w w w . x e .s . c x

Bad news. I’ve been rejected by Manchester Metro University even though it’s my first choice. This is the second university that has rejected me. The only hope I have now is Cardiff University, however I doubt that I could get into it as they have limited spaces and high requirements. I need a twist of fate!
– 11:50PM
Results are out! Siew Lee started knocking on everyone’s door at 8:30AM to pass us our results (they arrived on 1st class mail). Thankfully, I passed everything but I’m not really happy with it especially Criminal Evidence. I was expecting at least a second-class lower. However, it turned out to be a third class, just 1 mark away from a second-class lower. I’m so, so frustrated!! On the other hand, Intellectual Property Law result was really unexpected. I was expecting a third class but I eventually got a second-class lower. What a surprise. I though I screwed up my paper! Japanese language was the best of all. I managed to get a second-class upper, something that I’ve been aiming for all the while. However, I heard that non-law module subjects are counted differently when it comes to grading my degree. I need to do better this semester!
– 11:58AM

Fucking stressful. I got so many results to wait for. I’m still waiting for my bar school approval and tomorrow, my 1st semester results will be out. I hope I didn’t do badly. For the past few days, I couldn’t sleep well and it takes me more than half an hour to fall asleep on the bed.

Japanese class is getting more and more interesting. Instead of formal classes with serious discussions, we get to play games (educational games of course). The games require us to speak in Japanese. For example, today, Ando sensei showed a representative from a group, a picture of a person. The representative then has to describe the features of the picture in Japanese and the other members had to draw the picture out. hehe. And couple of weeks ago, we got to play musical chair. Hehe

Frederick got a new layout. Check it out.
http://www.blackhearts.co.uk/
– 11:29PM

Finally, a new server. The previous server had some problems. I’m on a new server now. Thank you for your loyal support! hehe

I’ve been on loads of stress lately. Loads of things to read and worst of all, results for bar school. I was rejected by Nottingham Trend Uni and my 2 other options are still under consideration. I’m hoping to get into Manchester Metro Uni as it was my first choice. Wish me luck!!!

Life is so full of surprises. I just found out that Starwing, someone I knew for 5 years from IRC, is my first cousin. He is my dad’s brother’s son! For the past few years, it didn’t occur to me that Starwing shares the same surname as mine until I visited his website. His name is Melvin Foong.
We soon realise that we were related after he confirmed that his grandfather is from Bidor, Perak (a state in Malaysia), operates a restaurant there and married with 2 wives. We do also share the same grandmother.
Couple of months ago, on my birthday to be precise, I found out that I have a half sister. I’ve always thought she’s some sort of relative due to the fact she visits my family sometimes. When I asked mum about her relation with my half sister, she said she’s just a relative. But that was when I was still in primary school. On my 21st birthday, my sister text messaged me on my 21st birthday. She wrote, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY! FROM YOUR SISTER” I was puzzled and replied the message, “Thanks but who are you?” I thought it was some long lost pet sister or something. My sister called and told me the truth. I guess you guys are wondering what truth? Hehe, it’s a very private matter. Oh yeah, by the way, I heard that my other (not the one i just referred too) half sister is fucking gorgeous (What other half sister???). All I can say is, I have a very complicated family.

Starwing’s website: http://starwing.shacknet.nu/

I love hero stories
http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/europe/03/11/britain.schindler.reut/index.html
– 10:20PM

I am soooo blur, I had no idea. 😀

I figured it was going to any random day – late lunch, classes, defrost chicken, eat dinner and then watch them play ps2 aGAin. But something unexpected happened to me during the day and I was pretty much down for the rest of it, even when Shane and Siew Lee brought me out supposedly for some coffee but instead, took me all around Ecclesale buying candles and halogen lights (riiigghhttt Siew Lee?) and rotting in Mike’s place watching Jay Chou videos and random canto-pop mtvs to my ULTIMATE despair :D.. I started to whine about going home but they refused to take me home (ermm yeah, I still haven’t figure it out by then) so we went to Cafe Rouge for some hot chocolate and tea – it was 7 in the evening and I was wondering when we were finally gonna go home for dinner.

