Hi guys! Winter is approaching so Joyce & I thought it would be a good idea to go do a little shopping for that. We both needed boots and I needed more sweaters & winter coats, so we decided to go to Boston!

It was a hectic week (every week is hectic here!) so we could only go for 2 days. We started off on Friday & took the Dartmouth Coach & arrived at our budget hotel at 9.30am. We had to get up early because our bus ride was at 7am, and I slept the whole way through. Plus it was raining & the weather was so gloomy.

The trip was strictly for shopping, as much as I wanted to experience Boston's historical buildings I couldn't because we had so limited time! Boston is the largest city in New England, the capital of the state of Massachusetts, and one of the most historic, wealthy and influential cities in the United States of America (took this from Wikitravel). It's about 2.30 hours from Dartmouth, and the bus fare for a round trip is $50.

The subway & public bus was our main transportation there, and we asked a lot for directions. Once we arrived to the hotel & checked in our bags, we went to the social security office to send in our social security number application (we need this number to be able to work in the US). Something awful happened to me there...

While I was waiting for my number to be called, this black guy came in and sat next to me. He was wearing grey sweatpants and a grey sweater, and he was kinda plump & looked about 40 years old. After he sat down he looked at me and said, 'Look at you, you're so pretty~'..i smiled at him & said thank you. But it didn't stop there, he asked me if he could call me. My smile instantly disappeared & I said no. He kept saying 'ooooo please can I call you, I'm gonna cry if you tell me no'...at this point I was completely ignoring him. I should have gotten up & sat at some other place but I don't know why I didn't. He scanned my body and make some awful sounds, & then said some dirty things that I would rather not mention here. I think the guard saw my tight face & he asked the man to come to him. Owh yeah joyce's number was called before this guy sat beside me so she wasnt present during this whole incident. Right after the guard asked the guy to come to him, my number was called & I practically jumped & ran towards the counter.

It was sooooo creepy. I was a little bit shaken after that, but after a while I could finally distract myself with the sightseeing. We went to ate lunch at this awesome italian restaurant called Rustica Cafe on Canal St. I had Lobster Ravioli & Cannoli for $16. And the Ravioli tasted awesoooooome! Sorry I don't have a picture of it, was to hungry to care about photography.

The cannoli:

After that we went to Newbury St. for shopping. I bought stuff from H&M, Zara & Forever21. Here's a few pics...owh yeah there was this yummy cupcake store, i think it's called Georgetown cupcakes. Way way better than the famous 'Wondermilk' cupcakes in Malaysia.

Please excuse the messy hair, it was raining and windy...

Sorry I have no idea what these buildings are, as I said I was there for the shopping..

Bubur Cha Cha in Chinatown, Boston! I wonder how it tastes.. 

Dartmouth St~

Overall it was a nice trip, and i'll definitely come back to explore Boston. I really want to go to Harvard Square. And I think I spent like $700 for shopping, uwaaaa~ Looks like I have to eat cereal everyday from now on...till then, take care folks in Malaysia~

Do you see that guys? My first assignment...look at all those pretty red deco all over the page...nice huh?NOT!!!damn i really have to work harder now..

I did not anticipate this but hey, I went to see the Prof & now I know what my weaknesses are. 

And I got a job too! As a lab assistant at the uni's machine lab (macam lab kemahiran hidup kat sekolah dulu but with waaaay more advance machines). And my team's job is to find a strategic way on how to organize the whole lab so that it's more user friendly and convenient. In short, buat sistem susun and kemas barang (I can hear my friends laughing because they know that I am a 'very neat' person!). Haha whatever, as long as I get paid. ;p

Which guy? Puyeng? Yeah I miss him but I prefer to convey that message more privately...My dad? Yeah I miss him too..but I can 'whatsap' him anytime i want..(dad has whatsap okay~im proud of you ayah!haha)....but the guy I miss most, is this little hip hop gangster..

Uwaaaa..i could kiss my screen right now just by looking at his pic...=(

Hi guys..I have class only till Thursdays..so I kind of have a 3day weekend...Joyce & I felt like eating lunch outside, because it was such a nice day..so we decided to go to Molly's.

When we saw the menu..it took us about 10 minutes to choose because the dishes sounded awesome, plus we even interviewed the waiter on what she recommended. I've said this many times, & i'll say it again. The people are so nice here, & the service is excellent. I really wish the restaurants in Malaysia could have a service upgrade. The waiters just want to take your order, they put in no effort in engaging with the customers which is really sad to me.

 What I love is that there are so many seafood based menu's at Molly's, so yeay I can finally have something besides fish & chips! Haha..Here's the view from my window, it was so nice to people walking by, walking their dogs & chatting with their friends.

