Curses! The Honest Scrap Awards!

Chindi my old time buddy in the blogging world has given me this unenviable task of putting down 8 things previously unknown to any soul in the world on my blog. About me. And me, being the open book that I am, it is extremely difficult to think of anything that I have never told anyone before. Stuff I can't tell the general public, I tell to my best friends. Stuff I don't tell my best friends, I tell random strangers that I meet. And stuff that I don't tell anyone at all - well, don't expect me to put it here, because they're secret for a reason.

Cue intense soul-searching for the most difficult blogging assignment ever.

Anyway, since I have family reading this blog, the content remains [my] family friendly, I have devised a clever scheme to stick to the rules of the award yet not divulge any secrets worth knowing, muahaha! So here's a list of things so trivial about me that I've never thought about telling anyone:

1. I have a habit of compulsively rereading the newest post on my blog until I do a new post, then I'll read that new post instead.
2. I had a great idea for a personal ad last week and posted my first ad ever online... and the replies have been coming in like averagely five emails a day =_= My semangat died approximately two hours after I posted the ad, and now I am faced with the prospect of answering the pile of emails by strangers whom I don't want to disappoint but don't really care about either. On top of that I have to answer emails from people that I do care about, and I have to start doing my research, but now I am blogging.
   
3. I need a personal assistant who will stop me from doing stupid random things that eat up my time such as posting personal ads at whim and answering blog tags.
   
4. I just got an email from my co-supervisor giving me an assignment for his class which I'm sitting in. And you heard it first, from June x 2. Damn, more work on top of the pile of emails I have to reply!
5. Sometimes I think I put too many dashes into my writing - like that - but I like to articulate my pauses without using too many commas.
   
6. Someone washed my feet at the Burning Man.
7. I'm struggling here - oh yeah occasionally I have vain spells which result in me staring at the mirror for extended periods of time. After I cut six inches off my desert-fried hair I used the household webcam to take self-portraits (see right, behold, the thinker pose!).
   
8. I have only visited Yasmin Ahmad (my favourite Malaysian film director)'s blog once after she died, and till now I still have the unconscious habit of typing her blog address into the address bar, hesitating and not clicking enter. Whenever I do that I am slightly sad.
   

OK, not tagging anyone as usual, too much time-wasting, the time-wasting's gotta stop!

Shall not be updating the blog too often recently until I get my life back into order, namely getting a place to stay and sorting out all the work-related clutter. Have to work really hard for the following few months to complete my confirmation report to get it out of the way from any travelling opportunities, and to impress my World's Coolest Supervisor.

Wednesday Morning

Since I woke up this morning I have been reading this remarkably interesting self-help book, What do I do when I want to do Everything? by Barbara Sher. I think I may have found some explanation and help for my perpetual procrastination, perfectionism and indecisiveness! From this point on I am invincible!! I love the positive rush self-help books give me =D

There's one exercise within, called the "What have I done so far?" list. Here's my list, in no chronological order but loosely grouped by subject:

1. Signed up more than 100 people to join Greenpeace New Zealand. I should check out the exact number with Hannah.
   
2. Bungy jumped off Auckland Harbour Bridge (and coerced 7 other people to do it with me).
   
3. Hitchhiked around the South Island of NZ (about 1400kms).
4. Hitchhiked from Butterworth to KL and got home within 5 hours.
   
5. Got an article published in Forward (June 2008 issue) on my hitchhiking experience in NZ - AND THEY PUBLISHED IT UNDER "SHAMSUL YUSOF" - TOOK MY BABY FROM ME - in a mistake. I haven't got the cheque yet. The article is unmistakably mine - it has Val's name in it and my picture and my map. I was extremely incensed about it before, but now have relapsed into some sort of angsty indifference. They promised that they will republish the article - a shorter version of it (HAVE TO QUARTER MY BABY SOMEMORE) - but since Zul has left the magazine I don't know if they'll follow through.
   
6. Got a Bachelor's degree in Information Systems and a Master's degree in Public Policy and about to get a PhD in Communications and New Media.
   
