Scratches on a scroll

I'm tired of being in the sidelines. I gave myself a break from being too involved in anything and everything I could get my hands on and now, I feel like I'm one hell of a boring person. I did get to do some fun stuff and meet new people and all but with all the uni work thrown at me and befriending people who live far far away, and my lost of focus, darn it!

Exam's coming up so it's definitely not the time now to try something new just yet. I just hope that during the year end holidays, I can find something to do, be it a part-time job, volunteer work, trying to be a busker in the streets of Melbourne or something, anything!!

Where did all the excitement go to?

Should I even bother to revamp this place?

That's what he thinks of me and my decision to end off our relationship.

Finally my exams are over! I've been waiting for the last paper (which was today) and now I'm through with it. =D Goodbye first semester of uni and I hope that I do not fail any of my exams. Or else I might be repeating the subjects next semester. Yikes!

It's been a pretty exciting and scary "first batch of uni exams" moment for me.

It's not a "one-off full grade" exam like SPM or A Levels. The full grade is a mix of marks from the major exam, assignments and for some subjects, extra tests or attendance. But even if you don't do well in the major exam but accumulated a percentage of at least 50%, it does not mean that you'll pass the subject. You still have to score at least half the marks in any paper in order to safely pass your subject. =S

Accelerated Math 1 - 80% of the grade
Accounting Reports and Analysis - 70% of the grade
Introductory Microeconomics - 60%
From Graffiti to Terrorism - 50%

I noticed that the papers which required a lot of calculation have a much higher weightage compared to those with essays. Hmmm..

Most of my papers were pretty alright but there was one which I was really really depressed about: ARA. Why? Because none of my accounts balanced in the exam and it's not good that it did not balance because accounts were supposed to freaking balance! So, I left the hall that day really really pissed off and moody. I felt like nothing could cheer me up but thanks to Juen and Sze Howe, I got over it the next day. =)

I just can't wait for the results to be out now and find out my timetable for next semester! I should be taking up Introduction to Actuarial Studies, Introductory Macroeconomics, Accounting Transactions and Analysis (Accounts again, the horror!!!) and Accelerated Math 2.

No breadth component this time around. Goodbye you gorgeous looking people in Criminology... *sobs* =(

Oh hell no!

I heard some people say that a weeks ago but I thought it was a joke!



No calculator for my Accelerated Math paper this Tuesday. *gulps*

Another show that got axed like Pushing Daisies and Cashmere Mafia:

Worst Week.


I've been watching the first 10 episodes and it never failed to make me laugh. Worst Week is a show where just about anything that could go wrong, goes awfully wrong. Sam (the main character), is such a nice unlucky guy who's trying to impress his pregnant girlfriend's parents but everything just doesn't turn out right.

I highly recommend you watch all 16 episodes of this show if you want to give your brain a rest and laugh at another person's misfortune. XD

Have you heard that Melbourne has been dubbed "Swine flu capital of the world"??

I might be getting somewhere between AUD$0-$60 sometime soon from the Economics and Commerce Faculty! Booyeah! Or I could even get, nothing. =S

During the last tutorial, we were given a choice whether or not to participate in a survey done by the Economics Research Department and we could earn up to AUD$60 just by answering some questions. I thought that I've got nothing to lose at all and I would be such an idiot not to give it a go (AUD$60 man! That's RM170!!), so I signed the permission form and answered two simple questions.

Actually, we were given this scenario whereby two people had different amounts of cash in the beginning, one had $0 and the other $20. The one with $20 had to choose whether to give $20, $10 or nothing to the second person and the amount given will be tripled (eg: choose to keep $10 and give $10, then the receiver would get $30; choose to give all $20, then the receiver would get $60). After the first person makes a choice, the second person must choose whether to split some of the amount earned with the first person (eg: receiver gets $60 and the first guy now has $0 so the second person can choose to split half of the money or be selfish and keep it all).

So, I had to answer from both persons view, that if I were the first, how much should I part with and if I were the receiver, how much would I keep and give back.

I think it was a cool idea to pay the participants the amount that they had allocated if they were the first or second. My tutor told me that they would randomly select the entries and label them as the first or second person before revealing the answers in the entries. Then the participants will get paid based on the actions they or the other person had chosen.

