August 31

Every year since 1957, Malaysians have been celebrating the Independence Day of Malaysia or ‘Hari Merdeka’ on August 31^st.

‘Hari Merdeka’ is a national day of Malaysia commemorating the Independence of the Federation of Malaya from British colonial rule in 1957.  ‘Hari Merdeka’ should not be confused with ‘Hari Malaysia’ (Malaysia’s Day) when Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963 together by Federation of Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak and Singapore.  It is to be noted that Singapore was however expelled from Malaysia in 1965.

Basically, a celebration is a joyful event and the day will be filled with many meaningful programs.  In Malaysia, it is common to see many participants from teenagers to the twenties.  The idea is to instill the patriotic spirits of unity, loyalty and being proud to be a citizen of an independent nation!

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Malaysiaku Berdaulat, Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku” (My Sovereign Malaysia, My Native Land).

As a student, my contribution will be to do well academically so that I can join hands with others to build a strong Malaysia!

“Selamat Hari Merdeka, Malaysia”

☁ Dreams ☁

"Do you have a dream?"

These are some words of aspirations, I would like to share with all of you who have this little thing called a dream.

If you can reach out, you can hold on.
If you can imagine, you can achieve.
If you begin, you can continue.
Search within, and you’ll find a reason to believe.
 If you can get involved, you can make it happen.
If you can give, you will be rewarded with the taking.
If you can climb, you can climb even higher.
Envision it: your success is in the making.
 If you don’t put limits on yourself, you can always keep striving,
You might amazed yourself with what you discover you can do.
If you want to reach out for happiness, don’t ever forget that…
You can go as far as your dreams can take you. 

–  Collin McCarty  

If these words are something you can relate, then it is for you.  Words that are made to get you back up on your feet, these very words of encouragement is to never let go of your ambition.  To make you realize that you need to be the one to take the first step and make everything work.  Once it begins, you need to strive, chase it and never give up halfway.  Forge your shield of confidence and have faith that everything eventually will fall into place.  Shape your success with your own hard work and not by others hand-print.  All you need to do is believe in the simplicity of your own determination.

So that those of you who are once dreamers, can also be true achievers.

Pacific Rim

Since I was little, I am always a big fan of cartoon series. I've watched Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, Ultraman, Power Rangers, you name it. So when my sister brought me to a recent movie screening of a motion picture called Pacific Rim, I didn't really know what to expect (probably because I didn't even watched the trailer), but I was certainly blown away from it after the screening.

Pacific Rim is a science fiction film by Guillermo del Toro, a story set in near future where Kaijus (in Japanese, it means Giant Monster) emerged from interdimensional portal on the floor of Pacific Ocean are out to destroy the human race and recolonize Earth.

A Kaiju's appearance

Kaijus are as big as our man-made skyscraper buildings. They are huge with hard body and deadly claws, humans find out the hard way after losing over and over that they cannot win against these monsters with heavy artillery alone. Thus, they created a huge monster of their own; robots as big as Kaiju, and named them Jaeger (in German, it means Hunter).

Jaeger Program

To pilot a Jaeger, two pilots are needed to share the robot's neurological load. The jaeger program will hack into its pilots' brain through a process called The Drift. The stronger the bond between the pilots, the better they will fight the Kaijus.

The Becket Brothers

In the story, although the main characters are obviously the humans trying to fight for their freedom, I somehow find myself more attracted in seeing the robots in the spotlight. Whenever they are on screen fighting, I seem to be on the edge of my seat, feeling awed at how amazing and realistic the robots are.

"There are things you can’t fight - acts of God. You see a hurricane coming, you get out of the way. But when you’re in a Jaeger, you can finally fight the hurricane. You can win."

                - Raleigh Becket; Gipsy Danger pilot.

In the story, they are 4 remaining Jaegers. Most of the other Jaegers were either out of commission from fighting the Kaijus for over 6 years or were wiped out by more recent advanced Kaijus.

Gipsy Danger from USA

Striker Eureka from Australia

Cherno Alpha from Russia

Crimson Typhoon from China

By the way, these Jaegers are also available for sale as figurines and collectible items.

