Saturday, December 31, 2005

On New Year's Eve...

Someone once said I'm a boyish kind of girl. Well, I did something very girly today. I sorted out all my earrings, chucked out those that can't be worn and kept those that can be worn in little cute boxes. So pleased with myself... heh



So pretty!!! Think I'm gonna get more of these cute boxes... got more earrings to keep in them... I just realised I've got more than 30 pairs of earrings! Urghhh....

Anyways, Happy NEW YEAR to all!!!

Days 7 & 8

Day 7 was spent in Sydney, visiting the Blue Mountain.

Pic 1: Mother kangaroo and her joey grazing on the mountain


Pic 2: Blue Mountain behind me!


Pic 3: Can you see me "holding" the waterfall??


Pic 4: The "3 Sisters" on Blue Mountains (just rock structures la...)


Pic 5: Still honing my photography skills... the bee not very clear...


Pic 6: Meet... Mona Lisa! A little girl from Finland... Isn't she adorable?!


Pic 7: Another Mona Lisa shot...


Pic 8: My last photograph taken... the Sydney Harbour Bridge


Day 8 - Took a super early flight (0650!!!) back to Adelaide...

End of Trip

Friday, December 30, 2005

Days 5 & 6

Days 5 to 8 are spent in Sydney, New South Wales. Its a cool place, with loads of people and high rise buildings, just like Melbourne, just like Singapore... When we were in the food court of the Hay Market, I really felt like I was home. The decor, the layout of the place and even the food sold were pretty similar to that of SGP's. Especially the one at Plaza Singapura!

Anyways, I just need to tell everyone how we got from Melbourne to Sydney. We took a coach there, yes, a coach, BUS. It took us 12 hours to get there. The journey was long and ardous, not exactly a wonderful experience for me. Oh well, maybe I'm just not the backpacker material. :(

Pic 1: Sydney Bondi Beach - One of the most popular beaches in Sydney, its the place where the 2000 Sydney Olympics for Beach Volleyball was held. Cool place, so many people tanning and cute guys surfing. We spent 2 hours having dinner at a restaurant along the beach... & people watching...


Pic 2: Another magnificent view of Bondi Beach


Pic 3: The Botanic Gardens in Sydney. Yes, it says Sex & Death...


Pic 4: I'm honing my photography skills at the Botanic Gardens, look at the pictures of the pretty flowers I took!


Pic 5: A bird I took...


Pic 6: The Botanic Garden also links to the Sydney Opera House... (That's where the finals of the Australian Idol is held!)


We went to Canberra, the capital state of Australia, its only a 3 hour drive away from Sydney.

Pic 7: The Parliament House


Pic 8: Canberra War Memorial. Oh, they feature stories of how Singapore fell into the hands of the Japanese as well!


Pic 9: Our tour guide brought us to this place where we can have a panoramic view of Canberra...


Pic 10: Oh we went to the National Museum as well... I took an artsy fartsy picture.. heh heh... This structure is part of the Aboriginal Culture...


k.. that's all for now... days 7 & 8 will be coming soon.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Continuation of the trip: Days 3 and 4

Okie, time to update on my Victoria - New South Wales trip

Day 3 - City Tour

Because we booked 2 tours from the same travel agency, we were given a free half day city tour. I spent most of the time nodding away in the travel coach cos it was simply too comfy! It was raining and rainy days are best for sleeping in... heh heh...

Anyways, after the blurry city tour, we meet our friend's brother who brought us around trying out different chocolate shops.

Pic 1: Max Brenner Chocolates (I think we have one at the Esplanade, dont we?)


Pic 2: Me kissing the cup


Pic 3: Joyce & I posing at the South bank, with the city of Melbourne behind us!


Pic 4: Me "wearing" a huge crown at the Crown Casino


Day 4: We went to this place called Sovereign Hill, according to the guides, it used to be a mining town. The gold rush began when a lil gold was found (something like 3 grams?! or is it 3 kilograms??) Anyways, after all the gold has been dug out, the place is converted to a tourist attraction to attract stupid people like us. =P

Pic 5: Some gold mining structure


Pic 6: Me trying my luck at panning some gold


Pic 7: Me trying to be vain in a "hat" shop


Pic 8: Picture of a gold bar that was made on the spot during the trip


Pic 9: Some people performing and 2 very adorable kids watching intently

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The Countdown

6 more days before I finally go home. Happy and sad at the same time. Can't wait to go home to see everyone and of coz go on shopping sprees. Heh, its not fun shopping here in aussieland coz everything's so expensive.. sigh.. kinda looking forward to going home and be a lil extravagant. Havent cut my hair in ages too, can't wait to do stupid things to my hair again.. heh heh...

BUT, there's Mr Mikey I cant bear to leave behind too, budden again, he's been getting on my nerves these few days too. I think its coz I've got absolutely nothing to do these days and spending every single minute and every single second with him just causes more friction and we end up quarrelling so much more. Sigh...

Anyways, some good news. I just got my results for this semester, 4 Distinctions and 1 High distinction. Some say this is very good results, but I felt like I could have done better. So I was a lil disappointed when I only got one HD. Oh well, I guess I just have to work harder next semester. The semester which everyone says is a killer one. Yucks, not looking forward to it.

Will update my holiday pics later...

Friday, December 09, 2005

I'm Back!

