Birthday celebration post on my Lunar birthday. :)

Well, thanks to the terrible wifi connection in college, I couldn't get my blog up to date. :(

And finally after 2 weeks stuck in jail, I am back to home today!! *Cheers!!*

So speaking of my 22nd birthday celebration,,,

it ended up pretty simple.

As I am growing older and older, I am no longer that excited when thinking of my birthday.

The only reason I still like birthday is because it gives us an excuse to have another great meal with the love one. Another chance to gather.

Well, celebration is no longer that important for me.

I just hope everybody around me can have a blessed and peaceful year ahead.

What worth to make you excited if you start to feel you are getting older each year?

Getting old is definitely not a thing worth celebrating and cheer around huh?

Anyway, I am typing all these simple celebrations I had as a record of life.

2 or 3 days before my big day, my bff celebrated birthday for me.

To be exact, we actually just met up and had a simple meal at Bento Sanga.

I had my Kimchi Pork Bento at Rm9.90

It was really a big portion and tasted really good!! I will definitely order it during my next visit.

Needless to introduce, my bff.

I spent her on Somersby.

Yay, my first time having Somersby!

 Mine.

 Hers.
Chicken Bento. A bit too dry for me.

 Us.

 She bought me a piece of Raspberry Cheese cake but we were too full to have it after meal and sad to say it melted in the car. So I was like having...erm...Raspberry Cheese cream. XD

On my real big day,,,
I woke up early because I want my one year once birthday to be longer. LOL

I am a typical Chinese and mee-sua-neng is a MUST for my birthday.

Out of my surprise, Peh Yee sent this piece of cake to me at my gate in the afternoon.
I was really surprised and touched! This surprise ranked number 1 for my 22nd birthday no kidding! Thanks my friend!! =D

Youngest brother planned to treat me abalone nasi lemak but unfortunately the restaurant closed on that day. We went to a Thai restaurant afterwards.

Daddy bought me a Black Forest cake! =P

 22.

Before the clock pointed to twelve again, bff dated me.
I thought it was just a yumcha session but she bought me another piece of cake!! Omg she is so sweet.

My rainbow cake.

I was really full after swallowed this down to tummy. Fat die me to have so many cakes in a day.

 

I love to have cakes on birthday.
Not because of I love to eat cake, I don't really fancy about cakes, but I love to make wishes.
More cakes mean more wishes.

Friendship forever my dear bff in the world. How much I hope we could celebrate our birthday together every year. Come back from Uk during my birthday please.......hahaha joking 

Back to college and I got birthday celebration with my gang.
We decided to try a new cafe Rocks Garden Cafe.
I like the ambiance there. :)
And also the food there. Big portion and reasonable price. nom nom

 Never miss a Carbonara when given a chance to dine in western cuisine.

My gorgeous friend Yee Ching.

With our group's 智囊 Ivan.

The pretty long legs Ker Sing.

 Shin Phing and I.

The gentle lady Peh Yee.

*I like my hair colour under the light*

Cutest chubby hamburger Choo Choo.

Hippo + Giraffe

When I was going around the table, taking photo with everybody,,,

deng...deng...deng...deng...

surprise!

There were two cakes coming!

December babies making wishes.

Ena and I the December babies the maknae

Hazelnut cake and Tiramisu.

Both tasted like heaven!!!!!!

 I LOVE this photo the most!
We all looked so sweet.

My beloved ladies.

The Gang.
That marked the end of my 22nd birthday celebration.
I would like to thank to all of my friends who celebrate for me and wish me, advanced or belated don't care.
Thanks to my dear Yunying for sending birthday card for me from the far far away UUM!
Thanks pretty Ying Ying and my most beloved ex-roommate Hanyin for giving me masks!! Such coincidence. xD
Thanks my giraffe Yeexien for sewing one funny-looking hippo for me. I love it though it looked really weird. =P
Thanks my bff Fiona for giving me novel Eleanor and Park which is really a good read. I finished it within one week and love it so much!
Thanks to my family for nurturing me and backup me always.

I'm going to lead a wonderful 22!!
*or you may say I have already reach 23 but I won't admit it now too unfair too unfair.*
Going to play hard and work hard and live hard hard.