And if you have the time, you can design your own jaeger at this website:

http://apps.warnerbros.com/pacificrim/designer/us/ 

I enjoyed the movie very much. I recommend it to everyone to watch it at least once. I shall leave you with a gift, the most awesome movie soundtrack for a science fiction film:

Pacific Rim main theme by Ramin Djawadi

Of Ashitaka and Princess Mononoke

Among the animation series that I've been watching, Princess Mononoke is one of the animation movies that sticks to my mind.  There is a dialogue from the movie that I would like to share with you: 

Lady Eboshi: What exactly are you here for?

Prince Ashitaka: To see with eyes unclouded by hate

*****

Princess Mononoke is a Japanese animated movie directed by the famous Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. The story is set during feudal Japan time with fantasy elements. The main character, Ashitaka is the protagonist who struggles between supernatural guardians of a forest and humans from nearby ironing town that sets out for resources in the village (and ultimately killing the creatures within it).

Ashitaka is the leader of his people. He is brave, sympathetic and fearless with a strong sense of morale. He has the nobleness of Emishi royal blood and while defending his village from a wild boar, he killed the Tatari God but in returned received a curse of death.

Even though he is cursed for a very absurd reason (for defending his village and his people) and ended up being exiled for it, he remains positive and strong throughout his journey is self-discovery.

As a hero of a beautiful children's story, Ashitaka has a very kind soul. He's caring and in touch with his human side and also to nature. He thinks rationally and acts on it. He's smart and good looking to boot *swoon*.

Ashitaka travels around with his faithful (and clever) red elk steed named Yakul. Yakul is unquestionably faithful, staying with Ashitaka when he's injured and even helps his master to convince other animals of Ashitaka's earnestness in helping others.

...Because horses are overrated

Princess Mononoke is an animated fable of dazzling artistry with amazing blend of man and nature; one of the most beautiful movie ever made. It is definitely worth more than just a watch.

Of Sora and Kingdom Hearts

It’s been years since I've played any video games.  I remember back then where I used to play them with my siblings over the weekends.  Oh, how I miss playing those games!  On that note, one of the most memorable game I've played was the ‘Kingdom Hearts’.  This game could easily be listed as one of my most favorite games ever.

'

Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing games (RPG) developed and published by Square Enix. It is the result of a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive Studios and is directed by Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square character designer.

Hercules, Donald Duck and Goofy (Disney) with Cloud Strife (Final Fantasy VII)

Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various classic Disney films characters and settings.  Characters from Square Enix's Final Fantasy series also make appearances and made to interact with the player and Disney characters.  How awesome is that?

Organization XIII (Original Characters of Kingdom Hearts)

Besides featuring a mixture of familiar Disney and Final Fantasy characters, multiple of new characters are designed and created by Nomura.

Sora is the main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series. He lives on the Destiny Islands with his best friends Riku and Kairi.  The three of them dream of venturing out of Destiny Islands to find out what lies beyond.  But their home are consumed by darkness, they are separated by creatures known as Heartless.  

Kairi(left), Sora and Riku(right) spend their free time gazing out over the ocean from the shores of their island

Sora battling it all out on the Heartless!

Sora drifts to a world known as Traverse Town where he learns the Keyblade chose him to eliminate the Heartless.  Fighting the Heartless, Sora obtains a weapon called the Keyblade and became a Keyblade wielder.  Soon after that Sora met Donald Duck and Goofy, who join forces in search of his friends while Sora helps Donald and Goofy look for King Mickey (their King). They travel across worlds by their Gummi Ship, a space ship for transportation between worlds.

Sora fighting against Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII

In the meantime, the trio also protect the worlds they visit from various villains and Heartless.  Sora then, seals the Keyholes of worlds using the Keyblade so as to protect the worlds and its people from being consumed by the darkness of the Heartless.  In spite all the challenges he is facing, Sora never gave up to find his friends and tries his best to search for them in every worlds he visited.

