Look up!

This isn't an obsession entry. But of course, it's something random.

So I used to be into amateur photography, went photograph-taking around town/out of town sometimes (no,the buildings in kl do NOT look like the ones shown here. The building are all from out of town ^.^)

And I realised that I have this fascination with the sky. Reminds me of happier times. Especially on a good day. It serves as a reminder of infinite possibilities. At least to me =)

Whenever you feel like you don't know where to point and shoot, try looking up.

It really is interesting to see the many many shades of blue our sky can produce. Sunrise/sunsets are even MORE amazing. The colours look like cotton candy. Now you know what I think of when I find something interesting. Food.

So here are some of the photographs that I've taken... Some quite recent, and some not-so.

I hope it will make you feel as good as I do whenever I look at them. It took me around 10 hours to load everything -__-... I hope the effort is worthwhile *sigh*

Don't worry. I'm uploading the photos while studying. I have not abandoned my responsibilities as a student just yet.

Was in a FAST-MOVING car when I took this. Going down Genting Highland with Miki ^.^

The fairy-ness in me was just enchanted by this view in the forest <3

The tree looks like it's splitting the picture in half ^.^

Stairway to heaven =)

p/s: I know some of the pictures are under/over-exposed. That's why I used the term amateur ;). Oh and these are the original photos. No photoshop-ing. I'm too lazy to do all that.

i lap u chawis

So yesterday my connection was being more uncooperative than usual.

I had to get into my email, and I couldn't for the LONGEST time. *insert curses here*

When I finally got to, there were 2 recent emails that I got. Both from Charis.

The second one was anticipated. It was work-related.

The more recent one read "Nothin interestin". I ignored that at first.

Then Charis texted me saying "But I just sent u something. Try opening it."

Curious, I clicked on it. I thought Charis was playing one of her jokes on me or something.

I waited and waited for the bloody email to open.

Then I saw the attachment icon, it read: to Aliza. *that's me*

I waited and waited for the bloody attachment icon to load. All the while I was staring at the to Aliza icon.

Then finally.

I saw this

Kim Jae Joong. My current MAJOR obsession. His beautiful poster *courtesy of Miki* now adorns my bedroom door.

This gave me the motivation to read journal articles till 2am yesterday.

Thank you Charis!
=D

Minorandom #4: Glee!

So it was Chinese New Year. And we got a few days off.

Most *university* students get the whole week off, but we, being elite psychology students *yeah right*...

...only got classes off till Tuesday. Hoorah.

In a way it was good, cos we get to finish off the course materials in time.

On the other hand, we're relatively normal students.

We like our holidays too ok. *sobs* :(

Also, college was awfully EERIE on Wednseday...
There was nobody hanging out at the foyer.
Nobody eating at the cafeteria.
Also none of the distracting hooligans who usually distracts us during class by howling outside the lecture hall.
Definitely one of the weirdest experiences this year yet.

What a way to celebrate the new year ^.^ *although I'm not Chinese*

So E'a, a friend of mine, gave me a DVD of the show Glee, 1st season.
I've been watching it on tv, in-between assignments. So as anyone can guess, I don't really pay attention.
But I like the songs. I always stop working when it gets to the part where they sing.

Since I found myself with some free time on my hands that night, I decided to watch it.*There was actually a WHOLE LOT to study, but I wasn't mentally prepared to be studying for finals so soon although it's only a week away now*

I got everyone in the living room, and my family and I watched it. We finished it the next day.

A Glee marathon.

I L.O.V.E the whole concept of the show.

Almost like a musical, but not quite. And nothing so squeaky-clean, like High School Musical. Yegh. Now THAT I found distasteful. *personal opinion here, nobody need to agree*

The characters are weird, not entirely lovable. Every one of them have their own flaws, which make them that much more relate-able to us mere humans. It's good to see normal people on the Telly sometimes.

Even though I agree that everyone's definition of "normal" differs, I think some would agree with me that normal people should have a little weirdness in themselves. There's no such thing as a "perfect" person. At least I think so. If there were, well, they'd be PRETTY. DARNED. BORING.
But then again, we'd have to go back to finding the definition of perfect, and THAT would prove to be a problem. Ok let's leave that debate to another day, shall we? *sigh*

See what I mean by being scatter-brained?

