Finally got down to typing this long awaited post. A post that would allow me to look back and reflect publicly what happened during the holidays and things that ran through my mind dfuring the period.
Well, the initial plan for the holidays was that I wanted to use the time for some self reflection, taking advantage of a chance to be 'home alone' and so thought it would be a great opportunity for myself to 'settle down' into Syndey and think through some of the things, like how I want to approach future studies and how I want to live a life during this period. This has always been my reason why I had decline all invitations to do anything, including going for the one week Mid Year Conference (MYC) organised by Campus Bible Study.
And I congratulate myself when I was able to go to church the Sunday on the week after the exam. For after Friday (the exam), we had friends over for the Saturday night and we simply played mahjong and bridge until 6 in the morning, then everyone went back and I accompanied my roommate Tsang Yew to the airport. Basically no one slept during the night and because it was Sunday the next day, it was very tempting to go back home to sleep and skip church. And so after when I was determined enough to go to church, I was rather proud of myself and thought about the great 3 weeks ahead I had planned for reflections......
So much for reflections, the first week wasn't exactly productive or anything, mostly I spent time at home playing computer games and watching silly videos like Mr Bean. It was actually quite horrible. At that point in time for a reason I couldn't understand, it just felt weird, even frustrated with myself for 'relaxing'. It's in inverted commas because now that I think of it, I don't count that as relaxing anymore, I would refer to it more as a form of addiction. Yep, computer games and the internet have haunted me all the way from Singapore to Australia. Well lucky for this time, it happened during the first week of holidays after the exam. Which leads to another point - why exactlty was I feeling this waves of guilt when I supposedly should be enjoying and taking time off from the books? Why did I feel guilty of having fun? Strange...
Fast forward 3 weeks later and something which I learnt and give thanks for. I don't know why but I think God has chosen the time to teach me something, I think He gave me conscience extra during that period, which made me to think about how much time I've wasted on the computer doing useless things. It gave me a chance to look back and see the hours I've spent unproductively, yea.. even when I 'deserve' the break, I started to have this nagging that I should be doing something more useful and for building up instead of playing games. Henceforth, may I say that I've decided to uninstall the game, in particular Warcraft and return the CD to my landlord, and subsequently quit Neopets. Haha.. It's not something that I'm proud of, but I do hope and pray that I can continue to receive this inner conscience inside me that tugs me to stay away from these time wasting games and do things that are more meaningful. I would like to take this chance too to thank Simon, a dear friend whom I shared with during the period of intense game playing He taught me 'not to fight temptation but flee from it'. Yea.. It helped me a lot thinking about that, and as something I developed further, I added soemthing else - 'fight not temptation but run away, and run to God, for He will help you to fight instead'. Haha.. Actually until I type here I'm not sure if I have gotten any point across.
But anyway, as I mentioned before, the first week wasn't particular productive. So much for the reflections, I spent most of the time in front of the computer. Now as I look back, I see it as a time of self discovery rather than reflections. Because after that week when I felt more determined to escape from the 'game's grip', I had set out to write a journal post that I listed some stuff that I've learnt about my own character during the period. The significant changing event happened on Sunday that first week when I've skipped church (because I had stayed up to play games the previous night..you get a rough idea how the games disrupted my sleeping pattern); 2 of my friends from bible study group visited me at home and they were encouraging me to go for MYC. I still did not want to go, I was reluctant to go, but something, just the size of a small mustard seed, prompted me to say "ok, help me sign up then..." Anyway, yea.. The next few days was better, I was looking forward for my friends who were coming to visit me. In my mind I was still calling myself stupid for having agreed to sign up for the camp..
And now... the 2nd week.
Well, week 2 was the week where things began to change..slowly. The fist few days, I decided to meet up some friends and cook. Haha.. Yea.. we tried making fried ice cream and some beef stew.. well, the beef stew was still not too bad but the fried ice cream... Let's just say that it was fun and that's it. See the before and after pictures.. Hahahaha... before
after!!
