If you don't dream big, what's the use of dreaming? If you don't have faith, there's nothing worth believing. ♡

  So, if you haven't heard, I won two passes worth 498MYR each to Justin Bieber's My World Tour 2011 concert here last April. People just go on making all these exclamations about how lucky I was to be able to get through the busy phone lines during the cue-to-call but to be honest, okay, I definitely needed luck to get through (I had to be the first person to get through during the cue-to-call) but it wasn't just that. It was, I'd say, a mixture of perseverance, hard-work, persistence, the art of Never Say-ing Never and a tiny bit of luck. I mean, with just luck and no hard work, what could I have possibly achieved? I couldn't have possibly sat around, knowing that I have luck, and just expecting the radio DJs to magically know my number and call me up to tell me that I won the tickets, right? I'm telling you now that it was hard - really hard - to get through and when I did, you have no idea how grateful I was (and still am). It took me time (I think around a month or so) before I actually managed to get through, and I definitely needed to be one of those who don't just give up that easily and be like, "I hate this, it's not working. I'm not going to try to win them anymore" 'cause I definitely wouldn't have been able to get anywhere with that sort of attitude. I won't brag anymore about that experience of mine, 'cause I'm here today to talk about another experience of mine recently, but if you want to read about it, which was my very first Bieber experience, go here.

  Anyway, I'm here today to talk about, well, my second Bieber experience. So here goes...

  So, I heard on a radio station (in June - right after my mid-year exams) that Justin would be coming and I was like, "No, that's not possible" 'cause apparently Justin said he'll only be coming back next year for his Believe tour (according to a DJ from another radio station who asked Justin when he went to Justin's official Believe listening party - they got to listen to the songs on Believe before the album was released - in London while Justin was there earlier this year). But then later on, they said Justin wouldn't be coming for a full-length concert but for MTV World Stage live in Malaysia 2012. And I obviously started fangirling. After much thought, I decided that I had to go for Justin's performance here this year as he'd only be coming next year for his Believe tour (as I mentioned earlier) and I'd be having my major government exams next year and my father wouldn't allow me to go for it next year. And the thing is, my father wouldn't even let me go for it next year even if I weren't sitting for my major government exams 'cause he's just like, "You've spent enough on Justin Bieber". That's just awfully sad. Ugh.

  So, I heard that there was this competition on MTV Asia's official website where you can win passes for that MTV World Stage event. Actually, that was like the only way to win passes as the passes were strictly not for sale. On the MTV Asia's website, you have to play this game (which is really easy) and when you're done playing it, you can either stand a chance to win (where you've got to come up with a slogan and all and the judges will decide) or win a pair of passes instantly (a window will come out and you've got to fill in your particulars as quickly as you can). I started playing that game after finding out about it and about more than a week later, I completely didn't feel like playing the game anymore 'cause although the game was easy, it was really boring, plus there had this game sessions where you've got to be on during the game sessions - at certain times and for certain durations, say, an hour to play the game, then the game session will be off for about an hour or so before the game session begins again and you get to play the game again... And I was getting nowhere playing it. But then, never say never, right? ;) So when I was on the computer on the 6th of June 2012, I just randomly decided to go onto that website and as usual, I got nowhere playing it. Later on, perhaps a few hours later, I casually went on there again and was like, "Heyyy the game session's on!" so I played the game and prayed that the 'instant win' window would pop up and well, it really did! FOR REAL. I got so excited I nearly died. And was pretty much hyperventilating in front of the computer and screaming, "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this to happen!" at my sister who was in the hall. And since you've got to be as quick as you can to fill in your particulars, I got so anxious and tensed up while filling in those stuff (I mean, finally getting this 'instant win' pop-up is amazing, but losing the chance to win the passes just 'cause you're too slow while filling in your particulars - it'd be horrible. Just like letting your hopes soar sky-high, only to let them come crashing to the ground. I didn't want that to happen, obviously) that I filled in the wrong 'contact number'. My reaction after realising it after I clicked the submit button? "Shit." And I was like happy and worried at the same time. Like, whaaat? But then I emailed them later on and managed to get it fixed. Thank God.