Based on the storyline, you can see that Sora is the kind of character who may seem very bright and simple-minded at times, but he is very aware of the importance of his quest.  Sora is an eternal optimist, always looking on the bright side of the situation at hand.  He possesses a strong sense of justice and an unrelenting heart. He cherishes his friendships and even states in the game that thanks to them, he gains his strength. 

"I don't need a weapon! My friends are my power!"
— Sora

Due to his strong sense of loyalty towards his friends, several of his enemies made use of his friends as a bait to use the Keyblade for their purposes.  During these events, it is often seen that his actions are impulsive and quick to anger when defending his friends, but he is always sincere about what he says and does. 

He would go to any extend in helping others in any way he can, he would willingly risks his life to protect, even for someone he doesn't know. Sora has a way of connecting to people's heart, letting them share a bond of friendship with him at ease.  His kindness to reach out towards other people who are in despair is so great that once, he even let a person named Ventus to resides in his heart as a place for that person to heal his damaged heart with the help of Sora's.

Sora invites Ventus's heart to stay with him while it heals

The particular reason of why I love playing this game is because of Sora's character.  I really am amazed by how bright and sincere Sora is portrayed in the game.  I also like the way the game's plot goes on as it depicted on how the hearts of a human never grows evil to the roots.  Even at hope's end, there is still some light deep down inside all of us. Just like Sora said,

"The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in. But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out!"

Big Bad Wolf

My memories of Big Bad Wolf is its appearance in a folk tale called “Little Red Riding Hood”.  It is the story of a young girl who wore a red cape and a Big Bad Wolf who stalked the girl.  The wolf wanted to eat the girl plus the food in the basket that the girl was supposed to deliver to her grandmother.  Yes, Bad Wolf!

The modern Big Bad Wolf however, is a Book Sale!  The sale is back this year, I better save some money now.  I know I will be hunting again for… not wolf, but more books and comics and maybe buy the T-shirt this time around.

The last time in 2012, it was held in the Mines Convention Centre (MIECC), Kuala Lumpur.  It offered choices from three million books at a discount between 75-95%.  For example, a novel by Terry Pratchett with the normal selling price of RM69.70, you could buy it a price of only RM8!  

Maybe this year I can buy a truck load of books and comics!  ψ(｀∇´)ψ

...Just a thought.

Last year my sister and I bought the following:

Books, comics and two delicious cupcakes

（人´∀`*）♥ 

This year, let’s heed the call of the super monstrous book sale (again)!  Ah-wooooooooo~!! 

Flora and Fauna

The recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration saw many people 'Balik Kampung'. Some will go for a short holiday break with families after the usual family gatherings and receiving 'Duit Raya'   ԅ(≖‿≖ԅ)

But, thank you everyone for all the generosity, I really treasure it

  ♡（‐＾▽＾‐）♡

By now many 'Kodak moments' had been posted on Facebook and such.

In reflection I would like to write about 'Flora & Fauna'. For simplicity, flora means flower, while fauna refers to animal. Actually, flora refers to plant life in a certain region or climate. Fauna is for animal found in a certain region or climate. In Malaysia, example of a flora is a rare species of flower called 'Rafflesia' while the 'Orang Utan' represents fauna.

No, I did not go to Sarawak, or meet any Orang Utan or came across any exotic flower. I did take some photos of flowers, strawberries and tea plantation, and a school of fish (rather, a pool of fish as they were in a newly constructed pond with not many fish), I think by now you know the place.

Here are some of the flora and fauna :

Tea Plantation

Flowers and...

More flowers!

Fishes in the pond~

Red Strawberries, anyone?

And my Octopus moment!

(No, there weren't any octopus, but there were a lot of cool breeze coming my way... Cold!)

Little Tofu ♡

After an exhausting day of studying and attending lectures, my mind goes to food.  Varieties come to mind but I shall write just a little... about tofu.

Tofu is also known as soybean curd.  How do they produce tofu?  It is produced by grinding soybean to form milk-like substance, which is then compressed and left to coagulate.  After the mass has dried into a gelatinous solid, it is cut into palm-sized cubes.  Clever!  It is easy to pick, to hold and to buy of course!

Tofu is a great source of calcium and Vitamin E. It does help to lower bad cholesterol if eaten regularly. So, let's introduce tofu into our meal.

