Melboonia Madness

Diabetes in Winter

2009-05-31T23:30:00.013+10:00

It's the last hour before Winter in Melbourne and there's nothing much afoot other than the first of the term-end assignments are due tomorrow. Ron and I have been slaving away in the library for the past two days working on it. Well mostly working on it, if you disregard the fact that we generally turn up late and then spend some time looking for an empty spot. Which was virtually impossible.

So we decided to be a little innovative and dragged a table to a free powerpoint. We ended up blocking the end of one of the aisles, but hell, I guess if they can't walk around us they can backtrack or skip an aisle or something.

It's kinda easier to get work done in the library, where there seems to be less distractions. Plus there's someone to bounce ideas off in person, rather than dodgy MSN.

Janice asked Ron to pass me a piece of cake the first day.

She's been baking since school term ended/apparently, oblivious to the coming exams. Anyway, I reckon it looks more like a cupcake than an actual cake. Tastes like one too. Cloyingly sweet.

The type of thing little kids love. Ron's going to get diabetes one day soon if he isn't careful haha.

Oh and the Indians had some riot down at Flinders Street today. Clogged up the intersection and stuff. Not good news for Australia, especially after the Trujillo racist remarks fiasco. Apparently, they're protesting after two Indian students got stabbed in seperate incidents lately.

I don't quite get it. The Indian government is supposedly concerned too. But it's just two people getting stabbed. Not that I'm saying it's not a terrible thing, but what's racist about it? How many Caucasians and other Asians get stabbed in Australia? If you're talking about getting rid of racism, why even bring it up? It's okay as long as it's other races getting stabbed? Probably not what they were trying to bring across with the protests that later turned ugly, but you have to wonder.

In a perfect world, the message that would be emphasized to the State Government wouldn't be "Stop those racist gangster pricks stabbing us Indian students" but rather "Stop all stabbing incidents. Get dangerous weapon off our streets and crack down on unruly louts."

Do you see the difference?

You could do much worse than picket lines

2009-05-22T17:14:00.008+10:00

Most classes at University were cancelled yesterday due to the union calling a state wide strike at Victorian universities to ask for better working conditions. Something you don't see every day I'm sure. Your lecturers and tutors setting up picket lines at the entrances and trying to stop you from entering the premises.

But of course there were some exceptions from those who were not part of the Union. My Social Relations class was cancelled and then resurrected on the staircase landing in an impromptu session. The picket lines were easily breached by some brave souls but others were left to find alternative ways in besides the woefully undermanned pickets. I reckon some lecturers chose to stay home in a warm bed rather then stand out in the cold with flags and signs.

So why did my class go on? Well besides the fact that he wasn't a part of the Union (though he supports what they're doing), he's a Singaporean undergraduate. Never underestimate the kiasu attitude lol. You know, I reckon if they tried something like this back home, they'd probably all get shot by the MOE.

So the pickets were there the whole morning till they moved to the front of the State Library at 1pm. For once, there was a half decent rally at the venue. For once, the speakers were all very well spoken (well what did you expect). For once, someone climbed the statue and planted a flag. After weeks of hearing half hearted protests from Burmese monks and Sri Lankan immigrants and what have you, this was a properly planned rally.

Then again, that's all there was. There wasn't any media coverage and the newspapers today didn't even mention it. Makes you wonder if all the fuss was worth it, when even the Zombie Shuffle got a mention in the papers.

So after the makeshift lesson (one tutor, five students), I headed off to lunch at Dessert Placewith Ron, Li Shun and Lynette, where we basically crapped about fitness first, abs of steel, malaysians vs singaporeans, assignments, french toast and cookies. Fun times eh.

One more week of classes to go.

Tim's 21st

2009-05-20T23:55:00.006+10:00

If you've ever got a spare 20 bucks and want to find somewhere to eat, you'd do well to skip the buffet at Crown.

Was Timothy's birthday today (after Melissa had broken the news the day before) and we were going out to celebrate. After considering Sofia's at Camberwell, he'd decided the number of people turning out didn't warrant the trip out of the city, so Crown it was.

After a day spent considering what to get him for a present, I made a mad dash to Reader's Feast after Philosophy. Made it with 10 minutes to go and got him the only copy of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. Why that particular book? Well, because this silly Man U fan had been taunting me for the past week hehe.

Bought a daily metcard at the 7 Eleven and then met up to take a tram to Flinders, and then a walk down the Yarra to Crown where we were met with a huge bunch of his friends who filtered in one after another. Singaporeans, Malaysians, Indonesians. A huge eclectic bunch that seemed to know one another pretty well.

The food though left much to be desired. There was plenty of choice of course, but I think they added MSG to much of it. I was drinking glass after glass of ice water and was full in no time at all. And oh drinks other than water were not included in the buffet price. Sneaky eh?

Anyway, Tim's face got a bit red after a few flutes of champagne, but then again you don't turn 21 everyday do you? I remember mine, cradling my M16 on top of a tower somewhere in Singapore ;)

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T14:07:00.003+10:00

You know something is up when your mum asks you if there are any shopping promotions going on in Melbourne, as she mine did a few days ago.

"What for, mum?"

It was a not so subtle hint that Mother's Day was upon us.

"I'm not sure if they celebrate it over there..."

As I assured her that yes, last I checked, Mother's Day was a western concept, and no I hadn't noticed any unusual promotions, besides the cohortations to just buy your mother a gift card to splurge at some warehouse on TV.

Well whether it's breakfast in bed for your mum, or a card, or a surprise trip to a swanky restaurant, do make her feel appreciated! And remember, you could always do worse.

Brains!

2009-05-09T14:09:00.008+10:00

What's there to detract from boring assignments and tedious deadlines? Well what about raving zombie hoards?

Yepp, you heard that right. I was alerted by unearthly growls and moaning from downstairs. "Brains... Brains... Gwaarrrh!"

Turns out it's the Melbourne Zombie Shuffle 2009, and the zombie hoards are moving down Swanston Street. Figures a zombie walk would have something to do with Social Relations wouldn't it? I mean, organized public gathering in an urban centre? Go figure.

Anyway, I grabbed a camera and was down on the street within minutes. Braving the deathless stares and blood flecked teeth, I was soon amongst their midst and snapping away.

And in case you're wondering, no I didn't get bitten. There's already the swine flu epidemic to worry about other than contagious zombie rabies or whatever they're spreading.

Here's a few shots for those of you who weren't there.

Zombies petition labour for equal rights.

Think we might get a better view up here, Fred?

It's just a bad hair day, I swear!

Figures even zombies have to wait for the lights...

Snip

2009-05-03T13:40:00.003+10:00

It's not everyday that you hear bagpipes playing Waltzing Matilda in the street below. Which is exactly what's happening at the moment. The past two weeks have passed in a mad blur, reeling and punch-drunk. The weekend's probably a good time to catch your breath as you prepare for more assaults in the coming week. Anyway, what's new?

Well, got a brand new haircut anyway, a cheap $10 at Best Cuts along Elizabeth Street. And for that amount of money, I got a gawdawful haircut. Short back and sides, well you don't need a picture do you? I've got one but I think it'd be sensible not to post it. My sister would probably spit her cereal all over her laptop screen (doesn't matter which part of the day it is, her breakfast can last her till midnight).

So anyway, back to the haircut. The woman cutting it was surely no expert. How do I know? Well, for one she'd dig the shaver into my air and when it caught, she'd yank it out again. It felt as though she was physically ripping the hair out but I think you're not supposed to yell, so I didn't. Her pair of scissors musn't have been too long either. She'd grab a tuff of hair and take a few slow snips to cut them off. Maybe she was using a pair of toe clippers. I've no idea. I didn't have my spectacles on.

300 Words

2009-04-24T09:40:00.001+10:00

A piece I did on Popmundo... Real life's gonna be that much harder.

The flickering pink neon sign of Club 74 creaks as the wind picks up, then dies down again. The lone bouncer at the back entrance pulls his coat tighter around his ample girth.

Everyone's entering by the front, but occasionally someone wanders by.

Get past the bouncer and step in through the door, and you're soon lost in the maze of passages that run backstage.

In a dingy dressing room, looking very much at odds with the fittings, is Audrey Page, all 5 feet 6 of her.

She’s far from home and her children, and it’s almost Christmas.

Technicians and backup singers rush past the open door, but no one gives her a second look.

Why should they? They know her simply as Audacity.

We’re in downtown Berlin and in these parts, everyone has a story, so few stop to listen. No one is here by choice, most can’t wait to leave.

Audrey was married once, to a 20 stone bruiser by the name of Harley. The attraction died two weeks after the ceremony. She stayed for 7 more years.

Then one night, she’d had enough.

Enough of his whoring and boozing ways. Enough of his indifferent attitude and abusive behaviour. Enough of all that crap.

She packed her eight kids into the truck and drove off into the night. Turned on to the freeway and just drove on and on. Never stopped, never looked back. Till they ran out of gas. Then they hitchhiked.

It’s been more than 3 years to the day. Now she fights hard to make a living. For her kids, for herself.

Backstage, she’s Audrey who puts on a brave front and misses her children.

But when the lights come on and the bass kicks in, she’s Audacity, all 5 foot 6 of punk ‘tude.

