Changes and more

Ladies and gentlemen I am pleased to address you from a place other than my bedroom in Adelaide. I am currently addressing you from my bedroom in Singapore. ahahahahaha. Yes! I am back! There were many changes since I left. Do you know that we did not initially have the lights on the board of the mrt trains telling us the next stop? And I came from the time where the trains don't go beyond Boon Lay. Apparently there are more changes which I have yet to witness. Orchard road seems to be the road with the biggest makeover, with ION Orchard and Orchard Central being the newest members of the family of shopping malls. I feel like a tourist!

Apart from the roads and things, the people of Sg have also changed since I'd left. It is heart wrecking to say this but physically, my dad has aged tremendously and have lost a lot of weight. My sister too seems to have lost some baby fat (but she is still as childish as before) while my brother has gained some muscles which further emphasis the small head he has. My mother was the only one who stayed the same. Thank god for that!

Since I came back, I have met up with Xinyi, Stacey, and a handful of people from the Tan clan.

Xinyi has cut her hair to a record bob short. And accompanied with the significantly lost of her long hair was the significantly lost of weight. Please eat more Li Xinyi!

Stacey was the same:)
Well, apart from her badly scalded hand that is. We still share a certain level of telepathy and gave each other gifts with the same reference to the past. ~ Sister ladybug~ hahaha. Take care Stacey Sim.

The few members of the Tan family whom I've had the fortune of meeting up with did not change much physically. However in some, I can sense changes of a different nature. My grandfather, for one, became very emotional when we talked about people from his past. That was the first time I've seen him so vulnerable.

Alright I have to do the awkward change of topic and ask that my friends in Adelaide to take care. Yes! That means you Lim Sze Yin and Hor Peng Soon. Miss you guys loads.

Still to come:
1) Meeting the Lam Family (my mother's side) - Tomorrow
2) Elisa Lua @ the new Orchard Road - Tuesday
3) Sarah Lim - time & place have yet to be determined
4) Stanley - Thursday
5) The rest of the Tan clan - Saturday
6) Shirrin - Are we meeting???

I wanna thank You

After two long weeks of mindless studying (pun intended), it is my greatest pleasure to announce that the exams for this year is finally over. Looking back, I won't say that this was a difficult year. Or perhaps I have lowered my expectations and so I don't feel so bad if I didn't do as well. I can feel that my priorities in life are shifting.

I am very thankful that I have a great friend. A special someone who will do anything for me and always looks for my best interest. She's one in a million. Thank you lim sze yin!

I am also very thankful that I have great family support. They are constantly there for the selfish me who only thinks about them when I need them to get me out of trouble. A round of thank you(s) to:
My dad, the constant nagger. But I know that's cos he worries about me.
My mum, the wise one. The one who pulls me out of shit every time.
My sista, the joker. Does silly things to make me laugh:D
My brother, the er.... person I depend upon to reply messages to my mum.

I am also thankful for the trials I have been put through. They remind me to always be prepared cos things can take a turn for the worse when you least expected it.

I am thankful towards my lecturers and tutors for their patience and guidance.

And lastly, I am thankful that you're still reading this although I haven't been blogging as frequent as you have been checking in.

It's goodbye for now but I shall be seeing you soon.

Re: Hello

I have a problem. And it was recently brought to my attention as I have been writing many emails to people from all walks of life. I'm afraid I am suffering from the I-don't-know-how-to-title-this-email syndrome. Do you feel the same way? I mean, how is it possible to choose one main thing as your title when there were so many things mentioned in the electronic mail? It is embarrassing to say this but I would very often have "Hello" as my title. Haha yeah I know. It's not as if the word alone summarises the whole point of my mail but it is the least information omitting, most downright appropriate one I can think of. I suppose this fault of mine stems from the fact that I have little to no ability of being concise. That's why I always have to cut out some points in my science practical reports to bring the word count down.

If there really is someone watching over me, please let there be no need for me to conjure any documents which require any execution of my inelegant summarising skills. Or else...













I will have to engage professional help.

A "Damn it!" moment of my life

Have you ever experienced a "Shit! Damn it!" moment? It's a time when something really bad happens unexpectedly and there's nothing you can do to change it and so you feel like killing something. That happened to me just a couple of days ago. It was Sunday. I was busy studying for my exam which I had to sit for the following morning. Then all of a sudden, there was a power failure. The whole house shut-ed down. I realised this when I open the door to my fridge to get a glass of water and the light in it that usually comes on did not.. well, come.

I thought my fridge was broken due to the hot weather and/or my constant opening and closing and reopening but when I checked the other lights in the rooms, they didn't come on as well! I was like "Shit!" And for the next 10 minutes, I tried to check for any circuit breaker trips. I even risked the re-colonisation of summer flies and opened the back door to check the main power supply to the whole neighbourhood. But unsurprisingly, I had no idea how to interpret the overwhelming information I got from the big box and quickly walked away when I heard something which faintly resembled the ticking of a bomb.