But the highlight came Thursday, when Lip Hang was gonna come. See, I know Lip Hang back from army and we managed to strike off quite well then. He came to send me off when I was departing for Sydney and lo and behold! Told me a few months after on MSN that he would be coming to Sydney!! Hahaha... And so, from there we arrange the dates and accomodation (near my place) and for quite a while anticipating his arrival (for he was to help me bring some books and clothes over..hehe). Alongside with him was 2 other of his friends, Dennes and Ze Yan (who do not know each other). Anyway, Dennes and Lip Hang went to Goldcoast before they came to Sydney and Ze Yan was to come from Sigapore directly to Sydney and so I would to meet him on Thursday morning and meet Lip Hang and Dennes on Thursday night. Anyway, from then onwards, we spent Thursday to Sunday together travelling: Friday - Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Opera House, The Rocks, Fish Market Saturday - Blue Mountains, Starcity casino Sunday - Church, Bondi Junction, Bondi Beach Really enjoyed their company during the period. Even learnt from Lip Hang how to cook Hainanese Chicken rice and we also had steamboat on Sunday night! Hmm.. ok, I need to go now.. I will blog about the last week in another post. Till then, enjoy the pictures here first. God bless!
One of the first (of the many many) group shot at the Opera House. Haha.. Did I forget to mention that all of them are photo muggers? Go everywhere do everything - TAKE PICTURE FIRST!!!
The soup to accompany chicken rice!
Aiya the chicken look so small in this picture. But really we had huge portions! And... *drumrolls* the chicken rice was really like chicken rice!!! Oh man! Now I know how to cook chicken rice!!!! Thanks Lip Hang!!!! Who wants tme to cook for them? Haha..
At the blue mountains. It was amazing the place. I think I really like nature - I found it fun to walk under the rain in the drizzle, jumping over mud pools and feeling the mist and fog on my skin. I liek the sound of waterfall thumbling down and the melody of streams flowing from their origins.. Hahaha.. Really enjoyed myself that day.
This is the food from the casino! For first timers, just bring your passport there and they'll give you a card with $10 credit! Then just use that to play the slots machine, which is what we did. Right to this day, I still have no idea how they work and how you calculate your money or anything. Just glad that I walked away with $16 extra in my pocket.. haha.. Lip Hang won $34 man.. But Dennes and Ze Yan... eh.. let's just say they had fun.
So nice right.. the ice cream.. We bought strawberries to eat with the ice cream. It's really nice.
This is what you get at the fish market for $25!!
Dennes love his chicken soup.
DrWb 2:45 PM
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Tuesday, July 11, 2006
MAJOR EVENT - CHARMED FINALE
Oh Boy.. I visited uTube today while I was bored and stumbled upon several Charmed clips. And slowly as I watched and viewed the comments people posted it dawned upon me that Season 8 has ended - ended with a series finale. That's right, SERIES finale. Which means, after this last episode of the final battle, Charmed is over! Over for good.
Which means, no more season 9, no more season 10... Somehow it made me felt a bit sad. Well, I've been a fan of Charmed ever since I saw that on TV with my friends in a hotel. I think that was season 2. Haha.. And they're already at Season 8 now. Season 8 and out.
Yes... It'd sorta become a part of growing up show for me. I especially enjoy the parts when they fight and when Paige came in after Prue died, she added in much laughs as well. Now that the show is over... well, Charmed's over. Time to move on. Don't understand why I feel so nostalgic suddenly... My 2nd post in a day. Rather rare. But yes, Charmed's over.
Ever since after I started watching it, my favourite character has always been Piper - initially the middle sister but eventually the eldest after Prue died. At first her power was merely temporal stasis (momentary time stopping) but after that her powers grew to include molecular combustion (exploding stuff up). From what I gathered, her powers are related to molecules.. haha.. You see, she can slow molecules to a rate whereby their vibration become temporary negligible such that the whole being is seen as being stopped or captured in time; whereas the other power makes the molecules move so fast that they go BOOM! So cool huh. I'm seriously crazy now, I'm blogging about Charmed! Haha.. But then again, it's the end of it. Some tribute to a show that has been a part of growing up huh.