Yes. So. Bottomline is. I'm addicted to the show. Well at least, to some of the songs that were sung in the show. Heheh. *I've been listening to them the whole week. Some are even better than the orignial versions. I'm not kidding*

Especially the song defying gravity. The song is from the musical Wicked, a retelling of the Wizard of Oz from the viewpoint of the Wicked Witch of the West. Not surprisingly, based on a book of the same title ^.^

I should check the book out. Although, I don't think I'm allowed to blog about the book(s)' contents, even if I wanted to. Ah well.

So yes. To all of you who have time to kill/spare,

Check the show out, if you haven't heard about it. Or at least the song(s). ^.^

Currently listening to: Don't Stop Believing- Glee cast.

It's so frustrating to have crappy Internet connection at home. I can't post up videos. Pictures even!

Ergh. I swear one day I'll erupt from all the stress my wireless is giving me.

Last but not least, even though I know it's already a bit late

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

Notice how I'm using a lot of red-coloured fonts today? Hee ^.^

Minorandom #3: Fairy-tale 1

So I wanted to be a fairy when I was younger.

I'm not kidding.

I really really did.

It all started when a few years ago, I picked up a book called Fire & Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones. At my tender age, a few years ago is a notable amount of time. *What I'm really saying here is that the book is a kid's book, and I was a kid back then*. So no snickering if any of you actually pick up the book after reading this entry.

I don't even remember the storyline well anymore. But I remember the feeling when I read it. The story was twisted, in a very illogical yet logical way. The faeries in the book were depicted as beautiful and cunning creatures, yet truly truly wicked. Full of malice. And they are bound to unconventional rules, which make their practices even more intriguing.

I was entranced. I was enthralled. They were like nothing I have ever read about before. Before that, my idea of faeries is the prototypical pretty, mini green dress-wearing, long-haired woman. With wings. Oh and maybe a wand. Sort of like Disney's Tinkerbell. I wasn't even sure about the size. Humanoid? Probably. Because Tinkerbell is supposed to be a pixie. So faeries MUST be large, right? If not, what would be the difference between a faerie and a pixie?

I wanted to know more about this new, err... I guess you can call it archetype?, of fairies. So I started looking up on the legend behind which the whole book is based on.

It is the legend of Tam Lin. To put it shortly, Tam Lin is a Scottish folklore ballad, and who knows when it was first sang? I sure don't. But the whole story behind it is well..twisted?

So summarising the story of Tam Lin:
Most variants starts with warning maidens *virgins especially*, to stay away from a place called Carterhaugh because it is inhabited by a man called Tam Lin. This Tam Lin person demands payment of maidens who pass through Carterhough, in the form of belongings. Or their maidenhood. *Why only women though? Gosh. Such blatant discrimination. I couldn't believe this type of stuff was what entertained children, when I first came across it.*

Anyhow. The ballad then focuses on a woman *named Janet in the version I have* that goes to Carterhaugh because her father supposedly owned it. Also as a sign of rebellion against the silly warnings that people have given about Tam Lin and Carterhaugh. From what I can deduce, she went to Carterhaugh to show everyone you can go there a virgin and come out the same. There's a superwoman right there. But in Carterhaugh, she met Tam Lin.

And he "took her without her leave"

Thus she goes home, all melancholic and showing signs of...

Pregnancy. *what IS this ballad teaching kids, really?*

She then tells her father about what happened in the forests of Carterhaugh:
She was taken away by Tam Lin, and brought to meet the Fey people and their Queen. And a beautiful lot they were. She also mentions to her father that her lover, Tam Lin, is elven.

9 months passed, and she went to Carterhaugh again, finding Tam Lin. He explains to her that he is not an elf/elven, that he is mortal. But he is bound to the Queen, and might be made as a human sacrifice for the faeries' tithe to hell.

It kinda goes without saying that they both dig each other.

Thus he tells Janet that if he were to be set free from the faeries, she will have to go through a test to win him. He gives her detailed instructions on how to do so, somewhere along the lines of pulling him down his horse when the faeries make their way to the tithe-offering on Halloween night *or something like that*.