With hope still in mind, I turned on my computer and used what was left in the laptop's battery to google " what do you do when you experience a power failure". Yes, I know. Don't say it. I was directed to a site which states that one should check with his/her electricity supplier when faced in that situation. Having less than half of my handphone battery, I took the risk of forever losing the contact with the outside world and dialled the number of my electricity company. What I got in return was a sarcastic joyous reply from the answering machine which happily related something along the lines of customer service officers do not work on Sundays.

"Arghhhhh! You must be kidding me!"

So reluctantly, I called a friend, who was also having a paper the next day, and related my misfortune. He was kind enough to offer his living room to me for a night to study in, an offer to which I politely rejected. I hate to bother people, especially when I know they are busy. But I thought I should at least let someone know the reason if I happen to be found dead in my house the next day. And there are a lot of ways the lack of electricity flow could kill you. The thought of having no electricity for one night is enough to consume my life.

It was, however, comforting to know that at least my toilet flush still works. At least not everything is malfunctioning. Yes, I know. Don't say it.

So I resigned to my fate and tried to finish cram-ing as much viral and bacterial information as I can before sun down. (The paper I was preparing for was microbiology) It was one heck of a crazy moment. I tried to finish 3 lectures worth of slides in less than an hour!

And then something innate came over me. I went over to the kitchen stove and tried the gas. And I was delighted to see that fire came out from it. But my happiness soon diminished when I remembered that the fire from the stove is the blue kind. Not the one that gives off light. What a let down. But hang on, I've got candles. HaHa. Worst comes to worst, I can be like those ancient scholars and study with a candle at night. That is probably the closest association I can ever get to with them - the common usage of candles for the gaining of wisdom (erm, for the passing of an exam in my case).

So I went to retrieve the candle from the drawer and just as I was about to light it, I heard something coming from my fridge. Its the sound of an engine working. OMG! I quickly reached out and flick on the light switch in the kitchen. It worked! And then I went crazy and checked all the lights in my house. I even checked the microwave. They all worked! It was as if the whole episode didn't occur. Only, it did.

All that drama for nothing.

Eleven and a good friend of mine

Tomorrow is a special day. It makes me happy thinking about it. Starting tomorrow, I will wake with a smile and while brushing my teeth in front of the bathroom mirror, I will whisper in my heart the number ten. I will keep doing this every morning in the bathroom, taking one number away each time. And if you do it too, you will realise that when you reach the number zero, I will be mere hours away from home. Home, Singapore.

Haha yes, the official countdown starts tomorrow cos no one counts down from eleven. But I can't help it! I am going home soon:D And I am happy. hehehe

But I am sad too:( I am sad because I might not see some of my very VEry VERY good friends next year as we might be doing separate subjects. Yes, I am talking about you lim sze yin. Why must the heavens separate us?? :( I don't even know if you'll be reading this but if you are, I just wanna give you a big cyber hug (cos I know you'll be too paiseh if I hug you in real life) and say a big giganmous THANK YOU! You have added a lot of laughter in my life and have never left me out on your juicy gossips. hahaha but please don't be so blur liao lah. And hor, quit starving yourself. Must be very hard for a food lover like you to live without food for more than a few hours. Especially when everyone around you are eating. Need to take care of your health. Ok, I better stop. Maybe I'll write a separate love letter to you cos the chances are, you will not read this at all and everyone in Singapore is reading it instead.

Alright the peeps from sg, here are some of my recent updates.

1) I have completed 2 of my 4 final papers and confess that I am not very optimistic about anatomy.
2) The housefly count for the past few days is 0.
3) This made me realised that I am less interested in the origin of the cranial bones and more so in the number of potential breeding grounds in my house.
4) It is so hot now I am walking around the house semi-naked. Please don't try to imagine that.
5) I am almost done packing my luggage. Yes I am very excited.
6) They have closed the park where I do my jogging so that the horses can run. Thank god its just a 3 day event.
7) I have ran out of shampoo and am currently low on toothpaste. This is a typical dilemma I will face towards the end of my stay here because if I were to open a new tube of toothpaste to use for these 10 days, what will I do with the unused portion?
8) A burning question, why do we dream and do they mean anything?
9) I have two kettles and one of them is in the fridge because I do not have enough water holders to hold the amount of water I have in a day.
10) I am tempted to turn off my computer now because it is generating too much heat.

And because I am one who cannot resist even the slightest temptation, so I will.

3 weeks and counting... down

You know what I hate more than exams? Summer flies. I call them that because they aren't the typical house flies you would see in other seasons. They are not as pretty as their name suggest though. Instead, they're huge, annoying, and extremely crafty. One of those nasty pest would wait outside your door in the mornings and once you opened it to leave for school, it would signal to its pea-sized counterparts and all at once, they would zoom into your house like there's no tomorrow. Can you imagine that?! You would have probably noticed that the reason I'm able to relate this incident with excruciating detail is because I have had the misfortune of experiencing it. I have since been actively involved in the eradication of flies of all kinds in the vicinity. Three different species of flies have been identified thus far. Two of which were seen at a statistically higher frequency with the other one having a mere incidence rate of 1 in 50.