Pickles

2009-04-23T18:22:00.005+10:00

It's been one hectic week, but there's one final hurdle to cross before the week officially draws to a close and I can start preparing for next week's assignments. Been having irregular sleeping hours of late as I've been forced to churn out work right before the deadlines. It's like they lull you into a relaxed state of mind with the Easter Break, then they hit you... hard.

Had to hand in my Social Relations Assignment on Monday a 5pm. I only got it done at 8am, then handed it up and went to sleep. Searching for secondary sources can be hard, and when they insist on academic texts, it can be a bitch. I don't know how many dead links and useless stuff I went through. And I don't see the point of putting the names of articles on Informit, only to inform me (ha!) that it's not in the database. Newspaper article headings on Mediascan are pointless too.

They had this video archive presentation on Tuesday. A total waste of time. Could have skipped that to do something else and wouldn't have missed anything important. They were like "Oh our archive in Canberra has all these videos." And they showed us quite a few clips. Then the one hour lecture was up. Interesting, but quite useless.

There was a PR test on Wednesday morning at 9.30am. Studied hard for it on Tuesday but it was a total letdown. Not that it was really difficult, but rather too easy. I think we all overestimated it. I think I got two questions wrong, but no biggie, the rest were correct I believe. 18/20 is fine with me. Good thing was, we were free to go after the test, which gave me 2 hours before the Philosophy lecture. Gotta love stuff like that.

Today was the Social Relations presentation at 10.30am. We were supposed to do a slideshow on our previous assignment that we had handed in on Monday. I worked till around 4am before going to bed. Woke at 9.45am, rushed out some notes to read from then headed over to class. The class was supposed to write feedback for the various presentations and most told me I spoke too fast. Sorry lah. My Engrish presentation skill very the lau pok. But then again, I thought the point was to provide feedback on the material, not the presentation? Quite a few pieces said they thought that my research into the secondary sources was very indepth. Perhaps my hour poring over the sources weren't in vain. Then again, I'd done it from 1-5am on a Monday morning, so it wasn't really indepth, more a case of being able to find the correct points in an article and twisting it to my needs. My favourite comment? Just two words on the A4 sheet of paper: "Very vague." Oh the irony, I expect you're talking about your own comment there haha.

So after it was done, we trooped up to the gallery up in Collins Street to take a look at photographs of Melbourne done by Mark Strizic. Alvin Ang (our tutor) made it sound like it was his own idea to bring us up on an impromptu field trip to see something he'd found in his own personal time, but when we came out of the exhibition... lo and behold, another Social Relations class with their tutor haha.

After that, went out for lunch at Chomp Chomp with Ron and Lynette and two others (can't remember names yet, sorry!). The place serves Singaporean food and you know it's a good sign when they actually spell the dish names correctly and there's no mention of "Singaporean fried rice". I tried the Hainanese Chicken Rice Dish (A$7.80) an Iced Milo. The girls have been here for more than a year since they attended Trinity and they said they came here a lot then. One had the Chicken Rice too, while Lynette had the Tom Yum and Vegetable Soup with Noodles (huge bowl, huge serving, lots of soup). Boy from Thailand (He who wrote the "too vague" comment, can't remember name :P) ordered BBQ Pork with rice. But I think they took the "Char" in Char Siew a bit too literally. Ron got the Claypot dish. Food wasn't bad and my Iced Milo turned out to be a Milo Dinosaur. Really filling even though the portion didn't look all that large. A few of them didn't finish. Ron still owes me A$13.80 (Note to self too hehe). Lynette says they only sell Milo in Asian groceries. That's why I haven't been able to find 'em. She also says they're pretty expensive. Meh.

After brunch, it was time to head back home. Feeling pretty tired already and crashed on the bed once I'd reached the apartment. Dreamed of dead babies in jars, lined up on shelves. Now what does that mean?

Wake up Freddy, I think we're back on Elm Street

2009-04-20T08:05:00.005+10:00

More weather reports yes. That's either a sign that I'm too busy or that there's absolutely nothing else to talk about. Anyway I ~~got up today~~ looked out of the window today to see that a thick fog had decended over the city centre. I hadn't slept a jot while working on the Social Relations assignment and it's infernal bibilography all through the night so I had to get away from the laptop screen. I pulled out my camera, went downstairs and snapped off a few shots. Luckily, I'd bundled myself in a few layers (still sans hot shower you see) but I could see my breath for the first time since arriving in Melbourne. Cold. Everyone around me was huddling deep into their sweaters and hugging bags close to them. Cars had turned on their hazard lights as they made their way around still-empty streets. Pigeons flocked around the green lawn in front of the State Library as the fog visibly moved in and settled. More pictures after the jump.

Assignment is due at 5pm. Thankfully I'm almost done. One down, plenty more to go. I need my sleep!!!

Panic Button Engaged

2009-04-18T12:46:00.012+10:00

Saturday 12:45pm. Deadlines approaching. Too many assignments jostling for your attention. What's there to do? Time to knuckle down.

I'm at Swanston Library now, as I was yesterday, attempting to grapple with the beast that's Social Relations. The trouble's gotta be with the secondary sources. At least one academic source each? That's tough. I'll update you as I go along.

12: 50. I've chosen a deserted corner of the library, second floor. There's a spacious table and a powerpoint. Library seems to be less crowded today. People probably stay away on the weekends. The place closes at 5. I've gotta get this done. No one's around here at the moment. Just how I like it.

13.30 Enter Ron Yap. Back from the vet. Apparently the dog and girlfriend takes precedence over a fast-due assignment. He's even further behind then me. At least I can snigger at his progress and make myself feel better. The going is pretty slow at the moment.

16.30 One article done! Two more to go. I don't know whether to laugh or to cry. But at least what's done looks pretty impressive. Now I just need to replicate it twice more. Too bad the library's closing. Think I'll head back to the apartment.

Turnaround, 2mins.

2009-04-15T22:04:00.004+10:00

Anyone lulled into believing that the past two days of warm sunny mild weather meant T-shirts and shorts for the rest of the week was in for a shock today as the cold front moved in. I went out around noon and the it was right chilly. Blustery, cold day. The wind was whipping past you, pressing your clothes into your skin, reaching chilly fingers out to you and raising goosebumps on your skin. It was nice weather for a short walk but by the time I'd reached the University grounds, my fingers were frozen. 9-20 degrees tomorrow. Better put on an extra layer. Break's over and it's time for classes again. Assignment deadlines coming straight up. Just the way you like it.

London Below

2009-04-10T23:13:00.002+10:00

And when you fall through the cracks
into a world you've never been
it's a whole new beginning
in a weird brand new skin

No one knows where it'll end
this unwelcome journey just began
but I'll warn you first and foremost
you'll learn pretty quick to be a man

For you fall through the cracks
into London Below
welcome to the darkness my friend
where the days come and go but never end

You'll confront your worst fears
those of a man you hardly knew
he was you once and young
but your memories are hazy and few

If you fall through the cracks
and hope is but a distant thought
remember my words
run and don't ever get caught

Comments Section Fixed!

2009-04-10T15:15:00.006+10:00

Yepp you read it right. Finally, you can post whatever's on your mind under each new post, thanks to Chris, who spent the early part of Good Friday grinding his teeth on the html code.

Oh and I took this some time ago but forgot to post it up. Busy eh, some things slip my mind. Anyway Ron got a haircut. More of a trim actually, courtesy of his girl friend. Yes, he actually allowed Janice to take a pair of scissors to his hair. So the first time I saw him with his new look was when was on the way to University to hand up an assigment.

He was wearing a Ronaldo jersey and I was like "Hey man! Wrong jersey lah. You need Park Ji Sung's." The resemblance is striking I swear, take a look!

<- Park Ji Sung

Yap Chee King ->

If She Returns In Kind

2009-04-08T00:33:00.004+10:00

This place looks really unfamiliar... Haha. I know I haven't been on here for a few days now, but I've been really busy with the last assignment. Not so much working on it, then just generally feeling lazy. The night after I'd handed it up, it was as though there was all this pent up energy released, I was literally bouncing off the walls.

It's been pretty cold again since it rained on Friday. Funny how we complain it's too hot when the temperatures are high and then yearn for the cold when it turns chilly. I feel the best weather is when it's cold and the sun is shining on you. Bliss.

Anyway a strange thing happened that day. I was taking the lift up to my apartment on the eighth floor and wasn't really paying attention. Then the lift door opened. I glanced up at the display and it showed the 7th floor. Ok. I didn't press the 7th floor did I? I noticed that the light on the control panel had gone out, so this was the floor that I had chosen and it wasn't a case of someone outside wanting to get in. Hmm, did I accidentally press the wrong floor? I peered out and did a double take. Wait a minute, this is the 8th floor!

