Looking back on life in the States after 4 months...

Aside from all my all out rants with a whole lot of *#&(@*, life in the States isn't all that bad actually.

Sure, Americans are loud-mouthed, outspoken, don't really care about what they say to people, somewhat ignorant....

Okay, getting off-topic here.

The point is Americans in general are polite people on the outside. 

The greet you during your morning walks, they hold open doors for you (both guys and girls okay!) and they say thank you! (Which I find is a MIRACLE if a Malaysian salesperson says that to you.)

So the short time I was there, I kind of incorporated a little bit of the American culture into my mannerisms. Not the loud-mouthed culture, I mean the hold-open-the-door culture.

When in Rome do as the Romans do right?

Anyways after coming home for the winter break, I had a hankering to eat bread for some reason. So my mom and I drove to RT Pastry, a pretty decent bakery near Taylor's University College.

My mom had no place to park the car so she waited for me outside while I went in to buy some bread.

I went to get a pair of tongs and a tray to hold all my chosen pieces of bread (like duh!).

I got to the stack of trays almost at the same time as this middle-aged aunty. I think I probably reached it like a second before she did.

So being somewhat Americanized and all, I politely handed her a tray.

BLARDY HELL SHE TOTALLY IGNORED ME AND REACHED FOR ANOTHER ONE!

I was like WTF?!?!?!?! HELLO??? I am nicely handing you a tray here and you're totally ignoring me as though I'm yesterday's shit you flushed down the toilet.

Seriously though, I was that pissed.

When I told my best friend later, she said to me, "Michelle, you have forgotten how Malaysians are. When you handed her that tray, it means that there is something wrong with that tray (ie. it's dirty or something) and you don't want it so you give it to her."

It made total sense.

What I am saying here is as much as I have complained about the US in my previous posts, that particular incident made me realize how rude Malaysians are.

In fact, according to Reader's Digest, Kuala Lumpur is ranked as the third rudest city in the world.

New York, USA is ranked as the most courteous city.

Before giving me BS that the surveyors are foreigners and all and don't understand Asians (note that many of the countries under Least Courteous are Asian), let me give you a little breakdown of how they conducted their tests.

(As quoted from RD )

test1:
—–
We walked into public buildings 20 times behind people to see if they would hold the door open for us.

test 2:
—–
We bought small items from 20 shops and recorded whether the sales assistants said “Thank You”

test 3:
—–
“We dropped a folder full of papers in 20 busy locations to see if anyone would help pick them up. ”

As you can see from the test, language shouldn’t have been a problem.

The surveyors were all from their own countries (35 different countries to be exact) all conducting the same survey. Half were men, half women.

(End quote)


As you now know, the surveyors were local people. Bet it put things into perspective for Malaysians.


What I am trying to say is, COME ON PEOPLE! BEING COURTEOUS WON'T KILL YOU!

Don't give me that crap that it's not in the Asian culture. So many people have said to me, "Asians might be cold and unfriendly on the outside but at least we are more genuine and honest on the inside."

I do agree that Westerners are generally pretty fake and put on a warm exterior, so you might say their politeness and courtesy are just acts. They might be and they might not. But that doesn't matter.

THIS IS COMMON COURTESY I AM TALKING ABOUT.

It doesn't matter if you're an Asian or a Westerner, it's common courtesy to at least say "Thank You!" or hold the door open for someone. Or even smile at someone.


Crap I got a little carried away. I originally intended to just blog about my annoyance with the ah soh at the bakery.


So my fellow Malaysians, let's prove Reader's Digest wrong! I know most of us are genuinely friendly, courteous people so let's show it out! Don't hide it.

There is ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with saying "Good Morning!" to the people you meet on your morning walks. You don't lose anything and you make yourself and the other person feel better.


MALAYSIA BOLEH! (though with the current circumstances I am highly doubting it.)


Sources and pics courtesy of:
http://www.gobalakrishnan.com/malaysians-are-rude/
http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/good-manners/article27599-1.html

What's the deal if I can't speak Mandarin?

Geez, people what the hell is wrong with you? Just because I can't speak Mandarin doesn't mean you have to blab it all to everyone.

Seriously this is fucking retarded.

I am in the United States of America and I am being penalized for not being able to speak Chinese.

This is seriously fucked up.

Just this tiny little fact that I can't speak Chinese is such a handicap.

AND I'M IN THE UNITED STATES FOR PETE'S SAKE.

God, this is a screwed up place.

I can't wait to transfer. Or at the very least get my own apartment and get the hell outta here.

To those people who are penalizing me for not being able to speak Chinese, I just have one thing to say.

You guys continue to speak Chinese. I am proud of our language, but my English skills beat you all by a thousand miles any day.

