Questing

I have decided to go on a quest to find where my passion really lies. I have set some short term goals for myself:

1. Run a half marathon (preparations have already begun)
3. Take interesting classes in anything.
6. See a ballet at the Met.

And one long term goal:
1. Change jobs.

Status

So...where to start? Been a Cornell grad for 8 months now, and it feels surreal. I have been all over the place; finally ended up living in Manhattan, New York. Ironically enough, I am working in Brooklyn. How did I end up there? Well.

It has been a struggle trying to land a job in New York City, a feat which took me six months. It was one relentless roller coaster ride - the wild joy and hope when I landed interviews, and the disappointment when I inevitably get that phone call or e-mail with standard rejection wording. You know, the one ending with "...but we wish you the best of luck in all of your other endeavors." Bah. Anyway, after the months of ups and downs so to speak, I found an employer through a staffing service, who was looking for a college grad to work in his small self-started energy management company (think 4 employees, single room office) and was willing to pay somewhat to the competitive standard to obtain a Cornell grad to add to his list of accomplishments. Sounds good, right? Here's the catch: he lives in Brooklyn, an outer borough south of Manhattan. Not Brooklyn Heights, which is just a couple of stops from Wall Street, where I live, but Marine Park, where even the subways don't go. I would have to take the subway from Wall Street to its very last stop in Flatbush, Brooklyn and from there catch the very unreliable MTA B41 Bus to my destination. Which means I am very frequently late for work despite my best efforts. Meanwhile, my co-workers just roll out of bed ten minutes before 8 and drive to work by 8, managing to sleep more and still be in earlier than me. Grr.

And the thing is, I don't have any other options. The reason why it is especially hard for me to land a job despite landing so many interviews, is because as an international (therefore I am evil), I have the H-1B work visa hanging over my head, meaning any potential employer has to be willing to expand about 5 grand to sponsor me to stay in the States to work for them. And that has most to all of them running for cover with their tails between their legs, claiming to "have their hands tied by upper management, as there is a budget quota." or "we don't offer sponsorships to entry-level college grads". So it is a very narrow road for me.

White december

It's snowing in Ithaca! I'm actually having a white December for the first time in my life! Snow makes me so happy :)

Memorable Potter quotes - a tribute to all the characters who fought to the very end!

Before begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words and here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!'
- Albus Dumbledore to the rest of Hogwarts, book 1


"Never," said Hagrid irritably, "try an' get a straight answer out of a centaur. Ruddy stargazers. Not interested in anythin' closer'n the moon."
- Hagrid to Harry, book 1

Before begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words and here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!'
- Albus Dumbledore to the rest of Hogwarts, book 1

'What happened between you and Quirrel down through the trapdoor is a complete secret, so naturally, the whole school knows.'
- Albus Dumbledore, book 1

"And Snape said..."
"That's Professor Snape, Harry"
"Yeah, him."
- Harry to Dumbledore, book 1

'It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs.'
- Albus Dumbledore to Prof. McGonagal, book 1

'Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground.'
- Albus Dumbledore to Prof. McGonagal, book 1

Harry got a shock the first time he looked in the mirror over the kitchen and it shouted, "Tuck your shirt in, scruffy!" -book 2

"Can you believe our luck?" said Ron miserably bending down to pick up Scabbers the rat. "Of all the trees we could've hit, we had to get the one that hits back." - book 2

There was a scramble as everyone tried to seize a pair that wasn't pink and fluffy. - book 2

Manners, Potter, or I'll have to give you a detention. 'You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments.'
'Yeah, but you, unlike me, are a git, so get out and leave us alone.'
- Draco Malfoy to Harry, book 5

"Worrying about poor 'ickle goblins, now are you? Thinking of starting up S.P.U.G or something. Society for the Protection of ugly Goblins."
- Ron to Hermione, book 4
'

"Dobby is used to death threats, Sir. Dobby gets them five times a day at home." - Dobby, book 2