They have these paintings hanging directly opposite the lift doors you see, and it's a different pair for every level and I notice the pair in front of me as those on the 8th floor (I think they're quite ugly. There are better ones on other levels. Maybe I'll swap them one day just for laughs). So there I am, hesitating and wondering what the hell is going on. Another quick look at the lift floor display. Yepp, no mistake, 7th floor. Looked out again, the sign says "Level 8". Weird. There was this surreal moment when I decided if it was a good idea to step out or simply stay in the lift. In the end, I gave in and walked out and the lift doors closed on me. Maybe I watch too much Asian horror movies. You know, when the lift opens on another dimension? I blame you, Deborah for mentioning that the lifts here are haunted. *cue horror theme*

Today wasn't all that great a day to be honest. Lucinda put up the Nick D profile as one of her examples during the lecture and rewrote a section of it. I admit that I loved the rewrite. Might have done the same if I had Nick answering any questions I had while I was writing it or if I had a longer time to interview him (I mean, his friends' names? I'd taken so much creative license in writing the piece that I was hesitant to give them fake names ahaha). And the tutorial wasn't much better. I got back my personal column piece, which Lucinda said was too long and clunky and needed some work which I totally agree with her. I know it's not one of my best pieces but at least it's a draft. Darius got quite a good review, nice one. Though I'm not sure if he didn't divulge any military secrets he shouldn't have hehe. I'm sure he doesn't want to be deported and dragged back to Singapore. Oh and there was this new girl in class today, sitting quietly in a corner, small and mousy. I guess Lucinda making us repeat everyone's name over and over again at the start of term had an effect. I can spot an outsider at ten paces.

Oh and Easter Break is coming up. The last of lessons are tomorrow, then we have a one week break. Anyone doing anything interesting then?

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry

2009-04-03T23:06:00.003+11:00

The rainfront finally broke through this morning. Rain had been promised since the start of the week, and rain came finally. Delayed but certainly welcome.

I think it's the first time I've heard thunder in Melbourne. Sure, there've been small showers from time to time, but nothing like real rain. As I made my way to RMIT at noon, it felt good to be in the cold again. The rain fell softly, pelting against my skin as I waited for the lights to change. People were shivering as they shuffled on the sidewalk, blowing into palms held close to their face, burrowing deeper into warm lined jackets. I was wearing just a thin shirt and berms, but I smiled at the rain and walked on.

Professional Writing Assignment: Profile

2009-04-02T23:31:00.003+11:00

Interview your subject, then write a short profile on him or her. Make sure there is a good angle and an engaging opening.

When the clock on the mantelpiece struck nine every morning, young Nick D would pick up his backpack, kiss his mum goodbye and step out the front door. As he skipped down the front yard and out of the gate, Nick would glance up the street and sure enough, two small forms would be seen turning the corner and trotting down the sidewalk. The three would exchange exuberant high fives in the way only five year old boys would and by the time they reached the school at the end of the street, they would number six. The year was 1994 and Nick was enrolled in the local primary school in Camberwell.

Over the next seven years, the surrounding area changed. Parks sprung up as houses were torn down and rebuilt. Front lawns bloomed with flowers while backyards started getting a little cluttered, but for the six fast friends, the morning ritual remained intact. They would meet up in the parks over the weekends, hanging out among the swings in the playgrounds, without a care in the world besides the next episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Then came the teenage years, when a trip to high school meant taking the public transport every morning. But some things remain the same, and when Nick boarded the bus, he knew he’d see those familiar faces he’d been seeing more than half his life. Hanging out in the parks gave way to crashing out at each other’s houses, while the TV shows lost out to Indy Rock tunes played at full volume.

Nick said he never gave much thought to whether they’d ever drift apart. It was just the sort of playground friendship that is often formed over a love of baseball or perhaps a shared passion for practical jokes. But stay together they did, and when fifteen year old Nick found a job working aisles at Target and the supervisor put out an advert for more employees, it was only natural that he roped in his mates.

Now twenty and studying at RMIT, Nick acknowledges that it has become harder to meet up. But still the six young men try their best, taking time out to bond over drinks at St Kilda’s every Saturday night. While the talk might turn to career opportunities or girls, some things never change. For if you squint really hard and forget where you are for a moment, you might just make out six little boys swapping Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cards over cans of Cola.

Tutor's comments:
hi zee, this has a good angle and it is great how it runs throughout the whole profile. What it is missing is a nut par at the top which directs readers to the point of the piece early on. Some of the language is a bit wordy too you could be more concise and I will go through this in the lecture next week and give you some tips on how to edit.

The second paragraph has some good C+A sentence structure(see Power Prose chapter 2): Over the next seven years, the surrounding area changed. Parks sprung up as houses were torn down and rebuilt. Front lawns bloomed with flowers while backyards started getting a little cluttered. But for the six fast friends, the morning ritual remained intact. They would meet up in the parks over the weekends, hanging out among the swings in the playgrounds, without a care in the world besides the next episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. THIS IS GOOD GRAMMAR.

FYI: I didn't really read Power Prose Chapter 2 :P

Yes!

2009-04-02T22:33:00.003+11:00

I think I'm quite at ease in Melbourne. Sure, most things are still foreign, and some will probably continue staying so for awhile. But hell yeah, it's one big new experience. So how's classes so far? Hmm. Tough question. I love Professional Writing, I'm cool with Social Relations, kinda bored with Public Relations, and can't get my head around Philosophy sometimes.

Assignments and deadlines are just making their entrances. It's been awhile since I've had to face up to such things. I remember back in Primary School, I was simply horrible at handing up homework. Back then, those occasions when I was supposed to hand 'em up were the most unbearable of all. And yet, I still continued missing deadlines. There's something about me and procrastination, even at such a young age.

So far, it's been okay. One informal Social Relations first draft handed in (an easy do it right and you pass). There's some kind of MCQ test for PR after the Easter Break (gotta love 7 days of freedom out of nowhere), while PW has a first draft of a personal column (more on that later) due this Monday which is really soon. I'm sure I'll start panicking sometime in the near future. Social Relations requires a short assignment as a follow up to the first. Well, we thought it was short. 200 words each for three communication articles, how hard can it be? I mean it's not that long, is it? Wrong. We're supposed to add on 400 words of annotated bibliography. For each article. Yepp, the biblio' is longer than the actual article. Simply amazing.

Philosophy is the kicker. I'm supposed to be doing a presentation before the tutorial group sometime in Week 8, on this chap named Derrida. Apparently, he's some French postmodern philosopher (who didn't like being named so according to his wiki) and as far as I can tell, he came up with something called "Deconstruction". No it's not the process of tearing a building down. Har har. That's all I can tell you so far, because everytime I make up my mind to sit down and actually do some research, I read a few sentences and then fall asleep. True story.

Oh. And just the last lecture, we got handed an innocent white sheet of paper. I mean, all the lecture notes and readings handed out in Philosophy lectures are in yellow sheets, so this was something different. How true. It listed out all the essay questions we could choose from. Deadline? 23rd April. Thanks everybody, 3 weeks to write 1200-1500 words on something I have absolutely no idea about. Yay?

So back to the personal column. What am I going to write about? Hmm, I mentioned my first trip on a Melbourne train that day in practical on a lark and everybody just presumed I'd be writing about that for my column. Apparently, it sounds interesting and really informative. Not really though. So to save my bacon, this Saturday, I'll be taking the train to nowhere in particular. I'll just board it and go whizzing about, taking notes and snapping pictures and hopefully I'll find my way home full of new ideas.

Or maybe I'll end up in Bundoora at the stroke of midnight, lost and hungry.

Time really flashes pass. I think it was just awhile ago when I was marvelling at how I'd been in this country for a month. Well guess what? It's now a month and a half, we're in April. I was just moaning about the start of the schoolweek and now it's the weekend. It's like life's in fast forward or something.

They had this movie screening downstairs tonight showing Jim Carey's Yes Man. And of course I said Yes to it (Lame, I know but can't resist). Someone remarked that Zooey Deschanel kinda looks like Meg Ryan. Speaking of which, what happened to Meg Ryan?

P.S Just got feedback from the tutor for my personal profile first draft submission! Been waiting for weeks :) I'll post the whole thing after this.

Vroom Vroom

2009-03-31T23:10:00.024+11:00

Yes this is delayed post. Was burnt out on Sunday night after spending the day at Albert Park, and of course the net was down on Monday. It's still really slow right now but what can you do?

So how was Sunday? Besides being intolerably hot of course. I'm guessing Mother Nature finally decided to give us some weather she'd been holding back from Summer. I'm not laughing. I want my cold weather back. Now.

Back to Sunday. No one from RMIT was in any bit keen to leg it over to watch the race, so it was just Johnny and his harem coming down from one Monash campus, and Shawn from another. Oh and for those out there who know and love Johnny, he's in good hands. Apparently the girls have been feeding him regularly so he's nice and plump. So as promised here he is with his new haircut from hell.

Oops a little too slow. Nevermind I'll just...

catch him unawares :D

So off we went to the track, 5 of us in total (excluding Shawn who was already there). Johnny and the girls (who insists on calling him 'JohnJohn' and go into excited giggles whenever I call him Johnny). Sarah, Nancy and HuiTing. Yepp I think I got the names right. Had to double check at the end. I was never good at names.

Albert Park was packed and most people had come prepared with beach chairs and picnic mats. The early birds were clustered at choice spots beside the track and we were lucky to find a spot on a slight hill across from the decidedly small Jumbotron screen.

Of course there were some who were more interested in taking a nap on the grass in the sun rather than staring out at the track but with the temperature as it was, who could blame them? Besides, the real action wasn't starting till 5pm and it was barely 2pm when we reached. The girls went off in search of refreshment while Shawn and Johnny seemed more interested in finding some pit babes and grid girls to snap photos with. Of course with Johnny, that refers to taking photos with babe in picture, while with Shawn, it's more a matter of snapping them unawares. I shan't elaborate heh.