The draw was held yesterday and the list is out. My entry got selected buuut...

I don't know how much I'll be getting, yet.

*crosses fingers*

Could somebody please invent a thing-a-ma-ji-gy that can extract dreams from our heads? I feel as if my dreams are episodes of some kind of series and at times, I can continue my dreams from where I left off many nights ago and I seem to be having all sorts of adventures in my dreams. It happens so frequently, I'm beginning to wonder whether it is even normal. =S

I don't remember all of them but sometimes when I try to recall what I dreamt off, bits and pieces come to me and in a matter of minutes, I am able to "relive" the dream in my head. Whether they were exactly how it happened in my sleep or not, I don't know but one thing's for sure is that I always have mixed feelings about them. I am able to feel two completely different emotions at once like happy/sad or courageous/nervous at the same time.

Some people say that in your dream state, it is actually your subconscious part which fully awake and feelings you aren't aware off in your conscious state is free to express itself. Perhaps while you're awake, you've been holding in that angry feeling you felt when somebody pushed you around at work, steals your boyfriend or girlfriend even, and once you fall asleep, you'll lose control. Your mind would not be able to hold it in anymore and that anger materialises in some form of a dream.

Usually, I would just go with the flow in my dream but when I sense that it might start to turn out ugly (believe it or not, I think in my dreams I can sense whether it will turn into a nightmare!), I try to take control of the situation. I would try to dream it away or make something else appear to replace it and you know, it did work out a few times. Then again, maybe it is my subconscious mind making me think that I had taken control when it is actually going the way it should be all along. Hmmm..

It's almost the end of the semester and exam's coming up! Instead of finding some time to update, I've been mucking around, solving samurai sudoku puzzles, meeting new people, completing more assignments and not really spending enough time on revision. XD

I've been feeling wobblier than usual and that's a very very bad sign. =( The weather's getting colder and usually you'll feel less active during winter. That would mean that it'll be easy to gain weight! Noooo!! Somehow eventhough I've been walking at least 1km a day, I don't feel like I'm losing any weight or at least try to maintain it but my leg muscles, and I think my butt too, is getting tougher. (^.^)

I did something new yesterday and I earned my first AUD$15 by participating in a psychology research! Woohoo! =D They needed international students from Asia and I signed up for it. All I had to do was sit in a room and answer questions for almost an hour and ka-chiing! I got paid! Sweeet~~~ Ever since I found out that they paid people to participate in research, I've been looking out for ads in the uni's Psych department. Easy money! Yeah! =D

So far I haven't gotten any replies from places I applied for a job. Me thinks they think twice about hiring international students because firstly, our student visa only permits us to work a max of 20 hours a week during schooling times and unlimited hours during school breaks. Secondly, they might think it's risky, just in case we can't communicate well with other locals and make it look bad for their business. Then again, maybe the main reason is that they want to minimise the number of unemployed local youths and hiring international students might mean money going outta the country. =S

I just hope I get a job soon so that I won't be a bum at home for a month after my exams!

... is one of the most interesting things to do when there is nothing to do.

Arrived at the lecture theatre and the lecturer is not there yet? Oh and sitting all by yourself? Not to worry! Just look at the door and watch the crowd enter.

*eyes screening faces, one by one*

Usually when I "people-watch", I would try to find something interesting about them, be it their sense of style or their facial features or at times, it's just the whole package that I find interesting. What I mean is that some people give off that "interesting vibe" about themselves and well.. =P And once my eyes lock onto someone who looks interesting (hehehe), I often wonder how it would be like to get to know them and whether they are really that interesting. Gosh. I'm overusing the word interesting here. XD

Anyway, I noticed that I talk to myself when I "people watch". That would explain why I often smile or laugh out of the blue and probably look dazed off. Heh. These are some of the thoughts that run through my head when:

A super cute guy walks in...
Ooooh~ I didn't notice that one before! *sneaky smile*

A celebrity lookalike walks in...
There he is! The Spencer Reid lookalike! Please sit here. Sit here sit here sit here sit here sit here... Dang! He sat at the other end, again! =(

One of them annoying people walk in...
Oh no! Don't sit here, no no.. Phew! I'm safe!
Aaaaah! That talkative bunch of girls! Better change seats of they come any closer...