So there.

Fuck this place.

Proof that Disney should stop Forcing their Stars to Sing.

Okay, I've been in the States for a little more than two months now and I am kinda liking it here. Kinda. Liking.

Anyways, I've always liked the USA national anthem. It has a beautiful melody to it, and it sounds so patriotic and uplifting.

(Unlike some countries whose name shall not be mentioned).

So I started watching the videos of celebrities singing the national anthem at NFL and the Superbowl (not sure how these two differ, but that's not the point.) on YouTube.

Some were sung beautifully. Some... yuck.

One of the yuck ones was by Demi Lovato. Another pitiful Disney star forced to sing for her supper. Okay, that might sound too harsh but seriously, she can't sing.

Here's the video of her singing at an NFL match. Pardon me if your ears bleed.




She wasn't that bad I suppose. But definitely nowhere near good enough to sing at such a big event like that. Plus all that riffing was just so annoying. She definitely tried too hard. Unfortunately, it ended up sounding like she was having an asthma attack or hyperventilating or something.

Another horrible one was by Miley Cyrus. I don't know what the occasion was but it was sung at the White House.
     

In all fairness, I think Miley Cyrus did a slightly better job than Demi Lovato. There wasn't any of the ridiculous riffing that Lovato threw in for kicks, and she didn't sound as if she was trying that hard.

Don't give me the BS that Miley Cyrus was only 14 at the time and Demi Lovato was 16. There is no age limit to talent like that. You either got it or you don't.

Proof:

Video A - The Cactus Cuties Singing the National Anthem. (I don't know how old they were in this video)



Video B) Billy Gilman singing the national anthem.




Video C) Nothing to do with the national anthem but I just wanted to show how amazing the voices of young singers can be even without the music.



Video D) Just a random video I found showing the awesome talents of child singers.
The embed code was disabled but here is the url if you guys wanna check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu0UoouAyeU


Off the topic of child singers, here are some of the videos of the national anthem sung beautifully by award-winning singers.

Notice how the real singers sing so effortlessly and beautifully compared to Demi Lovato (mainly) and Miley Cyrus.


First one is by Kelly Clarkson.





Here is Beyonce at the Superbowl.




And Celine Dion, though ironically she's Canadian LOLZ. Still beautiful anyways.




Faith Hill at the Superbowl.





AND THE BEST OF ALL =D





DAVID ARCHULETA (at the Pro Bowl)





Call me biased but isn't he just the cutest <3


Okay, so maybe I should change the title of this post to the American National Anthem. But still... it's your national anthem people! Show it some respect by at least allowing REAL singers to sing it at major events.

Stop forcing actors to sing please. There was a video of Hayden Panettiere singing the national anthem also but it was so bad I didn't want to put it up.

And Disney, please redeem your honor as the greatest brand of childhood fun. Stop forcing your teenage actors to sing and then slutty-fying them to distract us from their terrible singing. We loved you before you shoved High School Musical, Hannah Montana etc. into our face. Stick to Mickey Mouse please.


Bleh.


Peace. Love. And All That.

PWNS!

Okay I am not going to (try) not to post any more of my sob stories from now on. Today's post will be about a word that has become near and dear to many of the game-crazed teenagers of the 21st century.

The word is:

PWNED

(pronounced poh-w-n. It's like owned with a 'p')


Meaning: Being successfully able to conquer/dominate your opponent. (or something like that)

Example sentence: That team totally pwned us.

I was watching Nigahiga's video on this particular subject and I started wondering, "Hmm... How the heck did this word come about?"

So I googled it.

According to urbandictionary.com;

1. The origins of "pwned" are debated but there are two possible sources:
a. A prominent quake player mis spelled "owned" and the new word "pwned" was adopted by people who thought it was "1337".
b. A warcraft map designer misspelled "owned" and thus people started using "pwned" instead.

Other definitions from the one I have given above are as follows:
In video games:
1. Completely annihilated or dominated.
2. Perfectly owned, meaning the other player did not do any damage.

Example sentence :

I pwned your head with my awp.

OR

I just pwned your ass noob!

Personally, I don't think it originated from a prominent quake player or a warcraft designer.

I think it's just a typo that hyper-excited players make when they are bragging about their kills or victories or whatever you call it.

Take the urbandictionary.com sentences for example.

"I pwned your head with my awp."

The player who must typed this must have just secured a victory or some sort.

God knows what an 'awp' is, but clearly he's happy about something.

So in all his excitement, he must have just accidentally pressed the 'p' button on the keyboard instead of the 'o'.

(The 'p' and 'o' buttons are right next to each other if you hadn't noticed.)

