Thursday, 26 November 2009

Bye-bye, 3rd year... :(

My last paper (the yucky geology one that I failed miserably at preparing for) finally came and went yesterday. ZOMG, I must say that those 5 days I spent counting down to that paper seemed like the longest 5 days of my life (note the gross exaggeration here, but cut me some slack - it was pretty bad, kay!).

But the realisation of what this all means just hit me a few minutes ago (thus my writing this post) - another year of my uni life has come to an end. I'm sad and excited at the same time. Sad because, I don't know, I guess I'd have liked this year to last longer? This has been a pretty amazing semester for me and if I had the chance, I would do it all over again but in exactly the same way (except I'd study harder for my exams :p). I've gained so much from this whole year - in terms of experience, and knowledge (and weight! hehe). I just wish there had been more time to do more things. But doesn't everyone? At the same time, I'm excited because I'm 3/4 of the way through with my course!! This time next year, I'll be preparing for my graduation... Ready to enter the working world and become a SUPER ENGINEER! Haha. Too much? :p

It's scary how quickly time flies. I want to shout "SLOW DOWN!!!" - to make it slow down. But I'm pretty sure that's not physically possible. So I'll save myself the embarassment and just pretend to be all calm and composed here ;)

Another thing that's just happened here in Australia - the National Tertiary Education Industry Union, NTEU has just announced a strike which unfortunately involves my exam results! At first I was thinking, "omgomg, I'm not going to get my exam results back" but then I realised that it might be a good thing considering how crappily I answered some of my exam questions this time round... So NTEU, I fully support your strike!!

But on a more serious note, I was just reading an email sent by one of my lecturers to our whole Civil Engineering class and I realise how important it is for the NTEU to be having this strike - the teaching staff at universities across the country and underpaid, over-worked and under-appreciated. The government has not been hiring enough staff and as a result the student-teacher ratio is too high, the teaching staff cannot possibly divide their time well enough to cater to all the students' needs. This strike is long overdue and if the government manages to come to a settlement with the union, I'm sure it will be for the good of not only the NTEU members, but also tertiary students all over the country. I must say that some of my lecturers and tutors are amazing people - they are so dedicated to their jobs; they answers our countless questions with such patience; they still find the time to reply our emails. They certainly deserve more.

But for now, the streets of Melbourne city beckon - retail therapy, here I come!!!

Omg, that line was so bad. But I like it anyway so I'll just leave it there :p

Sunday, 22 November 2009

Oh and since I'm supposed to be studying for my Geology paper right now, I felt that I should point out that the stones used to pave the lane in my MoVida pics (1 post below) are basalt, an igneous rock which is abundant in Victoria. Hehe. *nerd*

Absolut Mango vs The Real Mango



The Real Mango tastes better and is better for you too!! (and A LOT cheaper :p)

Also, since this post is dedicated entirely to all things strictly mango-related, I think everyone should know that I'm craving mango with sticky rice right now :(


I should SOOO be studying rocks right now...

In a desperate attempt to procrastinate, I decided to check out 'The Star Online'... You know, to catch up on the news from back home :p

What was initially expected to be a fruitless conquest turned out to be quite fruitful instead! Came across a report about Chin Peng, the infamous former Secretary-General of the Communist Part of Malaya, which linked to more articles about him and his fight to return to Malaysian soil. See, he is 85 years old and in poor health and currently lives in exile in Thailand (so exciting!) and all he wants is to be allowed to live the final few years of his life in the country he calls home - Malaysia. The Malaysian government isn't allowing this move (as expected). But I think they should just let the old man come home and lift his exile sentence. Like seriously, it's not like he's going to revive the communist party and plot to overthrow the government?!

Anyway, anyone who's interested to read these newspaper articles that I speak of can do so by clicking on the links below:

Chin Peng apologises for death of innocents

So close and yet so far

P.S. how appropriate is it that I'm listening to 'Gai Bian Zi Ji' {Change Me) by Wang Lee Hom right now? :p

Saturday, 21 November 2009

(not quite)The End of Exams + MoVida

OMG!!! I am waiting for Wednesday, the 25th of November to be here so that I will not have to force myself to study things that I don't want to study anymore.

Despite the fact that I have one more exam paper left, I feel as if my holidays have already started...