Finally back from my week long trip. Spent 4 days in Melbourne Victoria and 3 days in Sydney New South Wales. Gonna bring ya through my trip day by day...

Day 1: Melbourne City

The first day of our tour happened to coincide with an event going on in the city - the Suzuki Night Market. As the name suggests, the market is organised by the automobile company Suzuki. I think its just like our "pasar malam" or "bazaar", just that its a super major scaled one compared to ours.

Pic 1: Mirror I found in the market (Very suitable for ah hu!!)


Pic 2: Cupcakes!! So pwetty!!


Pic 3: Chocolate fountain (yum! but $3 for one small scoop... Sigh...)


Day 2 - Great Ocean Road
We spent three quarters of the time in the coach, travelling along the coast, to see the 12 apostles. The scenary is breath taking, but the butt is really aching...

Pic 4: The 12 Apostles


Pic 5: Joyce and I at one of the look out points


Okay, that's all for now, will update the other days sequentially again when I'm in the mood...

Monday, November 28, 2005

-Moody-

I should be feeling happy now that exams are finally over. But I'm not. I dont know why either. Today was probably the worst day I ever had here. I cried and threw my temper at Mike.

I officially moved out of my room today. Spent the entire Saturday night and Sunday morning packing and clearing my room. And finally, did all the paper work for moving out today. It was kinda stressful. Never knew packing was so troublesome, didnt seem that difficult when I was unpacking and moving in. Somehow, the opposite process of moving out took a major toll on me. And if everyone's wondering what's the big fuss about moving out, well its cos we have this house inspection thingy where someone from the housing department comes and inspect the place, making sure everything's fine, working and clean. So I had to clean up my room, wipe it sparkling clean, wash my toilet and sink, clean up the common areas like the living room and kitchen as well. Not easy, especially when I finished everything in like 3 hours... Urgh, I make the perfect houseMAID I tell you...

So, I guess I was totally stressed out by this moving out hassle that I just burst into tears this morning when I woke up late. Well, not exactly very late... My house inspection was at 12noon, I woke up at 1030, which means I only have 1.5 hours to do my last minute cleaning. Yeah, being the kan cheong spider that I am, situations like this freak me out. So that's moody expression number 1

Moody expression number 2 came when Mike and I were in the city. He wanted to play games (Warcraft 3 again) at the internet cafe while I wanted to have my dinner and go to the frisbee game which we originally planned. Under normal circumstances, I would have been pretty cool about it. I would have been fine having dinner alone and go for my game on my own afterwards. But no, I unreasonably told him that I'm just gonna go, and when he said he's not gonna play since I was so upset, I still went on and stomped out of the cafe. Weird... I couldnt understand why I reacted that way too...

I think its PMS plus stress = Unreasonable, moody, depressed Liyan

Someone cheer me up.
I hope my Melbourne-Sydney trip will do the trick. Flying off on Wednesday, can't wait..,

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Another Down.

I hate studying for exams. Yes, I know no one does. But I just wanna complain still. Who wants to join me?

I'm staying indoors so often cos I would feel guilty if I went out. (Not that I've got many places to go to, I just don't like the feeling that I don't have a choice but to stay home.) I'm spending my time staring at my books. (Note the word staring, not reading, not understanding...) I think the time could be put to much better use if I was out shopping, picnic-ing or playing games.. heh heh..

Anyway, my final paper is on Saturday - 26/11/05. Just 2 days away. Good and bad. Good cos (duh, isn't it obvious) I'm finally free to whatever I want, even if it means sitting around not having anything to do, and as some people call it - wasting my life away... And Bad cos I havent finished studying... Yep, coming from me. Just not in the mood to bury myself in my notes, its the symptoms of Exams overdose, also typical of Freedom Withdrawal Symptoms. The Uni should be more lenient when they mark papers taken on the last day of exams cos the students would most likely suffer from this syndrome (yeah, like me).

Okay, I'm not making much sense here. BAHHH

Can't wait to get myself a new laptop when I get back. Who wanna volunteer to go Sim Lim with me and check it out?

Looking forward to 20/12/05 - Home Sweet Home.

As for now, time to stare at books. The "sane" me will be back on Saturday.

Signing off,
Insane nayiL

Saturday, November 19, 2005

I love Penang!

Nope, not the state in M'sia, but the little "coffee shop" like place at Rundle Mall (the most popular shopping area in Adelaide) which sells pretty good SG and M'sia delicacies... YUM...

This is called "Combination Sar Horfun" - Combination as in combination of seafood (a few tiny prawns and fish cake!!) and meat... guess the price...
AUD$8.50 - Extortionate...


The 2 dishes we ordered: the other one's "Salted Fish Fried Rice" Again, guess the price...
AUD$7.90 - Pricey...


When east meets west!

Of coz, this set of cutlery was used by Mike... who apparently can't use chopsticks!

Because of the exorbitant prices and also because the food was sooooo yummy, this was what's left of our meal...


Sigh, can never get over the way stuff are priced here. Sometimes its not that I cant afford the food, its just that I dont feel that the food are worth the price! But this of coz, doesnt apply to Penang...

A little pic of me..