Happy Lunar Birthday today!!
:)

2015 resolutions. :)

I actually wanna type something to summarize my 2014.
I typed and deleted and typed and deleted.
I don't know what I should write.
Too many happenings but feel empty.
2014 was amazing as I had actually achieved most of my target and I participated a lot of activities and knew a lot of new people.
But it was sad coz I lost somebody I really really respected and love and I see there were so many accidents and disaster happened all around the world.
Life is too unpredictable.
I hope 2015 will be a good year, not only for me but for the whole world of people.
Please, 
I really hope and pray that 2015 will be a peaceful and blessed one.
:)

You might think that life is unpredictable so why should we still have planning and resolution huh?
For me, it is a must to have some target in life so that we wont feel empty.
Even if there might be no tomorrow for me, I gonna live my today a contented and fruitful one!!
So here I am to write my target to be achieved in 2015:

1. I had achieved my target in 2014 which was getting an A for practicum. I hope I could improve my teaching skill and get an A+ *guru cemerlang* in my last practicum. *I knew educating is more important that the result, but a target will always encourage me to do better. I will try my best to educate my students, not for my result, but for my students.*
2. Maintain my CGPA till the end of my course. *Thanks Buddha that I maintained it in 2014, so final year go Go GO*
3. Brush up my 草书 and meet my calligraphy teacher more often. *Ever since the weekend is changed to Fri and Sat I never pay a visit to calligraphy class in 2014, so my target in 2014 failed. :( I felt so sorry for my teacher and myself. I hope I could be more hardworking in my calligraphy career in 2015.*
4. 8-10 English novels. *I read 10 English novels and about 16 Chinese books in 2014 and that's pretty cool. I hope I could read as much in the new year.*
5. Less time in drama and social media *I always ask myself to stop watching so much dramas and stop instagramming but I just couldn't once I get stuck. I spent the most of my time in my insta compared to facebook. So, 2015 you gonna be more self disciplined!!*
6. Workout regularly *Failed target in 2014 as I always followed my friends to have great dinner. Gonna stop this and get my healthy meal back! I want Abs and little waist please* XD
7. Travel to new country. * No traveling in 2014 and I hope I could travel to a new country in 2015. I gonna use my own money 100% if travel with my aunt or plan a trip to oversea with friends.*
8. Write 400-500 春联 for donation function. *2014 record is 400 pieces* :D
9. Blog more to record life.
10. Braver, more independent, more sociable, more daring, expose myself more to others. *I think I did this well last year coz I practicum and met new people and joined quite a lot of activities and I did force myself to expose myself in front of others. I did see my improvement little by little so 2015 gonna be better!*

I hope I am able to I must and I will achieve all of these this year to be a better man!! =)

Not to forget, 

I gonna appreciate and love my family more, help them more and treat them better.

I gonna let all of my troubles go and only see the happy one.

I promise to appreciate my classmates more since this is going to be our final year.

Ya, and a more healthy lifestyle. Sleep earlier and remember to take vitaminsss everyday coz I start to feel old. :P

All in all

2015, please be kind to me. ^_^

Eleanor & Park

Come to the first post in 2015, I would like to share with you guys a good book.

ELEANOR & PARK by Rainbow Rowell

Worth reading: ★★★★★★★★★★ (9.5/10)

Reason: OH-MAI-GAWD, it is simply GOOD! The story. The vocabs. The characters. Just GOOD!

This is my first book in 2015.
And my second book by Rainbow Rowell.
It is an Amazing book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to bff Fiona for buying this for me as my 22nd birthday gift. =D
and Thanks to the government for extending our school holidays, hence I got extra time to read.
It feels really good to complete it before my new semester starts.

This book is really really good.!
It is a sweet love story between an Irish-Korean guy Park and a red hair girl Eleanor.
They come from totally different family.
Park's family is sweet. His parents kiss each other every time.
But Eleanor's family is terrible!
For me she is pity 'coz her parents divorced and each marriage a new person. She follows her mom but her stepfather is a very violent and chauvinistic man. Eleanor and her siblings have to eat and take bath before her stepfather comes back home. They just have to stay at home obediently 'coz the crazy man is crazy and get anger easily. And when he gets drunk, he will scold or abuse his wife. All in all, he is a very very bad man he is a monster! I hate him!

The story of Eleanor and Park get started when they sit next to each other on the school bus.
They never talk in the bus and one day Park lends her comic books and slowly they share the headphone, listening to the same song and discuss about it.
And yea, that is how love blossoms.
Park's mom doesn't like Eleanor at first. She heard some rumors about her family.
But after she realizes the situation that Eleanor stuck in, she accepts her.
The part of Park's mom helps Eleanor to set her hair and make up is just funny.

There are a lot of sweet and romantic parts in this book.
I especially like the part when Eleanor first calls Park.
That part is so cute!

But I hate it when the two of them get into quarrel due to some small things.
For example they quarrel when Eleanor knows that Park's ex is Tina (a girl who Eleanor dislikes). And also when Park fights with Steve to protect Eleanor but Eleanor doesn't need it and she thinks that he fights to save his own face and they argue over it.
I personally think that it is because Eleanor is an emotional girl. She thinks too much and not really confident about her relationship with Park.

