Buffetting : T-revisited

So the random ex-stalking took place yesterday.

I was extremely vulnerable at that point, still thinking that we might still have a chance like in the shows.

After being illogical for 30 minutes, I've decide to spend 5 logical minutes to tell myself;

its not going to work. At least not right now.

So we might as well not think about it at all.

An excerpt from a TV show quoted:

感情上，谁认真就是输家--- in relationships, the one who is serious will always be the loser.

I wonder it applied to me. Or should it be games from now on?

On the other hand, I was telling why I am single till today when my parents decided to pay for my brother's girlfriend's family's dinner last night; because I don't need to spend my parent's money on someone else,yet.

While my mom uttered:

偷吃每人知。-- No one know if you were to have one in silence.

I guess it was a bulls eye.

At least it was.

Buffetting : STC Volunteering

The new equestrian club position took its toll on me when I had to at least participate in most events taken in by the club.

The latest one is on the International Horse Show 2014 organized by Selangor Turf Club.

It's a toll, but it's not exactly a problem or anything close to that.

I would love to volunteer in the show, but being the president some how makes it an extra burden.

Even more when you need to live up to the name as the president.

I'm not the best horseman out there, trust me. I barely know the anatomy of the horse except of its limbs and its gut inside. Maybe its reproductive anatomy.

But its temperament, the signs of its lips, its ears, its eyes, its body gesture is still a puzzle for me to be placed into pieces.

The worst is tacking up the horse.

The session began with me doing multiple mistakes.

I don't even remember which side the cloth needs to be. The position of the saddle itself. Heck, which saddle is for dressage, which is for jumping was mind boggling.

Dressage saddles have longer knee roll and deeper seat with lesser cushion and usually is more squarish of the backseat;

while Jumping saddles have shorter knee roll and shallower seat with more cushion, and usually is more circular of the backseat.

There's a multi-purposed seat which is the combination of both: long knee roll as well as a rounded seat.

So yea, I was pretty much screwed.

I wasn't calm enough the horse; constantly making huge movements while the lady who was giving us the training constantly had to remind me.

I really didn't know which part of the girth goes to which nor which holes to fit; or whether the saddle is right size for the horse.

I felt like an idiot in the whole session because I really didn't know about a single shit, while everyone else was hoping that the Mr President would know his stuffs.

And I didn't.

It's a shame.

The other parts of the training went well, but the whole session definitely scarred me a little on, am I capable enough in leading this club?

I'm doing something which I barely know anything about it. Literally. It's something that I've never done before.

And I still have virology and pathology to worry about tomorrow. Great.

Buffetting : Lucky Star

Looks like the table turned around since mid week.

1- Pharmacology lecturer seemed to like me a lot, with me being the first name she call every single lecture. And I like the subject. It's like chemistry all over.

2- Apparently the virology book was returned, and I'm no longer responsible for the lost book. Yay. Thanks random stranger. You could have passed the book back or responded on the vet fac group.

3- Mom somehow agreed to my practical plans, and I get to go to Japan twice next year. February for a conference about 5 days in Osaka and Kyoto; August for a month for lab rotations and visit to Tokyo, and hopefully Hokkaido.

Other subjects are still a little, new. Pathology 2 seemed to be quite dry, but the lecturer somehow managed to crack jokes intermittently.

The week seemed to be better towards the end. I guess its because Monday is packed with extremely lots of subjects.

To a better 2015, I need to work extra hard this semester so I can enjoy the next!

Buffetting : Mishaps

One after another.

Losing a library book on the first day of lecture;
Locked in the toiler and bled on the 2nd day of lecture;

Can I survive the week with all the new subjects?

I better.

Buffetting : Capabilities revisited

Today is probably the last day I'm going to perform nanny duties for my ever growing 2 months old niece.

Yes, I have been busy with these duties for one whole day.

It ain't that hard, because the domestic helper at home knew how to handle babies.

But the niece ain't that hard to take care anyway. The basic baby needs are:

1- Food. As in milk. Every 2 hours. If she is crying every 2 hours its the milk
2- Diapers. Just flip through and if its either dung bomb or pee bomb, change it along with some good baby wipes
3- Sleep. If she cries excessively when you are cradling her, she wants to sleep. But her on the man-made cradle and she will just doze into dreamland
4- Talk. This girl doesn't like it to be too quiet. She wants people to talk to her, all the time. Entertain her until she starts yawning and you will have another peaceful 2 hours.

It can be tiring. Because the intervals are only 2 hours. It's similar to the night patrol in SEATRU of 1 hour intervals, but for a year, everyday? It can be taxing.

If you're asking if I were to be ready as a dad; physically and mentally no. Until I have the time to be up every 2 hours when I work from home yet earn bucks by the hour.

1 week of holiday to bond with her is just nice. The niece now recognizes me and the sister said she is beginning to talk to me, in verbal cues like "ergh, ngeh, hii hii".

I'm the type who is stern to the babies, ideology which my family didn't like. But the niece still listens to me so I guess its fine. I am good with babies after all.

Back to capability, the sister and I talked about my younger brother taking over my duties once I'm back in campus.

"You crazy ar? If I ask him to do work I will vomit blood. Might as well I ask you to do. Mom says so too."

