4 Movies in Theatre, Jordan Creek Mall

Last week, we (Mary Anne, Peik Hong and Siva) had decided to go for movie hopping on Monday in Jordan Creek Mall nearby. We took 3 buses to the mall and watched "Marley and Me", "Bed Time Stories", "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and "Bride War" all in sequence. 1 catch here, we DID NOT pay 4 movie tickets for all 4 movies here. Each of us only paid ONE movie ticket. This idea of movie hopping was from other Malaysians (I could not remember who), where once we get passed the ticket counter, we will be able to stay inside for the whole day to watch what ever movie that is available on that day. One bad thing is that, there is no food available inside. After the third movie, we kinda starved to watch the fourth one. Well, it is also a record for me watching 4 movies in the cinema, the most I had was 3 movies back in Malaysia. It was the craziest day after all.

Massachusetts & New York

I have been to Boston (Massachusetts), Salem (Massachusetts), New York City (New York) and Manhattan (New York) this winter break. There are a lot of pictures available in facebook, not here. It would be crazy to upload 200 plus pictures in a post. Click the link below if you guys are interested to view =) I will upload some video and give some comments here though. Enjoy.

http://www.facebook.com/findfriends.php#/photos.php?id=507126466

It was the craziest count down ever in my life. It will be my first and last count down in Manhattan, New York in my life. But I will remember that I was once surrounded by 2 million people, shoulder to shoulder! In the video you will notice one thing: Counting down 20 secs, at the end it will display "1 hour to go". Me and my friends waited for 6.30 hours there. Imagine at the last 6 hours, it counted down and displayed "6 hours to go", what a joke. Another thing about this count down, it was FREEZINGLY cold there. New York was at the east side facing the sea, the wind was terrible. Also, we can hardly go to restroom. Most of the people there stood there for 9 hours without going to toilet *salute* (well, some of them did give up for this count down). I stood for 3 hours and I could not stand it already force my way to restroom in the crowd.

This is my first time seeing people protest against war crime. It was quite cold that day yet they volunteered to stand there to protest the act of Israel. Americans are really into community work, unlike Malaysians.

The Lobster!! People say that when we go to Boston, we have to eat Lobster. Well at first we really did not have the intention to try that. Then all of a sudden we are motivated to try lobster. We bumped into "Legal Sea Food". Their service was great. The lobster was nice too. After eating, we kinda take the shell of the lobster back home. It was my suggestion, since my place in Des Moines needs some decoration =P

This is a SHOCKING video clip, taken by myself. Check it out.

Yoon's Potluck

A cool place to chill and relax. Especially with the presence of Kee Shen from Purdue. We had great time talking. Also, we played pictionary after dinner. It was fun because I was teamed with all girls includes 1 American. I could not believe we lost!

This is known as the korean dessert. The situation was kinda funny because Kelvin and friends all made fun of her dessert. They were asking her "how to eat these stuff?" Honestly I didnt eat those because those are full of butter, which is something that I do not like, I am sorry =P.

Yoon, a korean friend of mine had her potluck somewhere after finals. I was really happy that I was invited because we are not that close. I had a chance to taste home made korean food =).

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. Someone hosted a dinner for the students in Drake (including International students). We had a lot of different kinds of foods because most of us brought some food there for sharing. The main dish is of course, a turkey. It is said that every thanksgiving we had to have a turkey, well I mean not the whole turkey itself.

Well, the obvious reason that I am not in the picture is because I was the photographer! Sad...

Peik Hong's Birthday

Peik Hong is my house mate. Her church friends gave her a surprised party as the picture shown above. After that, we went for dinner in China Place.

My Potluck

Prepared by Mary Anne and I. We have decided to have this potluck right after our finals. Well, all the while we wanted to invite people to our house for dinner, but the condition of the house was not allowed. This house that we are staying might collapse anytime. But after finals I could not care much and invite 10+ people to our house and surprisingly, my house is still here till today. It was our first potluck.

My house has became the "Red Alert 3" and "Counter Strike" multi player spot.