Sorry I have to stop writing about the flies cos trust me I can go on forever. They bother me so much that I'd spent one afternoon reading up their life cycles and searching for ways to remove them entirely off the surface of the earth.

Right, moving on.

My finals are on the 9th, 10th, 16th and 21st. So the exams are coming.

...

.......

....................


I am not feeling the adrenalin yet.


On a happier note, two of my good frens just got together! hahaha I feel like a match maker.


And on a happiest note, I'm leaving on the 24th:D



-better set up that fly trap before I go home.

This is where I stop (for the present) - read this again in 2010

Hello! I thought I had better write something before my semi-dead blog becomes really dead. My exams are just around the corner that means that I have no time for basically anything which involves doing nothing cos even after I'm done with exams, I need to prepare to go home. YES, you read it right. I've got to PREPARE to go home. And I only have 2 days allocated for that. One day to buy everything (the presents) and one day to pack my luggage and clean the house. Busy busy.

Oh I had a weird dream the other day about dead babies. I shall not talk about it now though. I hate to leave you with morbid thoughts while I go away to hide and wait for the up-coming doomsday - 09/11 (my 1st final paper)

It has been really warm since the last time I wrote. My feet is stinking from the hot weather so I am forced into unglam-ness when I swapped my comfy shoes for market-going slippers. I don't like wearing slippers. If not for their lack of formality, they slow me down cos I am constantly worried that I will kick them off if I walk too fast. Sigh. I've got to wake up earlier now to accommodate my slipper-induced slow walking speed.

Attention to Lee Ling of 2010, it starts to get hot around this time of the year. I think I've gotten a tan from the 20 mins journey home from school.

Attention to Lee Ling of 2009, it is currently week 11 and you're less than a month away from your first paper. Shucks!

Thinking about it, this might be the last time I'll be "seen" here! The next time you see me, I'll probably take a more physical form cos I would have already been in Singapore! Haha how fast time flies.

Good bye October. See you next year.

Yeah right

If only I were a boy, then I won't have to worry about matching my shoes with my clothes all the time.

If only I didn't watch too much TV, then I would have already finished the 5000 word assignment.

If only I hadn't tasted that delicious lemon cheese cake, then I wouldn't know what I am missing and won't be missing it now.

If only I could tell if it will rain tomorrow, then I will know if I should do my laundry now.

If only I knew the questions to the test tomorrow, then I won't have to study till so late now.

If only I knew the ANswers to the questions of the test tomorrow...

If only...

Do you know what time it is now

When I was growing up as a child I often stayed up till the early mornings doing teenager stuff. Things like playing games online, watching shows on youtube and ever so often my dad would pop into my room and say, "Do you know the time now? Kids don't stay up pass 10. Go sleep." And I would say bad things back like "I'm not a kid anymore."

Now that I am away from home, there's no one to fuss over such things in my life. No one to fuss over me. But still there's a voice in my head. And I didn't realised it is there until I actually repeated its coaxing words out loud. "Do you know what time it is now?"


Sidetrack: Daylight saving started this morning. School starts this tuesday and the exam timetable is out.



"Do you know what time it is now?"


Yes, I do. Its time to study.

The songs in my life

There are some times in my life when I will be addicted to a song. Sometimes it'll be playing over and over again in my head that the only way for me to get it out is to sing it out. And it sometimes irritate my friends and family cos I'll be singing the same stanza from the song for days. But it's not like I can help it. These catchy songs are constantly around me! Like after I finished the series of a drama, the song from the show will instantly be in my head for the next couple of days. Or when my high school mates kept playing Jay Chou's Qi Li Xiang for days every time our class had a break. Or when I set my ipod to play Independent Women by Destiny's Child so that I can walk faster to my workplace.

But when I stopped listening to them and then start listening to them again after a few months, the feeling I had at that time when I was hocked on the songs will come back to me. For instance, when my ipod starts playing Independent Women while I'm walking home from school, the dreaded feeling of going to work would hit me and for a second, my brain receives mixed signals. It cannot tell if I'm feeling relief that my day is over or if adrenalin should be pumped into my muscles so that I can run to work.

And because I have this tendency of associating the songs I'd listened to with the whole physical, emotional situation that I was in when listening to them, I have come to dislike many songs. Not for their lyrics or the singer or anything. But purely because I have attached negative feelings to them. One of the songs which had the misfortune of being my morning alarm and hence has acquired my dislike is RISE-ASEAN by Stefanie Sun. However I need to mention that this is a great song (mind you, this was the official theme song for ASEAN's 40th anniversary celebrations) and Sun is one of my favourite singers (I love her voice and music style).

For a few seconds there, I searched my mind for a song I liked best. But there are so many of them and I cannot choose a favourite. I like upbeat songs like Lian Ai ING by Mayday, Are You Gonna Be My Girl by JET, Five Colours In Her Hair by Mcfly, First Day by Stefanie Sun, FIR and Mayday, and the list goes on. What are some of your favourite songs?