Well, we finally head for home with Fred driving us home and eventhough Jon’s car was parked right outside the house, it still didn’t occur to me anything was up. Walked in and then WARRRRRHHH!!!!!!!!!! The most successful surprise any surprise party could ever come up with! They thought of everything from the balloons, confetti, banner, the MEGA CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE from Fat Jacks (woohoo!!!), the red eggs and the birthday noodles among others. And I gotta mention how the champagne cork fell strategically on Allen’s head – punishment maybe for being the first to attack the food, hmmm? 😉 hehe.. I wonder if he reads this site?

I shall get all mushy now and tell you guys how touched I was and still am right now. I feel loved! muaHAhaaa… Just when things seem to be at its lowest, I felt that the surprise party brought my spirits up once again… My 21st birthday has to be the best birthday I ever had and this has to be all thanks to everyone of my housemates – Fred, Chuo Ming, Alex, Leong, Khai Fei, Mindy and Siew Lee and also the people that helped and also turned up at the house 🙂 You guys are just the sweetest!! If I had 7 kids next time, I swear I would name them all after you guys, mannn!!! 😀

Alrites… going off now, am still bubbling from yesterday and before I start another all out attack on this entry with another long paragraph – laters all… 😉

11.23PM

On Shrove Tuesday – or Pancake Day – it is traditional for British people to cook pancakes – flat fried cakes of flour, eggs and milk, often served with just lemon juice and sugar – very tasty. The tradition started with the using up of foods avoided or forbidden during Lent, the 40 day Christian period of abstinence leading up to Good Friday and Easter. However, many British people enjoy the tradition of eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday [today, March 4th] even if they are not practicing Christians. People like to toss the pancakes – flipping them over in mid-air from the frying pan. Can be messy if you get it wrong!
– 11:30PMSorry for the frequent downtime. My website will be moved to a new server soon. My service provider is moving their server to a new one in US and hence new restrictions will be imposed on me.

I will have to remove the Melbourne Shuffle videos due to bandwidth restrictions (2gigs/month). Other files will have to go to. sob sob..

Btw, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO WENDEEE!
– 4:00PM

Say no to War!

http://www.csi.ad.jp/ABOMB/children.html
http://mothra.rerf.or.jp/ENG/A-bomb/photo-1/Contents.html
http://pathfinder.com/photo/essay/hiroshima/open.html
http://www.coara.or.jp/~ryoji/abomb/e-index.html
– 3:40PM

Helloo! Leong was nice enough to let me play around with his website but gawd, I have no idea what to write here… Here is a little bit of intro anyway, I am Wen Dee and I am the only other person that stays in the basement of our house with Leong and he is so sweet coz he usually cleans the toilet that we share – ok, I think I have shared a little bit too much there. Heh.

Anyways, right now, Alex and Khai Fei are playing Dynasty Warrior 3 on Fred’s PS2 while Hun Chong, Chuo Ming (who are both lying down on the sofa together), Frank and Leong (who just made himself some creamy-looking coffee thingy) watch them… aiyah, damn sien-larh!!! Having only 3 girls in the house makes it so damn boring for us coz the other guys (besides Leong) only talk about the god-forsaken Utopia or PS2. And if we are lucky, the guys will show some signs of life and then realise – Oh hang on, there are girls in the house who don’t really give two rats ass about their computer games. 😛

I am getting such a kick outta doing this and I am sooo sorry if I have been boring… maybe I shall amuse the other Sheffield friends who come to this website, by telling them about the little quirks and fancies that each and every housemate of Watson 16 have:

Chuo Ming would go after anyone with a cleaver and threaten to chop off their balls, if you call him short or anything remotely similar.

You can hear Alex from a few streets away by the original way he yells his foul language when he loses in PS2 or Marvel Super Heroes. For example: ChauCheeeeBWAAAAAiiiiiiiii, MaaaKeHaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, MaaaChaauuuHaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiii, etc.

And those who know Leong would probably know how distinctive his laughter can sound. While I can’t hear his music or anything else from his room, I can hear his bursts of laughter loud and clear and I know he must be watching SouthPark again. 😉

Fei is just plain stoned but pay attention and you can catch his classic one-liners.. 🙂 And the only time I have seen him so alive is when he is playing PS2.

