My English Presentation Lecturer

It has been quite some time I do not update this blog. Don’t worry about me. My life is as interesting and eventful as always. And as much as I would love to share with you all of some fascinating movies that I have watched recently (have you watched Romancing in Thin Air?? It is damn touching and it is starred by my favourite actresses – Sammi Cheng & Louis Koo), Saturday nights out doing crazy stuff with my bosom friends, new games that I am so deeply engrossed in, it is difficult for me to juggle between my studies and play (boooo…excuse, you are just being lackadaisical). I only write according to my whim and it often goes away so fast that I manage to write down the title with the blank body in the end..=.=

However, I must blog about this awesome person that I have come across to in my life recently. She is lovely, adorable, amiable, energetic, bubbly….(insert all those positive good adjectives  you know here, as the ones that I mentioned fail to do the justice to aptly describe her). You may wonder who is that great person and might even suspicious about my words, but she is real and the only and only Mrs J that teaches me English Presentation for this semester.

I am not going to dwell into the topics of what presentation skills that she has taught us in the class, instead, I want to talk about all the things that she has done in class (or outside the class) that make her such a special teacher to me.

She gave me the impression of a foreign teacher at the first sight of seeing her as the way she dresses herself and speaks is utterly different from any other teachers/lecturers that I have met so far. Besides that, before she told us about her age, my friends and I were already making some lame guesses that she must be some 50+ years old woman. But much to our astonishment later, as she revealed us her age, we were totally gobsmacked to hear that she is already 71 this year!! *jawdropped to the max!*

Not only does she teach us according to the syllabus, she teaches us some interesting life facts that I have always taken for granted. At the first lesson, she corrected our way of gripping the pen/pencil. (I bet the only teacher who taught you of how to hold a pencil correctly was your kindergarten teacher, and no one in your life after that has ever reminded you that you hold your pencil incorrectly!) Besides that, in today’s lesson (the 2^nd lesson), we were taught on the way to walk confidently (part of the presentation skill too). She also emphasized on the way of how we should sit properly and do some soft stomping actions in between so that to prevent ourselves from getting fatigued from this long sedentary action.

Also, I am elated to be invited to join her ELTLA closed group in Facebook. It is  ##A platform to bring together all those who teach and want to learn the English Language. You may participate by sharing your ideas, thoughts, jokes, material or whatever information (within the ambit of the law, please)... Interact and learn what you can for I believe that "A teacher who stops learning today will be teaching badly tomorrow"... And anyone can learn something if he or she is humble enough to see that the monopoly of knowledge is not just with those who are highly qualified.##(copy paste from the group). Immediately after I joined the group, I was given a warm welcome by the friendly people there. I commented on the welcoming post I was tagged by Mrs J, and promptly, they corrected the grammatical errors that I made in my comments (yes, in front of other group members, have to recheck my comments from now onwards) as they feel that this is the fast way to learn English!

Let’s hope that after 10+ more lectures with Mrs J, I will be able to conquer my greatest fear of having to stand in front of people to speak and present myself, my ideas… Rome wans’t built in a day. I must be humble to learn and bear to be corrected by other group members, lol, and have faith in Mrs J teaching that I will be able to speak confidently eventually. 

To read more about Mrs J and her writings, do not hesitate to visit here and here!

PS: I am ready to be *** by the group member as I am going to post this blog in the group....And sorry for the lack of pictures in this entry. Will try to ask  for permission to take picture with Mrs J next time!

Just a day of my holiday

Time flies. In the blink of an eye, it is only 5 days left before I go back to KL. I always find that holiday has a weird way of provoking thoughts and this is especially true when the day of going back to study is drawing closer! I think about relationships of family and friends, how I mistreated them, how I should have acted in those kind of unpleasant moments; and reminiscing those good ol times like what the old people do. LOL...My mind is so complicated, it is hard for you (even myself) to grasp on what it is actually doing...

So, in this particular evening, as the sun was s creeping its way down the horizon, my hard-to-understand mind kicked into action again. This time, it instructed me to go outside to have a good evening stroll and to appreciate the beauties of mother nature, instead of rotting at home or aimlessly surfing the net!

So, below are some of the pictures taken while I was walking around my neighbourhood. Oh, did I mention I will make sure the sun and its heat is soft/friendly enough to not causing tanning of my skin then only I will go outside?? I really dislike any bright lights (ask my roomate, he knows I have bat kind life!) and I scare heat as my body easily get heated up.