I don't know if its a compliment, or its like they have to get me to do it since there's no one else.

I mean, the younger brother has to take over some day and learn. I can't be standing by 24/7 I need my life too.

But then again, does this revolves around my capabilities, or because I'm just a better handyman than my brother?

Will I miss my niece? Hmm, maybe not. I have the high tendency to move on quickly.

Buffetting : Sri Lanka Experience 102- Temple Run 1.0

We didn't do much on the first day when we reached Stubby's house because it was already pretty late. We had a great Sri Lanka dinner of curry seer fish with spiced rice before we crash into our beds, resting up for the long day tomorrow.

Blazed by the sun rays early morning at 6.30 on the 2nd day, we hopped onto a rented bus by Stubby's dad(omg you have no idea how rich their family is!) and departed for our Buddhist temple run.

Plenty in our group were surprised that Sri Lankans have a strong faith for Buddhism, though I've known it before because the Theravadian Buddhism I studied was pretty much propagated by Sri Lankan monks. 

We stopped by Perera and Sons for a quick breakfast; the name of the place almost tricked us into believing Stubby's family owned the chain!

Our first stop of the day was the Ancient City of Sigiriya in Dambulla, the center of Sri Lanka. 

The most significant landmark of the city is the Lion's Rock; because of its side view which looks like a Lion's head.

The whole place was literally covered with rocks, and the Lion's Rock is pretty much the center piece of everything. 

The tickets were pretty pricey for foreigners; up to a whopping 40USD(RM120) when you pay a visit. But, I would say the ticket was worthwhile for the experience and view.

Engineering students probably would love it here, same goes to architecture students because the layout of the whole kingdom is simply A-mazing! The kingdom garden was surrounded by a moat, similar to the old city of Chiang Mai which served as the first defense for the kingdom. How? They bred crocodiles in those moats to munch on the intruders of the kingdom. Smart much?

The gardens in the kingdom are now deserted, but these squarish holes were actually water dams. As it was the dry season when we were there, the dams weren't filled. As the raining season turns in, these dams will be filled completed with water and you will be able to see multiple ponds around the garden. 

The whole stretch of walkway dragged us across the water garden around the huge piece of land, until we reach another nightmare- staircases. 

Visiting Sigiriya is just stairs and more stairs. You can take your time, but your legs will probably scream the next day because its definitely worse than Batu Caves.

A little history on Sigirya. It began with the establishment of the King Kasyapa's Kingdom, which later on was taken over by a buddhist monastery; yet again taken over by the Kingdom of Kandy later before its abandonment until the 1850s where excavation of the site began. 

There are a few more gardens around the area, but I'd figure the Lion's Paw and the altar are much more interesting than the rest of the architecture around.

You have to admire how successful the kingdom back in 495 CE is able to pull of such majestic establishment and settlement of a kingdom! The stair I was sitting on was made of MARBLE. They had marble stairs in that ages! Imagine how great the kingdom would have flourished if it weren't defeated back then!

Halfway climb up the stairs to the altar, looking back will present you the long stretch of pavement you have strode across to the beginning of the stairs. The massive layout of the water garden was so obvious while the view downwards was simple breathtaking. Who knew Sri Lanka had such a huge piece of jewel sitting right in its center?

As you enter the remnants of the kingdom within the walls of the palace, you will be surrounded with vivid wall drawings of the life back in the days. I guess they didn't have lingerie back then to cover stuffs, but it was vivid enough to show how things were back then.

It's amazing how they could have carved those drawings on these walls, with COLORS on them. What did they use? Pastel? Buncho? You probably wouldn't even knew unless you scrap things off for analysis; which is probably a crime subjected to sentencing in Sri Lanka.

Even within the palace itself, fleets of stairs above ground, there are still dams to store water. King Kasyapa was literally the engineering genius back in his days of reign.

After a good long climb we finally made our way to the Lion's Paw. The carvings were REALLY beautiful, and the paws were surreal! Even Sunway Pyramid had like wrong curves on their sphinx, but King Kasyapa NAILED those paws!

The climb didn't end there, because the real deal comes after climbing the fleet of stainless stell stairs behind me leading to the altar.

As you reached the peak of the Lion's Rock, you will feast your eyes with the panoramic view of the whole Sigiriya. You can literally see ALL areas of the kingdom, while troops of enemies from distance away could be spotted within a stroll around the parameter of the altar! The view up here really reminds me of the Animarium from Power Rangers Wild Force.

It looks like it is barren now because all of the timber built on it back then were destroyed over the years, leaving the bricks and rocks.

The wind up here is also extremely strong, while you really need to be extremely careful of wasp attack because their nest is pretty much inaccessible to humans to rid them off.

Going downwards from the altar was INSANELY scary because of the creaking of the stairs, the wind, and the wasp flying around. We had no problem walking down because we did it in a very synchronized pace or else we would have had panic attack.

Back down around the rest of the kingdom, there are some interesting natural made rock figures like the Cobra Cave:

It's a great place to go, and a MUST go place if you ever visit Sri Lanka. There was a museum in the area introducing the whole kingdom, which I strongly suggest you go before you explore Sigiriya's grounds so you have a rough idea what you need and will see. Photos were restricted in the museum, so I guess that's all for Sigiriya!