Tomoko, Jeremy, and Siew Kiat invited me to join them at a European board game cafe called Meeples last Thursday night, and so intrigued I was at the idea (notwithstanding the fact that I have an Organisational Behaviour final exam the following week) that I decided to participate.

And it was a pretty awesome decision, as you can see from the pictures I took on Friday night:

The quaint little place located on top of Face-to-Face SS15.

Playing the funky European strategy board game called “Smallworld”.

Jeremy reading the rule sheet with Amanda (one of the staff) helping us to sort out the pieces and explain the rules (which is really what their task entails!).

Jin was there too briefly, although he didn’t get to play as we were in the middle of a game.

One of my favourite games, Dixit, as it’s pretty simple too play and merely requires your imagination.

Meeples is possibly one of the most original ideas for a business, at least in Malaysia. Their vast array of European board games is definitely staggering (they even have World of Warcraft and Starcraft board games), and I think in the three consecutive nights that I was there (on Saturday night, I was with Poh Yuen, Tomoko and Jeremy), we only played like four different games. “Bang!” was also a pretty fun game (ala Murder in the Dark, but done and improved further with cards), and I had even contemplated purchasing either that or Dixit, which isn’t exactly cheap (around the range of RM150 and above).

At the moment, Meeples (the name possibly derived from their flagship board game, whose name escaped me now) has a launch promotion whereby purchasing an hour nets you an extra free hour. RM5 for two hours sounds pretty reasonable, but I doubt I’d be going as often as I did before when it reverts to the original RM5/hour.

Can’t wait to hang out there with the extended family and Matt in less than 2 weeks time. =D

My finals begin tomorrow.

I haven’t had the spirit to blog lately ever since my PS3 came into my life and I found myself trying to obtain trophy after trophy, never mind the fact that trophies are bragging rights that are essentially worthless.

This final semester of mine can be summed up in several phrases: degenerating college caused by integrative changes made by our new management that caused much uproar among students and lecturers alike; only 3 subjects this semester; the misfortune that I (or rather my Organisational Behaviour teammates and I) had of having the worst teammate that could’ve ever existed by turning into an uncontactable hermit by not picking up our phone calls, not responding to our SMSes, not replying to our e-mails, and not turning up for meetings immediately after our mid-semester break.

And even on the day we were passing up our group assignment, Mr. Uncontactable Hermit did not appear and so we had to pass up our assignment without his student number or his signature which was required. But no worries, as we’ve lodged a complaint against him to our lecturer and she promised to file a report to RMIT Melbourne to ensure equitable justice to our group.

Tomorrow marks my first final paper, that would mark the start of my week of exams—three papers stretched across four weeks, as opposed to my horrible experience in Melbourne that a student should never have to experience, when I had three intensely difficult papers in two days. I partially blame that atrocious scheduling for my less-than-satisfactory grades I acquired.

So after delaying my New Zealand travel posts indefinitely, I think it’s about time that I seize my journal once more (not a Moleskin, but an AUD$10 book with empty lined pages that I purchased at Borders after watching a free movie in the suburbs of Melbourne) and actually write about it. I took a peek at my Kiwi pictures a few minutes ago, and the first picture (that would’ve come after the last Day 3 entry I wrote) made my heart skip a beat and I caught my breath. I forgot the adrenaline, excitement, and the euphoria assaulting me on a daily basis whilst backpacking alone (mangled with the occasional depression) for the first time in my life, and it struck me.. how these feelings washed away just as quick. And just how pristine and beautiful New Zealand’s South Island is.

Pics would come soon, I swear, to those who are still reading this blog. In exactly two posts from now.

Last Saturday’s Video Games Live has been an anchor of ecstasy and of much musical orgasm to Malaysian video game enthusiasts. I booked the tickets nearly a month in advance—for me, Jon, Ee Leen, Wai Hong, my bro, Chris—the very day I discovered that the tickets have actually gone live, and quickly snapped up the seats. Veritably some of the best ones were taken, but nevertheless we took the 2nd cheapest tickets (RM103) and they were surprisingly good, as we could see the stage quite clearly.

Our tickets.

The yumcha we had at McDonald’s last Friday night could easily constitute as one of the best I had in the longest while. For one, we were seated indoors in an environment devoid of the cigarette smoke that often found its way into my lungs in places like Tanjung, and nearly everyone was actually there—nearly everyone being those who are currently in Subang and not out of state or out of the country: me, Ding, Andy, Sarah, and Shawn.

Hilariously, we went first towards the direction of Asia Cafe at SS15 on the noble grounds that we should “try some place new”. Clearly that backfired when we couldn’t find a parking space in that jam-packed space after making three rounds, and even so, Asia Cafe was packed to the brim. We thought of trying the lorong mamak too, but again there wasn’t any parking at all and we didn’t want to risk Ding’s car being fined by the police (whom we saw was hard at work near Starbucks) and so in the end we left and went to A&W instead.

No… parking… too. lmao.

At this point we were all laughing at our predicament (except for Ding who was driving lol), and in the end we just decided on McDonald’s Taipan instead, where we stayed till 1am+.

And then the next day at 7pm, Ding fetched me, Sarah, and Sarah’s friend (shit forgot his name briefly) to Shabu-Shabu Puchong, as she was treating us for obtaining her first pay. =D Andy and Shawn came by themselves, but Shawn was the latest and only arrived when we were almost full.

Mmm pork slices.

is smelling the moist and wet scent hovering in the air within the concrete and cement around me, and listening to the whipping droplets as I rushed straight into my car from my gym (speaking of which, looking at myself in the mirror these days as I shower seems to instill a branch of small confidence I’ve never had). The new programme the gym owner introduced to me made every muscle on my torso ached with fatigue, but as I caressed my ears with the symphony of the rain, I am brought back to the pre-New Year storm in Melbourne and am reminded of the hailstorm of epic proportions I missed this year.