Enough with the long winded words. Here are the pictures...

万里香 which is opposite to my house- a place selling big bonsai trees. I love this new entrance (door) they just installed not long ago and of course the lush greenery behind this door!

 The small path that connects my taman (housing area) to some kampong (village).

 Some I dunno what fruits/vegetables that are planted by the houseowner. You can only find this in village!

 The jogging path! Ignore litters beside the river. As you "venture" (yes, they are monkeys, snakes, cows etc) deeper into this place, you will not see those eye-sore rubbish again. ( i not even sure what should i call this place. there are palm oil, sugarcane plantation along the jogging path)

 Instead of turning left into the jogging path, if you turn right, you will come to the run down playground and recreation area.

 The playground is really in its bad,dilapidated condition. There are not even seats for the swing. I used to come here to play everyday when I was still a little kid. And here is also the place I broke my front lower tooth!! It wasnt pulled out, but the tooth was chipped and I still have it until now!

 The sun. Actually, its intensity was still quite strong for me that time. But, for god sake, to take this picture and be blogged here, I risked my life,staying longer than  usual under the sun just to catch a glimpse of the river with the sunset in background.

 Views you will not find in KL!!

 The recreation area. (needless me to say what people do in RECREATION area right?)

 And this is the view of the backside of my secondary school. The school is just a stone thrown away from my house. (really stone thrown distance loh...it takes me less than 2 minutes to walk from my house to the back entrance of the school)

And of course,some rude teenagers who swear vulgarities while playing basketball!

The Sims 3 Store - Vertical Challenge Rock Wall in Adventurous Life! set

Finally, I have gotten this month new items. And in this new blog post, I would like to talk about the Vertical Challenge Rock Wall, though, the items i truly love in this set is the Safari Living Set.

Here's what the item in game description 

Vertical Challenge Rock Wall

An adventurer's journey awaits any tenacious Sim courageous enough to take on the Vertical Challenge Rock Wall! Your endurance and athleticism soar with each vertical inch ascended, and with every climbing competition won, your confidence (and your wallet) will swell! Whether your goal is fitness, climbing supremecy or conquring K2, with the VC Rock Wall the pinnacle of adventure is finally within your grasp!

Immediately after installing the new item, it is time to head into Outdoor activities category to test out this cool new item! I dragged out the vertical wall and placed them back to back in the big park that comes with The Sims 3 Generations.

 There are three levels of difficulty of this rock wall - easy, medium, hard. The wall becomes steeper with each increasing level of difficulty. Sims can use this wall to skill up their level of athleticism and gain some fun too!

Although this rock wall might seem interesting at first time, there are not much interactions available. Personally, I feel that my sims cant live without it and,instead, choose to hit the gym to gain their athletic skill.

LOl, if only sims could die of falling off the wall.....

The Sims 3 More Magic!

Finally, the More Magic set has landed on The Sims Store. 

Here are some in game pictures I have taken and some facts discovered!

Malleable Mimic Voodoo Doll

This Malleable Mimic voodoo doll, generously stuffed with the early spring coat of an organic Spanish moss fed llama, is the cutest and cuddliest way ever devised to harness powerful mystical forces! Reward your friends and family members with blessings and/or subjugate them to various curses and torments, and all with the simple prick of a pin! With the Malleable Mimic in your home, you do the voodoo!

Lord Vladimir's Magic Cauldron

Conjure, brew and imbibe your way to magical and mystical excitement with every turn of the ladle ‘round Lord Vladimir’s Magic Cauldron! Collect or conjure dozens of potion components, brew up a magical concoction, and then throw caution to the wind and take a big swig of MAGIC! Mmm…it’s delicious!

Soothsayer's Crystal Ball

Clear your mind, focus your attention and rest the gaze of your scrying eyes on THE FUTURE. In the smooth spherical surface of the Soothsayer’s Crystal Ball you will suddenly see; the future is crystal clear, your friends and family members are in awe of your predictive prowess, and your complexion has never looked better.

Please note that as I dont like the chair that comes with the crystal ball, I think the one I got from Dr Pepper Alice Stuff looks much cooler with the table and crystal ball.

Now, see why I told you I dont like this chair?