 And I really can't describe the feeling of winning those passes. I just kept screaming and saying, "OHMYGOD." all the time. It felt like the 4th of April 2011 (the day where I won passes to Justin's My World Tour 2011 concert here) all over again. I was ecstatic, obviously.

  The show was to be held in another state (Kuala Lumpur) on the 14th of July 2012 so my sister and I took a bus there the day before.

  That night was also the last night for Beliebers to win Justin Bieber meet-and-greet passes. On the 30th of June, the Universal Music label actually held a Girlfriends' Day Out where we Beliebers had to go to certain shopping malls to get a 'certificate'. On each of the certificates are serial numbers (every certificate has a different serial number) and we had to tune in to a radio station from the 9th to 13th of July where the radio DJs will announce a range of serial numbers and if your certificate's serial number is one of those within the range announced, you'll have to be the first caller through (from the 9th to 13th of July) during the cue-to-calls (they had one cue-to-call every night only) and they'll then ask you an easy question about Justin and if you get it correct, you win a meet-and-greet pass. Like what? That's so friggin' hard. I, unfortunately, did not succeed in getting through and being the first caller through on the first night (the 9th of July) as that was the only night where my serial number fitted into the range mentioned so I didn't get to meet Justin. And mind you, that's just depressing. And unfair. I've been waiting for three years, you know. Ugh.

  So, on Saturday morning, I arrived at the concert venue at 11.30am. The show was scheduled to begin at 6.30pm and I went there that early 'cause Justin was going to be opening the concert. People called me crazy for wanting to arrive there so early (I was planning to arrive there at 10am initially) but I'm telling you, there were people who arrived at 7.30am, apparently. Plus, Beliebers go hard, alright. I sat down and waited (it was kind of hot, but who cares? It was all worth it) and my sister bought me a Starbucks sandwich for lunch and she went off to meet up with a friend in the shopping mall nearby. I waited there, and slowly, more people came, bit by bit. I met four Beliebers (well, apparently they're not really huge fans of Justin but they think he's cool - they like him, but they aren't hardcore Beliebers or anything like that, unlike me ;P) and we talked for a bit. They asked me if I wanted to join them as I told them that I was there on my own so I was like, "Okay, I guess so", so we stuck together. They even offered me some sushi (their lunch - they bought those kind of sushi in boxes).

  We then waited, till 3.00pm where the security, crew and all started letting people in - basically the X-Zone passholders first (I had the normal zone passes only). They then slowly let us normal zone passholders in and man, it was so crazy! We were all squashed up and there were people pushing, which made it worse. The guards let us in literally one-by-one. When I finally reached the entrance to the barriers (or railings), I had to wait for a while before the guards let me in. I managed to get in to queue at around 3.40pm. After that, the queue slowly got to enter Sunway Lagoon where the show was going to be held (it's actually a theme park where there's rides, and stuff like that). After my bag was checked, I literally ran all the way through Sunway Lagoon to the Surf Beach (the exact location in the whole theme park where the concert was going to be held) as I was hoping to get up front to be able to see Justin closely and maybe get to shake his hand if he jumped off the stage. I was forced to stop to buy a bottle of water though, as the people who looked through my bag didn't allow me to bring my water bottle in.

  When I reached, finally, there were quite a lot of people already and I didn't have the slightest chance to squeeze my way through to the front. I stood there and waited, while watching music videos which were being projected onto the huge screens on both sides of the stage. They even played Call Me Maybe, Payphone, and Boyfriend, etc.

Remember this part of the video for Call Me Maybe? ;)

  While the crew got the stage ready for the show, I managed to get a peek of Justin's awesome drum set:

Sorry, the photo's kind of blur as I took it with a cellphone. 

