seeing them anymore starting next month… Sad sad…

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Lately, there are a lot of students around Cyberia doing ‘catering’ businesses – meaning they distribute fliers advertising the foods they’re catering, you call them up, and they deliver to your doorstep – with a charge, of course.

These foods usually range between fast foods (McD, KFC etc), burgers (ayam special, daging etc), and other stuff like Chinese mixed rice and nasi lemak.

Some have even gone as far as offering to cater food from a nearby hawker center in Seri Kembangan – Wantan Mee, Chee Cheong Fun, Dim Sum… all in the name of a small profit!

I think these people really know how to ‘fit the Demand’, since food choices in Cyberjaya are so disgustingly limited!

Anyway, catering KFC or burger ayam special in Cyberia, a residential area beside MMU generally populated by student residents, is considered quite normal.

But here are the really ’smart’ guys who pioneered a drastically new kind of catering:

Beer!

Now I really have to say - except for maybe the ‘moral’ aspect, these guys are really good business-thinkers!

Cyberia is ultra-densely populated by 20-to-30-year-old students, many foreign students, and what’s more – there’s a law forbidding general stores selling beer in Cyberjaya! If I’m not mistaken, a special permit is needed for stores to sell beer around here!

Therefore, basic economics: low supply + high demand = very profiting product!

I should have thought of this!