Siew Lee has the chun-nest body in Sheffield and also loves to play her songs over and over and over and over and over again – thank gawd for her taste in music. Word of advice for everybody, don’t let her drink too much!!! I warned you… 😉

Mindy our resident grunge chick with a taste for long-haired (hehe) guys and cooks and bakes damn well!!! I can tell from my room when she is in the kitchen because she would be routinely fending off insults and such from the guys with remarks like “Shuddap-larh!”, “Fuck off-larh!” and the likes.. hell, she rAwks..!

And Fred is renowned for the biggest collection of porn in the student community in Sheffield!!! And I think I better shuddup now before he kills me… ;D

Ok, I shall end now before you guys start to scream bloody murder for me to stop.. 🙂 Take care all and let’s see if Leong would dare to allow me to contribute to his site ever again. Reeee!

And oh, harlow Dion!! 😉
– 23.07

Pennies
Jyh Wei just informed me that I could change my pennies for vouchers at Sainsbury, Meadowhall.

Work
Jyh Wei also told me that Vietnamese noodles bar is hiring people. They’re paying 35 pounds to work from 1PM to 10:30PM including 2 hours break and free food and drinks. I tried applying today. Initially, they were reluctant to talk to me as I was speaking English to them. As soon as I speak Cantonese, everything seemed smooth. Unfortunately, they’re not hiring anymore. I explained to them that a friend of mine told me that the restaurant is hiring. They seemed puzzled and asked me whether do I have experience. Mmm, the only experience I have in a restaurant is when I worked as a dishwasher at a coffee shop when I was 12 years old. The lady who was interviewing me seemed pretty interested in hiring me (she kept on asking me questions) but due to my lack of experience, she repeated that they’re not hiring anymore. I gave them my number and told them to call me if they need me. I hope they’ll call.

Japan
I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. I want to experience their culture and lifestyle. And now, I’m thinking of teaching English in Japan after I graduate. It sounds like a good idea where I’ll be paid in Yen, be able to improve my Japanese, check out Japanese girls and so on. However, there are plenty of hurdles for me. Firstly, they need at least a degree from any western post secondary education in order to apply for a work visa. That sounds okay since I’ll be graduating from University of Sheffield.

2. What do I need to DO to get my Work Visa?
There are basically two ways to get a work Visa to teach in Japan:

a) The first option is to arrange employment from your home country. The Japanese employer will then handle the arrangements for you. The new teacher will send their ORIGINAL college degree to the Japanese employer who will, in turn, take it to the local Immigration Office in Japan. A Certificate of Eligibility will then be sent to the foreign recruit in her home country; she then presents (either in-person or by certified delivery) her Passport and this Certificate to the Japanese Embassy or Consulate in her home country. The Work Visa will be stamped in the new teacher’s Passport. This writer has undertaken this process twice and each time it has taken about four or five weeks to complete though I have been told by reputable sources that this period can be considerably shorter as well as somewhat longer.

b) The second option is to come to Japan on a Tourist Visa in order to search for employment. If a teacher secures a job offer while in Japan on a Tourist Visa, the new teacher MUST leave the country in order to secure a Work Visa. Most teachers go to Korea, as this is usually the cheapest and quickest option. Obviously, if one has a Working Holiday, Spouse, or Student Visa, there are other issues involved; this page is intended for teachers who are thinking about coming to teach in Japan full-time over a longer term. Coming to Japan to search for employment is obviously a much more expensive option than securing employment from abroad. Living in Japan as a “job-hunting” tourist can be a very expensive undertaking, and this writer would not come over here to look for a job with much less than 4-5,000 US dollars and a valid credit card, but, of course, there are others who’ve arrived in Japan with less. For more information, check out the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Online Visa Section

3. Where can I find the companies that recruit foreign teachers from abroad?
Like the answer given to the question above, there are basically two options concerning the TYPES of employers who hire English teachers from abroad.

a) The private language schools: The big three in this arena are AEON; GEOS; and NOVA though there is hundreds of smaller operations in Japan. These organizations are FOR-PROFIT businesses, and, as such, they operate from the same premise that literally millions of other businesses operate from: Decisions in these businesses are made with an eye on the bottom line, so if you decide to work in this arena, just be aware that the institutional culture will reflect the fact that these “schools” are, in fact, large for-profit Japanese corporations. This answer is in no means meant to criticize these organizations one way or another but hopes to inform young teachers about the reality of the EFL work environment in Japan.