But at least you can see what I meant, right?

Then Dan, Legaci and Tay James came out.

Justin finally came out at 6.30pm. He looked so good. He looked better than last year when he came here for his My World Tour concert. Okay, he looked absolutely perfect. *swoons*

I would've very well taken the photo of him on stage instead of him on the screen but I was too hyped and I forgot somehow so, yeah.

Anyway, here's the set list:-

1. Baby

2. All Around The World

3. As Long As You Love Me

4. Die In Your Arms 

5. Be Alright

6. Wheat Kings

7. One Time

8. Never Say Never

9. Boyfriend

  He sang Die In Your Arms, Be Alright and Wheat Kings acoustic, with Dan playing the guitar, as usual. 

Ah, perfect.

  At some point of his set, he actually said, "Swaggy" (it sounded more like "Schwaggie", which made it sound sexier, LOL). He even threw a bottle of water he was drinking out of halfway out into the crowd. Tay James also played Call Me Maybe and asked us to sing along! :D Oh, and Justin also introduced Legaci, Tay James and Melly Mel (the drummer) to us. And I remember him thanking us for being there too, and he mentioned something like, "I can see you all squashed up in the crowd!", and yes, we indeed were.

  After his set, like last year (ah, memories!), he jumped off the stage to shake all the first rows' fans' hands. I was like, "AWH CRAP IF ONLY I CAME EARLIER!". When he started to shake their hands, this security personnel actually sort of prevented Justin from shaking their hands and you know what? Justin just shoved this security personnel's hands away and continued shaking their hands. Like, aww. Then after Justin went backstage when his set ended, Dan actually stayed back on stage, squatted down and spoke to some of the fans up front or listened to what they had to say. That was amazing. But it makes me wish more that I reached there earlier.

  But anyway, I'm still grateful. It seems surreal sometimes when I look back, but still amazing. My second Bieber experience. Wow.

  Just proves how much believing and never say-ing never helps.

(Photos taken on: my cousin's phone)

A mini collection of definitions of 'beauty'

"When it really comes down to it, it's always nice to look at people who aesthetically are pleasing to the eye. But we all know that at the end of the day that's not necessarily the person you want to have a three-hour chat with. Or the person you want to end up spending your life with. Beauty doesn't last, and it doesn't mean that much. I don't know about you, but I always end up seeing beauty in people who really aren't conventionally beautiful. And sometimes it's just some kind of kindness they have in their eyes or some sort of intelligence; something really charming. And that really is the only thing that I think makes any difference to how you view people."

— Elizabeth Hurley

— • —



(In an interview)

Interviewer: How do you define beauty? Do you think being beautiful leads to success in life?

"Beauty is more than just skin deep. It is about appreciating the little things in life and looking beyond the surface. It should be defined by a person's character, and her ability to show compassion and love to others."

— Tang Wei

Words.

I read the book I Am Number Four a few months back (maybe at the beginning of this year?) and I think these are stuff worthy enough for me to put up on here. ;)


"We don't have to be defined by the things we did or didn't do in our past. Some people allow themselves to be controlled by regret. Maybe it's a regret, maybe it's not. It's merely something that happened. Get over it."

"Another of Henri's adages: Those things that are most obvious are the very things we're most likely to overlook."

"Images flicker, each one bringing its own sorrow or its own smile. Sometimes both. At the very worst an impenetrable and sightless black and at best a happiness so bright that it hurts the eyes to see, coming and going on some unseen projector perpetually turned by an invisible hand. One, then another. The hollow click of the shutter. Now stop. Freeze this frame. Pluck it down and hold it close and be damned by what you see. Henri always said: the price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings."

