Yasmine.

Oh, the horror!

Today, our local creative genius Yasmin Ahmad suffered a stroke, had emergency surgery, and is now in the hospital - in stable but critical condition. :( *Read the news story here*

Yasmin Ahmad

Okay, so I don't know her personally - and she has absolutely no idea who I am - and yet, I feel such a heartache if she doesn't get better. We even learnt about this in Communication Studies in first year - why did millions of people cry and cry at the deaths of MJ, Lennon, Lady Diana?

Because... if they're gone, then we will definitely never get to know them.

It sounds unbelievably selfish, I know, but tonnes of media academics have agreed with this theory - and I understand now that it's true.

I hope Yasmin will be okay! I was meant to meet her via my Malaysian Cinema class... but I guess it won't happen now, because she'll want to take time off and rest after she recovers. Guess it just wasn't meant to be. :(

On a totally unrelated note, another Yasmine has equally inspired me! One Yasmine Tran, who owns a pretty popular blog, that features the things she DIYs. I love making things like cards, albums, papered gifts, but her DIY skills outshine mine like... the sun and the dark corners under my wardrobe!

Oh, and guess what? She shares where to get STUDS! *Click here to read more*

"A leather shop in Petaling Street. Opposite Watson. Somewhere near Macy... beside 7-11... RM10 for a packet [of] 50 studs."

Ok. Who's coming to Petaling Street with me? :D

And along the DIY lines, I'm planning to DIY myself a pair of denim shorts! I'm going to cut up a pair of my most ragged, torn-in-places-where-the-sun-doesn't-shine pair of denim jeans - and then go against nature by proving that someone who doesn't know how to thread a needle or tie a knot, can create a pair of denim shorts. :D

Blake Lively


What mine will probably look like

Well, whatever! Thunder thighs or not, I want to make myself a pair of denim shorts. I hope I don't need to sew anything for it. Just a pair of scissors will do, right? :D

Maybe I should search for some YouTube tutorials first.

On a totally separate topic - because I'm random like that - I've switched my tutorial class for Malaysian Cinema from 9am Thursday to 4pm Friday. Just so Shangari and I can be in the same group project together! Hahaha. Going home at 6pm is so uncool, but I guess it's ok since it's only once a week. :) Last semester, it was twice a week! And I survived that. :D

I'm still mad at Monash for making me go to school on Fridays though. We want our 3-day weekends back! :(

How're my units this semester?
[My opinions recorded prior to the ending of Week One]

Media, Culture, Power (Dr Yeoh Seng Guan) - Totally Awesome. Dr Yeoh just rocks! For our first tutorial on Wednesday, he split us up into pairs and in every pair, one person was blindfolded whereas the other was the "Blind Person's Guide". The lesson was about power - how it shifts, how it's given/created, how it works in one context and not another. Shangari was the blindfolded one, and I was the guide. :D It was SO FUN (for me). Shang will tell you that I made her walk into 1 wall, 2 pillars, 1 spotlight, and 1 security sensor and she nearly sat on nothing - but I will protest otherwise.

Media Texts (Dr Zakir Raju) - Thanks to this unit, I've watched an episode of Six Feet Under and the classic musical, Singin' In The Rain! :D I'm singingg in the rain, I'm singing in the rain... lalalalaa... I'm happy again ...

Malaysian Cinema (Mr Benjamin McKay) - Only 19 students enrolled in this class! What a teeny tiny class! Might even be the smallest class in Monash. We're such special people. I strongly encouraged Shang to take this unit, so now she's one of the special 19. :D

Radio & TV Journalism (Dr Sony Jalarajan) - I strongly encouraged Jung Ai to take this unit, so now she's one of the special 30 or so students taking it. Hehehe! There are 6 Australian exchange students in our class, and they did about 80% of the verbal response during lecture. Hahahaha! Sadly, the stereotype that us Asians are muted in classes has proven to be true most of the time. As talkative as I am everywhere else, I'm shockingly quiet in classes - so I just smile and nod at everything anyone says - which leads lecturers like Dr Helen (last semester) to say, "What do you think, Sha-Lene? You're smiling and nodding away, so you must have something to say!"

And then I open my mouth and say the wrong thing.
Eve-ry-time!

Although, the Stupidest Thing I Did This Week award has got to go to...

We were in the library. Shang and I were trying to watching "Singin' In The Rain", and we got the headphones plugged in, DVD set up, everything done as best we knew it. Then, we started the movie, but there wasn't any sound! So I clicked around the computer, trying to adjust the volume - only to discover that the computer volume was on Mute. So I un-Muted it, and pulled all the control panels to full volume.

Then, we put our headphones back on, and pressed Play. Wow, what wonderful music, the sound quality's great, we can hear every word! :D Shang and I grinned at each other, super pleased with ourselves, and settled back to watch the 2-hour musical.

Suddenly, the librarian comes to us, taps our shoulders and says, "Err... excuse me, can you please lower the volume?"

We took off our headphones. The sound was playing out to the entire library.