Let the good times roll

Hello everyone! Thought I should update a bit on the happenings in my life. I went to watch UP in 3D! I was a little apprehensive at first cos I didn't know what it was about only that its a cartoon animation but it turned out to be a very interesting and inspiring movie. The themes were conveyed using simple, everyday-life examples and so it was very easy to relate to it. Plus we get to keep the geeky 3D specs as a memento.

And then the next day, Friday, we went to celebrate mooncake festival in advance. There were free mooncakes and the traditional cai deng mi. The next picture shows me and my partner in crime of craziness, Sze. The whole bunch of us carried the candle-lit lanterns and walked from uni all the way to Elder Park, attracting the eyes of many passerbys.

Lantern size ratio. 1 (Sze): 0.25 (Peng Soon): 1 (Ling)

Im not sure if its noteworthly but earlier that day, we dissected the very same joey we did one week before. But this time we had to remove the muscle to see the bones and joints so as you can imagine, there was quite a lot of blood involved. I really wish I have a photo of that to show you.

Lab days are over for all but one

Heya! I've just finished my last wet pract for the semester! What a relief! All living science students would be able to relate to the euphoria I'm feeling now. No more late hours in school. No more long, boring practorials (i.e practicals + tutorials). And MORE daylight to be spent on other fun and exciting things. Even watching the television programs in Aust counts as an exciting activity when compared to attending practs. My tues, wed and thurs afternoons are free:D

Oh I've forgot to mention that I've had my virgin dissection of a whole animal last friday. It was quite an experience. We decided on a joey (baby kangaroo) cos one of my friends didn't want to dissect the chicken and another refuse to cut up any part of a dog. Initially we were all pretty shy and didn't know what to do but we soon got the hang of it and before we know it, we had the whole of the front and hind leg de-skined, exposing the muscles and ligaments underneath. But before all that, Sze had to pull out the animal's insides which includes the heart, liver, stomach, small and large intestines. The bloody sight aside, the overwhelming stench almost caused me to throw up. So although the coming friday is the last day of school before term break, I'm not looking forward to the dissection that comes with it.

I need a break.

Adelaide Show

Hello peeps its Sept! It's crazily hot today as was yesterday. I am very happy because the hols are just a week away! In light of that, we decided to have an early celebration so we went to the Adelaide Show yesterday night.




Its like an annual funfair thing that goes on for about a week or two at the Adelaide Showground. There were all the typical things you'll see at a funfair and more!


I especially liked the car and motor bike stunts! Its amazing how the driver can have so much control over the machine during the drift (chinese: piao yi) and the group performance was flawless. I caught my breath many times during the 10 mins bike stunts where the bikers jumped the ramp and a few of them actually flew at the top of their jump! What they did was they let go of their bikes and for a few seconds in air, the biker and bike were not in any physical contact. I would love to show you some visuals but was too caught up with the performance that before I know it, it was already over. I'll try and see if Sze has some pictures of the fireworks:)

Same old, same old

Hello you! It’s August and time for my monthly update/rant/monologue. Semester 2 has started about 3 weeks ago and I haven't the slightest idea as to what is expected of me from Genetics and Anatomy. This is a disaster. And after 5 long weeks of futile search, turning my room upside down and downside up in the process, I have finally come to terms with the lost of my thumb drive. The water bottle which I have been using for quite some time has also decided to fail me now. My housemate is moving out at the end of next month which means I'll be living alone from then till the next person comes which, I predict, will be around November. ~ Lonely. I'm Mr Lonely. I have nobody to call my own.~ Apart from all that, my life seems to be very much the same.

The weather is improving dramatically for the better and so I've started to incorporate outdoor activities into my busy schedule in bid to stay healthy. In conjunction with that, I have made small adjustments in my diet so that I am eating at least 2 different types of fruits a day. Hopefully, I'll be healthier and fitter (and leaner) by the end of the year.

Stacey's birthday is fast approaching and I might not be blogging then so here's a shoutout to Stacey Sim! Happy Advance Birthday! Lup chew much.

Alright that's all for now. Till next time/next month.

The pros and cons of being an Asian in Australia

Alright guys, I believe the title alone provides enough details as to what I'll be discussing today and since I am a natural optimist, lets begin with all the perks of being an Asian.

1. You are born with the innate ability to do maths. A gift which I silently celebrate everyday.

2. The expectation of your English Language proficiency is generally low. It doesn't take much to amaze the locals since they'd thought you to be monolingual. (And by that I mean, Chinese speaking)

3. You will not be laughed at when you do well in school. Because academic excellence is expected of an Asian. Coincidentally, this is also one of the cons of being an Asian.

4. You are never grounded, no matter what you do. The Chinese homes don't have that under the punishment section.

5. You are indistinguishable between your Chinese counterparts and hence lecturers can never pick on you to answer a question.


Now, lets look at the not-so-good side.

1. You have to bear the occasional discrimination. (Just look at the controversial win in MasterChief)

2. You hardly, if ever, get invited to parties with the locals. (Whatever!)

3. You have significantly smaller eyes as compared to the others.

4. You cannot have a dog.

5. All hell break lose when you fail a test.


But even so, I like being an Asian. I am proud of it. And that sets me apart from some (the international students) and further apart from others (the locals).