I shall leave you with this image of "Tofu Miso Soup".  Bon Appétit~!

Yeah, Linkin Park!

On 19^th of August 2013, I was down with a fever and sore throat but I insisted on going to a concert that is being held on that same day.  I even used my ‘Duit Raya’ to buy the ticket!  The concert was performed by a band in the 90's era of my early childhood (or babyhood?). That's right folks, the band is Linkin Park!  Their music has always been my favorite, I knew them way before I got to know J-Rock or K-pop music.  I had been anticipating the concert ever since I received the news from my sister that Linkin Park are coming to Malaysia! And seeing that precious ticket in my hand, oh my God...

So we went after I ate my medicines and patiently queued to get in.  Inside the stadium we spent two hours of doing some hard core singing (screaming?) along their songs as we stood on our spot from the beginning of the concert until the end, despite our zone was a free seating one.  

A lot of Linkin Park's old songs were played, the volume of the sound system was so high, you can feel the vibration on the ground.  In spite of the high volume, the voices of their long-time fans was impossibly louder than the voice of the singer.  The Bukit Jalil National Stadium, the 25^th most largest stadium in the world, echoed the songs of Linkin Park along with their fans' voice in a way that you can feel that it was a legendary concert. 

So here I am, having a post-concert syndrome and replayed back all of their songs on repeat the whole day. Let's listen to some of the popular songs of Linkin Park. I find them so deep, and cool... and epic. Well, you get the drift.   (~ ≧∇≦)~ 

Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit

Linkin Park - What I've Done

And... the most popular song by Linkin Park, 

Linkin Park - Numb

Yeah~!  о( ＞▽＜)ｙ ☆

Dear, Dolphins

“What is your favorite animal?”

If you were to ask me that question five years ago, I would have said “A cat”.  But things changed one day, when my favorite singer sang.  His voice sounds like a dolphin! His fans later called him a dolphin for his dolphin-like voice.  Which brought myself to taken a liking towards dolphins.  At first it was just a typical sort of interest, because the dolphins reminded me of the singer that I looked up to but after a few years had passed… I realized that I truly love dolphins as dolphins.

I like Bottlenose dolphins best! They are simply adorable to my eyes, plus they're very intelligent too.  I remembered when I was small, I went to a dolphin show at the zoo nearby my house and I love seeing them performed tricks as they jumped from the underwater to the surface.  I was too fascinated by their performance that I didn't realize I had gotten quite close to the fence they set up, so some of the water splashed on me.  

Other than that, I had the habit of collecting anything that resembled a dolphin.  I'm guessing that my reaction whenever a dolphin is mentioned is a wee bit too extreme so my close friends and family are well aware of my obsession towards dolphins.  Sometimes I would receive gifts like dolphin keychains from them and that would make my day perfect.

♥  Keychain gifts  ♥

♥  Beautiful birthday present from my friend, Kak Eryn  ♥

And I am just like any other girl out there who have their own favorite teddy bear to lull themselves to sleep.  Only mine is not exactly a bear...

♥  My adorable plushie  ♥

Isn't he cute? My mother and sister bought it for me, and this one was the last red dolphin left! I named my dolphin plushie as Haix Maximillian Rodriguez...  (*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))

Okay, actually I have no idea what his full name is. I only call him Haix. 

...With Some Honey Cornflakes

Who’s in for the celebration of Hari Raya Aidilfitri?   ...I am!

°˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

To all who celebrates this festival, beforehand I would like to wish you a Happy Eid Mubarak and have a great time.

Most Malaysians know that Hari Raya Aidilfitri cannot be truly complete without the presence of Kuih Raya.  Thus, the Muslims will prepare some of it to serve to their guests.  My sister and I also took this opportunity to make a Kuih Raya named Honey Cornflakes Cup.  We used a recipe that our mother gave to us.  It was really fun making them, so I want to share it with you on how we made the Honey Cornflakes.

First of all, you need to prepare the ingredients.  They are 50 grams of butter, two tablespoons of castor sugar, about four tablespoons of honey and two cups full of cornflakes.