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

1 down, 2 to go

Sat for a paper today, not too bad, in fact I think I did well. Its been one year since I last sat for an exam, and this long period of abstinence (from exams of coz) actually made me very nervous and worried. I always thought that I'm someone who is "exam smart". Somehow I will manage to get decent grades for my exams as long as I put in a lil effort to get some facts. But of coz, this only apply for science related papers. I'm not someone who can do well for artsy fartsy stuff... Anyway, I spent one entire week studying for this paper, sitting down, reading and writing stuff for at least 5 hours a day. I think its all that intense studying that adds the pressure to this paper. Because I spent so much time preparing for it, I expect to perform in proportion to the amount of time spent (aka do very very well). Oh well, I expecting a high distinction for it, or if not, at least a distinction to keep me happy.

With this paper over and done with, I'm left with 2 more papers. One on the 24th, the other on the 26th. Havent started at all for any of the two, but not too worried... YET... panick usually strikes when you're like a day from the exam itself? heh heh Anywayz the 2 papers are sort of complementary, so studying for one actually helps the understanding of the other. So yup, no sweat! (I wish ah..)

Sigh, I think I've put on weight. Yes, girls and their obsession with weight. But just let me be a lil bimbotic here for a while. When I first arrived here, I actually lost 3 kilos. Think I was adjusting to the climate here and eating healthy food coz I was cooking all the time. Now, not only have I regained all my 3 kilos, I think I've gained extra 1 kilo... DAMN... Now I'm getting lazier and lazier. I'm cooking less and eating out more. And hanging out with Mike doesnt help. Mike likes dairy stuff and hence eats pizza all the time. Plus, he's generous, he'll always order extra to feed me. So with all that fatty food coming in, and less healthy home cooked food, my tummy's growing bigger by the day. SIGH... if only I can take a picture of my "tum tum", you'll know what I mean... SIGH... Did I mention that I havent been exercising much lately as well? F**king exams! (Hang out too much with Mike already! =P)

Anywayz, besides Dean, who else wants the Le Coq t shirt? Tell me soon, otherwise no more sale and it'll be 40 bucks, I cant afford that!

K, bedtime, slept only 4 hours last night coz I was doing last minute revision for my stupid exam... Zzzzzzzz

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Pictures Finally...

A picture paints a thousand words. So here, I'm gonna paint six thousand words...



My study area, always messy, luckily its big enough for me to spread my mess.



And when I'm bored with the studying, I'll look out my window to enjoy the scenary. It looks better on other days when its bright and sunny, coz I actually get to see the sea-line...



And when I get real bored, I'll be flipping through this...

Somehow, I got really very bored (aka finished flipping thru' the magazine)and decided to take pictures of the stuff I bought last Friday...


The cool clubbing top & elegant poncho



The chic Le coq t shirts.. so chic that I bought 3 of different colours... hur hur...



And lastly me trying to look sweet with the flower I plucked from outside Mike's door =P

Friday, November 11, 2005

Actions speak louder than words

I don't believe you when you say you can complete your assignment in a couple of hours
I don't believe you when you say you can cook XXX dish
I don't believe you when you say YYY happened to you when you were young
I don't believe you when you say you have that much self control
I don't believe you when you say you can fly
Prove it to me, and I'll know you didnt lie...

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Last 3 weeks of term

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Time Flies... Sigh... Its study week now, meaning no classes, meaning I've gotta stay home to study. How fun. My first paper starts on the 16th and it'll be a full week later that I'll have my 2nd paper. Nice... Means I'll only have to focus on this one paper now. But this also means one full week of agony, fretting over the module, while some other people have finished their exams. Not Nice...

Now for something nice. I've finally settled my end of semester tour with Joyce. Booked the air tickets and accomodation, going for the cheapest deal in everything. Yup, that's travel for those who have a tight budget. We're gonna fly from Adelaide to Melbourne early in the morning at 8.55am, stay in Melbourne for 4 days and then head to Sydney by an overnight train, stay in Sydney for another 4 days and finally head home by flight. Oh the return flight is at 6.55am cos its the cheapest. (Madness) The total cost?

Flight : Ade - Mel : AUD$49
Train : Mel - Syd : AUD$?? ( Havent book yet)
Flight : Syd - Mel : AUD$115
Accomodation: Mel (2N) : AUD$18 x 2
Syd (3N) : AUD$22 x 3
Total (Excluding train) : AUD$266

Doesnt sound too expensive, which is good, cos this means that I've got more spare cash to shop! Yay! Oh did I mention that I'm gonna crash at my friend's bro's place to save on one night of accomodation? Haha, that's how cheapo we are! =P

Went shopping last Friday and bought heaps of stuff. Well actually not heaps, but still quite alot! Not all of which were for myself though, half of them were Christmas pressies! Yup, for you guys back home... (Aint I sweet???) Anyway the stuff I bought were all stuff that's on sale, but its the thoughts that count right??? Bought this cool looking clubbing top for $7, this elegant looking black knitted poncho for $10 (what a steal!) and this chic looking Le Coq t shirt for $12 (its a rip off!). Shall upload the pictures next time if I have the time to take pictures of them. Heh heh... Kinda lazy and busy now. Spent the whole of yesterday studying for my exam, gonna spend the whole of today studying too... I HOPE...

Been having a sore throat for the past 2 days. Its really killing me. I hate sore throats... Cough non-stop, throat feels dry, head feels heavy, body feels feverish and worst of all, I feel like CRAP. This feeling makes studying a chore. URGHHHH

Have been staying home since last Friday, need to breathe some fresh air! Tomorrow night Joyce is gonna bring me to Harbour Town. Apparently they sell lots of cheap branded stuff there, get more Christmas presents?? Heh heh...