-I Am Number Four 

by Pittacus Lore


And yes, the book's nice. As of right now, it's sort of been expanded into a series. Sort of. There are currently 3 books out - I Am Number Four, The Power Of Six, and The Rise Of Nine. I got the third book last month (it had just been released then) the week right before my exams and I insisted on reading it instead of studying like some mad cow so I managed to finish it in one or two days. Somehow, I believe that there'll be a fourth book out, say, next year, 'cause the story's not ended yet.

The United Kingdom.

So maybe you've heard from my parents. Or not. About our trip to England and how there was this blackout at our cottage on our first night there and that's when I come into the story (they always seem to make it sound like it's the most exciting part. D:). Well, what happened - you'll find out yourself soon enough.

So I was thinking and I thought that I should now tell the story from my point of view instead.
Yes, so you get to see whether it really was that scary or not. Or fascinating. Or exciting. Whatever.

And I should've posted this like, 9 months ago, but I guess procrastination got the best of me.

So basically, I was really hyped. I mean, I've been travelling overseas all the time but I've never been to the United Kingdom (let alone England) so, yes, I was hyped (at that time) about the fact that we would be going to the United Kingdom.

We packed, and left for England on December 17th, 2011.

Waiting for the plane to take off.

An adorable (yet mischievous) kid I saw in the airport.

Watching Justin Bieber at the 2011 BRITs in the plane. ;)

When he won the award.

The first photo I got in London. :)

We arrived at London Heathrow airport in the early morning (at around 6am, as far as I can remember). We rented our car from Hertz and while waiting for my sister to arrive from Belfast (as she's studying there), we decided to go to Tesco as it was in the Heathrow aiport compound. 

Frost on the car window.

Heathrow.

The scenery. I guess I like taking photos of the sun rays, so do excuse me if you think there's nothing special about it.

 We saw snow! :D

And so, I got this photo.

Our first stop in England:-

Oxford

Oxford University. It looked absolutely perfect.

Just a random lane we came across.

This is where they filmed The Great Hall for the Harry Potter movies, or so they say.

The quality's kind of bad because it was dark, but yeah.

Yeah, so after that, being out all day (from the airport in the early morning to Tesco then to Oxford for pretty much the rest of the day), we decided to head to our cottage in Stratford-Upon-Avon. It was quite dark by the time we left Oxford - it wasn't night time yet, it was winter and it actually got dark at 4pm. Yeah, four in the afternoon. Or evening, whatever. My mum was driving and we got the directions from the cottage owner through email so we referred to the email (my sister had her data plan on her phone and all) and we came to the right road eventually but we just couldn't find our cottage. We drove up and down the same road for God knows how many times but we still failed to locate the cottage so we called up the cottage owner but she didn't pick up. We then decided to turn off to a small restaurant-like place and my sister went in to ask for directions. By that time, my mum was all mad for us not helping (Um, I'm not entirely sure about what she meant. Or maybe I forgot why she was mad.) so after getting the directions from the people in the restaurant, my Dad drove and, like, at least half an hour later, we noticed a small barn-like building so we stopped and went down. There was a small cottage there and as it wasn't gated, we decided to go and take a closer look (the owner mentioned that there was a 'Shakespeare Cottage' sign on the house) and we saw the sign. Initially, while looking for the cottage, we thought that the sign would've been big enough for passer-bys to see but I guess it wasn't. And the house? It wasn't that prominent either. 

Thankful that we finally found our cottage after searching for at least an hour and a half, we brought our luggage down and we then realised that the barn-like thingy was the garage. Like, uh, okayyy. My Dad parked our car in there and came into the house while we looked around. It was tiny, sort of, and not what my mum expected it to be. After we got all our stuff safe in the cottage, my brother decided to take a bath as we haven't had baths for more than 24 hours! He took a short bath, came out and I decided to bathe next 'cause I couldn't stand not washing my hair for so long! Ew. I went in, turned on the shower and, you know, bathed. After soaping myself, I realised that there wasn't shampoo for me to wash my hair. Ugh. My parents asked me not to wash my hair as it was cold but I insisted on doing so. 