Another reason why it's played an important role is partly due to the Charmed game I play with my cousins. As I've introduced them earlier before (see Feb archives I think), we used to always play Charmed when we come together, for instances and ocassions such as Christmases, New Years, parties and such. There's a total of 8 of us, and 7 of us are boys; and the 3 sisters ain't it. Well, it's merely for fun. So most of the time we get to choose what kind of powers we would like to have and subsequently adopted the character's role. For myself, haha, of course, who wouldn't like to have the power to manipulate time? That's why I went on to become the most powerful of them all, Piper Halliwell. And Tzer Yeun would be Paige, for obvious comedic effects. Yang and Zhi would switch between Prue and Paige, though most of the times I remember they usually stand around asking what they should be doing and even more often just standing there looking at the 2 elder cousins' performances and simply laugh. Ah Qi would be Leo, Ah B? The demon of course. Haha.. While Ah Jun and Ah Wang would be Clark Kent (where did that come from?) and Cole respectively. Those were the times.. Haha. Well, in a normal game we would just walk around and fight, but usually ending up in a big clutter and everyone displaying their ULTIMATE power, KABOOM here, KICK there, DASH here, SPLAT above, ORB below, basically a clutter all around. Eventually the same things happen - Ah Yang and Hui Zhi would stand aside and laugh (while holding on to their stomachs). But once in a while we think of some story lines and we act it out, which is quite cool.
Now that the series has ended, I've looked around YouTube and chosen 3 of the best (I think - the best that I can find) representative videos. So here's a tribute to Charmed. Something I will keep in my memory.
DrWb 6:48 PM
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Tagspotted
Been tagged before by several people but I'm usually too lazy to do this kinda stuff, but once in an ocassional purple moon (like now) when I feel inclined to update my blog and post a post but can't decide on what I want to post about I shall have 'fun' with this:
I have been tagged by: My only female cousin younger than me
Favourites Colour - black, blue, green, yellow, white, red Food - Are you kidding!? Ask me this question now... Home cooked food, Mum's bests, Lorong Liew Lian food (Laksa, Mee pok, wanton mee, chicken rice.......), horfun, JUMBO CHILLI CRAB..my stomach refuses to answer this question any longer Song - Too many to list, but in case you're curious I just checked out my play count on iTunes, claiming first is 96 plays of Rebecca St James' "Lion" from the movie Narnia, and on my iPod first up is 99 plays of Natalie Imbruglia's "I Won't Be Lost", with the same song Lion coming in close at 95 plays, so that makes Lion the most played song, with a total of 191 times. The song lasts 3 minutes and 49 seconds, and because I'm so bored, I went to calculate how much time I spent listening to that song, and guessed what, I've spent 12.1 hours listening to this song. Movie - Currently thinking of Brother Bear.. Haven't watched much movies recently Sport - Running swimming badminton cycling bowling; of which the last it depends on my luck Season - absolutely Summer Ice cream - Thinking of mango now... They don't have it here in Aust.. Just another thing my stomach refuse to think about.
Currents Mood - I'm doing this because I'm _ _ r e _ . (RSTLNE) Taste - My stomach won't let my tongue move
Firsts Best friend - Zhang Kailiang! Haha.. primary one. Crush - her. won't say. won't tell. Movie - The Little Mermaid Lie - It wouldn't be a lie for me to say I can't remember when's my first lie. Music - Britney Spears Lucky I think...
Ok the list is really getting too long I shall just stop here. Man, I can't believe I'm doing this...
DrWb 1:00 PM
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Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Thanks Rena...
Just in addition to the previous post and a reply to Rena's tag..
Haha! Thanks Rena! Lucky you mentioned it! I think my landlord likes your handwriting and card so she kept it.. for one week! ;) Haha.. I think she forgot to pass it to me. Yup yup, received your very creative CD card.. always very artistic. Still remember the bottle of Ribena pastilles and the artwork you did. Hehe. Yup, thanks Rena! =)
DrWb 8:21 PM
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Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Finally
Finally, I blog.
Haha.. so sorry lah, you guys know that I don't like to blog and I'm lazy to do so.. But eh, thanks for waiting so patiently man.. I kinda don't know what the 2 means also. Initially wanted to blog on the 1st but then ended up procrastinating.. But here we are! An update!
Finally, exam's over.
Yay.. The exam's over...!!! For now. There will be another 2 more coming up (after 2 more 8 weeks block). Haha. We had one paper on the 30th June and after that (now) we're having our 3 weeks break. The exam was alright.. I just did what I thought was right, hope everything turns out well. Well, I wouldn't deny the fact that I would like to score well, a distinction or even a high distinction, but I think for this exam it'd be quite hard because: 1) This is the first exam that I'm taking in UNSW, so while preparing it was rather in a different style that I'm used to back in Singapore where we had a definite syllabus. 2) I'm giving an excuse and a leeway for myself in case I don't do well. Haha, but yea, it's over now, I tried my best, and will work harder for the next one coming up. Frankly speaking, I don't really dread the exams and stuff that we have to do. It's kinda fun (call me crazy) doing all these stuff. Haha. Everytime I feel like I'm lazy I think about why I came here and I think about medicine and I'm happy with what I'm doing.