All the food were gone within minutes (in fact, there were not enough).

Due to the condition of the house, we always help cooking whenever we were invited for potluck. This is the most we can do.

Chicago Trip

Chicago trip was a short and fun trip. It was during Thanksgiving break. Together with Mary Anne, Joanne, Chin Hou, Voon, Cheng Khang and Khe Kong, we made it a very successful trip. It was really tiring because most of the time we will be out there travelling and trying new food.

We have been to all the 4 out of 5 main attractions in Chicago, paying $60 for each person (that's crazily expensive) for all city passes. The Adler Planetarium, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and The Hancock Observatory. We have missed the Museum of Science and Industry because there was nothing special and we had a very tight schedule. Those places are fantastic; there were so many things to learn and see. Below are the example of my favourite pictures in Chicago. For more pictures, you could check it at http://www.facebook.com/findfriends.php#/photos.php?&id=507126466&s=6&hash=ecd8aa530c7bdc0eff55e2cfff96763e

1 thing that I would like to comment is about the attitude of Chinese people in China Town. They are not friendly at all. We went to a Chinese restaurant on our first day for lunch. We were not being treated well, I think it was because we are all students, which indirectly means that we might not give much tips. After the lunch, we decided not to give much of tips. Then the waitress said that the tips is not enough, it must be minimum of 15%. Well, then we used calculator to calculate the exact 15% and nothing more for her. On the other hand, there was another bigger group of adults sitting beside our table. They were bring treated differently, much nicer than how we were being treated. Oh well... They are all tips-oriented.

We had also been to the famous "Bean". It was very unique. All of us became cam-whore all of a sudden.

We also went for shopping in Aurora for Black Friday where all things became much cheaper. I bought myself a pair of Nike Shoes (40 USD), sweat shirt and a long sleeve shirt.

These girls...... crazily rich. (Actually not all the items are theirs.)

Typical Chinese in China Hair Style

This hair style I got from China Town in New York City. Sigh... It costs me 11 USD. Does not look nice at all... My hair was quite long and I had no choice but to cut it there.

Everyone's Potluck at Cheng Khang's House & Celebration of 3 Birthdays

This gathering is also known as "The Mega Gathering End of Fall 2008 Semester Birthday+Housewarming+Potluck+Gathering+Farewell Event", host by Cheng Khang. Basically each of us (or groups) will have to cook and contribute to the party. Our batch, nearly 40 plus of us were invited, but not all attended though. There were a lot of nice food, which made me crave for 4 bowls of rice!

It was also post celebration of Ryan Foo and pre-celebration of Brandon Khoo and Chun Han. It was a surprise party for them. I remember Ryan's reaction when we present the cake to him, he was like "no, not my birthday" (because his birthday was already over). The video shown below is about 3 of them blowing the candles together, it was fun!

Sigh... I wanted to do to something like this too. Too bad the house condition does not allow; it is too small and not spacious, and most importantly, it will collapse (according to the landlord). What a joke...

My group is preparing. My job is to take photograph.


There were a lot of laptops, after most of them went home, we all played CS (counter strike)

The Jordan Creek

My first time in Jordan Creek was a bad experience. We watched horror movie called "Quarantine". It was really bad. The camera of the movie was the first person point of view, meaning it moves exactly how the person moves. It made me headache, other friends complained too. Also, I am those kind of people who have strong and deep memory (not photographic memory), so when ever I watch a movie, most of the time I will remember it, especially tiny details/scenes that trigger curiosity. This memory will last for a few weeks, so basically I lived in fear for a few weeks after that movie.

I did not want to watch the movie at first, but all others want to watch. So basically, I paid 9 bucks to scare myself, sigh...

Never mind that. After watching the movie, we have taken a few pictures outside of Jordan Creek Mall. I really do not know why the screen reflection blocked my face, as it is in the picture shown below. Why out of so many people, only I am affected?

After seeing that picture, we have decided to take again to see how it goes. Fortunately, it went well. =)