Gone are the holidays

The holidays are drawing to an end. The major problem I have to overcome now is my habit of over-sleeping. I have just looked at my timetable and realised that I will soon hate Thursdays. Cos for the first four weeks, I'll have lessons from 10am-5:30pm with no breaks in between. Crap. Still, I'm looking forward to Monday. It is like a fresh start to a nightmare that I will soon wake up from.

I have yet to come to any conclusion about what I want to do in life. The plan right now is to finish my bachelor degree and see what happens from there. I tell myself not to plan too far ahead and just take opportunities as they strike and so in the mean time, quoting from Sarah, I will just breathe.

My boring life vs the others

I was just reading some of my friends' blog and I realised they all have a similar theme. It's a "things I did today" theme. And I saw how much difference mine was from theirs. While most people blogged about their lives, I blog about abstract ideas and long ago events. Maybe there's something wrong with me, I thought. So I tried to talk about my life. I started by thinking about all the things I wanna say. And there's nothing. On the scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most boring, the boring-ness of my life would be about 9.5. It is as boring as boredom can get. Maybe its because of the holidays. I'm sure I'll be singing a different tune when school starts.

Just in case you're wondering,

Did
1) went to the toilet
2) brush my teeth
3) bathe
4) had brunch
5) blogged

Going to do
6) read a book
7) watch a movie
8) dinner
9) watch 2 more movies
10) sleep

As such, is my life.

Circular argument

When I was young, I was made to believe that there are only two kinds of people in this world. The good guys who can transform into superheros when there's trouble as like the power rangers, and the bad guys whose primary aim is to create havoc and destroy all goodness. And it is very easy to tell the good guys from the bad ones. The good guys are ALWAYS good-looking, well-mannered, and they don't ever swear. The bad guys, on the other hand, are always hideous, wore dark clothing and they speak with... well, a witch accent as I would have called it. So when the adults were saying how sorry they felt for young Andrew when he went for an eye surgery and reported to the day care centre with a cover over his left eye , I couldn't understand why no one saw that he was, in fact, the notorious Captain Hook.

As you can imagine, I was already judgmental when I was very young.

But I am older now. I know that not everyone who doesn't fit your idea of good-looking, are bad people. I know that not all cops are good people. I know that it is not always black and white. I know that good doesn't always triumph over evil. I know all that and yet, I want to believe in those fairy tales again. I have learnt life and now I want to unlearn it. I want to believe in heros with special powers and secret gardens with magic flowers. I want to simplify things. Look at the world through a child's eye. But I can't. Because that's just running away from reality. And heros don't run away.

What do you want, really.

Hi! This year is very different from the last for me. One of the feelings I've experienced (and still am experiencing) is the lack of any feelings. Detachment, I think, is what I'm trying to say. I have implied this before but just never said it out directly. The need to write and report of my well-being is not as strong as it was before (note the drastic drop on the number of posts) and the desire to do well for exams is well, not really there anymore. I think its because I have lost the goal in life.

Last year, I had an aim. I wanted it so bad that it kept the flame in me burning. I pushed myself in everyway possible and then, I achieved it. And because of that, it feels like there's nothing more to want this year. One semester has passed and I don't even know what went on around me. I'm just.. getting by. I know I'll be fine and I'll do well for the exams but, what the hell am I doing?

I'll probably use this break to do some soul searching. Will let you know when I find myself. And by the way, who are you?

Back with the living - exams are over

Hello! I have just sat for my last and least confident paper and now I am happy to be freeeeeeeeeeee! On the whole, the exam felt alright (it wasn't extremely good but it wasn't a disaster as well). We'll see when the results are out.

Alright anyways since the last time I wrote, many things have happened. There was another ang moh stranger who cannot resist the temptation to speak to me in Chinese, Michael Jackson died, more H1N1 cases, few houses in Adelaide got their roofs blown away, etc etc. None of which I desire to write about. I want to write about something that is close to my heart because that's when words flow like water from a fountain and I don't have to think for too much but there isn't any thing I feel strongly for at the moment. So I reached out into the box of random ideas and pulled out a piece of paper. It read "Lies". So here goes.

It is generally believed that a good man is one who speaks the truth. Nobody likes liars. No one likes to lie. But truth be told, we are all guilty of it once in a while. We lie to make others happy, to make ourselves look bigger, better, and sometimes simply just to make things easier. When a friend ask me " Hey do you think I'm fat?" I have two options. I could stand by my morals and say "Yes, I do think so" but instead I would say " Fat? No, you look fine". Call me a hypocrite but I don't see any good in speaking the truth.

Imagine a world where no one lies. Hmm.. lawyers would be out of jobs!

Seriously though, I don't think it's possible to live a life without lies. So if everyone does it, what's the big deal about lying? I guess that depends upon the severity of the consequences it brings. How severe is severe though? The moral line drawn is blur. In the end, we all rely on our self to be the judge.

I don't appreciate being lied to so I don't like to lie. But I still do sometimes. And that's not to say I don't have a conscience. Afterall, I'm only human.