With the temperature showing no sign of abating, a walk around Albert Park was on the cards. There's this lake right smack in the middle of the grounds and they'd erected a long pontoon bridge right across it. It consisted of floating plastic blocks that were fun to bounce on. So you could practically bounce/flounce your way across. On the other side were lots and lots of cars on display. From modern Lamborghinis and Ferraris to classic hotrods, they had it all. In fact, I noticed a vintage car being driven back on the roads after the race so that was really something.

Shawn was basically taking pictures of every single car. His reasoning? He'd borrowed the camera off a friend so he was going to make good use of it. And what do you do with a hundred pictures of different cars, I wonder. He's not exactly a car nut. Here are a few anyway just to let you guys have an idea of what was going on there.

The racing wasn't bad in general. It was just so lopsided. There was Jenson Button, racing away at every opportunity and then the rest of the field fighting among themselves. Sure there were one or two safety car deployments which forced the field to bunch up again but once the yellow flags were retrieved, off Button went again. Webber, once again was terribly unlucky in his home race, Barrichello extremely fortunate to be invoved in two accidents and yet fare better that the other cars he was involved with, and Hamilton driving really lousily in a car that was not up to scratch but yet still snagging third place. Unbelievable.

There was much talk before the race about this being a twilight event, but honestly that probably only came into play in the last two laps or so and it wasn't too much of a different spectacle really. Though it did make for some really nice photos.

Near the end, the Jumbotron was warning people not to spill onto the track while the cars were still racing. Why anyone would even consider doing such a stupid thing, I have no idea. But once the cars were past the chequered flag and Button had driven past on his victory lap, everyone made a beeline for the track.

I saw some dudes bending down to pick up pebbles and hastily shoving them in the side of backpacks as souvenirs but nothing topped a particular guy who probably decided to go for broke. Here he is on the left. Brazen eh? Me, I took a simple photo on the track as a memento. Nothing too drastic unlike Johnny who was photographed kissing the track. Shawn and Nancy got left behind but that story's probably for another day's telling.

Melbourne Grand Prix '09

Stop. Smell the roses.

2009-03-31T09:44:00.003+11:00

My Internet connection went belly up last night. No amount of cursing and swearing could bring it back to life. It only came back on at 9am this morning while some irate student was downstairs at the reception demanding an explanation from the manager.

F1 pictures and more later. If the connection doesn't go into death spasms again that is.

And yes I know the comments section isn't working. I'm still fixing that. But at least it's stopped my mom and my sis from posting embarrassing messages. Some good out of it huh?

Around Town

2009-03-28T20:40:00.003+11:00

Before today, the Melbourne public transport system had been a total mystery to me. Metcard? Validation? Tram? Train? Buses? I mean, the closest I came to it was taking the City Circle Tram around town. And when I say around town, I mean exactly that. For the uninitiated, the City Circle Tram does a whole circuit around the CBD and it's absolutely free. So all I do is hop on and hop off. Absolutely hassle free if you don't mind the eclectic mix of nationalities on board (and an almost equal kid to adult ratio) plus irritating touristy commentary along the way.

Today, I took a leap into the unknown. I bought a 5 x weekend daily metcard and ventured into the depths of the Melbourne Central station. I've been around Melbourne Central countless times, but mostly aboveground in the shopping arcade. The station and what it held within was virtually the unknown (wait I've used that word twice already, haven't I? One of my shortcomings I'm afraid. I'll have to work on it. Then again, can you think of another word for unknown?).

So needless to say, it went well. I didn't get lost in Geelong or Porepunkah (saw that in the Herald Sun ha!). I made it to where I wanted to go. Southern Cross. Yes, the DFO. I know how I've probably been there like 3 or 4 times already but I don't know. I feel like I've been wearing the same outfit every week. I can't even switch it around much. There's about like three different combinations. Plus I have to do the laundry ever so often. It's a bleeding waste of time and money (2hours, $7).

The trains look spacious! Even though there's more seating than on the MRT back home. Of course the carriages are longer and stuff. But I haven't seen rush hour either. I took the train after lunch hour on a weekend. So passengers were at a premium. The train from Melbourne Central was cool, clean and comfortable. When the train reached Southern Cross (one stop. Yay for laziness!), I stood in front of the doors waiting for it to open. The girl beside me sniffed in disgust, reached over and pressed the button to open them. What? We have to open our own doors here? At least now I know.

On the way back, the tram was stuffy, dirty and uncomfortable. Probably the older model. It was definitely more crowded too as we passed Flinders and then Parliament. And there was no button on the exit doors! I started panicking until I noticed that there was a handle. Oh, so this one opens by brute strength. Got it. Or so I thought. When the train pulled in to Melbourne Central, I got up and strode confidently to the doors, gave it an almighty yank and then watch horrified as it banged against the sides and almost rebounded. Oops. Cue hurried exit and fast trot to the escalators.

On the walk back to the apartment, I felt a twinge in my left ankle. Apparently, I'd sprained it somewhere on the journey back. It felt so... uncomfortable. I didn't think it was something that'd just go away, something that could be simply walked off. I needed an ankle brace, but I'd left mine at home. What to do? After some painful pacing around the apartment trying to make it go away, I decided to walk across the street to QV to see if they had any. Most of the shop were closed but Safeway and Big W were still open. And guess what? They don't stock any. IGM on the other side of the street didn't have any either. Then while moping back to the apartment, I realised I was walking normally. The sprain was gone! I'd walked it off. Glad the trip was worthwhile after all, except not in any way I'd imagined.

I've been toying with getting restarted with a novel again. I've always held back, thinking ahh I'll do it when I have time. Besides, no one's going to publish it. You know how they say that like 99% of scripts don't even get read. But I'm close to 22 now and I haven't even tried. I know I can write, and yet there's still nothing. Apart from bits and pieces all over the net of course. And mostly inconsequential stuff, the sort of thing people read and then forget about. Of course, it's nice to receive good feedback at time, like girls writing to say how you should have warned them they'd need tissues or guys... wait a minute. The guys don't write haha! They just tell you you're a good writer. Bad for my ego. It just makes my head swell without any constructive advice.

Back to the present, Raceday at Albert Park tomorrow! Was watching qualifying today while chatting to Johnny on MSN today. Brawn looks really really strong. I'm astonished by the McLarens' horrible showing and rooting for "Titanium man" Mark Webber. But Johnny is right. If the promoters mention "First ever twilight race" one more time, I'm going to stick my finger down my throat. Honestly. Maybe they're hoping to lure unsuspecting fangirls who think that it's some movie spinoff.

Pictures in tomorrow once I get back. Pictures of the race of course, and exclusives of Johnny's horrible buzzcut.

Food Diary: Dumplings Plus

2009-03-28T00:46:00.003+11:00

Where: 271 Swanston Street

Cuisine: Chinese

Ordered: Lemon Chicken on Rice

Cost: AU$8.80

Review: It looked good at first glance. The presentation looked delicious. A generous white portion of rice rimmed with a crispy looking chicken cutlet with a dollop of lemon sauce on it. It all went wrong when I tucked in. The rice was too starchy for one thing, and the sauce was a bit too sticky and too sweet. I took a sip of my ice chocolate (AU$3.80). Not the best I'd tasted but still good, with a serving of vanilla ice cream floating on top. Bit sweet though. Took another bite of the chicken. Could still taste the artificial sweetness. Maybe a bit of ice cream would help to dull the taste a little. No luck. That has got to be pretty sweet! At least I was full when it was done though. A return trip? Maybe to try out one of the other dishes.

Ratings (Out of 10)

[I'd realised the old system that rated the places out of 5 was doing little to distinguish between good and bad hence the change.]

Service: 5

Nothing special. Staff a bit hesitant when customers approach.

Ambience: 5

Dark and with lots of antique looking furniture. I took a seat facing outside and the cold draught blew in through the wide open doors. I realise they've switched on the lights in the picture above, but that was taken some hours later when it was nearer to the evening.

Taste: 4

Poor lemon chicken sauce. Had to use the rice to soak up all the sauce so it wouldn't be too sweet.

Weekend Wallies

2009-03-27T00:33:00.005+11:00

It's past midnight and the wallies down the hall are still making lots of noise. I can hear banging on tables and racuous cheers. Sound like they're having fun in there. What happened to the notice from management talking about how there should be total silence after 10pm? Ignored apparently, just like the one about how you should dispose of your rubbish properly. Ha!

The light bulb in the corridor outside is flickering madly too. I'm sure it does wonders for the ambience of the place. Fits in well with what Deborah was going on that day. I told her I was staying at Unilodge at Swanston and she was like, "Woah! Isn't that the haunted place? You know it's haunted don't you?" Thanks like I really wanted to know.

Apparently, she claims that people have reported voices in the lift. And even screaming when you're all alone in them at night. Strange, I've never experienced that. And you think I would have noticed if someone struck up some kind of intelligent conversation with me while we're riding the lift down. How much can you talk about in less than a minute? Hi, bye and then the weather? I'm outta here, man. Then again, I'm usually too preoccupied with the musty smell. You know, the various places in the apartment have their own unique smells. The hallways smells differently from the lift, for example. I'm not entirely convinced that the pong from the time they had to clean up vomit outside my door has cleared.