And things start to get interesting from here.

Just as I was about to raise my hands to soap my hair, POP! Everything went black. I didn't know what to do. I was rooted to the spot. I told myself not to panic - it's the worse thing you could ever do when something goes wrong, but then reality hit me - it was winter, in Stratford-Upon-Avon, located north of London, I didn't have my clothes on and there was no electricity (which meant no lights and heater. Nothing.) I was like, "Shit." I don't know. I didn't know what to do. So I just stood there in the bathtub, pondering my next step. I couldn't put my clothes back on - I was wet! I was telling myself, "Hmm, it isn't that cold, actually." Later on, maybe five or ten minutes later, I started shivering, literally. I could feel myself shaking. No, seriously. So much for England not being 'that cold' during winter. Eventually, my sister came to the toilet with her phone - she was using the torchlight app, and I wiped myself dry (thank God I washed the soap off before trying to start to shampoo my hair before the blackout) and put on my pyjamas. Fast forward to about half-an-hour later, I was in the hall, in my clothes and another two jackets, still shivering. Gosh. The shivering just refused to stop. Later on, the cottage owner rushed over (about half an hour later as they live quite far away from our cottage) and said that the electricity circuit didn't trip. She brought her husband and son along and they brought us to another house (they probably owned). Her husband and son helped us carry our luggage to the car and off we were to our new house. The new house was much nicer, to be honest. It was a double-storey one. though. We were finally able to settle down. Thank God. 

I'd say it wasn't entirely traumatising for me, but, I have to say, it was kind of freaky. 

But,

I went to sleep, with electricity. 

Day 2 

Anne Hathaway's Cottage

There was this awesome coin-crushing machine there. It crushes your coin and shapes it into a flat piece of thing with Shakespeare related stuff. It depends on which design you choose, really.

Anne Hathaway's cottage.

This pie was lovely.

Magical.

Beliebers go hard, remember? ;)

Day 3

Warwick

I woke up at like 6am (I couldn't sleep) and I looked out of the window and saw the moon and decided to get a photo of it. The photo doesn't look that good, though.

Pine cone and a peacock feather.

Some sort of berry outside our rented house.

There were apples too.

Warwick castle.

Peacocks roaming around.

Hand-wrestling, anyone?

An owl. *-* 

We never get such awesome signs here.

I think I'm the only one who noticed this: This wax figure doesn't have eyelashes. :O
P.S. I'm just observant like that. ;P


Day 4

Ledbury


We were to leave Stratford-Upon-Avon for Abergavenny and I got some photos of our house before we left. I didn't get to get any photos of the cottage which we first lived in for a few hours, though. The one where the blackout occured.

 The dining area. There were actually two dining areas, to be honest. We used the other one, not this though.

 Our living room. Or TV room. Whichever you'd prefer to call it. It looks cosier at night.

The corridor upstairs. It's long. I think there were about 5 to 6 bedrooms. Huge, I know.



 Me and my siblings' bedroom.

 We even had a pool room. Awesome.


On our way to Abergavenny, we stopped at this small town, Ledbury.

 My sister likes this photo I took. I must say I'm a little honoured.

Some sort of weird berry.




Day 5

Cardiff

 Some sort of super bike, I guess.

In the market.

BIGGEST BLOCK OF BUTTER I'VE EVER SEEN.

Temptations.

Candy!

Well.

 Roasting a pig.

 Cardiff Castle. We ended up not going in. :(

Tea or coffee, I forgot. 

 We went shopping.

 The Cardiff City football club stadium. :O

 It's a Belieber's thing. ♡

Day 6

Abergavenny

 The Abergavenny museum.

After that, we went to Tintern, a small town. 

As far as I know, there were hardly any people there. :|

 SHEEP.

 Tintern Abbey (I think this is the gift shop).

Tintern Abbey.