She will then have to hold on to him no matter what. He changed into all sorts of beasts in her arms, but she was not to let go.

That night, she succeeded in her task, and somehow the Queen seemed helpless to do anything although she was MIGHTILY displeased.

This is what I meant by the unconventional rules. We humans would've probably hurt Janet or something like that, but the feys didn't even lay a finger on her.

I am very curious why this is so. Though I don't think I'll get an answer to it. Ever. Ah well.

So there you go. My very first encounter with your not-so-friendly, but much-more-beautiful faeries. Well, literary encounter, at least.

Afterwards, I started researching on original faerie tales, as told by the brothers Grimm.

It would seem that most of them have a VERY black theme to them. I'd probably do another entry on them.

But if this piqued your interests a bit, you should look into buying a book that's full of folklores from the UK & Ireland, called:

the magic lands: folk tales of britain and ireland.


I have a copy.

Bottomline of today's post is?

Fairy-tales are quite scary sometimes. And it also shows the type of stories people in the Dark Ages indulged in and recounted to their children. Not a happy time. Not at all.

I'm glad fairy-tales have developed into what it is today:

Bittersweet, but always with a happy ending =)

But I secretly still want to be a fairy. *not so much a secret now, is it?* ^.^

Minorandom #2: purple line

So today was the assignment submission day.

And after passing them up, Charis, Miki and I were ready for a bit of R&R.

Make-up buying. Gym (I worked out while the other two tofu-ed in the steam room hihihi). A hilariously silly movie (with Charis). And finally food. Plus catching up with Ian.

Equals perfect.

So movie: We watched all's well, ends well which starred Louis Khoo and Sandra Ng. It was bound to be funny. And it was. The laugh-wrenching moments *it really felt that way. Not laughing is inexcusable* makes up for the lack of story line. Definitely the best post-assignment submission movie choice. No thinking. No analysing. Just watching the darned thing and letting it take you where it wants you to go. In this case death by laughter.

It was also a Cantonese movie. They had subtitles so it was cool. But I was the only Malay in the cinema. The only one. But I enjoyed it thoroughly. I love myself for that. ^__^

Food: Ate at fullhouse with Charis. We love love love the whole concept. Very surreal. Fake. And surreal. Plus the waiters weren't too harsh on the eyes either. I've always thought that fullhouse had this whole "host club" atmosphere going on. Still think so. For those of you who don't know what it is, go google it or something *winkwink*. Girls go crazy over these things. At least I think so.

Fact #1: One of the MUSTS of a hostclub is to have a/a few/many Leng Chai(s) as hosts.

And guess who one of those Leng Chais turned out to be?

Our very own Ian Ng. We were so lucky to have gone there around his break time ^.^. We got to keep him to ourselves for an hour or so. Heeee =D

We did a lot catching up with Ian. We talked and talked. And Charis and I ended up staying for more than two hours. Unabashedly, we sat there with little else than a pot of tea on the table. But nobody shoo-ed us away. Or gave us the nasty. Host clubs don't do that. Haha. I swear I will go to a proper host club one day and drool over the men there. At that point, stay away from me ladies. You might not want to associate yourselves with me then.

So one of the topics Charis and I talked about after Ian left *cos he had to go back to work* was DBSK "Jaejoong oppa..come marry me..." *Swoons*
And Charis started to educate me on the earlier DBSK/TVXQ days, before they made it big in Japan. I'm a novice DBSK-er, only fell in love with them last year around December, due to Charis' constant negative mood whenever she talked about them. I was not used to seeing Charis so sad over people she does not personally know. Seriously.

Thus I HAD to research on them, to find out what's so special about these DBSK people that's made Charis "who laughs while watching horror and action movies while I cower in fear and ask her what happens once the loud noises settle down* head-over-heels in love and concerned about their well-being. My curiousity was killing meeeee!!

And I found out. They are the Gods of the East. They are Dong Bang Shin Ki. Enough said. Don't know them? Uncle Google is always there to help out. Spread the love.

DBSK hit no. 1 on the Japan Oricon Charts with their hit single purple line. The first non-Japanese performers to do so in a long, long time (Ho, 2010).

So I just had to go on Youtube to watch the MV to the song. Not as cataclysmic as the sexy Mirotic or the dramatic Rising Sun, but equally as good.