So today was the end of another school week at RMIT. Time flies doesn't it? Just wonderful. More assignments, essays and presentations coming up probably. I handed in my first today for Social Relations. All you needed to get a pass grade was to have 6 pictures in there. Maybe there's someone who failed Math.

So there I was, gleefully considering all the meaningful ways I could spend the rest of my day. Then I get back to the apartment, put down my stuff, lie down for a snooze and next thing I know, it's 6pm. Bleagh. And I've just realised that I missed lunch as a result.

So all I got to do for the day was some groceries. Oh and I picked up a weighing scale on my way back. It's official. I've lost 3kg since I touched down in Melbourne. More gym trips for me then. I promise to visit tomorrow. Really, I do.

P.S Those selfish bastards down the hall are still making a hell of racket. Anyone know any contract killers in Melbourne?

“I believe that whatever doesn’t kill you only makes you . . . stranger.”

2009-03-25T22:15:00.003+11:00

Yum! That was a great dinner :D

Wednesday was tough once again as usual. There's something about a PR-Philosophy 6 hour combo that scrambles the brain pretty good. Had planned to head over and check out the drinks session at the Oxford Scholar in the evening. But by the time Brana, Melissa, Erni and I had reached the pub, there was only a little beer left on the tab. Lucinda offered clean glasses but we decided to just head for dinner instead. Erni took a tram home and the remaining three of us moved on to Lygon Street.

We sat down at Universal and was soon tucking in to some pizza and pasta. The pizza was substandard I think. We did agree the crust was unsatisfactory. But the pasta was heaven. For a non-pasta eating dude like me, this was indeed a surprise. Melissa's been a vegatarian for more than half a decade but was soon piling on bacon pasta on her plate. Hard to resist definitely :D We'd ordered a trio pasta, and I'd chosen Universal (Bacon and cream cheese). Absolutely delicious.

A scoop of ice cream and a walk in the park later, I pushed my stomach in front of me and dragged myself home. Last lesson of the week tomorrow morning. My assignment needs handing up.

Grecian Fare

2009-03-22T22:05:00.006+11:00

I stepped out of the apartment today to get some lunch. Was supposed to be a quick break before I went back to studying and finishing up some assignments. But when I reached the corner of Swanston and Lonsdale, I could hear children shrieking. And no it wasn't a holdup in a candy store.

It was as I later found out from some ladies setting up a stall, the Antipodes Greek Festival. Greek food and performances lined Lonsdale Street, of which a huge portion had been sealed off.

The Antipodes Greek Festival 2009 was held this weekend on the 21st and 22nd March. Held in Lonsdale Street's Greek prectinct, it aims to bring a touch of Greek culture to Melbourne, allowing its citizens to share in some of the culture and food it is best known for.

Huge crowds were thronging the sidewalks, either enjoying the food or watching the performances. Pictures coming right up!

Food Diary: Yamamizu Japanese Cafe

2009-03-22T21:06:00.004+11:00

Where: 272 Swanston Street

Cuisine: Japanese

Ordered: Katsu Don

Cost: AU$9

Review: Had the urge to try some Japanese fare today and was too lazy to walk far from the apartment. Luckily for me, there are cafes sprinkled down the length of Swanston Street. I stopped to examine the menu outside the store before the waitress came out and offered me a seperate menu of dishes. So I was enticed in. It was around 2pm, and the place was about half full. I got myself an empty table and my order was taken shortly. Besides the dish, I got myself an ice blended chocolate (AU$3.50). Delicious. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about the main course. The taste was uneven, salty at times. The pork was tender but as I mentioned, some bits were too salty while others bland. It was just kinda weird. I guess I'm spoilt in Singapore heh. I didn't finish the rice in the end and it wasn't exactly a huge portion.

Ratings (Out of 5)

Service: 3

Nothing wrong here but then again the waiters weren't exactly busy. They were just standing around and chatting at times.

Ambience: 3

Once again, nothing special. Clean, nondescript.

Taste: 2

I probably wouldn't go back. There are plenty of Japanese cafes along the strip so unless the rest are even worse...

Believe In My God

2009-03-21T17:36:00.003+11:00

I was at QV today having brunch when I was accosted by two men trying to preach about the love of Jesus to me. Honestly, I have no time for these kinds of people but somehow I'm a sucker and they always attempt to save me from eternal damnation in the end. After assuring me they were onl going to take 5 minutes, they got right down to business. "You're going to hell!" the caucasian intoned. Good start. Aren't we all?

So there I was pretending to be interested and wondering if it would be bad form to continue eating in front of them. The Chinese chap was equally animated, "I used to be communist. We didn't believe in Jesus." Right. Perhaps it'd be good to hint at the time, maybe peek at my watch. They'd been here 20mins and my food was getting cold.

I pointed out the fact that the only kinds of people I'd seen preaching in the streets had been Christians. Why aren't the other religions doing so too? "Because they don't believe enough in their god. Because they're too busy saving themselves. We Christians know Jesus died for our sins." Right.

So why choose me of all people? Someone who had spent every Monday for three years in Junior College trying not to fall asleep during service? They had an answer for that too. "Imagine if you see a person burning, wouldn't you try to save him?" I couldn't help but visualise the image of that buddhist monk imolating himself in front of a horrified crowd. You've seen that picture before haven't you?

So on and on they went like a broken record. I tried to offer helpful hints too to make the conversation more interesting. What about the Shroud of Turin, do you think that's real? (It had come up during Philosophy earlier in the week haha) The Chinese guy was sure it was a fake because he'd seen the documentary where scientists had used carbon testing to show it wasn't as old as believed. So if you believe in carbon testing, what about tests showing the world is millions of years old? He was stumped for a moment and then started rambling about 4th and then 5th dimensions. Is this Christianity or Scientology?

I'm quite fine with religion honestly, but I do think we should be allowed to believe what we believe. I'll respect your religion and it's views but don't you think you should respect mine too? I believe in a higher being, a presence, but I don't give it a name. That's my choice.

So I figured since they were such helpful guys, they'd probably be understanding and listen to me too. Since I had been listening to them for close to half an hour on a topic of their choice, I decided it was my turn now.

I brought up more Philosophy stuff (Useful, these things. I didn't realise they'd come in handy). What do you think if I proposed that the day was resetting itself everytime you went to bed. What if you woke up to the same day (Groundhog Day) every day. What if all your memories of the past, all you thought was significant in proving it was a whole new day was placed there by a trickster god?

And what do you guess, they were not amused and not interested in discussing the issue. How rude. The Chinese guy kept telling me that he wanted to talk about Christianity instead and then a third guy came and pulled them away. Phooey.

Nike Town/Malibu Barbie

2009-03-21T10:48:00.003+11:00

What makes a good book? In my opinion, a good book is something you just can't put down, no matter what. It compels you to read from start to finish. They aren't too easy to find. I think the last one I read was Robert Harris' Imperium, which was way back in 2007.

I admit I gave in to temptation yesterday at Reader's Feast and bought some books. I have a few unread ones lying around back in the apartment, but I can't ever say no when I'm in a bookstore somehow. Picked up Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5 and Max Barry's Jennifer Government. Now you've probably heard of the former. It's classic literature and I'm sure anyone who's picked it up nowadays probably did so because they've heard of it. But what about the latter? I doubt you've heard of Max Barry, who's an Aussie writer living in Melbourne. I picked up the book on a whim, flipped through a few pages (not more than 5 seconds worth) and I had already made my decision to buy it.

And here's the kicker. I started reading it last night and didn't put it down. Well not much anyway. I went to bed at around 3am then woke and finished it. I won't say it was brilliant but it was engaging. Now that's good fiction. And that's the reason I pick up strange books in the bookstores everytime, hoping against hope that it'll turn out to be a winner. Most crash before they've even taken off in the first chapter or even the first few pages, but a few gems do make it through.

Try it one day. Stop looking just for books from your favourite authors. Pick up a book that looks interesting. The results may surprise you.

Food Diary: Chatter Box Curry & Noodle Bar

2009-03-20T18:11:00.004+11:00

Where: 18 Tivoli Arcade, off Bourke Street

Cuisine: Asian

Ordered: Crispy Chicken Rice

Cost: AU$8.30

Review: This trip was at Darius' recommendation. He'd been raving about it since the first time I met him. The dish comes with either a maple sauce or curry sauce (if requested). The chicken was crispy and hard, but definitely delicious. The rice, my pet peeve, was warm rather than hot for once. I can see why Darius claims he can eat this every day. I might have to try the Bak Kut Teh (AU$8) that Jolene ordered when she arrived. With tau pok added in a delicious looking soup base, it certainly looks appetising too.

Ratings (Out of 5)

Service: 3
You have to order at the counter from the aunty at the cashier, much like back home. Food arrived within 5 minutes, but I can't be sure because I was discussing something or other with Darius. No fuss dining.

Ambience: 2
It's just like a hawker store, of the kind you can find in Paradiz in Singapore. We took to seating outside, which was shady and when the cold wind blew (Yes Darius did sing the army song lol), it did feel a little chilly.

