Hotels

So, more about my stay in KL.

The first hotel I stayed at was the Corus hotel. As I mentioned in the earlier post, this is one of the drop-off points for Aeroline buses. Passengers will be dropped off or picked up at the bus stop out front.

The staff at the Corus were really friendly and helpful. I didn't have any trouble checking in or getting some directions or advice on how to get to the places I needed to go.

My room was clean and comfortable. A jug kettle and some instant coffee, green tea and tea were provided. Read the sign on the table carefully, thought. The mineral water is not complimentary, as they are in some hotels. Bathroom was comfortable. A toothbrush kit, shaving kit, sweing kt, shower cap, shower gel and shampoo were provided.

It was a really short walk to Avenue K where one can get across to KLCC without having to cross the busy street. I didn't take the LRT but yes it's easy to get to that, if necessary. There would be the one between Avenue K and KLCC, and about a 5 minute walk in the opposite direction would be the Ampang Park station. Food in the area isn't a problem. Along the walk to the Ampang Park station, there are several food outlets. I saw an Indian food place that looked really good...didn't have the time to try it, though. There's Old Town and McDonald's for the less adventurous.

I also stayed at the Boulevard. I didn't like this hotel as much. Most of the amenities were about the same as the previous hotel. My problem with this hotel was the lighting, though. For some strange reason, their placement always meant getting an uncomfortable glare in my eyes. The bathroom was nice, though. Unlike the Corus, this hotel had the bath and shower at separate ends of the bathroom, ie. no uncomfortable climbing in and out of the tub, trying not to slip, just to take a shower. However, this hotel does not have its own separate car park.

Travelling by bus

My first day of having absolutely nothing to do! :) Which probably means I'll be blogging more.

I spent most of last week in KL. The trip down was better than usual. This was my first time using Aeroline. It wasn't as great as I'd expected, but then again, I think I was expecting a little too much! The staff (there was only one guy doing all the running around) was really friendly and helpful. Upon getting on the bus, we get one bottle of mineral water. A little while later we got a packet of food: two slices of bread, a packet of jam and two slices of ham. I'm told the menu varies...some friends have told me they've gotten food from Subway or The Chicken Rice Shop before. I'm assuming that varies with the time of the trip, too. This was kind of like breakfast for us.

The same problems I have with most types of travel still persist: strong smells in enclosed spaces. Yet another reason I liked the food we got - no pungent smells. The onboard lounge wasn't as great as I expected. It was pretty cramped and would probably be cozy if everyone in there were your friends...but with strangers...not so great. But yes, it was definitely more comfortable than taking the regular bus. The fact that it only stops once and there's an onboard toilet really cuts down the travel time, thus reducing the amount of time I have to tolerate the constant motion and the smells in cramped spaces. A hot drink provided helped a bit. We had a choice of coffee, tea or Milo.

The movies shown were also much better than the usual morbid crap I've had to tolerate on previous trips by bus - the last time I went to Johor I had to watch (or rather, try to not watch) one of the Ong Bak movies. Another trip, I think to Melaka, it was 2012. Oh and lets not forget how I've ended up watching Bangkok Dangerous twice. On buses, of course.. and National Treasure, too. Hmm...Now I've just realised two things: Nicholas Cage seems to be a popular bus movie choice, and wow I've taken the bus quite a lot, eh? Sure, it makes me feel so much better watching all these movies when I'm already an anxious traveller. So yes, The Devil Wears Prada, some other comedy and several episodes of Grey's Anatomy were a pleasant change.

More about my stay in KL later I guess. Lazy liao.

Helloooo?

Okay, I'll admit it - I've been like this before. In fact I've been doing this a lot lately...being so busy I can't really remember anything that isn't immediately important to me. That means not really bothering about what anyone else is doing, even those closest to me. Sometimes not even paying attention to what they're saying to me.

Therefore, I know I shouldn't be annoyed..being on the receiving end. But it does annoy me just a wee bit when I talk, the other doesn't listen. Annoys me even more when I'm being asked something but the one asking doesn't even listen to my answer. Even worse when I've barely answered when I'm told ' gtg ttyl'.

I'm starting to think really sitting down and having a proper conversation without any interruptions or distractions really isn't that easy to do. Ah, Multitasking, you little pest.

Turnaround

Earlier this week I thought to myself, I'm becoming such a bore. What have I done all week? Go for intensive language classes. That's it. I was going to write that my job searching is at a standstill, too. But then I started looking again just before I wrote this. Wheee! Two more applications done. And they're for jobs I really really hope I'll get.

I had a bit of a knock on the head yesterday. Was so paranoid that I have a concussion. Thankfully, not, I think. But I did wake up with a sore throat. I've had that coming for awhile, especially having a week of spending long days in that intensive preparatory class.

Singing unnaturally close to my speaking voice (I'm a soprano...and no I'm not syok sendiri saying that...I've got certs to prove I can sing ok) at the karaoke with my friends on Friday didn't help. Neither did the fact that another friend who can usually sing was being super duper emo and was just screaming everything out, off key.

Not as easy as I thought

I still stand by what I said earlier in the week. Preparing this presentation is still better than studying for exams.

But it's definitely not as easy as I thought it would be.

Sure...I finished my first draft, fairly decently, in about an hour. And my supervisor didn't have all that much to criticism for it.

But now that I've done it up properly, I'm re-reading my presentation and tried it out once...I find a lot of questions I could probably ask as the lecturer evaluating me, and I wouldn't have a very good answer to it. Thing is these things aren't covered in my thesis either. And I got pretty good comments for my written thesis. Do I just suck or am I expecting too much of just an undergraduate thesis?

Finals 2 of 2

Gosh I'm nervous. I think I'm prepared, but there's always doubt. The only exams over which I don't have any doubts are...well there aren't any. I never used to be such a nervous test-taker. It just gets worse and worse every semester. Well hopefully this will be the last a-lot-at-stake exam I take in awhile.

I'm just worrying myself for no reason, right? I've read through everything...understand most of it, and can get a decent number of past year questions right without peeking at my textbook. I'm okay, right?

I can't wait for all this being cooped up, studying to be over. It's bringing out the worst in me. Turning into such a needy girlfriend. But it will be over soon. By this evening, I'LL BE FREE! Okay, not really. But at this point, preparing my thesis presentation sounds like so much fun compared to...this.

I'm being so good it hurts

I've been at home all weekend. Studying...Haven't been out and had fun in...awhile. Also not going out, having my bestie in a different time zone, and having a mild texting addiction = texting waaay too much with my man. I'm starting to think it is possible to run out of things to say. After all, what could you possibly have to say between me sitting at my desk trying to figure out Chemistry all day, and him finally having a lazy weekend?

Now I'm craving drinks and loud music.

One more week!!! And after that...intensive language classes before my external exam. Ugh. At this rate I'd really, really love to just take some time off before I start working.

Indulgent weekend

Make that half a week of indulgence. In this family birthdays = eating. And eat we did. Buffet at Traders was delicious! While I'm one who does not believe in stuffing myself at a buffet just because 'I've already paid for it', the food here was so good, I definitely did end up over eating. The number one thing I have to rave about is the apple crumble. It's unfortunate that over here, really good apple crumble is hard to come by. And when I had this one, I just had to go for seconds! Another thing to add on my list of things to do after exams: learn to make apple crumble. Of course the other thing to add to the list would be to work out. I can almost swear my belly has grown an inch. Didn't help that after watching this video Jo shared with me about how to measure your bra size, I measured myself again today...and discovered I've gone up a band size! And here I was so happy that I've lost weight. Sigh...why doesn't losing weight necessarily equal getting skinnier everywhere?

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