I see someone familiar...
Hmmm.. I think I saw that guy before in my other lecture. Mental note to self: walk up to him next time and say Hi.


Hehe..

Silly eh? But I love doing that. It makes my day more interesting and exercises the eye muscles. XD

I find it strange that we Commerce students who plan to take up Actuarial Studies as a major, are required to take Accelerated Mathematics and so far, we've been covering vector spaces, matrices and stuff which are more science-related. It's interesting, yes, but I wonder if it really is necessary? Is it because the university does not have enough lecturers and lecture theatres to come up with a Math subject more catered to us Commerce students? And because of this, they push us with the Science students just because we need good Math?

My brain's feeling woozy from the different sorts of theorems and definitions which does not relate to my other Commerce subjects. Whoooah~~

Anyway, things are same old, same old. I have two assignments due next Wednesday and I'm almost done with Accounting Quickbooks. Good thing I did the practice during the holidays because I was able to key in the figures of my assignment in just a few days after they posted it up on the site. =D I haven't begun my Economics though and I just found out that we need to do lots of digging for just 5 marks. Grrrr~

I'm kind of glad that I don't find Accounting as tough anymore. I guess it's one of those subjects which you need time to really get used to. Oh and I find that I can now look at my cute rosy cheeks tutor in the eyes and get the answers right in class! Yay! XD During the first few weeks, I gave the wrong answers and sometimes had to say that I did not know when he targeted me. Malu..

(^.^)

Back to uni!

I'm glad because my holiday was a little bit unproductive. XD I managed to finish some parts of my assignments and then I kinda got carried away playing this game I found online. Eheh.

We went to DaWei's aunt's and sis's place for dinner during the Easter weekend and then on Wednesday night, EeCan, DaWei and I went to The Comedy Club. It was the first time I went to a live comedy performance and well, I did not really enjoy it. I did, but not super duper really enjoyed it.

First of all, we were told that it would start at 7.30pm so we had a quick dinner and went there about 15 minutes earlier so that we would get good seats (don't want to sit in the front row and get picked on) BUT we waited for 45 minutes for them to open up the doors, and then they started about 8.30pm. Sooooo late. We were already tired from waiting so we kind of hoped that they would have good stuff to laugh about to make up for it.

It turns out, their humour was not really my cup of tea. The first guy was joke joke swear joke swear F you F this F her and people actually laughed at that. Oh and he made a lot of sexist jokes which were very very degrading and that put me off for quite a bit. =S

The second guy was alright but it's not like he was any better. Since he was a really really big guy, most of his jokes were about himself and I did not feel right laughing at him so, I only laughed at maybe half of his jokes.

There was a third guy but we left before he came on stage because everyone was tired and well, we didn't think his jokes would be any different. I think the Comedy Festival would be different because they would have more variety and they have international comedians performing. EeCan thought that the tickets she bought were for that but it turns out, it was for the local Comedy Club.

As for my birthday, it was a quiet one. I spent most of my time on the 16th, besides staying at home, in the library.

You must be thinking "Huh? You kidding?? Library??"


Well, I didn't plan to do so but it turned out that way. EeCan and I had brunch together because she wasn't allowed to finish early that day (Thursdays are busy days and she's done at 9pm). We had it at Moonee Ponds and I ordered the big breakfast.

Eggs and bacon and sausages and mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, hash brown and a slice of toast!

Then she took a tram down to the city while I walked back home. But before I got back, I went to the public library nearby to register since their membership's free. I think I spent about an hour and a half there looking through the books that they have and I managed to find two to borrow.







When I was at the check out counter I just realised "Crap! I forgot to renew some uni library books yesterday!". So after I checked the two books out, I dashed back home without knowing that the library was 12 minutes walk from home. Darn, I didn't know it was that I could have taken the tram but then again, I needed to save that ticket for later when I go down to the uni.

Darn it...

When I got back, I double checked online and yeap, they're overdue.

Nooooooo..