Taste: 4
Good food finally :D And the price is reasonable too, considering the average price of a meal in Melbourne. I will most likely make a second trip back when the urge strikes me.

Food Diary: Old Town Cafe

2009-03-19T22:17:00.004+11:00

Where: 273 Swanston Street

Cuisine: Asian

Ordered: BBQ Pork with Rice

Cost: AU$8.50

Review: You know how Asian eateries in Melbourne have that steaming hot plate of rice which never seems to cool down no matter how long you leave it on the plate? As if they had microwaved it twice over before serving it to you? This is one of those places. I'd been here previously with my family, back in December 08. I'd remembered that the food was consumable, and it was convenient, so I headed over for Lunch this afternoon. The ground floor was relatively full, but not overly so. Service was quick and prompt. However, the food was a disappointment. The pork was dry and tangy and a little bland, while the rice was piping hot as usual. The side offering of two halves of lettuce didn't do much. Perhape Rose Garden has spoilt me. Am I coming back? Probably not, unless I'm really in a hurry and everywhere else is closed. Then again, my Mom claims that I chose the wrong dish to eat.

Ratings (Out of 5)

Service: 3.5

The waitress was busy cleaning my table when I arrived and upon seating me, I noticed that there was a bit of smeared egg under a soy sauce container. I expected that it'd stay there for the rest of my meal, but upon taking my order, she was back with a cloth and cleaned it up. An order was taken quickly and food arrived within 5 minutes.

Ambience: 3

Clean and tidy, if a little squeezed but can't be helped since the stores are all so tightly packed together in Central Melbourne. It's prime location after all.

Taste: 2

Being in Melbourne is no excuse since there are better places around.

Where did the weekend go?

2009-03-16T23:37:00.003+11:00

The internet connection here in the apartment is painfully slow at times. I suspect some idiot is downloading stuff. Damn you to the deepest corner of hell. Yes sit in the chair facing the lava wall. Now hold your ears and stick out your tongue. Yaah to you too.

You know one thing I miss about home? Besides being able to just switch on the telly and catch live broadcasts of the English Premier League. It's the coverage in The New Paper the very next day. For example, after Arsenal beat Roma on penalty kicks in the Champions League, you'd have expected 4 to 5 pages of painstaking and endless coverage and writeups. They'd have analysed every penalty kick, given ratings for the players, told us what both the managers said in the post match interview, plus provide lots of pictures. Here in Melbourne, it's relegated to a small column in the inner pages, behind the cricket, behind the footie, behind the basketball, behind the sport gossip pages, just barely in front of the horse racing, and I'm guessing it's because they need space for the racing spread. Grr.

But I just received an email from school today about a special subscription to the Herald Sun for AU$20. At least that'll save me some money. Only bad thing? You gotta trek to school every weekday to get it. And on weekends, they drop it at your place. However, I wonder how I'm gonna get the weekend copy, given that the reception downstairs is closed on Sunday.

The weather's turned cold lately. Besides the rain in midweek, the night has turned chilly. I remember it was a freezing 11 degrees. I was wearing socks and a jacket in front of the computer. Doesn't help that there's a draught coming from the window and from under the door. My toes are frostbitten.

Oh and on the advice of my Professional Writing lecturer/tutor, I am now on Twitter. Do you Twitter too? Are you a Twitterer like me? That sounds mildy amusing.

I've also read through the entire Professional Writing dossier. At least that'll stand me in good stead for personal participation marks tomorrow, where we're supposed to grade ourselves on the past week. I gave myself a low mark on purpose last week and the rest of my group mates were sheepishly admitting they were going to give themselves a lower mark too. Mind you, that's what they said, not that I noticed any correction later.

Beth C from Popo's writing a novel. Maybe I should start on mine too. It's been ages since I've wanted to write one. But the 'P' monster always rears its head. I shouldn't have an excuse nowadays.

Been to the gym quite a bit of late. Just running and running and running a lot. Till the sweat pours down and the tears come to my eyes. I've yet to see any visible effect. Maybe in a year.

Dinner!

2009-03-14T19:40:00.002+11:00

Finally got down to cooking! Took a moment out from stuffing my mouth to post this up. Chicken rice! Looks eatable, no?

Some were born to sing the blues

2009-03-13T02:46:00.005+11:00

It's been awhile since I updated. Just like that, the second week of lectures, tutorials and practicals have flown by. Procrastination seems to be my greatest enemy. You know how easy it is to put things off for just that one more day. It'll never do.

Oh and it's been raining these past few days. The weather reports have been warning of thunderstorms all week long, but compared to Singapore, what we have here can be described as nothing more than a drizzle or a light rain.

I can't say I miss home. Two years of National Service in the Army and then the Navy have made me mentally stronger. I can more or less get used to anything. But just today, the Singaporean lecturer for the Communication and Social Relations tutorial was trying to show advertisement images from the Uniquely Singapore campaign and there was this one picture that showed a beaming tourist attacking a table groaning under the weight of local delicacies. I could literally named them all, char siew, popiah, laksa, prawn noodles, ice kachang... I tasted them all in that one instance, and missed home.

Title is taken from the lyrics for Journey's Don't Stop Believin'

Oomba Moomba

2009-03-10T00:57:00.003+11:00

The highlight of the Moomba festival was a huge parade down Swanston Street this morning (or rather yesterday morning since it's now past midnight). Huge procession, lots of spectators, great atmosphere. It passes right down the street in front of my apartment so it's literally at my doorstep. I'd expect you dear readers want pictures and perhaps videos. But I'm sorry to disappoint you since I missed the WHOLE thing.

I have to admit I was tossing and turning in my bed, wishing they (at that point I thought they were the Hare Krishna people) would just shut the hell up and go away. There you have it. A missed opportunity.

And as a result, I can't seem to go to sleep now. Classes tomorrow, but then again the first lecture is right next door.

Rorschach: The world will look up and shout "Save us!"... And I'll whisper "No."

2009-03-08T22:22:00.005+11:00

Yesterday was pretty much a non-event till late. Why? Simple. I woke at close to midday haha.

Was just puttering around the apartment tidying up and setting up the new printer (Epson Stylus TX100, AU$58). The sun was setting when the phone rang. Apparently, Johnny had been dragged into town with the girls for some shopping and had been abandoned in favour of a house warming.

Dinner seemed like a good idea and we headed down towards Lygon Street, away from the bustle of the city crowd heading for home and the rest of the weekend. There was the usual snide remarks about how RMIT was slowly taking over the city. Everywhere you turn near the campus, you go ooh there's another RMIT building. Maybe they have plans for world domination, who knows.

We settled for pizza at this small Italian restaurant along the street, choosing to sit outside. Everyone else was doing that anyway. I'd eaten here before, back in December with my family. But that was lunch. Dinner is a much more crowded affair in these parts apparently. And it soon became apparent that most of the clientele was going next door, to yet another Italian eatery. Well nothing we could do about it apart from making a mental note to try it next time. Johnny will probably be back, apparently grass growing is a pastime back at his campus, right next the to the paint drying competition.

I believe I have a picture of him stuffing his face somewhere. Yesh, for once I had my camera stuffed in my jeans pockets. Levi's have huge pockets apparently. Handy for stolen loot I reckon.

Pizza! Are you hungry now?

A not so glamorous shot of Johnny, mid-chew.

Johnny has two modes when eating. Fast and really really really slo-mo. Check out the dude at the back streaking past as he takes a bite. No camera trick, I promise you.

So dinner done, we headed back to Swanston and the topic turned to movies. So, obviously Watchmen came up. Hell, Johnny was stuck here till his friend was done at around 11 so we had time to burn. Hoyts was convenient, the ticket price wasn't as welcome but it's only once in a while eh? Have to say it was a good decision. Loved every bit of it. You know, when they were still in pre-production, there was talk that it would be hard to film. I mean, the graphic novel has done such an immense job of it, how are you going to fit it within the confines of a flim. So what they did was stay faithful to the original. Man, if you've read the graphic novel, you'll be amazed at how many scenes you will recognise. Though the audience tend to break out in helpless sniggles everytime they show Dr Manhatten's full frontal nudity (CGI thankfully!) The standout was easily Jackie Earle Haley as Rorschach. Easily one of the best movies I've seen in years.

For Tian

2009-03-07T18:04:00.004+11:00

The day before I left for Melbourne, my sister left a souvenir in my camera. So I presume she'd be fine with me posting it up on the internet. Here she is.

I hope that hasn't put you off eating for the entirety of next week, but trust me, she's usually better looking than that. Or perhaps not.

Anyway, it's her birthday today and since she doesn't want to personally fly down to collect her present, and being the thoughtful brother I am, I've taken a picture so she can check it out. Mind you, she's been trying to return/reject birthday gifts from me that don't meet her expectations since forever, so I might just have hit upon a solution.

Happy Birthday Sis!

A Premature Weekend

2009-03-06T00:21:00.002+11:00

It's been raining the past two days. Not just a light drizzle in the early morning, but real actual rainfall. Light and bitterly cold it may be, but it's quite welcome.

Had my last class of the week this morning (Yes on a Thursday!) and my next will be on Tuesday so this here's the start of the weekend for me. The tutor today had just flown in from Singapore so needless to say we were more acquaintenced with the lecture materials than he was.