After what it seemed like a life & death debate, Joyce settled for the Thai Chicken & I had the Wood-fried Vege Stir with salmon. The both were delicious but I didnt finish mine because the portion was too big.

Then I dragged Joyce to the best Gelato place in town, Murano's Gelato. I was like, 'Joyce I want some ice cream you wait here with the dog ok'..Haha poor her..I'll come back with Part 2 of the hike soon okay guys! Taa~

(Just to clarify that isn't our dog. We don't have a dog. He/She belongs to the two people sitting behind Joyce~)

Yeay! I have time now to complain to you guys, on how I did not enjoy the hike. Haha.

We started off with a 1 hour journey from Hanover to Moosilauke Ravin Lodge. The scenery along the way was so beautiful, trees, rivers, hills. I don't have a car, so my course mate Joe generously offered me a ride, plus another international guy too. 

We arrived at 6pm, and went to our bunkhouse. They had one pillow on each bunkbed, with no sheets. Thank god I brought my comfy comforter with me. 

After we put down our things, we went to where the crowd were. I saw that most of the kids were gathered in a circle at this huge field, behind the main lodge. The Americans were actually teaching the internationals to play frisbee. Of course I joined in, & I did not require teaching because you basically just throw a plate as hard & as far as you can. Simple. But it was fun.

Next we had dinner at the main lodge, we were served by these kind volunteers vegetarian food. So I ate as much as I could, hehe. And you guys might be suprised on how good vegetarian food actually taste. Plus its healthy & the dishes doesn't make you fat, which is another bonus for me. The main lodge  looked awesome, but the deer heads on the wall creeped me out. The dining area had a nice fireplace to keep us warm, & we had fun that night chatting away.

Our desert, chocolate brownies & ice-cream. Yummy!!~

The kids spent the rest of the night socialising and drinking, while I was there laughing at all the stuff they did and said. I do not know what they were playing here, but they look pretty ridiculous with those cards on there forehead. Haha..There's Supriya, Vic, Justin & Rushi...Rushi's pretty funny, he introduced himself as 'Sushi, but with and R'. Haha...it worked because everyone remembered his name after that kind of intro. The Americans were playing a drinking game, so I stayed away from that. 

There was a library downstairs, where some other kids were playing poker.

And when I was bored with these guys I went up to the piano besides the fireplace. That piano was so antique we were suprised it worked. And we played...guess what? Backstreet boys songs..because that was the most recent piano chords that they had..haha...Thats Drew, Nicole, Mark, Shirley & Pranjali.

The night went on with the kids getting drunker & drunker, & with me getting sleepier & sleepier. I even saw some of the kids wearing these green gloves (I have no idea where they got them). And when I asked why were they wearing those. they said they wanted to go into the woods to disect a moose. Man were they drunk~Hahaha..anyways I went to bed after that. The night was so cold, but it was so beautiful because you could see so many stars & the milky way. The photo's below are from Jimmy Li. My camera was not set to the right exposure so the milky way was not that clear.

Beautiful huh? I loved every second of looking at the sky that night, which was just like only 10 secs because by then I was shivering like crazy. It was freakin cold. Hehe...I'll continue part 2 in the next entry. Till then. Adios guys~

I wanna blog about my first (& definitely last, I have proven with this experience that I am NOT an outdoor person) of hiking Mount Moosilauke..but I'm swamped with homework & reading..Mondays to Thursday are pretty hectic for me, but I'll definitely blog when I have time. Please stay tuned to hear more about my whines & complaints on hiking. Hehe...later guys~

Sorry I've been busy & I have the lamest excuse ever..homework..yup...now don't you dare judge me! haha..so because we're students joyce & i prefer to cook cause it's waaaay more cheaper than to dine outside..but who can stand one's own cooking everyday?? I can't stand to eat mine that's for sure..so we went ahead & tried this japanese & korean restaurant in town..

usually I just have this..satu lauk tk simple +satu lauk simple cooked by yours truly..(i shouldn't have admitted that cause the dish below is too simple to even brag about haha)..

but on that day I went on to have this instead...thats salmon..two huge pieces of it..and it tastes soooooo good compare to what I usually cook..then again, everything tastes better than my cooking...=)

I'm gonna go on my first hike later today, it's an activity for all the new students so that we can get to know each other better. The place is called Mount. Moosilauke (mountain ok bkn bukit) and I'm pretty scared. I hope there aren't any bears around, & I sure hope it isnt that cold. But we were told to bring layers & layers of clothing, cause there's no heating system in the cabin we'll be staying. Yup, we'll be staying there for a night. Another reason why I'm scared, I see a lot of people packing up alcohol. Ahaha, hopefully I will not be the only sober person there. Don't worry guys, I packed up my own drinks.  Apple juice! hehe..i prepared the hiking gear below in a hurry. The bag is too small, the jacket is a little big & the shoes are really low quality ones. Whatever, I just want to be able to survive. Wish me luck guys...=(