That's $0.50 and $0.50 and $1.00 worth of fines. =/

Luckily, I need not pay for it. I found out that the library gives an allowance of less than $15 worth of fines for each student each year. That means your fine would be waived if you do not accumulate it up to $15 or more. That's nearly RM40. Phew~

Then later in the evening, I got a "surprise" from EeCan and DaWei. It was a half surprise because I kind of predicted that they would do something like that. I was in my room on the computer and on the phone with EeDol when I heard the car drive in. I called out, went to the kitchen, unlocked the back door and waited for them to come in.

Hmmm.. Strange. Why is it so quiet? I thought I heard the car. I wonder why they have not entered?

I then thought that they had something planned. They're probably lighting the candles on the cake outside but I pushed that thought aside and went to my bedroom window to look out into the garage. I didn't want to take a risk just in case it wasn't them who drove into the garage. When I flipped the blinds..

Oi! You saw already! Hun, she saw... See what? Your cake. I didn't see anything. XD

Really. I did not see the cake because it was too dark outside. Hehe..





Anyway, thank you everybody for the birthday wishes. =) I'm glad that there are people who still remember what day I was born on. Or probably you saw the reminder in fb. Haha! Thank you EeCan, Sze Howe, DaWei, Juen, Mummy, Nickki, Daddy, Rendall, Aldrin, Amy, EeDol, Uncle G, Granny, Faizal, Yi Won, Farah, Nash, Naf, Prabu, Ahku, Premh, Laurie, Keat Hong, Elaine, Nawal, Aricka, Edina, Angeline, Angel, Aaron, Karen, Vivian, Samuel, Sonia, Ley Ying, Amera, Angel, Lyanne, Fion, Jess and Ryoko. (all names are arranged in receiving order. XD)



Btw, some of you might have already noticed that this post is like a wok filled with chopped up pieces of veggie simply stir fried and served up on a plate just like *snaps fingers* that! I'll have more proper (and definitely more interesting) stuff in the near future, after I find some free time. XD

On Good Friday, I spent a longer time in a van ride compared to my plane ride to Melbourne. =/


Why? We went to Great Ocean Road and by "we", I meant DaWei and his family (parents, sister, sister and fiance, two uncles, two aunties and two cousins), EeCan and yours truly. It was about 4 to 4.5 hours from Melbourne, depending on how many pit stops you make, and we went there to see the Twelve Apostles.

No, we did not see Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, Simon, Thaddaeus and Judas Iscariot. XD




We went to see a site which was once named "Sow and Piglets". Yep! You heard me right! They changed the name to "The Twelve Apostles" because well, it obviously sounded better than the earlier one. Imagine promoting to tourists of a place with beautiful scenery called "Sow and Piglets", doesn't sound as great and as convincing as "The Twelve Apostles" right? XD





Judging from the name, I expected to see twelve of them humongous rocks but there were seven or eight of the "apostles" left. (^.^) I did enjoy the view but to me, spending 4 hours squeezing with other people to try and take some photos of the rocks, checking out some blow holes and having picnic at a nearby beach was not long enough to make up for the 9 hours road journey.

I remember when my son was about five, or older? We were rolling a ball at each other and counting out loud. As I was counting "97, 98, 99.." he stopped the ball and said, "Wow daddy, 99 is the biggest number!" and I said, "No son, there is another number BIGGER than 99," and he stared at me, all big-eyed and in amazement and said, "Really??". "Yes, it's 100. And there are many many numbers bigger than that too.", "Wow~~~" *sniff* I felt like the happiest dad in the world at that moment because I taught him the number 100. =) And now I am going to be a happy dad again by teaching you all NPV! Isn't that wonderful!?

"Sometimes the last person on earth you want to be with is the one person you can't be without."

*sigh*

I'm pretty sure that most of you have seen this movie and fallen in love with it. Or maybe you have read the book and fallen in love with it. But no matter how you got to know the story, I'm 97% sure that you would have fallen in love with it anyway.

(^.^)

Oh, wait look! What's this?

That, my friends, is the smart-ass idea of a Los Angeles-based writer Seth Grahame-Smith. Jane Austen's novel has been zombie-fied and *sniff* Elizabeth Bennet kicks flesh-eating monsters' ass in the quiet village of Meryton (probably like how Buffy kicked vampire ass in Sunnydale).

Whyyyy????

