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Abah picked me up from uni yesterday evening and brought me home, because I have no classes today. I'll be going back tomorrow, in the morning, and then they'll pick me up again after class.

So far, uni has been...a challenge. It's okay, honestly, but it's still uni.

Let me bitch about the dorm first. I was fully expecting the usual four-people-to-a-room set-up, but that was not to be. Instead, it is one big room, shared by around 30+ girls. The plain cement floor is bare. Some of the bunk beds are missing ladders. It is fricking hot ALL THE TIME. Seriously, if you spent half an hour just lying down doing nothing, you may or may not end up producing the same amount of sweat you would expect after a marathon. Every morning, I wake up feeling sticky and ugh. Time to bitch about the bathroom. There are 3 toilets to a dorm, and only 5 showers, one of which is out of order. Sometimes, the water pressure is really low, so it's more like a miniature waterfall flowing down the wall rather than a shower. And of course, there's no hot water. Bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch.

Sucky accommodation aside, the people are nice enough. The only problem, for me, is that most of them (with the exception of maybe one or two) don't speak English (most are Malay, with a handful of Indians, and only two Chinese). And I communicate way better in English than in Malay. I know that's sad, but that's how it is. I've made a few pals, but no one I really really think of as a "friend". This is mostly because I keep comparing them to Fee and Huda, and Dan, Nana, Lisa, and all my other wonderful friends. Which is probably a stupid thing to do, because I'll never find anyone even remotely as awesome as them. Ahaha.

The first week was orientation week, filled with talks, briefings, and group activities. I was in Group Five, the Monkey Team (we actually gave ourselves that name). We were a fairly good team, albeit a poorly organized one. xD

There were a few surprises throughout the week. On the third night, we were all sitting in the hall listening to Abang Azrul (one of the Facilitators aka Facies) talk about him and his little brother (it was a really cute story; Abg Azrul is funny x3) when one of the girls was called up. Later, once she had left the hall, Abg Azrul told us that her mother had passed away.

The lights were turned off and Abg Azrul started preaching to us about the importance of appreciating our parents, and always letting them know that we love them. Pretty soon, most of the girls could be heard sniffling, sobbing, crying.

After maybe half and hour (probably less) the lights were turned back on. The girls were all teary-eyed, except for a few, and the boys were trying to control macho, but I bet some of them at least got lumps in their throats. After watching us for a while, Abg Azrul calmly told us that we'd been scammed, that no one's mother had died, and a smile slowly spread on his face.

Strangely, it had occurred to me in passing that it could all be a trick, but I'd dismissed it almost immediately. If only one knew when one should follow one's instincts. :S

When Abang Azrul asked us whether we could forgive him, most chorused a solid "NOOOO!!!" (except in Malay) but I said a quiet yes. It was a cruel trick, and a bit twisted, but I understand why it was done.

The students had their revenge of course. It was on the last night of orientation week, which was Appreciation Night (Malam Apresiasi Siswa; for some reason, lots of people found it hard to pronounce 'apresiasi') where each group (20 in total) had to give a 5-minute performance. One group, after their main performance, had one of their members pretend to pass out to make the Facies panic. When they were in the process of carrying the "unconscious" girl off the stage, one of the members spoke through the mic, "Haha, kena balik!" Or something to that effect.

Now, humans are not the most forgiving creatures, and can hold a grudge like Pooh holds a pot of hunny. The Facies got us back, all right. This happened in the form of Kamal, one of my fellow group members. In the middle of the performance of one of the other groups, he left the hall and seconds after he came back in and returned to his place, he collapsed. When I heard who it was, boy was I shocked. I managed to get closer and saw him lying spread-eagled on the floor, with foam trickling out of the side of his mouth. The word "sawan" was spreading around, and while I was busy trying to process it, all the time with the image of Kamal on the floor, the Facies told us to back off. Then, before I knew it, the truth was revealed and Kamal was off the floor, grinning through the onslaught of his relieved (?) friends. The foam? I'm guessing toothpaste.

People are sick.

Like I said, the last night was Appreciation Night. The theme given for the performances was "superhero". My group did a sketch about a pondan-esque superhero called Sotongman, played by Faisal aka Panjang aka Opocot. His sidekick was Wan, who imitates me when I blow up my cheeks. Hanif and Rozana act as the narrators. The sketch started with Farah disobeying her parents (played by the group leader who is also named Faisal aka Boss, and Nor, our main penyumbang idea) and later meeting her friends (me, Iya, Iza, Zila aka Kak aka Makcik, Anis) at a cafe. She then excuses herself to go to the ladies' but runs into a trio of ruffians (played splendidly by Kamal, Fikry aka Budu and Faris aka Adik) who, when Farah attempts to walk away, throw her to the ground where she lies, unconscious. Suddenly, Sotongman appears, toting a furry handbag (supplied by Zila), followed closely by his sidekick, simply named Wan. A Matrix-style battle ensues, and the trio are defeated hilariously (I was laughing my ass off backstage). Sotongman proceeds to the unconscious Farah and holds her head in his hands (from the team's point of view at that time, Farah looks as if she is trying very very hard not to laugh) as the rest of the members line up and bow.

Amazingly enough, we won third place for that performance.

Earlier the same day, we played a game called Kembara Sibuta. Each person is blind-folded, except the group leader and their attending Facie, who lead the group through checkpoints throughout the campus. To get past each checkpoint, a task has to be completed. The tasks range from eating and drinking God-awful-tasting stuff, to putting our hands into a bucket filled with water and strange, slimy things to retrieve 3 marbles. Only later did we find out that the slimy things were worms and frogs. Pure awesome.

We won first place for that game. As a result of winning two things, we were given the award of Hottest Group In Unisel. It was great. xD

My first week was pretty fun at times, though we only got around 3 hours of sleep each night and hardly any rest in between activities.

Last Sunday was T-lyn's 4th birthday party. It was held at Cineleisure, where we watched the original 101 Dalmatians in the preview box. Auntie Rozie can pull off anything, man. xD

I made this card for the occasion:

It's pretty simple compared to my other cards, but cutting out the white part was nothing near simple.

As usual when it comes to Auntie Rozie, the teens got party packs too. : ) We got bone-shaped cookies (Airyl assured us they were not real bones, but actually cookies) and adorable little Russ puppy plushies. Most of them were dalmatian puppies, with the exception of around 5, which were black puppies. If you've seen 101 Dalmatians, you should understand the significance of this. I was one of the lucky ones that got a black puppy. :3 His name is Seth, aka Magic, which is his given name.

After the movie (which I really enjoyed), we (Auntie Rozie and family, Dan and family, Nana and family, and me) went to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company for lunch. It was so fun. : )

Back to the subject of uni, lectures have more or less started. For the first semester, I have only three subjects: Basic Computer Technology, Proficiency English and Pengajian Islam. Yay for English, man. My timetable is okay, I suppose, except on Friday, where I have Pengajian Islam from 3 till 9. PM. Which means I pretty much won't be able to go to Opah's house, which means I won't be seeing Nana and Dan for a while. The HORROR. D:

How do I feel about uni life?

Well, it's probably not that bad, but I still feel a little miserable about it at times. Whenever I fall into a pit of minor depression, I'd start whining about my homesickness and SriAmansickness to Fee, or Huda, or Dan. Mostly Fee. Sorry about that. -__-; And also thank you. For layan-ing me. Yeahh.

Growing up can be such a pain in the ass/neck/etc but it's inevitable, so what can we do but embrace it with the best we've got?

And I'm surrounded by

a million people,

I still feel alone

Let me go home.