Hi there! I'm so sorry I've been a little busy & I dont have time to blog. But, some times I do think to myself, is anyone even reading it? Haha..it doesn't matter that much to me, as I told you in my 'blog purpose' entry..I'm not writing all this to be popular, but to make sure my friends & family know that I'm OK, and that I'm not doing drugs or not over socializing at frat parties. ;p

 Anyway, as I walked through campus I suddenly had a thought. I thought of all the people that have said things to me, said things to discourage me, & how wrong they were about it. It might not be their intent to discourage me, but somehow what they said did that. But I also think a few of them purposely said those things in spite of hatred or maybe out of selfishness.

A few have stuck with me till now, and I'd just like to share some with you. I won't name them because my purpose is not to scrutinise them, but to prove that sometimes people high up the ladder are wrong, even with their experience & age. 

My Analogue Electronics Prof (undergraduate years) 

I once came to his office during term breaks. You know that lecturers still work when the students are on their semester breaks right? Well I came back to uni early to study & finish up my tutorials. Since everyone wasn't back yet, I had a lot of questions about the tutorials because I couldn't ask any of my classmates, & especially because he did not give us a lecture about that chapter yet. I'm not super smart, I have to work hard & I take time to understand problems, especially ones pertaining to mathematics & logic. (yeah maybe engineering was a mistake for me, hehe)...So I went to his office with like 4 questions to ask him. 

He was known for his strict & unfriendly demeanor, but I didn't mind that because it was not his friendship I sought after, but his knowledge in that field. He was OK with the first & second question, but at the third he said this to me (I'm rephrasing it in English):

' Why are you asking so many questions? Did you copy all the answers from your friends? Is that why you don't understand so much?'

I was completely....shocked...not to mentioned embarrassed. I replied with a small voice:

'Of course not Prof, I couldn't ask anyone about this because no one is back yet from their break.'

'Really? I don't understand how you have so many questions. Usually people who ask so many questions like this 'tiru org membabi buta'. How do you expect to succeed with this attitude? I assure you, you won't get far.'

After he said that I was done being insulted. There I was, famished for knowledge..and I got accused of  copying, accused of being unethical & dishonest. So I got up, said 'Thanks Prof, sorry for wasting your time'..and cried alone in my room. I scored a B- in that course by the way, just because I was no longer interested in learning it. 

So you see, this scarred me forever. I do not see what I did wrong, I've asked like more than 10 questions to other professors & they were completely fine & in fact, they like seeing students have interest in what they teach. The words 'you won't get far' was embedded into my mind, & I carried that with me for years. Not as a grudge against the prof, but as a motivator to do better. To silently prove that he was wrong.

And now..here I am...I won a gold medal for my final year project, and a silver medal for a project collaboration with other students, got a dean's list CGPA 3 times, bought my first house at the age of 22, founded LippyLito.co (this was really a small thing but to me it was a personal achievement, & I would have definitely wanted to see how far we could go) and came out with our own inhouse design after 6 months of establishment(& they all sold out too), I'm a senior design engineer at 25, & I'm currently in an Ivy League school with a full scholarship from the Malaysian government. & this is just the beginning, I have a loooong way to go.

The childish side of me wants to go back to that professor and say..'THAT'S how far I got, you dumbass'..but the adult in me just smiles & scoffs at the thought, and move on with life.

This is only one of the examples of people trying to bring me down. And some of them were even very close to me. There are many more but I realize this entry will be as long as a book if I were to list all. Please be clear that I am not writing this to show off my achievements. I'm writing this to reach out to people who have been undermined, insulted & thought less of. The people around you DO NOT define who you are, although they may influence you in some way. There will always be people who'll try to make you think less of yourself, who'll try to tell you you're not worth it. Believe me, they are so wrong. If you believe in yourself, have blessing from God & your parents, work & pray hard enough to achieve your dreams, I would say insyaALLAH you'll get them. You may take longer than other's, but you'll get there. And remember you are not struggling alone. The people who love & appreciate you believe in you too, so don't ever do anything to loose your support system. They'll definitely have your back.

I really hope everyone achieves their dreams, as I did achieve mine. Piece y'll~

Hey! Yup..the post title is pretty much self explanatory..I didnt have anything else to do..so walaaaa~ my first vblog...really if you have more important things to do, i suggest you ignore this because it's me randomly blabbing about the first few days here...A pretty pathetic first time attempt, if I say so myself..haha..