"Why else in the original should a regiment arrive on Lizzie Bennet's doorstep when they should have been off fighting Napoleon... it was to protect the family from an invasion of brain-eaters, obviously." - Seth Grahame-Smith

Whaaat??? (-_-"

Well then, maybe they should introduce Freddy Kreuger to Oliver Twist! Or lengthen Romeo and Juliet's story because their death was made to look like suicide but the truth is, they were killed by the Son of Sam! Heh.

But I do wonder how the story will be like though. Maybe I'll try and see if I can get my hands on one of the copies.



Then again, maybe I'll wait a while. I have these to look through first! XD

Me: So Grace, did you do A Levels in KL before you came here?

Grace: Yea.

Me: Did you go to Taylor's?

Grace: No no no. I went to Sunway.

Me: Oh alright.

Grace: There's a lot of people from Taylor's here ho?

Me: No, not really.

Grace: Maybe you don't know because they're all from SAM.

Me: I guess so.


The conversation then led on to all sorts of topics like how we dislike housemates who are untidy, and that we find some international Asian students unfriendly and super kiasu. (o_o)


Me: Hey, I think I better get your number first before I forget.

Grace: Ok.

Me: *passes handphone to Grace*

Grace: *keys in number* How do you save it?

Me: It's ok, just pass it to me. I'll save the rest.


Now here's the story. Right after I took back my handphone, I was thinking in my head whether Grace's phone network is the same as mine. At the same time, she was aabout to ask me a question but I interrupted her and never got to hear her finish the question because I assumed that she was asking me a question related to the thought in my head but it turns out that it wasn't so, my answer was, well, totally hilarious.


Grace: So are you a...

Me: Virgin.

Chloe (who was sitting on my left): What?

Grace: What?

Me: Huh?

Grace and Chloe: LOL!LOL!LOL!LOL!

Chloe: Did I just hear that?

Me: What? (I still didn't realise how weird it was for me to say that)

Grace: You thought that I was going to ask you if you're a virgin?

Me: *finally realises* Oh... Cheh! I thought that you were going to ask me which phone network I'm with so I answered you "Virgin". You know, Virgin Mobile!

Grace: LOL! You didn't let me finish my question!

Me: Eheh..


So kids, the lesson today is: always let other people finish asking their questions and don't assume or else your answer might cause you to embarrass yourself.

*blushes*

(^.^)

"Over the decades, there's always been a fuss on whether animal cruelty was considered a criminal act. It is only recently that it is recognised in the criminal justice system and more laws are enforced to protect the welfare of our non-human critters. And so here we are now, looking into detail about animal cruelty. It is a new topic in the subject by the way."

That's what my Criminology lecturer said this afternoon.

This week we're going to be understanding the "whats?", "whys?", "hows?", well you name it, of animal cruelty. Steve, my lecturer, was nice enough to warn us all to close our eyes if we could not handle looking at the next slides which contained some gruesome pictures of mistreated animals.

It was very upsetting. There were disfigured fighting dogs, black cats nailed to a cross (a cult's sacrifice), neglected horses and loads more. =(

Then he made up for it by showing us a cute and adorable video at the end of the lecture! XD I found it in youtube and I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I do. =D

The first week was a breeze. All we did was get to know the subject and the people in our tutorials. Sounds like a happy start right?

End of second week to the begining of the third week.
BAAMM!!!!
Assignments are thrown at us from all sorts of directions and I find that the lecturers and tutors looooove to share the same dates because most of them are due in the same week and some even on the same days!!


Subject #1: ACCOUNTING

Assignment 1 (10%)
- Questions given in Learning Management System (LMS) site
- Point form essay, 800-1000 words
Problem: Have not started, still not used to terminology and will probably take longer time to complete it, check, double check and triple check before handing it in.