I missed the genuine conversations I’ve had with my Melburnian friends where I can be completely myself, and it is just as well that I decided to fetch Caroline the Tanzanian to the train station after last week’s French class. At least the first half of my journey back home from last week onwards would be filled with conversations—and maybe a friendship would bloom—and when she listened to the Glee songs from the speakers of my car, a conversation was born. She asked if I can sing and I lol’d and said no, I only like to listen to other people sing.

When she asked if our college has Africans or not, I said yeah, quite a bit, but no Tanzanians that I know of. The both of us remarked how the Africans will tend to band with the Africans, and the same goes to Malaysians, and over this she pondered. Unfortunately with Malaysians and probably countless of others around the world, we have a horrible tendency of viewing the Africans in a negative light, and to paint them all with the same brush is a gross injustice—like in the case of Caroline, who’s really a remarkably intelligent and diligent individual (from my first impression anyway).

We had our first potluck gathering in ages at Esther’s boyfriend’s place in Klang on Saturday night, and both me, Sarah, and Jon followed Ding’s car there and awaited for the others to arrive. Earth Hour was conducted about 15 minutes late as we adjourned outside on the porch, and we had to further end it abruptly when Tony accidentally cut his finger while trying to cut some onions in the dark. Esther’s friend Serina and Tony’s siblings soon arrived along with Alvin, and compliments went to the chef of the rendang I brought from home. Ryui Bynn, Shawn, and Andy arrived last. We ate more BBQ food and satay to further fill up our stomachs, followed by a rather delectable combination of Chivas and Coke made by Tony’s brother.

When it was getting too hot outside, we went back to the comforts accorded by the house and the fans and proceeded to watch a horror film of sort screened on AXN titled as The Plaque.

Laughters and nostalgia were boundless that night.

And, a little over a month to go. I can’t wait for that moment in the airport.

1. So there was a Tanzanian chick who joined my French class about 2-3 weeks ago, and apparently she’s studying International Business at APIIT, and has already passed her A2. What fascinates me is her strong desire to learn French that she went completely out of her way just to come all the way to Mont Kiara from Bukit Jalil—relying solely on public transport (train) and then a taxi from the train station to get to our teacher’s place.

I thought it was unfortunate when during her first class, when my teacher asked if anyone could fetch her to the train station after the class, no one offered to lend a hand initially, until a Malay girl did. I honestly wanted to help her out of sheer admiration of her tenacity, but what eventually stopped me from being a good Samaritan was my horrible sense of direction, and the fact that I don’t know of any train stations nearby Mont Kiara.

And then on our recent class, there were only 3 students in all—which is pretty pathetic as we have like 9 students or so in total, and unfortunately my current classmates have a pretty poor track record of coming to class and coming on time, which eventually dragged us down as we had to often wait for the others to arrive before my teacher would start teaching something new. My frustration was shared by our teacher too, and some weeks ago he had talked about opening another class instead.

But I digress. So after our class, while going down the escalator and talking to her (apparently she leaves home at 6.30pm when our class starts at 8pm wtf, which is even longer than me), I contemplated once more to send Caroline (the Tanzanian girl) to the train station, but eventually didn’t as I didn’t want to go out of my way in an unfamiliar territory to locate a train station, but as I drove back on my own, I made myself to be more aware of my surroundings and realised that my route back home would pass by or be near two: the Asia Jaya LRT station, and the Subang Jaya KTM station, although I reckon Asia Jaya would make her trip back home shorter (but it’s significantly more dangerous as she’d have to cross a main road at night).

Next class’s target: give that incredibly determined girl a ride, if she so wished.

Perhaps I had just wanted to get to know my classmates better.

2. Shawn came my house last night at about.. 2.30am-ish, together with Ding, RB, and Sarah. Apparently the lot of them have been drinking at Uncle Chua’s house, and so my minor forays into Final Fantasy XIII (which I snagged last Sunday, and logged about 36 hours at the time of writing thanks to being free on my mid-term break wtf) was interrupted. Shawn had just returned from France about two days before, and he excitedly began to recount his 2-week trip in France with the aid of the pictures he took using my camera (which initially he said had a dent, but on closer inspection, it was barely even visible) while Ding played some games on my PS3 while RB and Sarah slept (who also vomited in my toilet I think wtf).

And Shawn presented me with a souvenir: the tacky “I <3 Paris" tee that cost him 10 euros, but I actually love these sorta tees—I already have a Melburnian one, and had wanted to buy a similar tee in Brunei but there wasn't a suitable size.

The rest went back at 4am+ leaving Shawn behind as he had still yet to finish narrating his visit to France (alongside breathtaking pictures of the beautiful white snow blanketing everything, and the Eiffel Tower lighting in deep yellow at night). Eventually he walked back home at about 4.30am.

3. I am now desperately behind my recounts of my Brunei and NZ trips. Le sigh. Even worse, without jotting down minute details of my Brunei trip when I was there, I think I’ve already forgotten most of them by now. Thankfully my memories in NZ are still preserved in an actual, physical journal I kept that I had struggled to be diligent in keeping, and I guess all that hard work pays off.

I can never replicate the 19-year-old me who has written startlingly detailed (and captivating, if I may add wtf) travelogues of my previous backpacking trips in South-East Asia. I think I just don’t have the luxury of time anymore as age and responsibilities catch up, or.. maybe I’ve just gotten bored of blogging.