Oops, there is another part which I like so much!
The adventurous journey at the last part of the story.
Park drives the truck to drive Eleanor away from her horrible stepfather.
I felt warm that Park's dad agree to let him drive Eleanor away from the town and promise to help. Park's dad is such a nice man!
Speaking of the adventurous incident, I can imagine the whole scene you know!
Back to home at midnight after seeing Park and finds that everything in her room is in a mess and immediately escapes from the house and tries to run away to avoid her horrible stepfather and......
The reason and the result? You gotta read the book yourself 'coz I'm not going to tell. XD
What I could say is I couldn't put down my book while reading this part 'coz it is so thrilling!
The words and sentences all turn into animation in my mind. So lively and vivid.
I feel like I am the one being chased by a monster! Whoo.

If I were asked to comment about this book for what I don't like, erm...
I think I will hope that the author describes more about Eleanor's family after Eleanor leaves.
I don't want the 'Everybody says they're gone. The whole family.' and 'He wasnt dead. But he wasn't getting up.' to be the answer.
I want to know more about them.

Besides, I don't understand why Eleanor refuses to write a letter or phone a call to Park.
'Just three words long.' is all written by Eleanor in the postcard for Park after one year, but hey that is not enough la! *roooaaaarrrr*
I want to see them being together!
I want to see Eleanor's dad turns over a new leaf and she manages to tell the whole family she is in love with Park. I want to see Eleanor be able to mix well with her friends.
Well, I just hope there would be a 'Eleanor & Park II' to tell me about them being together!!!
For the very first time I hope to read a sequel to a book. X-)
So I guess you guys know how much I love about this book huh!

My mind is kinda empty now after I finish reading this book.
This only happens after I finish watching a drama normally. But this feeling coming to me after a book!
This book is really impressive!
You guys should really borrow this book from me or pick it up at any bookstore and read it.

But be prepared with a not-so-good-and-sad ending. =P

PS:
Before I forget, I would like to tell that I am listening to Aaron Yan's song 《台北沉睡了》 while reading this book and I found the lyrics match Park's feeling so well.
“  妳或许来过 像一场烟火
燃烧过我的瞳孔 然后狠狠坠落
最美时刻台北沉睡了 浪漫没风声
能找谁证明存在过 

我真的爱过 如果妳问我
否则我不会一直感受失去什么
多想今夜台北沉睡了 故事有下落
把妳抱在我怀中 不准再错过 ”
Eleanor is like a spark of fireworks which come across his eyes and disappear.
She is gone then, no letter, no phone call, nothing. He has nothing to prove that she comes across his life before. And he really loves her and he would like to hear from her again, hug her again.
If I were Park, I think I will cry listening to this lol

I am really glad that I read this book before holiday ends coz it is so lovely so adorable. Aww :"(
By the way, I have joined 2015 reading challenge in Goodreads.
Okaylah, I know 8 is not a big challenge.
But I just don't want to set a big target that I couldn't accomplish and end up disappoint me.
So 8 would be an achievable number. Thus I hope I can complete this challenge by the end of this year. Please!

7 to go.
Jiayou!!
I think this post is long enough for today. So, Ciao.
:)

Fangirl

FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell

Worth reading: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ (8/10)

Reason: The story is simple and flows smoothly. The characters are very adorable.

I get to know a lot of popular books from Youtube recently.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell seemed to be like one of the books that gathers a high popularity among the booktuber.
I checked and knew that it gets a 4.2 out of 5 marks in Goodreads.
So, how could I miss out this book which is highly rated and highly recommended?

Erm, this is a novel about a girl Cath who has just entered an university with her twins sister Wren for the very first time.
For being Cath's twins, sharing room and clothes in their entire life, Wren decided not to be Cath's roommate anymore during their U. 
So Cath has to explore this whole new world herself.
 But she is not as good as her sister Wren in this part. She doesn't drink, doesn't want to attend parties and so.
I think that Cath is quite a nerdy girl.
She always hide in her room, reading and typing fanfiction about the Simon Snow story.
She is actually quite a famous author in Fanfiction world. She has many readers but she is not a sociable girl who can interact well with the outside world.
I personally like the part when she first meets her roommate Reagan.
The interaction between them is really cute. Haha. This makes me recall the scene when I first met my roomie in college. I miss it.
Omg, I like Levi too! Levi is Reagan's ex-boyfriend and present good friend who always hangs in Cath and Reagan's room.
And slowly Levi falls in love with Cath.
Levi is really a sweet guy. The flirting part among them adores me too. :P
Cath also faces some problem in her studies. 
She is taking friction-writing. She can write using some existed characters but she just couldn't make her own.