Went out for a slightly extravagant (by uni student standards) dinner on Thursday night with my Civil Eng friends - Suvrat, Shanika and George. I was actually trying to get us a table in MoVida Bar de Tapas but since their evenings are apparently fully booked till December 14 (ke-ra-zee!) we had to settle for MoVida Next Door which is right next to the original MoVida but has a strict 'walk-in, no reservations' policy.

We tried out about 7 of the tapas offerings on the menu (I'm keen to go back to try more!) and spanish beer - Pagoa (which is quite awesome tasting - smooth, sweet, only a slight aftertaste, and a nice rich golden tone) and some red wine (can't remember the name, but it was what was recommended to us after Shanika told the waiter that she wanted something "sweet but not too sour-ish". LOL.). As expected, what we got was a red wine that was just that - sweet, but not too sour-ish :p

I shall make a reservation well in advance for when I come back to uni next year so that I can try out the original MoVida and see how it compares to MoVida Next Door. Can't wait!! :)

I couldn't fit my camera in my little (but awesomely cool) sling bag so I couldn't take pictures of the food like I usually do. However, I've ripped a few photos of the dishes we had from the MoVida website:


The original MoVida (which we couldn't get a table at. Boo. )



MoVida Next Door (woo-hoo!!)

Yummy, chewy (deep-fried?) bread; a-may-zing grilled prawns; grilled lamb

Sunday, 15 November 2009

5 Minutes in KL...

I'm in KL for the weekend for my mom's 1st year prayers. 2 things - crappy weather, awesome food+company :)

Been eating more than I should be. But thankfully, good genes mean that I'm still a nice size 8 :)

Mixed feelings about returning to Melbourne because:
  1. NOT excited about my Wednesday and Thursday exams... :s (I haven't done ANY studying in the past 3 days...)
  2. Can't wait to have bubble tea (lychee jelly!!!) with priza, nishi and yvonne!! :)
I'm keeping this post short because, I should be packing right about now...

Sunday, 8 November 2009

Life's Too Short

I know I haven't been blogging as frequently as I would like to. But I've been busy trying to eat right, sleep right, and study right. All of which I have 'sort of' been doing pretty well.

Except tonight, I can't sleep just yet. My sister just told me about a relative who suddenly just had 2 strokes and is now in a coma and on life support. He's most probably not going to make it through. And I'm not sure what triggered it, but I suddenly realised that no one knows when their time on this earth will end. You could be laughing and dancing one day, and gone the next. Life's just too short. And that's why, I guess, some people are always doing as many things as they can do, trying as many things as they can try, seeing as many things as they can see. Good for them I guess. People like me on the other hand, are always wishing to do things but hardly ever get down to actually doing them.

There are so many little things that worry us. But when something like this happens, we suddenly see all these things for their true trivial nature. Who cares if you spilled juice on your shirt in front of 20 other people; or if you accidentally bumped your nose on the glass window in a crowded shop? No one's going to remember it in a few days anyway.

The possibility of death is everpresent in our daily life but the average human being has somehow managed to block it from their view; pretend that is it not there; as if not thinking about it will make it seem less likely to happen and eventually cease to exist. When Death comes knocking when you least expect it, you suddenly realise all these things that you have yet to do - suddenly there is a whole list of places to visit, people to see, things to say. And this realisation is quite an overwhelming feeling - one that leaves you crying in shock, gasping for breath and praying desperately for sanity to return once again.

Morbid yes. But also so, so real.

I guess at the end of the day, no one really wants to live their life endlessly fearing what might happen in the next moment. So for now, it's best to just carry on living the way we always have - in a state of blissful ignorance. Whoever who coined the phrase 'ignorance is bliss' must have been one hell of a champion at being in a constant state of denial.

So yes, now that this is off my chest, I can once again sleep peacefully. (fingers crossed!)

I just wish everyone wasn't dying so quickly. You never seem to get to spend enough time with the people who matter the most to you - any length of time is never enough. I know what it feels like to lose the most important person in the world and hate the fact that other people have to experience that same horrible feeling too. Again and again. But life's like that?

So much for sleeping peacefully...

(also, sorry that this post - my first one in awhile - has to be such an emo one)