Memorable

2009-03-03T23:22:00.000+11:00

No there was nothing particularly memorable about today other than the fact that it was my first day back at school after a long hiatus. Memorable's just what we were supposed to write about during Professional Writing Practical.

Apparently we have to set up a blog. So that's two blogs I have to maintain now. Sorry if I ain't exactly jumping for joy. But at least it's something that's doable, rather than crazy physics theories or cranky math sums.

So back to today. Nothing all that special about my first lecture apart from the fact that the lecture theatre is right next door to where I live at the moment. So it was a matter of going down 8 stories and popping out the front door and there I was. Ron was visibly fidgeting after 10 to 15mins. Celine, who's someone new we met today (also from Malaysia btw) and hasn't exactly got her schedule down pat due to the fact that she arrived late and missed enrolment, was faring no better, looking politely bemused and wondering aloud if it was her thing in the first place.

The second lecture was across the road, right smack in the middle of the main campus, 10th floor of building 8. I learnt a lesson today. It's quicker taking the escalators up rather than wait for the lift. The room was stuffy (and full) and we were told that Professional Writing was NOT Creative Writing *mock horror*

So after that was a 2 hour break, which allowed me to pop back to the apartment for a bit. Yes I know, horribly convenient isn't it? Which is probably what I had in mind when I chose it, mind you. I'm a lazy bum, I am.

The practical was held in one of the computer labs which required security access. So there was the usual crowd of mystifed students milling around outside the security doors until we figured it out. We started off doing the usual name game icebreaker. You know, you go around the room and try to remember everyone's name? Everyone's gotta do it once. In fact, I can still recite the order by heart. Lemme go now (keep in mind this is like 8 hours ago).

*deep breath* Georgia, Helen, Nick, Ernie, Darius, Zee (Me!), Bella, Zara, Ming, Deborah, Kenneth (doing the course for a second time!), Timothy, Pei Lin, Hannah, Emma, Madeline, Michelle, Beth, Michaela and Clara.

There you go. Kinda hard to forget once you've heard it so many times. Oh and some of the boy sounding names are really girls, so you can guess the gender ratio is once again kinda skewered.

Weather wise, it was really hot today. Not stifling and humidly hot like in Singapore,but more the stuffy kind. The wind was blowing (gale force apparently, but I still think the ones at Tuas were way stronger since I had difficulty walking with those) but it was all hot air. Everyone received smses about the weather from the Victorian Police the night before though, so you can't really say it was unexpected. More warm weather expected tomorrow...

Aching Fingers and Throttled Pens

2009-03-02T11:22:00.000+11:00

School starts tomorrow! And I'm seriously considering getting my own lappie. I'm sick and tired of waiting for the school to get it's act together while visiting Internet cafes daily.

Went down to Swanston Library for some serious studying yesterday. I have to admit it's all new for me, wandering around that expense of space and trying to figure out where all the books I wanted were. Managed to get two of those listed on the course guide though, namely Walter Truett Anderson's The Truth About The Truth and Lawrence Cahoone's From Modernism To Postmodernism. Yes I know, that's like really deep, but what can I do? My contextual major is Philosophy and Lit anyway. If I wanted to take it easy, I'd have gone for watching movies every week (yes that's an option).

So there I sat, scribbling away furiously on my notepad while I churned the pages. It's been a long time since I did anything like this. It felt foreign. My hands were hurting from gripping the pencil within minutes and my scrawl looked more chickenshit than ever.

I used to be able to write really nice in tiny script but that ability seems to have been lost in the winds of time. It looks awful now.

But it felt good. Darn, it really did, in a way. I really have to figure out how to borrow books.

And get a laptop, so I don't have to constantly laboriously record everything word for word on my Blackberry.

A League Madness!

2009-03-01T12:23:00.001+11:00

Autumn has arrived and I swear that it's already colder than usual. Then again it could just be my imagination after the slightly warmer conditions the past few days.

Johnny finally appeared in the city yesterday, having taken the train to Melbourne Central. On a lark, we tried some touristy stuff. And did I mention I walked a lot yesterday? No? Well you'll see in a bit. We had lunch and then I took him on a tour through the slightly empty campus (Apparently he only has 3 buildings at his University... and a shopping mall in the village. Poor thing.) and then we headed down to Lygon Street. Gelato was on the menu but the store only opened at 12.30 and we were there on the dot so we wandered down some side streets and after venturing closer to what we thought was a uge rubix cube like structure, ended up at the Melbourne Museum. So that's like crossing through half the city. Since Swanston Street is the city centre and the Museum is on the East side, I've walked half the length of the city (and back since we had to head back anyway). Admission was free due to student's concession. The Dinosaur exhibit they were setting up in December was still not ready yet so there wasn't anything new.

Then after Johnny had headed home, it was time for the A League Grand Final at Telstra Dome. For the uninitiated out there, it's football (or soccer if you insist) and the Australian League's finale to what was a topsy turvy system for Melbourne's home team. The single ticket cost a cool AU$25 and that was already half price with student concession.

There was some disturbance blocking the trams along LaTrobe at around 6pm so I ended up trekking all the way to the stadium. Telstra Dome is located just behind Southern Cross train station on the West Side of the city so technically, I've traversed the length of the city at least twice in a single day. How 'bout that?

Level 3. Row C. That may seem pretty high up but trust me, I was closer to the pitch than I've ever been in Singapore. The temperature was a cool 19 degrees celcius and the stadium was packed to full capacity. Unlike Singapore once more. Oh and the Melbourne Victory fans outnumbered the visitors like 10 to 1. Check out the huge parade to the stadium by supporters before the match. They were chanting all the way and the noise was deafening. The crowd was roaring them on to once they reached the steps to the station.

More pics here on my way to the stadium. Oh anyway, even though the ticket reads Telstra Dome, apparently their sponsorship ran out and some Middle Eastern airline bought the naming rights so it's now an ugly sounding Etihad Stadium. Yuck.

And inside the stadium.

A capacity crowd, lots of cautions, 2 red cards, and a single goal seperating the two teams. Brilliant stuff and definitely worth the trip. I'm a newly minted Victory fan now. Yepp yepp.

Comm Orientation

2009-02-27T14:58:00.000+11:00

At 10am today, I was seated in Casey Plaza Theatre in a row with Roy, Brana and Shirley. The place was full to the brim and students were overflowing into the sides. Crystal was somewhere down below on her own because she'd arrived early. Ha! May was nowhere to be seen. Lots of other familar faces though. But few names to go with them.

Was pretty boring at first, but not as bad as yesterday. Roy and Shirley were on either side, playing with identical phones they'd just got. I contented myself by ticking off with my fingers the number of "Um..."s the girl from RMITV used. 28 when she was done, and that wasn't couting the few I missed at the start. So we were told how to use the RMIT website and whatnot on campus and then after an hour, it was time for a campus tour!

Unfortunately, the student volunteer spoke softly and looked totally lost at sea. We were constantly backtracking and stuff and a typical description went like this "This is the library. There are computer terminals here and books and... *mumble mumble mumble* It was to quote one of my mates, "the blind leading the blind". Met three new people today. There was Tim (the Man U fan wearing the Barca T), Evangeline and Darius (Two more Singaporeans! Hooray!). But as I mentioned later, it's strange that everyone I've come into contact with is doing exemptions. Am I the only one here doing the full course? Will I be the only one left by the third year? Darius said there were a few girls doing 3 years too but somehow I haven't met any. He then proceeded to try to give me a few tips in chatting up girls. Erm right, mate. Is that going to help anything? I mean looky here. People I've met so far in my course: Roy, Brana, Darius, Shirley, May, Crystal, Evangeline, Valerie, Natasha. That's 3 boys to 6 girls. I think it's more a case of luck then anything else heh.

Had lunch with Brana and Shirley at Rose Garden on Elizabeth Street. Portions were large and service was quick. Wasn't half bad and they do takeaways so I may be back soon. So what have I got planned this weekend? Well there's the football (Ok soccer. Everytime I say football, people presume I mean footie) tomorrow at 7.30pm at Telstra Dome. And that's practically it. Hoo-freaking-ray...

What The Lights Saw

2009-02-26T17:12:00.000+11:00

Two souls brushed past
while waiting at the lights
and for that tiny fraction of time
something sparked inside

No words acknowledged
no glance askance
no look back at the other

but what was inevitably left behind
was the feather
the angel dropped
on the sidewalk

Snore and the world snores with you

2009-02-26T09:57:00.000+11:00

There's supposed to be this really boring talk today, from 11 to 4. That's 5 hours of just sitting there listening to an elderly lecturer drone. Might be good practice for when school reopens I think. It can't be any worse than 5 hours of staring at the sea, can it? I think I'm prepared :P

How do I know it'll be boring? Well I heard from Brana, who supposedly heard from Crystal (authentication needed). Well at least I've got Ron for company. We can probably start tearing chunks out of each other if it gets to that stage. The speaker would probably get the hint.