Time to hit the books again...

Sunday, November 06, 2005

BOYS

Seriously, what's with warcraft 3? Why are boys so into the game? Or in general, why do boys get so engrossed with games that they can forgo almost everything? Mike's been spending hours and hours at that stupid game. I'm not complaining cos he's not spending enough time with me, I'm complaining cos its ridiculous. I mean an hour or 2 a day playing games is fine. But when it gets to 6 to 8 hours just playing the game, something's seriously wrong. Plus, its exams period now, he's got 2 major essays due and he hasnt even started. Someone, please teach me how to get him out of this!

I'm seriously annoyed by this stupid thing, what happened to the self control a 24 year old man should have? Just thinking about this makes me mad. I havent seen anyone play games from 10pm till dawn the next day. That's just how serious his addiction is. Its driving me nuts..

I just completed a major assignment that's 60% of my final grade. Feel like relaxing, just spending the night doing nothing, or perhaps spend the night watching tv or something. Just chilling out.. but gosh, guess who had to spoil my night?

Too irritated to write anything interesting now. Gonna watch ELVIS on tv...

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Its Disturbing

Last night was the scariest night I experienced in my house. Its the first time I actually know of people engaging in "one night stand". I think I've been too sheltered my whole life, the people I hang out and mix with are all "good" guys and gals who arent so open-minded about such matters. I'm not saying there's any wrong with having "one night stands", its just disturbing to know that your friends are doing it. Actually I wouldnt know that they're doing it if not for their loud moans. I'm not kidding. When I was walking along the corridor to the bathroom, I could hear the "AHs" and the heavy panting echoing through the hallway. I think I'm just not culturally adapted to this place. Maybe its perfectly fine to them in expressing themselves in such a way, but I'm just not OK with it. Escaped to Mike's place shortly after, couldnt take it...

Went grocery shopping on Friday night as per normal. Promised Karen that I'll bring my camera along and take pictures of my grocery night out. BUT, forgot to bring my camera in the end. Sorry Karen! Wait one more week for the pics k? Nothing special to report, bought stuff to cook wanton mee coz I'm craving for it. Very proud of myself coz Dawn and I actually managed to cook wanton mee that tasted yummy. Reminded me of the wanton mee back in Singapore. So gonna go back and binge on hawker food! Can't wait to sink my teeth into prata, crystal jade dim sum, hor fun, chicken rice, duck rice... I'm salivating just thinking of the food. Not that aussie dont have these food here, its just that they're freaking expensive here. Would you pay $3.50 for a piece of plain prata with curry? Yeah, explains my craving. Think I'm gonna put on alotta weight after going back to Singapore..

Was supposed to go play volleyball today, but overslept at Mike's place. Plus daylight saving started today, so I lost one hour of sleep. Annoying... Nvm, there's frisbee tmr, think I run harder tmr night to burn off the excess calories. Heh heh... time to prepare dinner... Note to ah hu: you better learn how to cook... the way to a man's heart is through his stomach! haha..

Thursday, October 27, 2005

-Bliss-

I know its cliché to use this word, but that's exactly how I'm feeling right now. Mike and I are officially seeing each other. I think things between us developed very quickly, some may even say its too fast, too rushed. But I've never felt so happy in a very long time. It feels really good to know that someone cares so much for you, is genuinely interested in knowing you and your friends, tries to solve problems for you and knowing that someone will be there when you need support.

Its my third serious relationship and I hope that things will work out for us. We were just talking about parents last night and he actually said he's looking forward to meet my mum. He's not sure if my mum will like him, but he's still gonna try to get my mum to like him coz it'll make things easier for me. I'm so touched. We've only got together for less than a week, but he's already thinking of meeting the parents. Goes to show that he's here for the long haul. Don't know what the future lies ahead coz there's so much stuff that we've gotta work out (like culturally, distance, what happens if he has to go back to US?!), just hoping for the best.

Now for updates on what I've been up to this week! Basically, coz there's so many assignments due and exams are just around the corner, I havent been going out much. Spent monday working on one of my assignments at the medical centre from 4pm till 9pm, the security chased us out coz we're not "medical" students. How annoying, not medical students means we can't use the facilities at the medical centre? Isnt it part of Uni too? We pay so much school fees to get chased out of the place? Grrrr

Tuesday: Watched a movie, THE MAN with Mike and his friends. The movie was really funny, had a good laugh. Things between me and his friends werent as awkward as the first time, still trying to open up and talk to his friends more. I know he really enjoys their company, so I'll try to make an extra effort the talk to them.

Wednesday: Skipped classes to stay home & do housework (how auntie can I get?) Hate my dirty housemate coz even though she did her part of the housework, its so slipshod that I have to re-do it for her. Not Happy. Tried to do more work after doing housework, but was too tired and fell asleep on the couch. My other housemates were so amused that I fell asleep on the couch that they kept teasing & laughing at me. Went for frisbee in the evening. Enjoyed the session coz I had a good run, Kisey said I improved alot and that my throws were much better than before *YAY*, but I pulled my groin muscle. After frisbee, Mike and I went for dinner/supper at the pizza place. On our way back, as my groin muscle was hurting so badly, Mike "piggied" me up the slope on our way back. So sweet.....

Thursday: Got back results for my nutrition presentation for last week. My group topped the class (there were only 3 groups) with 80%. Quite happy with our achievement, but thought we could have done better though. Decided to skip soccer coz my groin muscle was still aching. Decided to update my blog to share with everyone my happiness..................