Besides those cool objects above, the More Magic set also includes some hairs and outfits (one for each gender) for both males and females.

Fortune Teller's Turban + Divine Future Fortune Teller's Outfit + Boots from The Sims 3 Pets

Close up look

Mr. Tailored Topper 

Fortune Teller's Charmed Hairstyle + Divine Future Fortune Teller Dress + Heels from The Sims 3 Late Night

Ms. Tailored Topper

The Dandy Lady

Blown Away Hairstyle

I love those outfits very much! Dont you love them too?

Let's move on to the next three magical stuff, shall we? 

 The Malleable Mimic Voodoo Doll

I love this most compared to the crystal ball and cauldron. 

To start this magic trick, first you must successfully bind the targeted sims to this doll. I failed once before and I think the reason was that my sims and the targeted sims are not close to each other enough. If the binding process is successful, the puppet will glow and there are some cool magical effect glowing under your sims!

Love ALL the magical effects!

Sometimes, the magic will backfire too. Your sims will be shocked by the doll (as in the picture)??? So beware when performing this trick as it can BURN your sims!

Some tricks you can perform with this doll:

(I) Cupid's Arrow

(II) Pins and Needles

(III) Hot Foot

(IV) Wet Pants

(V) Curse

(VI) Bless

(I) Cupid's Arrow --to better improve your targeted sims relationship with your sims.

Red glowing hearts come out from the targeted sims if the trick works!

(II) Pins and Needles - to torture the targeted sims. I know you enjoy seeing this! 

Dark Magiccccckkkk!!

(III) Hot Foot - to torture the targeted sims. It is funny to see your sims trying to burn the doll's feet with the ignitor.

As if cat on the hot bricks!

As if cat on the hot bricks!

(IV) Wet Pants - to torture the targeted sims and cause them to wet their pants!

It is always funny to see sims on the edge of peeing themselves. But, you know you will have mess to cleanup afterwards!

(V) Curse

The cursed sims will be shrouded with dark smokes/clouds

Not all the magic tricks are meant to torture the others. You can also use the doll to (VI) Bless others. The clover leaves and golden sparkles look just so pleasant right?

This is the case where your sims fails to bind the doll to the targeted sims!

She will be mad at your sims and show him the middle finger..*rubbing my eyes* I mean her index finger.

Moving on to the Soothsayer's Crystal Ball

As you can see from the above picture, you can tell your own fortune or tell bogus fortunes to other sims. Before you start to read the mystical crystal ball, you need to place at least one chair besides the table (two chairs ,if you want to help others to fortune telling). And  according to The Sims 3 Forum, there are some players experiencing difficulty in placing those chairs correctly next to the table. So try your luck until you get them work for you!

Just a bunch of pictures of my sims doing fortune telling for others.

Love their facial expression!

Something good is gonna happen?

You can predict your own future using this crystal ball. My sims was foretold that he was going to receive something good through his mail and it did happen that a few thousand simoleons decoration painting was sent to his mail!

Lastly, the Lord Vladimir's Magic Cauldron. 

You can create these potions with this magical pot:

(I) Sleeping potion 

(II)Vanity potion 

(III) Emotion potion

 You need to collect some stuff (I am not sure what are the specific things you need to prepare) before you can brew the potion.

According to the tips, it seems like you need Rainbow Bettle, Rainbow Trout or Rainbow Gem to create the strong powerful potion.

You need three identical ingredients to brew the potions??

If you are lazy to collect the ingredients in the wild (fishing or searching for the gem) or buy them off the grocery store, you can try to conjure the ingredients too. But the ingredients turn up in your pot is random. Also, each time your sims is trying to conjure an ingredients, it will deplete your sims energy. Beware of over exhausting your sims and pass out!

As I love my sims doing magical stunts, I like this set introduced by EA. I know they are others simmers who dont enjoy the magical parts in the game. They just feel the game needs to be more realistic, more magic-free. People have their own preferences right? One man's meat is another man's poison. So, respect choices made by other people and happy simming!

PS: Since, EA introduces this set and the magical spell book few months ago, does this mean that we are not getting an expansion pack for magic like we did in The Sims 2 Apartment Life?

&

Happy Chinese New Year to those who celebrate it! 

(have you downloaded the free stuff for dragon year and the coming valentine from the store?)