This story is very simple. There are a lot of dialogues in between.
Since this story is all about the life of a newbie when she just gets into U, it makes me feel kinda familiar especially the scene of first meeting with roomie, leaving home and how scare to be in a new surrounding alone.
There are a lot of Simon Snow original part and fanfiction part at the end of every chapters.
To be honest, I skipped quite a lot.
I like the actual story flow but not the Simon Snow part because I found it is not very related with the story itself.

All in all, this story is a well written one. 
The characters are so so adorable. It makes you want to know them in person. Haha.
I feel very comfortable and relaxing while reading this book.
:)

Woke up this morning and surprised that my holidays is extended one more week.
Due to the flood.
I felt pity for the victims because it is really a great lost to have their own home destroyed in a night. God bless them. :)
But I felt great to have another week of holidays lah.
I thought I have to start packing and get mentally prepared to step into my final year next week, but great to know that I have extended holidays.
Thus, I can read another piece of book perhaps?
 I've decided what to read the next. Ciao and back to reading. =D

What I've read in 2014 :)

So here comes to the last week of the year two thousand and fourteen.
Today is Christmas! hohoho Merry X'mas :D
But decorate a Christmas tree and caroling and and get a sock and wait for the Santa and exchange the presents and eat a turkey and and and..... well, celebrating Christmas just not my thing.
The reason I'm here typing this now is merely to record down what I've read throughout this year.

I remembered that I actually set a target of the amount of book to be read in this year in my 2014 first blog post.

Here it is:

4. Spend more time in reading. Hopefully 8 English novels. *2013 record is 4-5* I know it aint a lot if I could stay quietly and read like every second I'm free, but I just couldnt. So, I would like to train myself.

I am glad that I am not only achieving this target, but I broke my reading record too! XD

I had read 10 English novels this year!!!

It might not be a big amount of books for those who is reading all the time, but it is really a great achievement for me coz I am always a lazy bum and I couldn't really concentrate when I read.

I will play on phone or laptop after maybe I had only done with 2 pages? Serious, I am that typo girl.

I am taking Chinese as my major now and my English sucks. So, it is actually not an easy task to read English and not easy to keep this habit. Thus, I am real proud of myself. *clapclap*

I will always remember the reason I started reading English novel. That's because I want to improve my English and hopefully I can converse with my uncle's family fluently one day. Though my uncle ain't here anymore, but I have promised to him that I won't give this language up easily.

I will continue reading English books.
I have a long list of book-to-read and book wishlist.
Giving me books will never go wrong if you're worrying about what to give me on my coming birthday. =P

Okay, so here starts my recap of the books that I have read throughout this year.
You can click the book title to link to my previous book review.
I didn't write a review for every book I read especially Chinese books so I try to write some short intro/feelings below those.
And my book review can't be considered as a very well written or pro one but just some of my inner feelings or reflection after reading a book. Hope you don't mind and welcome. =)

1. LONE WOLF by Jodi Picoult 

2. BETWEEN THE LINES by Jodi Picoult & Samantha Van Leer

3. THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green

*One of the most popular book this year i guess*

4. THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN by Mitch Albom

5. THE TIME KEEPER by Micth Albom
photo from Google

6. FOR ONE MORE DAY by Mitch Albom

7. TWENTIES GIRL by Sophie Kinsella

8. A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS by Khaled Hosseini

*I love this book so much!*

9. AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED by Khaled Hosseini

10. FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell
*gonna write a review about it soon*
photo from Google

I READ CHINESE BOOKS THIS YEAR!! 

It had been years since I read my Chinese novel coz I found most of the Chinese books are Love or Encouragement. 

I found Love story quite boring. What I mean is that I won't improve anything reading it and I can guess the story flow either. That's why I don't read.

A lot of people loves inspiring book but I never read one. For me, I think this kind of book is meaningless. You won't be positive if you always think negatively even you read a dozen of this kind of book. And you can still having a positive mindset even you don't read any.

Thankfully I join Reading Camp this year and I found some nice books, I mean meaningful Chinese Children Literature.

You might think that 'Cheh, Children books, easy peasy, what can you learn through it?'

C'mon no offense coz I used to think like that too initially but after I read it right, I found a lot of simple yet beautiful sentences and story inside.

It is simple but it is touching. It is warm. :)

And sometimes there are a lot of meaning that you can explore and think over for a long time in Children books.