Last night at Queen Victoria's Market was a bust. Jon never made it, claiming that they made a detour. A detour? What is this... The Amazing Race? So yeah since Crystal wasn't keen on making the trip again, it was just me visiting the market. It was pretty bare to be honest compared to what I had seen when I'd visited in the day. There were less than half the stores and I wasn't hungry, so the food stores didn't appeal. The only thing different were the live bands. Got a birthday present for my sis, scrounged for a cloth artwork at a garage sale, then headed back for Swanston.

Festival Day

2009-02-25T17:15:00.000+11:00

What festival day? All I did was wander around RMIT collecting freebies. Instant noodles, drinks, hot dogs, tshirts... even condoms...

Yeah and Jon seemed to mention something about heading to the Night Marker with a bevy of girls. Wouldn't hurt to check it out hee.

Hands in your pockets

2009-02-24T12:41:00.000+11:00

It was cold this morning. Really cold.

Woke at 3.20am and couldn't get back to sleep. Gave up trying after awhile.

Put on some long sleeves and took to the streets. There were already people up and about. Road sweepers on mammoth vehicles that trundled down the streets, preparing for a new day... Cabs circling aimlessly past traffic lights that didn't change.

It was about 5 blocks to LiHao's place and I swear I could almost see my breathe as I trekked past empty streets with the wind caressing my frozen cheeks. I shoved my hands deeper in my pockets. Last time I try something like this, I swear.

Pink Champagne On Ice

2009-02-22T18:25:00.000+11:00

So just for effect, what can I do when inspiration's around? I'm sure I've posted this elsewhere before, but it's still one of my favourites. Done when I was still pretending to listen to some boring lectures at the start of my stint in the navy. It's meant to be song lyrics, but I don't have any music for it. Just grab a random tune and make it up as you go ;)

Pink Champagne On Ice

The ground is broken beneath my feet
I haven't had any decent sleep
A recurring dream haunting, these days past
I've got to find a way to escape here fast

Kisnetically pleasing butterflies
With neon coloured lights entice
While the masses mill around like mice
Another round, pink champagne on ice

A klaedoscopic whirl of colour
The city life is all a blur
The waking dream has yet to go
It chills my body to the soul

Flashing diamonds light the skies
A shooting star, someone dies
Cut the bleeding sacrifice
Another round, pink champagne on ice

The winding road is long and empty
But wandering ghosts there are a'plenty
The dreaded spectre still stalks my mind
This endless life is such a grind

Fragrant corpses with glass eyes
Glinting, flashing in the pale moonrise
Pour a draught and throw the dice
Another round, pink champagne on ice

I come across an overgrown graveyard
It's markers faded, tired and scarred
The apparition leaves me at the gate
This is where I'll sit and wait

Mourn the jester's crafty demise
Jackal's liver, oils and spice
Revere the fool and scorn the wise
Another round, pink champagne on ice

The world, it's growing dark and dreary
Can hardly see my fingers really
long awaited sleep a'beckoning
Is here the time of my reckoning

A dash of sugar, a pack of lies
Thou waking tumour will suffice
The gods will try her on for size
Another round, pink champagne on ice

Never speak my name again
I live not in the land of the sane
Unable to breathe the air
We know not how it will fare

Now raise your glasses way up high
Just enough to touch the sky
Take a drink for when we die
Final round, pink champagne on ice

RIP,
me.

Writer's Block

2009-02-22T17:58:00.001+11:00

I read through my previous two entries and I don't quite like 'em. They seem strained... almost forced. That's what happens when i force myself to write.

There's a common term for it. Writer's block. I'm sure you've heard that somewhere. It's also a favourite excuse for us writers, but nonetheless a valid one. It's not so much a case of not being able to write for us, but more a case of writing unreadable stuff. I can't remember a time when I started writing when I didn't feel like it and actually produced something nice. It just doesn't happen. Call it procrastination if you want, but inspiration is what gets me going, and without it, I'm kind of helpless. Which doesn't bode well for me if I'm to follow that as a career path by the way.

Moving on, can I state for the record once again that I'm utterly bored? I stayed in bed as long as I could this morning and turned on the television to see the tv anchor promising morning rainfall. Which didn't materialise anyway. I'm hoping their prediction of real warm weather tomorrow is about as accurate as their earlier reports of high temperatures last weekend (which was inaccurate). The cold winds are whipping through the city, especially in the late afternoon these past few days. Chin Swee was sorta blue in the face when I met up with him that day, wearing two shirts and all, but I have to say, anything above 10 and I'm fine with a T-shirt.

Finally bought some plates and a mug so I can stop eating off my lap. I wonder how many trips I've to make across the street before I remember everything I need. At the moment, I'm averaging a trip a day. Thank god I'm living where I am. Oh yeah, tomorrow will see my scurrying back for some dishwashing liquid.

I went to the gym yesterday and hit the treadmill for about 45mins. My calfs are aching today but it's a good kind of ache. It's been ages since I ran. In fact, apart from a few rounds (typically 20) around the driveway back home, I've hardly been on a long run since leaving the navy. Which explains my chubby built at the moment probably. But no problemo, it'll be gone pretty soon. I'm averaging about two meals a day. Don't ask me why, but I don't feel as hungry in Melbourne.

I'm suspecting I may have lost a little weight. My new pair of jeans keeps trying to fall down on me. So it's stride, stride, yank, stride, stride, yank... You get the idea.

And I just realised yesterday that I didn't bring a cable along for my camera. So unless i find one in the city (unlikely), there'll be no pictures till at least July. Booooooo!

Making too much NOISE!

2009-02-20T13:44:00.000+11:00

Yeah that's been me recently. Was worried over how I wouldn't be able to take the contextual major of my choice but it's turned out alright in the end. I do think I might have overdone it though. The guy at the admin counter in Block 6 seems to know my enrolment status by heart and as for the woman (can't remember her name argggh! But as I mentioned previously, names elude me sometimes) who's in charge of admin stuff for Applied Communications, she stopped me in the stairwell to ask if I'd got them all settled. Yes I have, thanks. But it wasn't till later when I suddenly realised that apart from a message I left on her voicemail and an email sent to the profcomm address, I hadn't actually talked to her face to face. So how did she know that was me? Strange.

I've taken to waking up a little later the past two days since there's not much to do early on. headed over to the campus today to get my security ID done. Was a breeze really. The Ngee Ann Poly guys and gals had just come out of their meeting and were attempting to start enrolment. Total chaos, mind you. Thank god I've had mine completed after three days of running around. Don't know what I could have done without Crystal really. She somehow knows all the little bits that I'm missing out. All I'm good for is directions :D

Helped May out a little with enrolment too. Apparently, she crashed and burned at the first hurdle when her login to the network failed. I'm thankful I'm not in her shoes.

Ron's always running around somewhere with his sister and their Malaysian friends. Last night while I was doing my timetable, he called while sprawled out on the lawn in front of the State Library, inviting me to join them. I flashed my lounge lights at them from above, chuckled and continued with the timetable. Now that's something more to worry about come Tuesday. But in between? Utter boredom apparently.

Questions and a lack of answers

2009-02-19T16:05:00.001+11:00

The setting is foreign, yet I feel as though I fit like a glove. Perhaps it's because I've been more or less westernised growing up, or maybe it's just the influence of having been part of such a community in a parallel universe (Popmundo, not really anything supernatural ha!). Sure, my body's still running on Singapore time, but my heart... my heart's already taken up Melbourne citizenship.

I enrolled in RMIT early yesterday. Had been waking up at 9am previously since I jetted in on Sunday but I made an effort to set the alarm to ring at 7. I was expecting that the 3 plus hours would fly by before I knew it. But as usual, I was far off the mark.

I found myself outside on the streets by 8.30am and there was really nowhere to go before my 10.30am appointment at Building 4. Well, better to be early than sorry. I've learnt that too many times in the past. Fresh begginings call for fresh practices after all.

10.30am. I'm seated in some classroom that I'd just found. I was the second one in. The room rapidly filled up after that. The first friend I made was Ron Yap from Malaysia. He sat down beside me, we started chatting and that was my first contact. After that, the names sorta started washing past me. I've never been good at names. Odds are unless I have a chance to meet you again and catch your name another time, I'd hardly remember it. Only thing I noticed was the answers to "So which country are you from?" started to generate the same answers in a pattern. "Singapore... Malaysia... Singapore... Malaysia." Ye gawds, we might as well build a causeway across the classroom and be done with it.

But one question struck me in particular.

"Why did you choose this course? What made you want to study it?"

The answers from some were typical. They'd been studying it previously. They'd wanted to take PR, but had been rejected.

Me? I don't know. I've always been a science student. A horrible one, mind you. But that's the way it is in Singapore. You take science, or you take art. And woe betide you if you're bad at both of 'em.

I can't say I have a flair for languages. I kinda hate Mandarin and that's my mother tongue. After 10 years in Chinese educated schools, 3 years of English education almost robbed me of my grasp for Chinese. It's that bad.

I guess it's because I just love writing. I love words. You know, if you ask a painter how he paints, he'll tell you it's just that. He's painting what he feels. If you ask a musician what his music is about, he'll tell you it isn't just the lyrics, his music has a soul of its own.

That's what I feel when i write. I may not be able to draw well or to play an instrument, but give me a pen and I can do anything. I feel as though i can mould words to my cause. I can flex them and move them so they talk to you. I can make you feel pain and sorrow, love and bliss. That's my answer to your question.