This is rather random

Hello there! I'm currently in the middle of my exams and so there really isn't anything happy in my life now to talk about. The stress is so overwhelming, I feel nauseated. On the flip side, because I'm so pumped up, less sleep is required and more time is spent on studying. Good for me.

And aNyways, I had a house inspection recently and we were told to put down on paper, the stuff in the house that requires fixing. One of the problems we had was that we can't seem to lock the back gate. So they had the repair man sent here yesterday and he said something about the movement of the house in summer and winter. Apparently this house CAN MOVE during different times of the year such that the lock on the gate no longer aligns with the grove it was supposed to sit in. Haha I'm living in a house that moves! Fancy that!

Alright I have to go back to studying the anatomy of the human body. Wish me luck. I'll have another monologue with myself again soon :)

*kiss kiss* You've got the swine

I don't believe this. It has been more than a year since I've first came here and there are still things that I didn't mention about the Aussies. Alright, I'm going to jump straight into it. It's the way they greet each other. It bothers me. Let me tell you what happened to me one time.

I had a house party some time ago and my housemate had her friends over for dinner. I was naturally invited (cos I'm living here and it will be awkward not to attend). And so I did attend and when I was introduced to one of the female guest, she stuck out her hand. I took it. That's normal, you might say but then she pulled me closer and stuck her face and neck towards me. I pulled back slightly, not used to this form of greeting, then almost instantly, I leaned forward and placed my cheek against hers.

"Oh but that's no big deal. People do more than just touching the cheeks in other countries," my friend told me. And yeah, maybe I'm making a fuss out of nothing. That's why I held my peace until now even though the house party was held weeks before. But I have to say it now. Now more than ever. This has to stop. What do you mean you don't understand me? Well understand this, the swine flu is here, whether you like it or not.

They're coming

Swine Flu. You've heard it. It's here. Right at our doorstep. The new and improved strain of the influenza virus is coming at us at a rate faster than you can imagine. With the effects of H5N1 still fresh in the minds of many, it is easy to understand why some people are washing their hands more frequently. At a global level, many countries have stepped up their border surveillance. The Australians too are fast to react. As of midnight 1st May, anyone coming from high risk countries and running a fever, will be quarantined.

And the situation is made worst by the flu season. So now if someone beside you on the bus sneezes, you cannot tell if he has the swine flu or just a stuffy nose. Speaking of the flu season, it is so cold now that you'd literally freeze your ass out when you go to the bathroom.

On a separate but equally important issue. Plastic bags will be banned in major supermarkets starting tomorrow. Any shops caught giving plastic bags to customers will be severely dealt with (this means I dunno what the authorities would do but its not anything good). This is bad news because the question now is, what am I going to use to hold my rubbish? With plastic bags now out of the picture, they are now looking to replacing plastic packaging.

So the take home message is, don't come to Australia now. It's a bad idea. But if you must come, bring some plastic bags for me.

Ten past six (dont read this at night)

I can't believe it is almost a month since I've last wrote something. For those who still checks in frequently and get disappointed all these time because the first post that comes up was the fake story about the fruitless tree, please forgive me. I didn't have Internet until about a week before because of the long Easter holiday (the Aussies are really serious about their holidays), and every time I went to the shop it'll either be too crowded or closed. Yes, you're right. I am just saying this to lighten my guilt.

So, wads new in my life. Well, if you really wanna know, I have a major test coming up this coming Monday and another (less important) one on Tuesday, a 6-hour pract on Thursday and another one on Friday. So this means I've got to cook on Wednesday, clean the house on Saturday and finish up my tutorials by Sunday.

So since we have established how boring my life is, allow me to move on to something more interesting. Let me tell you a creepy story. (haha, creepy things interest me)

When I was about 10, I sketched a clock during my art lesson one time. Even at a tender age, I knew that it was aesthetically more sensible to draw it reading 10 past 10 however, due to reasons beyond my understanding, I drew it reading 10 past 6. It was not a bad piece of work though. My teacher even praised me for it.

Here's the scary part. For the next couple of days, I kept waking at 6:10 am automatically. Before I drew the clock, I have always been waking only when my alarm clock goes at 6:30 am. And when I take naps in the afternoons, I'll wake at 6:10 pm. Is it spooky or what? This went on until I submitted my art work. I did not intentionally wake up at 6:10 I swear. I didn't know how to even if I wanted.

And the scariest thing is, whatever that I've just said, is true. This is not a story I've made up. Call my mum. She can vouch for me.

The tree that bare no fruit

Having done my homework for the coming week, my mind was free to roam and I was just thinking about one of the trees in my backyard.

We have lots of plants in the backyard, mostly shrubs and tiny bushes and there is one particular tree that stood out from the rest. I've took notice of it for a while now cos I have never seen it having fruits. Ever. Instead, seeds were hanging in places where the fruits are ought to be. It must be weird being that tree, I thought to myself, having to look so different from its counterparts.

Then I had an idea. I reached out and plucked one of the red seeds that was hanging from its branches. Using a little stick on the ground, I dug a hole not far from the fruitless tree and placed the seed in it.

