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For this past one week, I've been stressing about assignments, mostly group ones. Despite that, I still took some time off to enjoy, and appreciate the beauty around me. Became really interested in photography since one of my classes this semester is related to photography. All the pictures taken above was taken with my phone, so please don't mind the graininess. I'm still a newbie at this so the photos are not as good but I'll try my best to improve. Also, I'm getting my own DSLR soon which can help me hone my photography skills as well. So please anticipate more photographs from me in the near future!

It's my 4th semester in college now. While I'm feeling glad about the part of graduating, I'm also feeling extremely anxious about stepping out into the real working life. But there are a few more semesters left, so I'll try to think about that later.. (Gulps!)

I've just completed my first week in Sem 4, and I'm already being told about my assignments,  and worse of all there are group assignments. Since our classes for this semester are small, I can't really escape from some people.. Might as well just try my best, and this might be the time for me to test my patience capacity. Haha. 

In this semester, I'm also getting the chance to learn more about photography, something I'm interested for quite some time now. This time I might as well get a DSLR camera cause my future classes will require them as well. 

Here's to new adventure and opportunities with good company.
Happy New Year to all! 2015 was one hell of a roller coaster ride but 2015 ended with a blast! I chose to spend my last day in 2015 with my close college friends and it was totally worth it. Went to Straits Quay for the countdown and that place was so pretty. Especially during the night. We took long strolls along the walkways and laughed our ass off the most ridiculous things. What better way to end the year to be honest.

Gonna recap the whole day here, so here goes:
6:20PM
Took an Uber ride from Gurney Plaza to Straits Quay (SQ) since there were no public buses that goes directly to SQ. It took a while for the ride to come by since it was coming from Tanjung Tokong.

6:40PM
Arrived at SQ and the place was already bustling with people. Even the car parks were already full! Met up with friends in Blue Reef Restaurant and when I sat down, we couldn't stop talking about what's going on during our semester break and so on. We were served by a nervous (?) waiter. He stuttered when we were ordering our food but it's alright I guess. A newbie, maybe? Ordered BBQ Chicken Chop since it's been a while since I had chicken chop, and got Iced Lemon Tea for my drink. It took quite some time for the food and drinks to arrive since there were quite some people in the restaurant already.
BBQ Chicken Chop was okay, I guess. It needed more flavors to it. The chicken chop was served with some vegetables (brinjal/eggplant, carrots and broccoli) with garlic butter rice and chicken mushroom gravy. The portion was okay, it just needed some touch to its taste. As for the Iced Lemon Tea, it could have been better if there were a touch of decoration to it, like putting a slice of lemon in it?

BBQ Chicken Chop @ Blue Reef Fish & Chips

6/10
8:10PM
We finished around 8:10 and decided to walk around for a while before the countdown party. It was starting to get crowded, both inside and outside SQ. Projectors were already set up around the pier. There was already a band performing on the main stage. There weren't that much people crowding around the stage, but we decided to just walk around and discovered a beautiful, long isolated walkway along the pier, which was kind of nice. We just chilled there till people started crowding in since the front pier was already full of people.

Night view with the ocean view and cityscape.

8:40PM
We wanted to have some desserts after all the food, but we were still quite full so we went and had frozen yogurt which was located next to PappaRich. The place was not as crowded so we didn't have to queue up and there were already empty seats. Went with chocolate frozen yogurt topped with blueberries and coco crunch. The chocolate sensation with a tinge of sourness from the blueberries were so good.

9:20PM 
After finishing off our frozen yogurts, we went out to the entrance of SQ to walk off the food baby and avoid the massive crowd which was building up at the pier. The first thing we spotted was a big big Husky! It looked so fluffy and friendly from afar and we just couldn't resist it. We just went ahead and patted it's head after earning permission from the owner (if only we were that courageous among human beings, haha). I guess we were one of the first strangers that went and pat it, so people started crowding around Happy (the Husky's name) and went on to pat and take selfies. I guess I was kind of annoyed because they were pushing around, so we just bid our goodbyes and left.

9:30PM
Went back to our new chillax spot (isolated pier) and discovered that there were more people than before which was kind of annoying as well since we thought we can some silent moments to appreciate the stars and ocean view in front of us without sick, lovey-dovey couples or a bunch a drunkards screaming on top of their lungs. We still found our spot near the railing and we decided to have a photo shoot instead with the night ocean view as the backdrop. Trust me, I'm a photographer (haha, jokes). Joked around and just enjoyed complete silence while looking across the vast ocean and sky. The stars were so bright and visible on that day, I can still remember it clearly.

Friend, A.
Friend, A and S.