 I pitied this cocker spaniel. It was winter, raining, in England, and it was soaking wet.

Mobile post office.

Tintern Abbey right before we left.

Sunset.

Day 7

Bath 

(on our way to London)

Before we left our house in Abergavenny.

 Through the car window.

 Yup, I had mint Kit Kats tucked safely into the back of the driver's seat.

Those Kit Kats are plain epic, by the way.

The Roman Baths

 Inside the Roman Baths building.

Busking.

 Water droplets.

 I touched the water. Then I realised it was dirty. Ugh.

 Paintball!

 A seagull.

 Tell me if it was the squirrel you noticed first in this photo.

The Royal Crescent.

 Nice little items in a shop.

Stalking the police. Hope it isn't illegal. 

Day 8

Christmas Day

It was Christmas day and since there weren't any public transport services (we returned our car when we arrived in London and used the London Underground instead to get to places in London), we stayed in our rented apartment. 

Later at night, we went to my Dad's old school friend's house for Christmas dinner. That friend of my Dad's cooked. And gosh, the turkey was perfect! We even had Christmas pudding (it was my first time trying Christmas pudding, so it was pretty cool). And his children - a boy and a girl (they're pretty much grown up already) are pretty much geniuses. They're lawyers and they studied in Oxford University. Yes, you got that right, Oxford University. And the daughter's a Canadian! :D Plus both children have awesome British accents. 

I think that was the best Christmas I've ever had so far.

Day 9

London

 I find it funny how they put up this sign ('cause there probably were too many people who came to see Platform 9 3/4).

 This was in Green Park, I think (There were too many parks there and it's hard for me to remember).

Buckingham Palace

 The bird on his head.

 A one-legged pigeon.

 This never fails to remind me of Justin when he wasn't that popular yet. I remember watching a video he posted at that time of him sitting here and performing with just his guitar and his friend. And later on people just slowly started crowding around him. Ah, memories.

Hyde Park Corner

 The talking moose.

 Another squirrel. This one was nibbling on something though.

Oxford Street

 Just a fraction of the amount of people there.

Some police barrier there. There were people crowding around and obviously, police. The next day, we found out that someone was murdered. Hmm, scary.

 Heh, what?

 Jimmy Choo.

 Look at this crazy amount of people trying to get into the Gucci store.

 Trafalgar Square. In the dark. Almost.

 The countdown (at that time) to the London 2012 Olympics.

 The sky looks fake though.

Day 10

London

 Just a leaf, alright. :)

 At the Westminster underground station.

 The London Eye.

 Westminster Abbey.

 The queue.

 The London Eye from the other side of the river.

 London Bridge. (Yeah, I do see the reflection.)

 Tower Bridge.

Tower Of London

Apparently my brother said it was a raven.

 I don't know. This row of horses seemed pretty fascinating to me.

 Down the underground station.

 This. This is the most perfect quote ever.

 We went to Chinatown, of all the places in London.

 In Her Majesty's Theatre, waiting to watch The Phantom Of The Opera.

 Hmm, full house.

The show was amazing. The props, everything.

Day 11

Windsor

 Windsor Castle. In the evening. During the winter season.

 The moon. 

 My dinner that night.

Harrods

 Harrods all lighted up.

Day 12

Wembley

 Wembley Stadium.

Yep, we went for the Wembley Stadium tours. (:

 Tower Bridge.

 The view from the bridge.

 After the rain.

 Sticking stickers on warnings. That's pretty much vandalism. I don't know who did this, but it's cute, right? :D

 Our last dinner there. At a Spanish restaurant.

Day 13

We walked around our rented house's area and did some shopping.

And headed back home. :(

In the cab.

***

Back home

 We definitely bought food, alright. Plus they were so cheap.

P.S. Mint Kit Kats are the best.

Cookies. 

Haha, good times.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. 

I really do look forward to going back to England again though.

(Photos taken on: Canon PowerShot A710 IS)