Going to meet Mike later for dinner. YAY!

p/s: Will put up more pics the next time, some people said I should show more pics of my activities. So I'm gonna bring my camera out tomorrow when I grocery shop. Hope no one thinks I'm nuts. haha

Saturday, October 22, 2005

Yet another busy week

They say time flies when you're having fun, how true. Its almost the last week of school, in another two more weeks, uni is gonna break for exams. Its kinda freaking me out coz I've got 1 term paper, 1 essay, 2 assignments and 1 reading response due. And I need to complete all these before I can even think of starting my revision. Think all these work is gonna keep me really busy these few weeks. But, me being the me, I'll still be on top of things, at least I hope... =P

This week has been pretty much the same as the previous weeks except that I didnt go for frisbee and soccer. The weather hasnt been too good this week and its been raining non stop. No point getting myself all drenched exercising and end up so tired and beat that I've got no energy left to do my work. Went for volleyball on Tuesday though, didnt play well, in fact kind of injured my back and shoulder again. Those old injuries I suffered from playing volleyball all these years. All coz I forgot to warm up. Shows how important warm up routines are.. to all those sports people (namely ah hu) remember to warm up properly!

Shiling's gone back home already. So glad she made the decision to go home, she sounded so excited to see her boyfriend again. The power of Love is unbelievable. Hope she recovers real quick! Its kinda troublesome to cook for one again. Without my cooking partner, I now have to cook like 3 to 4 times a week. That's alot of work - cutting up the vegies, cooking the food itself and the cleaning up. It takes me at least one hour to do all that. One thing thou, my culinary skills did improve ever since I came here.. yay!

Went grocery shopping with the gals on Friday night again, together with Mike and Haoxiang. So weird to have so many people trying to buy stuff at the same time, its really quite inefficient. I think we spent at least a couple of hours at the central market. But then I think I shouldnt be complaining coz I'm the one who can't seem to make up my mind on what foods I wanna buy. Like "should I get salmon or just white fish? Hmm, should I get prawns as well? Hmm, or chicken?" Gosh, I sound like an auntie!!!

Was craving for wanton mee last week, but didnt get to buy the stuff needed to prepare it. Too lazy to prepare it myself this week, so Dawn offered to prepare the stuff for me. So sweet! So glad that I've got so many people who care about me here. =)

Monday, October 17, 2005

Embarassing Night

Last night the nutrition girls threw a farewell party for Shiling. Everyone brought a lil something to contribute to the dinner, like the usual pot luck. So fun, I love dinners like that, so many different dishes, so many different cooking styles. I ate alot, and drank alot. Yikes...

One of the gals made some herbal chicken and flavoured it with ginger wine. Since there was an entire bottle of ginger wine left over, we gals mixed the wine with sprite and coke and it tasted really good. Tasted something like some ginger beer I tried back home. Anyways, the gals started to play Indian poker, and the stakes were the left over ginger wine (did I mention that its 13% alcohol?). I had the worst luck of them all and gulped down at least one third of the bottle of ginger wine. That really killed me. After the game I was almost gone, I was radiating so much heat that even the gal sitting beside me could feel it... Anyways, I was in quite a bad state, and the other gals couldnt see me home coz they werent very sober to begin with. In the end, Shiling called Mike to send me home. YIKES... There goes my "good girl" image...

He walked me home, in fact, he walked me to my bedroom, got me a glass of water and left. I think it was quite sweet of him to made sure I was snug in bed before leaving. Quite touched, but cant get over the embarassment!!! Anway he called the next day (today) to check if I was alright *SO SWEET*...

Saturday, October 15, 2005

Blue

Not a very good week for me, the week didn't start off too good with the lousy Tuesday date. Soccer on Thursday wasn't good either. I think I was still recovering from the strenuous exercise on Wednesday night so I couldnt really run as fast and play as well. Which was kind of frustrating coz I felt like a vase jogging in the field, and I hate that kind of feeling.

Got back an assignment on Thursday as well, not good. I only got 46.5/60, which is a really lousy grade. Shiling scored full marks for it, and Dawn probably scored well too. The assignment wasn't even difficult to begin with, so annoyed with myself. I hate the marking scheme here, the model answers they give don't even answer the questions they ask. Its like copying everything from the lecture notes and not applying it to answer the questions, and it seems like the markers aren't even sure what they're looking for. Karen says next time I should just copy everything from the lecture notes to answer the questions, which is really against my principles coz I don't like not answering the questions (like to the point), but it seems like I don't really have a choice.

Woke up on Friday with a sore shoulder. Don't know what I did to cause it but its really hurting, I cant even reach behind to scratch my back. The pain extended to Saturday, not happy... In fact I think I'm feeling kinda grumpy and there's no place where I can vent my frustration. Can't bear to snap at my friends for stuff that they're not even responsible for, so I'm just bottling everything inside.. typing it out doesnt seem to help much.

Time to find something else to make myself feel better... Chocolates....

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

I need to learn to be a little more patient...