7. Got an email interview by German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (yes Val I checked it's this paper indeed =D) and radio interview by online radio Radio Singapore International and some other media interest, all on my blog research.
8. Wrote a book, to be launched soon.
9. Helped with the constitution of All-Blogs, though things seem to have quieted down.
   
10. Fundraised and helped to organize a Christmas party for some underprivileged children and single mothers of the Indian community. Ended up going to an Indian gathering complete with dance and song performances =D
    
11. Have been (with family or work) to Indonesia (Bandung and Yogyakarta), Thailand (Phuket), China (Yunnan - Kunming, Dali, Lijiang), UK (London - when I was 3. So it doesn't count, except for statistical purposes like now.), Singapore.
    
12. Have backpacked (i.e. planned in shoestring budget, though LL and Asa planned for my debut Oz trip) in Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra), New Zealand (all over, too many to list), Thailand (Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Ayutthaya), Hong Kong, Taiwan (Taipei and Hua-lien), Malaysia (all over as well)
    
13. Have got Japanese Language Proficiency Test certification to Level 3 (two more levels to go), probably can survive in Japan, where I shall go in the future.
14. Speak smatterings of German. Mostly random words and phrases, greetings, insults, counting from one to ten. I should probably not starve in Germany. (Ich bin hungrig.) Or die of some forewarned accident. (Achtung!)
    
15. And while we're at languages well I do English, Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien reasonably well.
    
16. Told a guy that I like him. Which is kinda a big thing for me. Though he's probably not into me. Well, no regrets, I've done all I can and the only thing left is to flinch and then to heal.
    
17. Organized countless gatherings for our group of friends - so dependent they grew that they didn't see each other for the 6 months that I was in NZ.
    
18. Have overcome my fear of culinary disasters and will cook more in the future.
19. Built a website on Joomla! and PHP, but didn't launch it onto the web at the end stages. But it works locally haha.
    
20. Wrote a paper on the website (pt. 19) and presented it at a conference in Yogyakarta.
21. Learnt pottery for almost a year. Though I feel scammed by the art school, I am still kinda proud of some of the end products that came back.
    

Just got a call from Prof! He says the book is being printed now and probably will be out next week. I am jittery about the cover because it looked positively horrendous, the first version of it, I hope they have revised it to be better. The book won't be launched yet but it will be sold before the launching I guess.

Me an author!

*reverent silence*

I think I shall go dry the clothes before my mum kicks my ass.

8 Days Left.

And Kena Tag. By ChindianaTrails whom I cursed at in his comment box, but am secretly pleased at because he saved me from another what-i-did-today post.

5 things in my handbag-
- Keys.
- A free New Vitamin E Moisture Serum sample from The Body Shop.
- A receipt from The Body Shop for the sample that I didn't pay for.
- Pencil case (owned since 2001).
- Camera (Fujifilm Finepix F31fd).

5 things in my purse
- A blood-type card. I'm AB Positive.
- MyKad.
- Ticket stubs of Flute Festival and The System of Cikgu Tuko.
- Money. (Or the lack of it)
- ISIC Card. Hip hip hooray for discounts!

5 things in my favourite room (My Bedroom!!!)
- My bed with its Garfield bedspread. And pillows.
- My bookshelves laden with books I bought from The Big Bookshop Warehouse Sales recently.
- My HP desktop.
- Random cute stuff which I can't resist buying and leaving around.
- The Yuyuhakusho poster that Asa gave me since forever.

5 things I would like/love to do
- Destroy permanently the harddisk of the Sony technician who formatted my lappy.
- Be a travel writer (go Europe and Japan in the process).
- Have a good hearty laugh.
- Take up playing piano again.
- Go to the beach with THE bunch of friends.

5 things I'm currently doing
- Applying for jobs in New Zealand.
- Gathering necessary documents for PhD application.
- Packing my luggage.
- Tidying up my room.
- Procrastinating from all of the above.

And here comes my favourite part of tags - killing them.

I hereby do not tag anyone. Muahahahahhahahaha!!!

Ahem. Not as dramatic as it sounded in my head.

I went for a dental appointment, shopped for GH and YKent's birthday presents and visited my grandparents today. Just in case anyone's interested. ;)