Owh yeah, in case you guys don't know what a varsity jacket is...It's the one on the left of the Dartmouth College banner..To Puyeng: Yeah babe, believe it or not that piece of sweater with nothing but a big 'D' as a deco costs $230 bucks..=/

Hey people i'm in the MEM (Masters of Engineering Management) room...we have our own study room with our own lockers...and the room is pretty cool too...with a receptionist (a very nice lady called Shay) and all..

and there are printers everywhere with 24 hours of access..So that's good news to me..haha, gotta try the save as much money as I can for travelling..we're gonna have a loooong winter break from November to January. I'm trying to arrange a trip to go anywhere that's not freezing...Cali perhaps? Classes starts today...and it's only for 4 days a week..so we have like a 3 day weekend, awesome right?Haha...

Owh yeah I did make a v-blog for your guys..and I'll be posting that soon okay?take care~

The transformation has officially started..from fashion chick to nerd..haha..

My friends know I love to dress up, & buy clothes like..more times than a normal human being should..

But here dressing up is weird..everyone is so laid back and mellow..they wear jeans, shorts, tees & sweaters. So of course, I didn't want to be the odd one..hence joyce & i went to some local stores to buy 'nerd' clothes..haha..i tried a lot but i finally went with this forest green one..all the others don't have zippers so they'll be hard to put on & take off..the price defers for each design, because some sweaters are made with different materials..mine cost about $ 34.

Bought this Tshirt too..for $14.95..sorry for the low quality pic..the lighting in my room sucks..definitely will be going to walmart tomorrow for a lamp...

Joyce trying to decide which size better fits her...

The array of choices..

And some of them are actually from 'JanSport' and 'Nike'...but of course they are much more expensive..but still relatively cheap compared to clothes in Malaysia..a Nike Dartmouth Tshirt is around $22 i think..they sweaters should be around $70...

Puyeng wants a varsity jacket..and they do sell them (sorry I forgot to take a pic)...but it's soooooo expensive...$230..uwaaaaa..i'm so sorry baby I don't think I can afford that..will a sweater do? i didn't know they were a rip off...anyways..life is still pretty boring..classes start on Monday so I'll probably start being busy then..for now, take care guys~

Guys..why is it when I record a video using 'photo booth' on the webcam of my mac, the audio is waaaaay out of sync? I tried to find a solution to this problem via forums, but all the idea's they posted didn't work for me. I am so frustrated cause I wanna try to do video-blog. Arghhhhhhh~ Nevermind, letme research some more OK? And if any of you know's a way to fix this please leave a comment. I think it has something to do with the new Lion OS. For now, please excuse me for posting a lame picture of myself. Haha. Piece y'll~

hi there! im suppose to be listenning to the presentation right now (it's the last day of my orientation)...but its soo boring~ went to dartmouth's medical school to accompany joyce for her immunization appointment. the clinic here is called dick's house, n its kinda cool cause the place looks so vintage. here's a pic i snapped while waiting for joyce..

cool wallpaper n tiles right? it didnt really feel like we were in a clinic...and here's a part of the geisel medicine school..

n guess what? i will have two electives that i need to enroll in my last term..you know whats so exciting? i can take a class from ANY school! ANY!!! I can choose classes from the law school, medicine school, business school or maybe even acting classes from the art's and science school! Although I doubt that my program director would approve that. Haha....but this is what I love! The flexibility of American universities.

They let us pursue what we want, so we are more motivated to learn since the classes are structured according to our personal interests. 

I tried to do this during high school, we had 3 types of major: science, art & computer technology. My late mom fought really hard with the principle, because I told her I wanted to take both the science & computer major. But the principle refused to approve of this, & the reason was because no one had ever done it before & she thought the work would be too much for me. Which..I'm sorry to say...are such shitty reasons. I was getting mostly A's and B's in class, so I don't think I was incapable of taking two majors. I mean, student's in the US do it all the time.

And I couldn't really do anything about it during that time because no one but my parent's supported me. Even other teacher's were a little skeptical. But it's OK. Everything is working out fine for me, alhamdulillah. But I really hope Malaysian teacher's can be a little bit more open minded. Which I think they are nowadays, since students can take up to 15 (or more!) subjects in high school.

Back to taking classes from other schools...man~ I was so excited cause I really wanted to see how it was like in law or medicine school. Yeah I know they might just let us take really easy & general subjects, but hey...at least I have a glimpse of what's on Mars & Jupiter right? A totally unfamilliar terrain..and I can't wait!

I think I feel more excited now, than the time dad told me he'd buy me a new macbook pro. What kind of human being get's excited over going to class? Damn...I am such a nerd..Haha!

I really hate how I can never look good on something that we use often..=/