Trust me, I know how excited these people can get. (My brother is one of them).

Typos are nothing compared to their "humiliation" victory or whatever that is you call it in Counterstrike.

So, multiply this case of adrenaline-crazed gamers who type abbreviated, typo-filled messages to their victims by a billion times and what do we have?

A new word !

Hence, PWNED was born!

For more information (and for your viewing pleasure) here is Nigahiga's video on the word 'Pwn'.

So, gamers, start incorporating the word PWNED into your virtual vocabulary and you will see how nicely it can insult your opponents.


Peace! =D

I should have gone to Australia.

Sigh... Before I came to the States, I was so adamant about not going to Australia.

"So many Malaysians there lah, like second Malaysia already. Walk down the street and ask a random person, "Hey where r u from?" "Malaysia."

I was such an ass. WHY DID I NOT GO TO AUSTRALIA?

WHY DID I COME TO THE UNITED STATES??

Not that the US isn't great, it's awesome. It's just I have no fucking friends here.

Is it so hard to ask for one friend whom I can hang out with and can speak bloody English????

I just hate feeling so lost and confused every time I hang out with my Taiwanese friends.

When they laugh about something, I don't know what they're laughing at.

When go out, they usually don't include me because it's no fun having the banana around.

I want to laugh too. I want to go out and have fun too. Is that too much to ask?

You guys are just lucky because there are so many Taiwanese people here. You feel right at home even when you're miles away from it.

God, I know I'm being such a bitch, scorning other people's happiness because I don't share it.

But they are so lucky... they are in their comfort zone because they have friends from their own country here to laugh with.

I tried hanging out with you guys... I just don't have fun because I don't know what you guys are talking about.

I know it's no fun having me around because you feel bad (initially) that I'm sitting there all by myself and not talking.

(Anyways, later you treat me as though I'm not there so I suppose the feeling of guilt wears off very quickly.)

I wish I had gone to Australia where I'll be just as much at home as I am in Malaysia.

God, I hope I can find a friend soon. Or else I don't know how I am going to survive for five years here.

I miss my friends... I really miss my friends.....

Shyt.. I swore I wouldn't cry for the first few months I was here... Guess I already broke than vow a few times.

But I really really really really miss my friends now. I miss being able to hang out with them, just drive to Taylor's and hang out at Papa Rich or something.

But most of all I miss being able to understand my friends.

I always feel so left out here... just because I don't understand Chinese. Like just now, I was supposed to have a discussion with some of my Taiwanese friends. Fine, I'm all for it. One friend actually asked everyone in the conversation to please type in English (for my sake, obviously).

Thanks for the effort but obviously it didn't work.

They all started typing in chinese and I, being the odd one out... Well, I can't do anything now can I?

I'm such a whiner baby, I know...

I just want to have real friends again, y'know?

Friends whom I can hang out with and have fun together.

I don't want to be a damper on anyone's parade here. I'm pretty sure sometimes that they would prefer me not to be around so that I won't be a damper on their parade. Who wants a dumb little banana baby ruining their Taiwanese fun?

I just want... friends.

Friends whom I can understand. Friends whom I can relate to.

My friends back in Malaysia... Friends like that.

God, it sucks not knowing how to speak Chinese or read Chinese. And hey, I'm suffering from this problem in the United States!

I miss you guys all so much..!

P.S Thanks for the scrapbooks. It's comforting in these times...

Trying to find somewhere I belong...

God, I sound so emo... I don't mean to but I feel so alone here.

The very fact that I don't know how to speak Chinese is a disadvantage here in the United States where their mother tongue is English. Isn't it seriously ironic?

I can't speak Chinese so I have a really hard time making friends.

Actually, that's not true. I have made some friends. Just not the type of friends I can just hang out with and chill. I could if I knew Chinese, because they are all Taiwanese, but I don't know Chinese. So if I go out with them, they'll be speaking Chinese and I'll be stoning by myself.

Suck up and just go with them, you'll be thinking. Learn Chinese for god's sake instead of wallowing in your misery.

I would but it's so hard...

If I go out with them, I won't enjoy myself because I don't know what the heck is going on.
And they'll feel really bad if they just see me blurring by myself and then things will get awkward.

I don't want to be the downer on people's parade.

But I really want some friends whom I can understand and can understand me.

I miss Fiona, Shermaine and Hwoon Yi, my three closest friends since we were in diapers.

I miss PM9, my wacky friends I made in my short time in Taylors'.

I miss my mum and dad, who always know what to say when I'm feeling down.

Most of all, I miss the feeling of belonging to something bigger. Here, I am here nor there. I am a lone ranger, which suits me fine on some occasions. Not permanently.

I really miss home....