Two weeks passed and nothing happened. Still, I was hopeful. I checked it everyday and watered it frequently. Another two weeks passed and still no sign of anything. I was disappointed. I dug up the seed and threw it over the fence, like how I would a baseball. It fell hard onto the road outside but still I wasn't feeling any better. I felt sorry for the tree. I felt sorry for myself. Then I realised that the tree that doesn't bare fruit, never had a chance to feel at all.

The End.

Hey guys, the stuff above is all made up. My first attempt to incorporate themes in my stories. It helped that I really do have a tree in my backyard baring raisin-looking fruits.

A Proper Goodbye (on friday the 13th)

Some of you are wondering why I've decide to stop blogging and there have been some, well, speculations about me being emotionally attached to someone and hence not have the time to write. This is not entirely wrong. I've stopped writing mainly because ever since I've moved out of the village, I have close to nothing data downloading space (I dont know how its called) and thus decide to fully utilise it on my studies. And also because of the tremendous amount of work I am given now that I am a year 2 student and thus havent the time to write. And NO I am not seeing anyone. Just in case you're wondering.

This is not really a goodbye as the title suggest. It's more like 'see you in a little bit more than a bit'. Haha pardon me. Havent been writing for so long and now all I can think of is crap.

There is something serious I want to discuss. Please stop reading if you don't wish to use your brain today.

I mean it.

And I havent done this before but I am going to request that everyone who sees this to post a response to this. It's my turn to know what you think. It's a request so I'm going to say "Please".

I've recently been to a bioethics workshop and there were many big topics raised during the one and a half hour session. They range from if battery chicken farms should be abolish to if adult and embryonic stem cells research should be made legal. I want to talk about one of the ideas raised and that was the concept of "sacrificing one for the many".

Let me give you a scenario.

You're a pilot in the air force and your country is currently at war. You have with you on board, 5 other soldiers and you're on your way to pick the last one. If you were to go ahead and pick up that last solder, you will be able to pick him up alive but there is a very real chance of your plane being shot down. If you choose to go back with those already on board, the 6 of you go home alive (and probably live in guilt for the rest of it) but that last person will very likely die in the hands of the enemy. What will you do? Let's make it slightly more complicated. That last soldier is an extremely close friend of yours or a blood related brother. Think about it. Let me know.

If this scenario is too far-fetched, allow me to relate another one.

When scientist make a new medical discovery, there are usually many lab test that it has to be put through and many protocols to follow. This results in many years "wasted". Now, you're a scientist and one of your parents is dying of a heritary disease and you think you've found the cure. But because of the regualtion, you cannot administer the drug legally until it is being tested which takes about 5 years. From your knowledge, your family have less than a year to live. What do you do? Keep in mind that you have all the means to make this drug and if your family doesnt get it soon, the disease might make him/her so sick that even with the drug, he/she will still die. But if you do give the drug, you will lose your licence and reputation forever and also, since the drug wasnt tested, you might be doing more harm than good. So, what do you say?

I hate to do this. I really do. But do think about them, if you will. And don't forget to leave a response. If its too long, send me an email. And then I might just tell you what I'll do under those situations.



This post didnt turn out to be how I wanted it to be initially. Read the title again. Well, that's me. Always distracted. Always sidetracking.

Don't talk to strangers

You know how our parents used to warn us about all the bad things that would happen if we'd talked to someone we didn't know. Once upon a time, I believed it. And I think it's because I kept holding on to this thinking for a long period of time that it somehow became a habit. So although I am not afraid of strangers now, I do not generally associate with them. At least, not with the ease that the Australians are capable of doing.

This is rather "unacceptable" here. Socially. That is, the inability to make simple conversation with the random people whom you've never met before and will (most probably) never meet again for the rest of your life. Personally, actively engaging in a conversation on nothing more than the bad weather is tough enough, least to say being the one to start a new, but equally boring, topic about the poor transport system.

Talking naturally to people whom I've just met is unnatural to me. But this doesn't mean that I'm not a friendly person. Perhaps it's the way I was brought up in that hindered the path to having good interpersonal relationship skills. Perhaps its just me who's still not used to discussing my life openly to someone I don't know.

Perhaps...

I don't know.

It's hot!

Did you know?
Some 20 schools in Australia will be closed and children were forced to stay at home due to the threat of bushfires. It's so bloody hot!

Doing nothing more than typing on my computer is stimulating enough to activate my sweat glands. It's SUCH A HOT DAY today and it makes me wonder if the tiny bushes in my backyard would be able to withstand it. I was quite concerned so I went to water them in the morning, just in case. I mean, what if a fire breaks out? I would have lost my house! Oh, offf course I am concern about the well-being of the plants. It's just that, I am more so of my physical possessions.

Anyhow, I hope everyone is safe and comfortable back home. School's starting next week and I'm all geared up for it! Marketing's tomorrow, and I'm sorry Elisa but ice-cream is definitely on the list.

Updates (yes, again)

1) Going to school was great fun. I'd spend half an hour walking there, half an hour to get my things done, and half an hour walking back. And don't get me started with the heat.