Due: Wednesday 25th March 2009 before 5.00pm




Subject #2: CRIMINOLOGY

Oral presentation (10%)
- Pick an article from the newspaper related to any crime committed in Australia after 01/03/09
- Describe the crime, motives, progress of legal action (if any), support with criminology theories
Problem: Not subscribed to any papers so would have to buy it from some shop (or grab it from a coffee shop secretly) and so far, the papers that I have do not have any interesting crimes! Dawei said that it proves that Australia is very safe. (-_-"

Presenting on: Wednesday 25th March 2009 at 12pm tutorials




Subject #3: ACCELERATED MATH

Assignment 1 (5%)
- MCQ through the LMS
- 10 questions on Matrices
Problem: I don't know if there's much of a problem yet because I haven't done it. The good thing is that the questions are not timed (I think) and there are three attempts. Each attempt will be on another random set of ten questions though so based on this, the problem might be that each question might be an average to difficult level, no easy ones. =/

To be completed online before: Thursday 26th March 2009 before 7.59am




Subject #4: ECONOMICS

Assignment due on Tuesday 7th April 2009 but I'm not going to look through that one just yet. I need to dedicate these few days to the other three so that it won't be a total flop. Heh.

I just hope that after next week, they can give us a few days to breathe and relax before shoving Round 2 in our faces! XD

It's still year 2009 (oh my! Don't tell me you forgot?!), and the month now is March.
Today, Friday the 13th.

Ooooo.. Bad luck!
Ahhh! Don't let that black cat/dog/bird/orangutan cross your path!
Watch out for that ladder, er.. scaffolding!
Knock wood! But there's nothing wooden here. Then quick, find a nearby tree or plant and you better knock it harder so that you can get rid of your bad luck faster!

And a whole load of silly superstitions which I do not want to list down because that is not what I want to talk about.

=P

So, today is Friday the 13th of March 2009.

I've been away from home for exactly four weeks and honestly, I do not feel that homesick. Surprisingly, I felt really terrible for the first few weeks when I was in Taylor's almost two years ago and that is not even half the physical distance right now. By logic, I should be feeling more lonely and homesick now compared to the time when I was just at the West side of the country.

Hmmm..

It's not like I want to be homesick but when Ee Can asked me this morning if I have been feeling that way, I paused and thought hard and realised that, I'm not missing home at all. Well, maybe a little somewhere in me but I do not have any moments where I'd cry myself to sleep or stuff. Yea, I do miss a few people and maybe some of the local food but it's the people who matter in my life that still connects me to Kuching.

Probably the main reason I feel comfortable here in Melbourne is that I have my aunt with me. She's my mum's sis and I'm very close to my mum's side of the family. It has always been that way since I was young and they were the ones who have been constantly supporting me and my sister and they are the ones who really taught us the true meaning of family love.

If you were to ask me when I was younger, I would have said that I did not enjoy the other side. I can think of many reasons not to like them but you know, I think that some of them are changing, and they are changing for the better. Hallelujah! It is only recently that I realised that they are all not so bad, anyway, every family has their own problems, and for them, they have learnt to be a little more accepting and better still, a little more smiley-faced. =) Really, I always remember the cold and serious atmosphere which I still can feel around them but it's a lot less dense than before. XD

So anyway, back to homesickness and stuff, I guess that even with one family member around, I feel as if I can kinda call Melbourne my 2nd or 3rd home. Hehe.. Maybe another reason would be that I enjoy the diversity of cultures here and the lifestyle. It's very exciting that there's people with all sorts of different backgrounds and it's very enjoyable to mix with them because they are all (probably 8 out of 10?) very open minded and friendly. =)

I think I can see myself living here for the next couple of years and who knows, maybe most of my adulthood years even? There's a lot more benefits and opportunities here if I were to choose to either build up my career or settle down and start a family in the years to come. Well of course, I'll be focusing on my career first and marriage would have to wait till I am about, hmmm, 26? And the first child should pop out after I'm 28 and before I'm 35? XD

Ok, homesickness to popping babies.

So anyway, I don't miss Kuching 100% and the only reason I think I'll go back is if my parents and Nickki are still there and are stubborn on coming over! Haha! Nah, just kidding!

What I plan to say is that, I would love to start a new life here or if I have to, somewhere else which is outside of M'sia. I want to say that, "I'll go where ever the Lord takes me," but I would love to add on and tell Him to please send me to somewhere nice which I am needed, preferably a more civilised area (Hah!) but well, if Jesus says that I have to be somewhere then, I pray that I will have the courage and strength to be in that place and learn to adapt in that foreign place.

Hey, aren't I adapting now and not being homesick? (^.^)