Everything In Its Time - Corrinne May

Sometimes I wonder what lies ahead
How long till my hunger is fed
They say it's hard to make it in this part of town
So many people on this merry-go-round

Some folks try astrology
Some turn to crystal balls
To find an answer,
To get through it all
I just fall on my knees and I try to pray
In the silence I can hear Him say

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its time

I often feel like I'm two steps behind
Somebody must have moved that finish line
There are a thousand reasons
Why I should give up
But I'm stubborn in the things I believe

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign

'cause maybe there's another plan
One I still can't see
A little surprise, like your love in my life
Funny how time changes how we see

The river runs and the river hides
Out to the ocean and under the sky
I promise you, the answer will come
Hold on to patience and watch for the sign
Everything in its time
Everything in its time

My Week Thus Far...

Updates and more updates!

Sunday's volleyball game was pretty good, I didnt know why I was feeling so hyperactive. I was skipping, hopping and jumping around for no apparent reason, anyway since I was being the "bubbly" me, I reached for every single ball that came at me and actually played quite well! Previously got 2 very good ang moh players who were initially quite hostile were actually quite impressed that someone puny like me could actually play... So yay!

I watched the movie 40 year old virgin with Mike and his 2 friends. The show was good, had some really hilarious jokes. I liked the show, its a good show to watch if you wanna relax and laugh things out. Although the show was good, the night wasnt too good. The 2 friends that Mike brought along were actually a couple, so it felt like a double date to me. And I'm so annoyed at myself coz I didnt really try hard enough to want to know his 2 friends. I didnt create small talk with his friends and since the 3 of them were joking and laughing about some joke from another party, I just sat there quietly in my own corner and ate my food in silence. I felt like a vase, used just for display, to look good and nothing else. On the way back, they were again laughing and joking, this time about the movie that we've just watched. Problem is, they're joking and laughing about the movie, making references to another movie which I have never watched. So, again, just sitting in silence. I don't blame them for not including me in their conversation, just annoyed with myself. Eversince I came here I've been hiding in my own little shell, not daring to speak up for fear of being laughed at. Sometimes its the language that I feel I'm not too confident in, othertimes I'm just afraid that people will judge me when I make silly comments (which I sometimes do when I'm in my crappy mood). So yup, I've been a lousy date for the night, I think if I was a guy and I went out with such a gal, I think I'll not go out with her ever again...

Wednesday... Hung around with Dawn & Shiling at the community centre for a couple of hours after class. Shiling was craving for cakes (think its PMS) so we decided to bring her there to satisfy her cravings. We had 2 cakes (white chocolate mudcake & caramel mudcake), one chocolate brownie and a plate of potato wedges. YUM, sinful food = great tasting food. Heh heh... I thought the cakes tasted pretty good, but maybe they've been sitting in the fridge for sometime so can taste that its not that fresh. But still, the sheer taste of chocs and cake itself makes up for the lack of freshness. Shiling told us today that she's going back to SGP on the coming Wednesday. Glad that the school approved her application to go back, hope she gets more quality rest back home and come back and start the new semester with a bang!

After hanging out at the community centre and all that sinful food, I decided I needa work off those excess calories. Frisbee was the solution and I had a great time there! Initially I thought I would feel weird and left out coz Shiling and some of my newbie friends werent going, but somehow things werent as bad as I thought it would be. The people at frisbee were really nice to me and patiently taught me some of the techniques/strategies of the game. Towards the end of the training, the people there got kinda crazy and started doing crazy stuff like taking off their shorts, quite entertaining thou.. heh heh =P I think I played quite well today. *happy* Joe (the captain of the team) invited me to join the summer league, quite interested in playing but I think I cant cope with so much activities going on. Plus I gotta do well to stay here, so I told him that I'll join them after the exams. Hope I didnt sound like a geek...

Okay, bedtime, cant wait for soccer tmr, I needa work off my excess energy and the frustrations building up inside me!

Saturday, October 08, 2005

My Weekend

Time to update everyone on my exciting weekend... well, not exactly very exciting.. just doing same ol' stuff...

Thursday: Soccer! Bad day for me at soccer coz I was so accident prone. First, at the start of the game an idiot tripped me and I fell hard. My hands were red as I was trying to break the fall. Next, a skinny girl elbowed me on my nose and hit me on my arm. Finally, a bloke kicked the soccer ball straight into my face. What a good way to end the game. I didnt suffer any serious injury, which is good, don't wanna end up with a broken nose... so un-glam!

Friday: Gals night out! Well, not exactly all gals, Mike came along as well... Selina brought us to this cafe in the suburb called SPATS. The food there wasnt too bad, but I thought their dessert was good, very pretty and colourful and of coz very yummy! One thing though, the food there was quite pricey and the portions were kinda small, so not really value for money. But then the cafe was quite nicely decorated, guess we're paying for the ambience... And as usual, we took an hour to get there, the place is actually only 5 bus stops from the city. So taking an hour to get there is really madness. We had to walk 6 blocks from the bus stop we got off to the cafe, and I feel that the food we had isnt worth the walk in the freezing cold.. but oh well, just another experience..

Saturday: Grocery shopping and Visit Lam day. Went to the city twice on the same day. Went to get some groceries at Central Market, which isnt exactly the most interesting thing to do... Anyway poor Lam sprained his ankle, so I went to his college to visit him and we had dinner at this Thai restaurant near his place. The food was good! Much better than the one we had on Friday.. hur hur.. I think I just miss eating Asian food. I used to detest eating those nonya kuehs, but just now at the Thai restaurant I ate some "sticky rice" dessert that tasted like nonya kueh and I actually finished it... amazing.. makes me crave for more Asian food.. I wanna eat roti prata, wantan mee, seafood horfan, hainanese chicken rice, nasi lemak...