b) The Japanese Public School System: This option also has a large player: The JET Program– though there are similar, smaller programs operated by individual cities and prefectures in Japan. When a teacher is accepted into the JET Program, she is assigned to work as an “Assistant English Teacher” in the Japanese Public School System. These teachers work the same schedules and at the same schools as Japanese teachers; therefore; one is placed within the education bureaucracy, which has its own set of unique issues that are different in kind from the “business-related” issues mentioned above. The JET Program recruits a large number of teachers, and I have been told that the lead-time is longer for JET than for the private language schools, but I cannot state this with certainty. JET teachers do observe national holidays as they work the school calendar. I have personally spoken with JET teachers who have been placed away from the urban centres, so this is a real possibility.

One of the possible ways to work in Japan is to apply to the Japanese Exchange and Teaching (JET) programme. The only problem is, JET doesn’t recruit people from Malaysia! One of the main prerequisite is that I must a citizen of the participating country.
I’ll decide this in details after I graduate from Bar school. I hope that Malaysia will join the JET programme. If it happens, aaah, /me daydreams.

Check out some old Sheffield pictures
http://www.sheffgen.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/photos/unerversityold.htm
http://www.sheffgen.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sixties_pics/brookhill60s.htm

Rest of the pictures are here
http://www.sheffgen.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/photos/sheff_old.htm
– 10:50PM

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GIZMO aka MEL HAI

What a weird class. My tutor for Family Law seminar seems pretty weird. She’s reputed to be a very nice lecturer and she pays attention to international students a lot. She expressly stated in one of the lecture note, “ In the interest of fairness, we suggest that international students should be allowed to have first choice as to whether they wish to argue question 1 or question 2, and which issue in the question they would prefer to deal with”. Well, it sounds good to us but I personally think this is too much. I felt like I’m being treated as a second-class student and not treated as a normal University of Sheffield student. There were 4 Asians including me in my seminar today. She divided us equally into 4 other groups. And on each group, she expressly told everyone, “Hello, this is Leong (different name for different groups), ask him where is he from, and what is his background”. I felt so embarrassed. I felt that every question that my group member asked was made in pretence. The 3 other girls in my group asked me couple of questions but soon changed to another topic.

The Finland trip photos are up @ http://www.xes.cx/pics/finland
– 9:00PM

Oh my god, so, so tired! Muay Thai training was killer today. Our society organized grading classes at Wicker camp today. We had to gather at the tram stop to go there. The turnout was great, about 15 people.

This was the first time I’ve been to Wicker camp. It’s quite famous in Sheffield as it has few Muay Thai champions training there. The gym is located at some dodgy area. The reception area is painted with bright orange with loads of photos of Thai boxers and even the people who trained there. As for the training area, it’s much bigger than our usual training hall at Goodwin. There’s even a professional boxing ring.

We started off with some running exercise. We had to run one end to the other end, and then do skips, jumping jack, run on four etc alternatively for about 4 minutes. By then it has already worn me out, I could barely stand and soon I felt dizzy. I had to rest for few minutes as I felt like shit.

We continued with some technique moves and ended with gym exercise. I bet my muscles will ache like hell tomorrow.

I had to partner with a girl. She is from Essex studying English (after she told me that, I went on saying, “So, you’re from Essex and you’re studying English?”).

One of my mates from Greek told me about a festival they celebrate in Greece. He was saying something about Holy Communal, where it is different in Greece. They give out bread and wine together (not really sure how it works but it’s different than the normal one). The interesting thing is that the wine is much better than the normal one. It’s much sweeter. And since it’s holy, they won’t throw the remaining wine away hence they will drink it. And by the end of the day, we’ll have a happy bunch of drunken Greeks.

We headed to The Cavendish to drink. We chatted quite a lot and everyone seems so friendly. I ordered a snake bite black. The Essex girl told me that usually people drink it if they want to get pissed drunk. She was right, I felt tipsy after that drink.

I told them that Malaysians respect Europeans a lot. They seemed surprised. Simon thinks that English people are stupid. While the others seems to agree with him. To me, when I first came to Sheffield, I noticed that English people are very polite. Everything starts with a “Please” and ends with “Thank you”. Well, not exactly every Malaysian respects Europeans, obviously there are some xenophobic people in Malaysia.
– 11:30PM