2) Now that I've moved out of The Village, there are many things I find different. One of which involves classifying your garbage. This will be made a lot simpler if they have different colours for different garbage. At where I stay, the normal rubbish goes into the red bin, the recyclables goes into the yellow bin and the plant materials (eg leaves, grass, etc) goes into the green bin. HOWEVER, the bins just off where I live, along the main road, are for general rubbish, BUT THEY'RE GREEN!

3) I had a lot of fun stomping on cardboard boxes today! Cos the furniture I've bought from ikea came in large cardboard boxes, I had to try and fit them into the comparably smaller yellow bin. So I resorted to stepping, folding, and stepping again on them.

4) I perhaps should also mention that I have finished assembling a study desk, a wardrobe, a chest of drawers, and a bed, all by myself if I may add. Talk about independent living.

5) I wanna eat ice-cream but I cant have it because it'll melt by the time I reach home. Why is it so hot?!!

To Singapore

Dear Singapore,

I am leaving. I am leaving you for a hotter place where house flies thrive, where people greet you randomly on the streets, where the air is dry and where " How are you going" doesn't exactly mean that. Dear Singapore, I am leaving.

Please take care of yourself while I am gone. Keep your people safe and healthy, your city vibrant and alive, your song loud, and always resounding in the hearts of those who have to go away. Dear Singapore, I am leaving.

I will miss all the good food that have nourished me since I was young, the strong land which brought me up to who I am and the lovely people who will stay by me no matter what happens. Dear Singapore, I am leaving.

From: Ling

Heya!

Hey everyone! Just some quick updates.

I have quit my job. (For real, this time)

My 21st birthday party was a success. A big "Thank You!" to all that turned up. And thanks for the great gifts!

I am leaving in less than 4 days time and I don't wish to count down to that.

I'll probably catch a movie on Monday cos I haven't been to the movies for the longest time. Are there any great movies to recommend, anyone?

All set! (repost)

I've made a major decision today. Well, it's one of the major academic decisions I've made since the transfer of program. I have decided to pledge my loyalty towards Genetics (my major). This, together with 3 other science subjects namely, biochem, microbiology and anatomical science, shall be the reason for the bags under my eyes for the rest of this year. I have completed my enrolment for semesters one and two and I am all set for March.

I have completed my term at the company I was working for, NOT! The 21st b'day bash is more or less settled. My flight to Adelaide is set. My flight back to Singapore at the end of this year is also set. Everything is going well and now, I just have to finish the oranges left-over from cny.

Random faces

I think my eye sight is deteriorating really fast. Either that, or I am suffering from some disease that impedes my ability to distinguish one individual from another. I was out the other day at Orchard Road and swear I saw at least 3 familiar faces. I hate this. Cos no matter who is it I saw (or think I saw), my heart will start racing for no apparent reason. And then I'll begin the debate as to whether or not I should go up and make my presence known. If you could hear my internal speech to myself, it'll probably be something like

"Hey! HEY! I know you! You're XXX! Hey wait a minute, is that really her? She looked different. Should I go say hi? (target is walking in the opposite direction and getting nearer) omg she's getting closer. Quick! Decide! But she's with a friend. Better not? OK better not. (walked passed each other and had a split second of eye contact)

And then, almost always, she'll turn out to be NOT the person I thought she was. I feel so dumb. I actually went through all that for a complete stranger. And for it to happen 3 times within one hour is too much for me. My brain is exhausted after all that matching-the-person-on-the-street-with-the-picture-in-my-mind exercise and I am tired of getting disappointed all the time. Hence, I now shift my attention to the buildings and roads instead of people.

So if you see me on the street next time and I did not come up to say "hi", please do not think that I hate you. I didn't say hi because I am still deciding if you're really you.

AH CHOO!

It has always been like this. My sister will be the first to get it, and it will spread like wild fire to the rest of the family. I am speaking of the flu virus. No, not the infamous H5N1 or the recently resurfaced H9N2. No, what I have is not life-threatening. What I HAVE makes you tear even though you're not crying. It makes doing simple mental calculation seem impossible cause your head feels heavy with fluid. It retards the speech and makes spelling difficult. I have to spell the words out loud as I type them now.
What I have is....



the common cold.



Because my sister is quite delicate, or weak as I will say, viruses can easily invade her immune system and start replicating within her. This sounds gross but it's true. I call her the walking incubator for virus. Currently, everyone in my family is infected by the deadly thing that my sister had and we all have to refrain from our normal duties and stay in bed. Which hence explains why I have the time write this post. My dad and mum are coughing concurrently right now like how the choir sing in parts. I am sneezing uncontrollably which makes the whole thing look like an orchestra. Except that it is not a symphony of music but of viruses vying to see who gets to create more havoc in its host. And the worst thing is, I have a job interview in less than 2 hours time. How am I to impress with the waking of the virus and the continuous singing of the birds in my head and which I am blinded by my very own tears? I can no longer tell if my sentences make sense. Excuse me, I think I need to lie down now.