*SIGH*

Hopefully tomorrow's volleyball session will be fun...

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Another Entry

I realised I've been blogging alot recently, can't help it, I'm bored and yet I don't feel like doing work, which I seriously should coz my term papers are gonna be due real soon. Anyway I can't be doing work all the time right? Need to destress, do something that doesn't require much thinking... so I blog! Hur hur.. excuses for myself...

Some updates on whats going on in my life since Monday's Glenelg trip. Tuesday was quite eventful. Went to catch a movie after school with Mike coz Tuesday is cheap movies day. Ok, maybe not that cheap, its $7.50 per ticket, and normally its $10 for concession. So I save $2.50! Yay! The movie we watched was Sky High, its a kiddy movie about these bunch of high schoolers with supernatural power trying to save the community of people with supernatural powers. Sounds weird, but that's basically what the plot is about. Its pretty good, had quite a few good jokes and silly actions, conclusion? Brainless movie thats good for relaxation of the mind.

Had a deal with Mike on Tuesday, he said he's too lazy to cook, I don't mind cooking, I just hate the cleaning up associated with it. So we made a deal, I'll cook and he'll wash up. Which isnt a bad deal coz he did a great job with the dishes, my plates were so clean I can hear the squeaks when I rub my fingers on it! He even cleaned up the sink for me. Wow... I didn't know cleaning the sink was part of the package.. hur hur..

Oh and something funny happened when we were going to Marion for the movies.
Mike: Does this bus go to Marion Centre?
Driver: This bus goes to Flinders University.
Mike: Erm, ok, but does this bus go to Marion Centre?
Driver: This bus goes to Flinders Uni.
Mike: Does this bus go to Marion Centre eventually?
Driver: Yes, but after it stops at Flinders, it'll wait for a while there then go to Marion Centre.
Lady onlooker: *Animated Hand Actions* This bus, takes very long to get to Marion, take another bus
Mike: *Embarassed* I don't need translation, I just needed to know if the bus goes to Marion.
Lady: Oh, you should take another bus.

Obviously the bus driver didn't answer his question... I wonder who doesnt understand english here... and the lady was maybe too kind, its funny how those ang mohs think we can't speak english for nuts...

And today was a really long day for me. Had classes at 9am, which means I had to wake up at 730. GAWD.. It seems like I havent had enough sleep for the past few days. My eye bags were so huge I look like a panda. Anyway I'm really tired today coz I had this 3 hour lecture that's super boring. And the lack of sleep the past few days did not help. I was trying so hard not to doze off in class. YAWNZ.. And poor Shiling dragged herself to class coz she didnt wanna miss out too much. Seeing her exerting so much effort in trying to walk makes me sad. Luckily on the way back there's this super nice security uncle who drove us right to her door step, otherwise I can't image how many hours she's gonna take to limp back.

Sigh, tired, hungry but gotta do work...

Monday, October 03, 2005

Bad day at Glenelg

The gals and I went to Glenelg today, thought it would be fun chilling out in the sun and enjoying the magnificent sea breeze. Everything's good until we started to make our way back home. I still can't believe we took 2 hours to get back from Glenelg coz it normally takes 30 mins to travel back. We tried to make our way back at 6.45, but somehow the stupid tram was not scheduled to stop at the station we were at, so we had to walk 2 stations to take the tram. And when we finally reached the station, we couldnt board the next tram coz this man was assaulting this woman and the tram had to stop to wait for the police to come. Then when we finally boarded the tram, we were told that the tram doesnt stop at every single stop and we had to wait for the next tram. When we finally got off the tram to take a bus, we waited for 30 mins to realize that the stupid bus doesnt stop at the bus stop we were at. So basically we spent 2 hours in the cold waiting for nothing. In the end we had to take a cab back. The cab journey itself was like only 10 mins, but the cab fare was 18 bucks... Goshhhhh I hate the mass transport system here...

Overall verdict of Glenelg outing today: Bad, weather too cold to bask in the sun and stupid journey home was way too long.

After Shiling's incident I've learnt not to take things for granted. The ability to walk, the freedom associated, the privacy and alone time, everything in life is not "li suo dang ran"

Sigh... I hope she can go back to SGP where her family is.

Saturday, October 01, 2005

Lost In Thought

It is one of those days when I've got loads of stuff going through my head and I need to organise my thoughts into sentences that people can comprehend.

First of all, Happy Childeren's Day to all the inner child in us. There's this McDonald's advertisement that is showing here which I found quite interesting but my girl friends found absolutely disgusting. The advertisement shows children coming out of adults from their tummies as if there was a door at their rib cage. Then these children that climbed out of the adult went to McDonald's for food. Well, the gist of this advertisement was to convey the message that there's an inner child in everyone of us. The slogan of the ad was something like "Come to McDonald's and discover something new everyday". Doesnt the ad sound innovative? My girl friends were totally grossed out by the scene where children start climbing out of the adults' stomach. It sounds gross, but seriously, it doesnt look gross at all. Just image a child climbing out of a door, no blood whatsoeva, I don't understand those girls... Anyway, Happy Children's Day!!!