Now that you have prepared these ingredients, you may now proceed on the next step which is the method of making the Honey Cornflakes.

1.       Melt the butter first in a wok and put in the two cups of cornflakes, and then mix it well with low fire as you add in the honey and sugar.

2.       After the mixture is all glistening from the honey and is evenly mixed, pour it in a big container for it to cool down a bit.

3.       Place 12 patty cake cups on a baking tray and spoon the mixture into the cups. For appearance, you may arrange the cornflakes into a rose-like shape and scatter some colorful sprinkles on top.

4.       Put the tray in a 150°C  oven and bake it for about 10 minutes or until the cornflakes turned slightly golden.

5.       Once it is out from the oven, leave the cups on the tray to cool a little and harden. Keep the Honey Cornflakes cups in an airtight container.

And there you have it! That was the recipe we used to bake our tasty munchies that is the Honey Cornflakes Cup.  This is a simple, yet satisfying treat that is best enjoyed anytime, anywhere.

A Tea for You

The sweet taste from a cup of tea during the late evenings brings you the color in life.

One of the ways I find effective to release stress is by drinking a cup of tea.  There are many kinds of ways to make them, but everyone tend to have their own way of making it. As for me, this is how I usually prepare my tea.

1.    Fill in a sufficient amount of water into a kettle and boil it.  The best water to use is filtered water, or bottle water that are not distilled.  Remember, the better tasting your water, the better tasting your tea. 

2.    Place a teabag in your cup and pour in the hot water slowly.  Pour the water directly onto your teabag.  This way the tea infuses better than adding water first before the teabag.

3.    Leave to brew your tea for about three to five minutes.  The duration depends on your taste really, and also the recommended brewing time if there is any.

4.    Add milk to your tea using a teaspoon.  Wait until the tea is done steeping before adding in milk.  Some like to remove the teabag before adding milk, but I prefer to just stir the milk while holding the still submerged teabag in the cup.

After the tea is properly stirred, remove the teabag using the teaspoon. And the cup of tea is ready to be served! 

As I do work on my laptop, I have my loyal companion, a cup of tea!  It's a great way to live.

Come, let's drink the contents of the cup at a leisurely pace and enjoy the goodness that is tea.

A Simple Walk to Home

The bell rang loudly throughout our block. It is the end of school for the day.  I bid farewell to my classmates as I packed my things into my black-and-white flower pattern bag.  It was a normal routine for me to visit the library, usually to borrow and return books.  I would go there whenever our class ended late afternoon because the library reopened after the evening session started.  So, I would take my time striding towards the pathways to the school library.  On my way there, I would stopped by the “Koperasi Sekolah” to greet some of my friends and teachers.  A simple greeting with a smile, asking how-do-you-dos had been our everyday conversation. 

Moving on to the school library, I took off my shoes and put it on the top-left rack as usual.  I walked in and gave a monotonous greeting to whomever inside.  There are times where there was a class being held inside the library, so I would try to pace as soundlessly as possible, towards the borrow-and-return counter.  Often I would check some books to borrow, but other times I would just leave there empty-handed.

Once I stepped outside the school compound, I strolled down the road to home.  Normally it would take about 20 minutes of walking, maybe 30 minutes if you take your time there.  Personally, I enjoyed the slow-paced walk from time to time.  The reason being, I would always find something new every day.  It was interesting to see the changes, once you take note of your surroundings. For example how the seasons change.  It wasn't exactly noticeable like the four seasons, but it is possible for you to detect it. For me, I love watching the green-leaves trees near the bus stop gradually grew small pink flowers, making the trees looked as if they turned pink! Whenever I wanted to see a cherry-blossom tree lookalike, I would sit at the bus stop and watched the pink petals fell from the trees.

About two minutes away from my home, I would meet a clan of stray cats here and there.  They were pretty tamed and well-groomed, for some reason.  On my way home, there would be a cat that followed me, acting sort of like my personal escort.  The cat is a male feline with white fur and deep blue eyes.  I had taken quite a liking to the cat, so after I reached home I would pet it for a while and gave him some food.

Nostalgic.