Finally, holidays' here.
Most of friends, including my roommate Tsang Yew, are back in Singapore now. Don't ask me why I'm not going back. I'm kinda stunned myself, I don't know what made me booked a ticket for November and not one for July. Here's a few reasons that I've come up with to console myself: 1) I feel as though I don't really know Sydney that well yet and need some more time, free time, to explore the place. 2) The air tickets are expensive and a return flight this holiday would cost at least 1000 plus bucks. 3) My friends are coming over (Yay! Next week) and they're gonna stay over at my place and we're all going to explore Sydney together! Well, but I think that this is the most important reason I can come up with. Don't ask why I feel this way, but when I thought about this break, this 3 weeks break, I was thinking it's actually kinda short. Like, 21 days, that's not much time. If I were to go back now, it'll be a short while before I have to fly back again. And it struck me that the summer break would be 3 months! 3 months! That's why, I kinda think think that if I just delay for a while, and wait for a while, then I would really be looking forward to going home in November! YES! I'm so looking forward to going back then!
Finally, I'm 21.
Haha. I guess this should be the highlight of this post. Because as they say, 21. 21 is a special age. A special number. Age when you become an adult. No more a kid, no more a boy, no more a teenager. Officially an adult. It's a period when you look back and you feel like time has passed by so fast and for me, I still feel like a kid. Haha. I've always thought about growing up as something exciting, something to look forward to. But then when one grows up, one realises that it's actually so much better to stay a kid. So guys, especially the little ones, cherish your schooling time when you learn lots of stuff and make lots of friends! Now in university, though it's still considered 'school', it's really much different from what we have in Secondary school and stuff. It just feels different. I mean, growing up.
I want to take this opportunity here to thank a few people. Hehe.. Thank you Baba Mummy and Junjun. Thanks for everything. For support, for love. Thanks together with relatives. For the card, the only card that made me cry. Haha. Truly, the nicest card I've ever received. Thanks for the blessings and encouragement! And also to Huizhi who sent over another card (which was late but nice! =) Want to thank also the people who remembered my birthday and sent blessings and gifts! Thanks to market lady who sent letters and cards over. Though the chilli crab sauce couldn't get through and also the postman thought that your reply letter had handwriting too neat. Thanks to Wenhan for the gift and the card. Don't worry about that artwork man, it's really the thought that put the smile on my face. Haha... And how can I forget my clique of 6? Thanks Dash, JD, soulgroove, QD and slacker. Thanks for the video recording... Was really really nice to receive that! Haha. Never expected to have a video recording of my friends singing a birthday song and sending out individual regards on video. Thanks for the shirt too. Somehow I miss now the time we can all go out as a clique of 6. =) Boon! Haha! You're so funny! Thanks for the thumbdrive and the powerpoint with your beautiful singing man! At first when I saw it I kinda thought that there must be something stored inside, but I just couldn't figure out how to insert the card! Haha.. And yep, thanks to friends over in Australia for celebrating my birthday for me. =) To Tsang Yew, Mervyn, Benjamin, Loulynn, Claire, Timothy, thanks for the gift and treat and CHEESE CAKE at Straits Kitchen. A SURPRISE. Haha. Though some of the people I mentioned I know don't have my blog address, but yea, thanks. =) Thanks too to my bible study group Jiarming, Fat, Robin, Jack, Merhawi, Yuk Yee, Linmin (and some others who didn't turn up). Thanks for scaring me all dressed up in black and acting like mafias. For the cake and the first-time-make-card-for-a-guy card. Haha.. The cake's really nice!! And yep! To Tyng too! For baking that chocolate CHEESE cake. Ok, at least there's chocolate. Haha. Super nice man.. Teach me how to make that cake!! And yes, to Ziwei too! Thank you ah. Thanks for the card. I received it today. Hehe. Thanks Pulkit for the chocolate and the card. =) To people who wished me happy birthday through MSN and email as well. =) Simon, Ziling, Xinhui, Clement, Natasha.. =)
Yep, thanks for everything. And last but not least, to God. The Lord who saw me through it all and the One guiding me everyday.
Well, that should be for now.. I'll blog again some time soon. =) In the meanwhile, take care guys!