Shiling came back from Brisbane last night on a wheelchair. Apparently she tore her ACL (anterior crusade? ligament) during the Uni games and it was a bad tear. ACL is quite common among female athletes and its quite a tricky injury cos there's pretty much nothing the doctor can do to fix the problem. The doc can only prescribe painkillers to help ease the pain, but Shiling's allergy to them and so she can't take any painkillers. Her threshold for pain amazes me. I remember back in J2 when Lixuan tore the ACLs in both her legs she was going through pure torture as well. But lucky for her painkillers was there to help ease the pain. For Shiling, I can't imagine the pain she's suffering. Shiling wants to go back to SGP for treatment ASAP, and I understand why she's longing to go back. When you're sick/injured, you'll naturally want to be with your family and loved ones simply cos the comfort you get just by seeing them can ease the pain a million times. Its a long wkend here coz Monday is a public holiday so she can only get the procedures done earliest by Tuesday and hopefully she can get back by this week. I hope the school allows her to go back, afterall ACL is a very common injury among athletes, I wonder if that's a valid reason to return home.

I feel like crap ever since I learnt about her injury. Everyone's fussing over her and treating her like some baby. "Are you thirsty? Are you hungry? Do you wanna sit? Do you need me to stay over and accompany you?......." Its not that I'm not sympathetic about her situation, I just feel that 6 girls fussing over 1 girl isnt the most effective way of looking after her. All the girls offered to stay over to accompany her and when I didnt offer to do so, they looked at me as if I was some unfeeling person. When I didn't fuss over her and just sat there quietly doing whatever I thought was most appropriate, they gave me those stares again. I don't know if I'm being over sensitive but I can feel that they are judging me. Its not that I don't care about her, I do, and I know she doesn't want people to treat her like she's handicapped. And when I don't act all girly with her doesn't mean I'm not sympathetic. I'm just not a girly person and I can't help it. My understanding of Shiling is that she's a very strong and independent girl, treating her like a handicap is the last thing she needs. What I worry most is whether she can play sports at a competitive level. Coz from what I learnt from Lixuan's incident was that if she does not go for the surgery, she won't be able to play competively anymore. And if she does opt for surgery, she won't be able to walk/run for 6 months? Either way the reality of this injury is gonna be harsh on her. I feel sad for her coz losing the ability to play competitive sports is gonna affect her alot.

And Lam wasn't at all helpful when he called last night. I told him about Shiling and he gave me a whole load of crap on ACL. I know abit about it too coz I'm a sports person too, oh well, he did give some helpful advice, but I doubt Shiling will heed any of those advice given. Anyhow, thanks Lam. Don't mean to offend you in any way. Just need to vent my frustration.

According to Amanda (the frisbee gal who came back with Shiling) many people were injured during the Uni games. Shane broke his rib or something, but he continued to play and the next day he injured his knee. The adrenaline rush does all sorts of weird things to people. Luckily everyone else suffered only small injuries like bruises and scratches. I hope Mike didn't suffer too much injuries.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

My Boring Week

This week has been SLOW. I've done nothing exciting, just staying home and doing assignments. The feeling of having to rush assignment suck. Although I feel like I'm on top of things, I just don't feel too good. I'm not stressed or anything, maybe just bored.

The only interesting thing I did this week was my hiking trip yesterday. I went to this place called Morialta Falls, which is about 1 hour from my school. Its like a super big MacRitchie reservior kind of place, with 3 waterfalls to look at. The walk from the start point to the apparently most magnificent waterfall was about 3km. Seriously, its not quite worth the walk. Firstly, waterfall was not very magnificent to begin with, secondly the walk was way too long (we took alot of pictures along the way, maybe thats why we took 2.5 hours to get there) and lastly we met a sex maniac on the way back. Yup, I'm not kidding. On our way back to the start point, we passed this stream and we saw this naked guy standing by the stream. He wasn't sun bathing and he knew we were gonna walk pass the stream coz he was walking behind us for a while and we let him go in front coz we're trying to be nice. He was out to show us gals his wee wee. How irritating. Did he think he was gonna pick anyone of us up by showing us his wee wee? Or is his wee wee his prized possession that he goes around showing it to everyone? Conclusion: He's a maniac.

Overall, the hiking trip was good. The sun was out, the weather was good (not too cold, not too warm, just nice!) had a picnic at the 3rd waterfall, the food we brought were good...

Today was housework day for me. I woke up at 9am, vacuumed the floors, mopped them, cleaned my room, washed my toilet, cleaned my sink, ironed my clothes and cooked lunch. Woah, can't believe I did all that in 4 hours. I'm becoming a professional housewife. =P After doing all the housework, I did school work. SEE!! I'm BORING! I can't help it!

Seriously, the boredom is killing me. I've still got more work to be done, but I'm just not in the mood. Mike and Shiling are in Brisbane now for the University games and I'm wondering what are they doing over there. Are they winning the games? Hows the party that they're going to everynight? Are they having fun? I can't wait for them to be back!

I'm not the only one who is feeling bored and knackered. Apparently Selina's feeling the heat from the work too. So she suggested going Marion to play arcade. Yeah, chance to get out of the house. I desperately need some fresh air.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Some pictures:

Clubbing Nite: The 5 Hot Chicks!


Assemblage Day: The 5 who set up the stall...


Morialta Falls: The 4 who went hiking


Me: Sitting on a rock somewhere in the mountains


Me: Look at the blooming flowers!


Me: Sitting on another rock!


Me: Yay! I conquered the 3rd Waterfall!


Me: Acting sweet... as usual!