It took ages to load, but after 1 hour of waiting, it's finally done.

And I've been replaying it. Over. And over. And over. And over. And over. Again.

Thus the appearance of a second minorandom in a week. I guess this compensates for last week's non-existant entry?

I love the way Jae Joong dances. Awkward. Yet smooth. Contradictive, but there's that. I talk about how kawaii he is everyday. Miki and Charis are ready to keeeellll meeeee.

Yes. I've turned into a fan-girl. A bit too old to be a new fan-girl, but everyone has relapses in the control of their own behaviour sometimes, right? *stomach growls as I type this*

Serves me right for being a little busy-body and wanting to find out about them last year.

Random thought: Bought the makeup at a South Korean-owned shop. DBSK= South-Korean pop group. Fullhouse= also the name for a popular South korean tv series. Globalisation at its best *or worst*. Or rather, South-Koreanism.

Or maybe it's just my own tendency to gravitate towards things that they feed us little consumers. Oh no. I conform.

It's 1.30 am and I slept at 3am yesterday. Does this explain anything?

Ah well.

Back to the MV. One last time before bed.

Aaah the blond Jae Joong is so kawaii.

Minorandom #1 *not so much an obsession*: driving

So today in Motivation and Emotion class we learnt Personality Characteristics. And under this particular topic was arousal seeking: how people seek sensations or experiences to feel that little sense of euphoria, however fleeting.

So different people have different things that "excite" them *this sounds pretty wrong, even as I'm typing it*, and as I was driving home from college tonight I realised what one of those things is for me.

It was raining heavily when I started off from college (around 8.30 pm). Seriously. All of you who stays in Malaysia would know what it's like =___=.

Visibility was down to a bare minimum. My car's not in her best shape. Alignment is off. The lampposts/streetlights on a stretch of road weren't working. Lightning flashed countless times *I lost count*. The thunder that followed was so loud, I couldn't hear myself thinking. The glare of headlights on my rearview mirror hurt my eyes. Judging the distance between my car and the next took a monumental amount of concentration.

Hey I'm a novice driver. Cut me some slack.

I had to pay attention to the road if I didn't want my car to skid off. I have no ABS installed on my baby.

And as I was cruising through the dark city roads with the soft breeze of Air Conditioning on my face *my car's A/C is NOT working well*, I thought: this is what driving's all about.

The pitch-black tarred road that reflected everything as if a pond of ice at night. The lights from the buildings illuminating the night sky. The reds coming off the cars on this side of the road. The yellows from the other side. The driving sans traffic jam. Delerium's Lost and Found (feat Jael) and Carla Bruni's Quequ'un M'a Dit playing in the background as if a soundtrack to my life.

It roused the romantic in me.

I fell in love with KL all over again.

Plus the rain let up nearer to home. The road was relatively clear, not many people would be on the road around 9pm on a Wednesday night.

I could've gone on driving for hours and hours. It was challenging my *limited* driving skills, and I felt awake. Alive.

I didn't want to stop driving. But I had to. I have an animal observation report to prepare, and these past few nights have been filled with literature reviews, coffee and sleeplessness.

I should have called my blog Psycho-Somnus, after the Roman god of sleep.
One of our lecturers have/had a hamster named thus.
I should write on Roman/Greek mythology.
I shall.
Wikipedia is a great invention.

And I would've taken the longer way home if my bladder wasn't trying to torture me.

Now off to the animal observation report.

You don't want to be in the car with me during a night like this.

Not the safest driver around ;)

*drumrolls* debut of my very own minorandom obsessions page ^.^

So it all started with HALF OF MY CLASS having blogs of their own, so i decided to get my own after MUCH prompting on behalf of my peers *thanx peepz ^.^*

Let me start with saying that this will be a space for personal musings, introductions to my vast, random, & often-times fleeting weekly obsessions. Yes. I have weekly obsessions. So shoot me =P

It'll cover everything that's in-focus for me in that week, & hopefully it'll be entertaining.

Or not.

Warning: I drop things as easily as I get obsessed with them. I have commitment issues. Even with non-tangible, conceptual things.

I'm cool like that.

Whatever it is, enjoy!