"Longbottom causes devastation with the simplest spells, we'll be sending what's left of Finch-Fletchley up to the hospital wing in a matchbox." - Severus Snape, book 2

"I accidentally set a boa constrictor on my cousin Dudley at the zoo once - long story - but it was telling me it had never seen Brazil and I sort of set it free without meaning to." - Harry, book 1

Harry was just thinking that all he needed was for Dumbledore's pet bird to die while he was alone in the office with it, when the bird burst into flames. - book 1

"I'd have to see what the Ministry'd do to me if I blew up an aunt. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because mum would've killed me. - Ron, book 3

'Kreacher is cleaning, Kreacher lives to serve the Noble House of Black -'
'And it's getting blacker every day, it's filthy.'
'Master always liked his little joke. Master was a nasty ungrateful swine who broke his mother's heart -'
'My mother didn't have a heart, Kreacher, she kept herself alive out of pure spite.'
- Kreacher and Sirius, book 5

'Well, as everyone thinks I'm a mad mass-murderer and the Ministry's put a ten thousand Galleon price on my head, I can hardly stroll up the street and start handing out leaflets, can I?'
'And I'm not a very popular dinner guest with most of the community. It's an occupational hazard of being a werewolf.'
- Sirius and Remus to Harry, book 5

"Well . . . when we were in our first year, Harry - young, carefree, and innocent -"

Harry snorted. He doubted whether Fred and George had ever been innocent.

- book 3

"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," said Mrs Weasley sternly.

"Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs doesn't he?" said Fred quietly as Mrs Weasley left the room, "Birds of a feather..."

- book 4

"Percy wouldn't recognise a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea-cosy." - book 4

"If Hagrid's half-giant, she definitely is. Big bones . . . the only thing that’s got bigger bones than her is a dinosaur." - book 4

'I'm not putting them on," "I like a healthy breeze around my privates, thanks.'
- Archie, an old wizard wearing a night gown to a Ministry wizard trying to convince him to wear pants at the Quidditch World Cup, book 4

'There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it.'
- Prof. Quirrel, book 1

'Ah, of course. There is no need to tell me any more Ms. Granger. Which one of you will be dying this year?'
- Prof. McGonagall, book 3

'Won't say nothing if you don't say please!'
'Alright, please.'
'Nothing! Ha! Told you I'd say nothing if you said please!'
- Peeves to Filch, book 1

'Mr Moony presents his compliments to Prof. Snape and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business.'
- The Marauder's Map, book 3

"Vell, ve fought bravely."
"You can speak English! And you've been letting me mime everything all day!"
"Vell, it vos very funny."
- Cornelius Fudge and Mr Obalonsk (Bulgarian Minister for Magic), book 4

"You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts ... but you cannot deny he's got style ..."
- Portraiit of Phineas Nigellus to Cornelius Fudge, book 5

'Don't put your wand there, boy! What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!' (Moody)
'Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?' (Tonks)
'Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket!'
- Mad-Eye Moody to Nymphadora Tonks, book 5

'And this is Nymphadora -'
'Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus, it's Tonks.
'Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only,'
'So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora,'
- Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks, book 5

"Interesting effect," said George looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculus curse?"

"Me," said Harry.

"Odd," said George lightly. "I used jellylegs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face."

- book 5

"Kreacher wasn't quite as devoted to him as mother, but I still caught him snogging a pair of my father's old trousers last week." - Sirius Black, book 5

"I'll look for him later, I expect I'll find him upstairs crying his eyes out over my mother's old bloomers or something. Of course, he might have crawled into the airing cupboard and died ... but I musn't get my hopes up."

- Sirius Black, book 5

"Yeah, Montague tried to do us during break," said George.

"What do you mean, "tried?" said Ron quickly.

"He never managed to get all the words out," said Fred, "due to the fact that we forced him head-first into that vanishing cupboard on the first floor."