11. 米切尔.恩德 ——《毛毛——时间窃盗和一个小女孩的不可思议的故事》

*听了郭史光宏老师的介绍后非常感兴趣的一本书，然后就买了。

很有意思，对“时间”的解读有了不一样的诠释。*

12. 王淑芬 《我是白痴》

*一个叫彭铁男的弱智儿童的故事。

虽然他笨笨的，可是那单纯的人性和可爱的说话方式令人感动。*
photo from Google

13. 《我和小姐姐克拉拉》

*如题，我和小姐姐克拉拉的故事。

两个小孩之间调皮的互动，让人读了觉得很可爱，很滑稽，会心一笑。*

photo from Google

14. 《弗朗兹的故事系列》

*这套书有好多本，我几乎看完了因为我在阅读营中就负责导读这套书。

我没有太喜欢这套书可是其中几个故事很可爱很逗趣。*
photo from Google

15. 《西顿动物记——永远的领袖银斑》

*阅读营时我一直抗拒都这套书，因为我以为这是很教科类的书籍。

每个学生都说很好看我才拿了一本来读。我错了，这套书太好看了！很感动！

它不是教科类地在介绍动物，而是把它的特性用故事带了出来，像一个人，一个朋友一样地呈现在你眼前。*
photo from Google

16. 《西顿动物记——银狐托米》

*阅读营后我就买了其中一本来收藏。我超想买完全套不过我经济有限只好一次买一本。

同样好看同样感动。*
photo from Google

17. 罗尔德达尔《女巫》

*算是科幻的小说，故事很精彩让你一直追下去，可是结局让我有点无言啦。*
photo from Google

18. 《罐头里的小孩》

*罐头里装的是一个超级听话、守规矩的小男孩。

这样的孩子应该很讨喜，为什么要让他变坏呢？原来.......*
photo from Google

19. 《一百条裙子》

*这一百条裙子并不是真的裙子，而是画出来的裙子。

故事也非围绕在裙子，而是同学间。3个主角的人性让我自己反思，觉得里头那讨人厌作弄人，自以为是的性格和懦弱，不敢发言的性格似乎都出现在我自己身上，好伤心。*
photo from Google

20. 《5月35日》

*世界上没有5月35日，可是书里头有。5月35日这一天发生了许多奇怪的事情。我还满喜欢这本书的因为里头的内容好有趣，尤其是懒人国，里头的居民懒得也太淋漓尽致了吧。*
photo from Google

21. 程玮——《俄罗斯娃娃的秘密》

*第一次读这本书，平淡。第二次读这本书，有什么道理，欲言又止。

第三次读这本书加上了小组讨论，这本书太酷了！绕了一圈，看似一条直线发展的故事，其实是一个圈，什么事都是有所联系的，不得不佩服作者的笔尖。*
photo from Google

22. 汤汤——《青草国的鹅》

*由于是沉砂老师提到的一本书，我就很感兴趣地去读。

内容很有趣。*
photo from Google

23. 汤汤——《喜地的牙》

*弟弟终于换牙了，可是每换一次，身上就会出现奇怪的变化，慢慢地变成了一个怪物。

惊悚的过程让我很好奇他最后会怎么办然后就不舍得放下。*
photo from Google

24. 九把刀——《等一个人咖啡》

*当每个人都在看这部电影时，我看了其小说。

我没看过电影可是朋友说里头那个帅哥是鬼，可是我读完了书他还是人啊。

没有什么特别内容的小说或含义吧。这本e-book存粹是等朋友一同上学时，上无聊的课时按手机的多一个选择。*
photo from Google

25. 苏明进——《希望教室——让孩子前能大大发光》

*很多面对和教育小朋友的方法。看了很温馨。*
photo from Google

26. 苏明进——《亲师SOS》

*实习1前买的书。同上，读后一样暖暖哒。*
photo from Google

So, here are the books I had completed this year.

I don't count those books that I didn't completed. Cheating no good no good :P

2015 is going to be a f*cking busy year I guess *although I hope it won't be as busy as I expected* so I might not have too much time to do my usual reading. I hope I got la as long as I don't be lazy and keep procrastinating my job. hehehe

I don't think I can read as much Chinese books unless I join reading camp again? 

*Perhaps I got the chance to join again lah*

So I am not going to set target for Chinese books.

But, I will definitely set a target for English books as I said I got too much books queue up in my to-read list in my cupboard and in my iPad. 

I hope I could read 8 - 10 next year. 

Of course it will be better if I could read more.

I start to feel the stress omg I read too much this year. LOL

Okay la that's all my crappy crap. Ciao.

xo