Taken by friend S, of me and A.

10:30PM
Then we decided to walk to the main pier which was just right in front of the main stage. People were jamming to the music and we just walked around enjoying some of the music/dance session since the music wasn't as upbeat as I thought it would be. After watching the dance off, we wanted to get some drinks so we went to the grocery store in SQ, Sam Groceria. Bought Arizona can drinks, mineral water etc.

11:00PM
Went back to our chillax spot to find out it was occupied by a couple (ew), so we went and sat near the hedge instead. Right after the couple left, we rushed back to our spot and marveled at the ocean and sky again with drinks in our hands.

Bottoms up!

11:50PM
Time passed by so fast. There were only 10 minutes left to 2016 and all we were pondering about was whether the firework can be seen from our spot. We spotted a few fireworks across the ocean, in the city. There were like flowers blooming away to welcome the new year. We spotted 2 drones flying above the pier, towards the ocean and it donned us that the time is coming closer.

11:59PM
We started counting down along with the host on the stage, since his voice was loud enough to be heard from our spot.

12:00AM
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hugged my friends and enjoyed the fireworks show, which was more than amazing. I've seen fireworks up close before but this was too beautiful. My jaw literally dropped and we were just cheering away while the fireworks went off. The fireworks lasted for around 10-15 minutes but it felt like infinity. I wanted to live in that moment forever. Just staring at the fireworks, looking at the smoke, and hearing cheers and laughter from friends and people around me.

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12:20AM
We walked over to the main stage to enjoy some DJ-ing from DJ Ramsey. Most of his mix were acceptable and enjoyable so we just banged our heads and jumped to the beat. There were so much of jumping and yelling/cheering going on! To be honest, I felt like I sweated more in that moment than the past month.

Main stage! 

12:40AM
The music started to slow down a bit and we decided that it was time to leave, even if we didn't want to. My friends left with their ride (their aunt) and I had to wait for my ride (my sister, who was still partying at the pent house in SQ). I felt stuffy inside SQ so I went outside and took some time off, to breathe and cool down.

1:10AM
It was time for me to go back and the traffic was so terrible. We got back home around 2:30AM.


I'm finally entering my 20's. No longer a teen, just an adult, trying to adjust to my surrounding. This year's birthday celebration was special, I got to celebrate it with my sister. Well, I did celebrate it with her last year but this time we went out to celebrate instead.

So much have changed this past year (2015). I made new friends, left my hometown to study in Penang, gained some and lost some. But that's the process in life, I supposed. It's a vicious cycle.


Friends
Despite my awkwardness and introvert personality, I still managed to make some friends in college. They not only have similar interests with me, no mater what we talk about we still manage to get a laugh from it. I guess that's what friends are for, laughing together at the most ridiculous things. I still keep in contact with my friends back in hometown, although not regularly. However, we still know that we're there for each other no matter what happens. Just when I'm feeling down and sad, they would always contact me to cheer me up and just be there to listen to my problems. There are also some downs to this. I noticed how mean I can get when I'm with someone I don't like, which I know I really bad for somewhere in my conscience. Being 20, I shall learn how to be more careful with my thoughts and actions when being around people.

Family
I rarely get to spend time with my family, with my sister being busy with her work and to me for rarely getting any long term breaks from college. Whenever there's a break in between my semester, I always make time to travel back to my hometown to spend time with my family. This year, I am determined to spend more time with them with regular and long visits to home.

Academic
Well, so far I'm still okay academic wise, except for my third semester which totally went so bad that I want to bury myself in my blanket and lock myself in my room. But oh well, like I've always said, don't let your results (academic) determine who you are and who you're going to be. Results can never replace experience and vocational activities. For this year, I want to spend less time worrying about my results, but still do good in them.

Adventures
I'm proud of myself for making effort to head out and socialize with friends and family which is a thing I rarely do. From cafe hopping for lunch to having night adventures around Penang. However, I sometimes still reject invitations from friends to hang out or watch movies cause I still need my alone time (doing house chores, surfing the internet, binge watching TV shows, or simply just lie on bed). This year, I want to spend more time having fun adventures and enjoying the moments more.

Future
In the future, I want to be able to love myself more and not beat myself up for small matters/issues. I want to be able to make my friends happy and not annoy them with my awkwardness. I want to be more honest with myself. I want to be able to express myself more. I want to make the most of this year while being 20.

Happy 20th Birthday, self. Love yourself more and live the adventure.
It seemed like last month I only started college. Stepping into a new environment, not knowing anyone. Looking back, I have evolved quite a lot, in the mentality aspect.

Here's to a more wonderful and adventurous year!


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