- book 5

"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they're going to use our products to get rid of this old bat." added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge. - book 5

Fred: "Give her hell from us Peeves."
And Peeves, who Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

- book 5

But not even the users of the Snackboxes could compete with the master of chaos, Peeves, who seemed to have taken Fred's parting words deeply to the heart. Cackling madly, he soared through the school, upending tables, bursting out of blackboards, toppling statues and vases; twice he shut Mrs Norris inside a suit of armour, from which she was rescued, yowling loudly, by the furious caretaker. Peeves smashed lanterns and snuffed out candles, juggled burning torches over the heads of screaming students, caused neatly stacked piles of parchment to topple into fires or out of windows; flooded the second floor when he pulled off all the taps in the bathrooms, dropped a bag of tarantulas in the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast and, whenever he fancied a break, spent hours at a time floating along after Umbridge and blowing loud raspberries every time she spoke.

- book 5

Indeed, a week after Fred and George's depature Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out the corner of her mouth, "It unscrews the other way."
- book 5

He had just made Harry feel rather better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realise he had been describing his examiner's reflection.
- Ron, book 5

"And from now on, I don't care if my tea-leaves spell die, Ron, die - I'm just chucking them in the bin where they belong." - Ron, book 5

Professor Umbridge left Hogwarts the day before the end of term. It seemed she had crept out of the hospital wing during dinnertime, evidently hoping to depart undetected, but unfortuantly for her, she met Peeves on the way, who seized his last chance to do as Fred had instructed, and chased her gleefully from the premises whacking her alternately with a walking stick and a sock full of chalk. Many students ran out into the Entrance Hall to watch her running away down the path and the Heads of Houses tried only half-heartedly to restrain them. Professor McGonagall sank back into her chair at the staff table after a few feeble remonstrances and was clearly heard to express a regret that she could not run cheering after Umbridge herself, because Peeves had borrowed her walking stick.
- book 5

Snape: "Do you remember me telling you we are practising non-verbal spells, Potter?"
"Yes," said Harry stiffly.
"Yes sir."
"There's no need to call me 'sir', Professor."
- book 5

Madam Pomfrey: "You shouldn't overexert yourself."
"I don't want to stay here overnight," said Harry angrily, sitting up and throwing back his covers."I want to find McLaggen and kill him."

"I'm afraid that would come under the heading of 'over-exertion'," said Madam Pomfrey ...

- book 5

WHY ARE YOU WORRYING ABOUT

YOU-KNOW-WHO YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT U-NO-POO! THE CONSTIPATION SENSATION THAT'S GRIPPING THE NATION!!

- Fred & George's advertisement in Diagon Alley

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia froze where they stood, staring at Dudley as though he had just expressed a desire to become a ballerina. - book 7

"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry," said Fred earnestly. "Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever." - book 7

"Oh, of course," said Ron, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I forgot we'll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library." - book 7

"Death's got an Invisibility Cloak?" Harry interrupted again.

"So he can sneak up on people," said Ron. "Sometimes he gets bored running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking ..."

- book 7

"And the rumours that he (Lord Voldemort) keeps being sighted abroad?" asked Lee.

"Well who wouldn't want a nice little holiday after all the hard work he's been putting?" asked Fred.

- book 7

"Tell me one last thing," said Harry. "Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?"

Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry's ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.

"Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?"

- book 7

Back on the road

I think it's about time I cleared the fine layer of dust covering my blog. Sorry about the lack of updates lately, peeps, been too lazy to write...haha that, and my extensive use of facebook! Anyways, recently life since coming back to good ol' Penang has been a dream. I can't believe the fun I had hanging out with the girls last week. Mandy, Cheryl, Christy, Dini and Ru, we should do it again soon, this week, before Dini here goes back to Sri Lanka for good. Is anyone gonna watch Potter??


And lastly, another update: I'm leaving for Cornell on the 4th of next month. Taking the UA flight to Atlanta first, then later on going to Syracuse (that's as close as I can get to Ithaca on a flight) and then to Ithaca on the 11th for pre-orientation. Then things'll really get crazy then.

I've got just a little more than 3 weeks left here!! Let's party!