A Holiday On A Holiday!

On Monday we had our first family holiday with Gaby to the city of Bern (the capital of Switzerland), which is approximately an hour's train ride away. Well, basically you can think of it as going from Jurong to Tampines for a holiday ok? The qualifying factor which makes it a holiday is the hotel stay of course! (Staying in a hotel, no matter how fantastic or cheap, always makes a holiday a holiday)

Bern's the federal city of Switzerland and is mainly German speaking, with a pretty small population of a little over 100,000 people. I've concluded that apart from being the somewhat Canberra of Switzerland, Bern was also once a home to Einstein! We went to the Einstein Museum (more details about that next post) which was pretty insightful. (I think I now almost understand the Theory of Relativity fully).

Our first and only photo with everyone!

We went to this tourist spot which hosts several Brown Bears, the animal icon of Bern. (I don't know what the exact story is, but I'm sure you can read about it on Wiki or something.

And look! Ang moh huat kueh! (Those chinese prayer cakes) We didn't try any of that though, it was huge.

The train which we took to Bern was similar to this one, a double deckered train that runs from one end of Switzerland to the other. Tickets to Bern cost about 60Francs each. (But Liner, my sister and mum bought 50% discount cards which give them cheaper tickets). Expensive MRT hor?

Not only is transport expensive, (a daily tram ticket would cost about 8 Francs, and my monthly pass was 80 Francs), housing is pretty pricey, food is pricey (my sister and liner's meal for 2 at a restaurant was 70Francs, and it was Schnitzel of all things! I was appalled that they charged 30 bucks for fried breaded meat and veggies man...

But... there are some cheap things here in Switzerland. Alcohol, for one, as it is in almost all European countries, seems to be cheaper than water. Just look at the extensive range of wine, liquor and what not in their larger supermarket

That's just a third of the area my camera could capture

GIANT PLATE OF ICE KACHANG!!! I bet ice kachang would be dirt cheap if it were sold.

On a more serious note, cars ARE cheap here. Look at the price of the Porche!

And the price of the Jaguar! An old Jaguar is still a jaguar...But toys are expensive, this tiny pink lamb was 4 Francs (But it's cute and I'm reliving my childhood)

Speaking of toys... I can't believe christmas is coming! It feels sooooo distant because I feel so cut off from all teh festivities in church or at home. And since it's snowing all the time, it takes that 'christmasy' feel away. Even our fireplace doesn't look as christmasy as the movies make it out to be. Right now I'm just replaying Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You just so that I can get into that christmas mood.

Fireplace!

Well, Merry Christmas everyone!! I wish I could be spending it in Singapore with the hot weather and friends though, but I am thankful for the nice cold weather and potential fireplace. OK I shall put up stockings on the fireplace!

Let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!

So mum and I made a trip to Konstanz Germany yesterday for a day of shopping, much like how one would cross over the border to JB to shop. (And we ate plenty of bratwursts!) However it was freezing! And I have plenty of photo evidence, just that my SD card has decided to act up and make all of yesterday's photos disappear. Hence, I'll update about that later.

I never realised how cold it was in Zurich until I googled the average temperature here. Apparently, temperatures range from -5 to 1 degree celcius on a good day. (Yesterday's temeperatures were between -3 and -4)

Here's how it looked like in the morning before the snow came on heavy 2 days back...

Before

After a couple of hours. Looka t the snow on the cars

And I managed to capture a picture of a snow flake!

And while Gaby's all wrapped up comfortable like a jelly bean...


Her grandma's all bundled up looking like a snowmanAnd her aunt made the mistake of wearing this not-very-warm coat
I swear my legs were freezing

My sister and liner brought us to the Christmas Markets at the Bahnhof (Main station), which was slightly open air and very cold as well, but extremely busy and beautiful. The christmas markets sell all sorts of pretty expensive trinkets and crafts and food. For instance, very beautiful (and very expensive) glass christmas ornaments, probably hand blown and shaped. Notice the detail?

And hot wine! Which was surprisingly sweet and quite comforting!
And more glassware shaped like birds. (I don't know how else to describe them)
And Sprugli! Which has the most fantastic mini macroons! (Each sold for 1Franc and are about the diameter of our 50 cent coin) More pictures of that if I get a chance.And what swiss christmas market is complete without a Swarovski shop and christmas tree! This one had heaps of crystals on the.. HEAPS
Which concludes today's update. I'm just dying to get to the end of Michael Crichton's State of Fear so that I can get onto The Time Traveller's Wife, which my sister swears is amazingly sweet. I haven't read novels in ages and now I'm reading 2 a week! Hopefully this helps myelinate my 'airy fairy linguistic' pathways instead of all the non-fiction I've been reading.

A week in Zurich=8 Days

I had the sudden enlightenment about the Beatles song title '8 Days a Week'. We all dismiss it as an exaggeration of one's commitment to another person (8 days a week ala 101%), which are both seemingly impossible things. However, here's what I realised yesterday...

I've been here since last Saturday, making it day 1 in Zurich. And if you count the number of days from saturday to saturday, that's 8 days,
And what's another way of saying that you'll see someone the next saturday? Next WEEK.

Therefore, there are 8 days a week.. no?

;)

Day 6 in Switzerland-Zurich

Hello from the land of one cute crying baby, the phlegm-y, throat-clearing language and snow! It's been snowing this whole morning, and I never thought I'd get to see the day where I'll watch snowflakes dancing in the wind as they melt on contact with anything solid (don't get jealous, it isn't as romantic and dreamy as it is in our minds girls!)The view from my mummy's room

After spending the past 6 days fussing and handling the cute lil furball Gaby, shopping a little in the city and planning menu after menu for the meals of what seems to be 5 hungry people (because my sister now eats for 2), reading 2 novels in a record time of 5 days, and just slacking my bum off, I finally decided that it's high time to update this blog with a dozen pictures! :D

Firstly, let's recall my sister before little Gaby...

At the airport before they left for Zurich, 6 months into pregnancy?

And look at the proud mummy and granny at the subway!

We've all been struggling to get Gaby used to the pacifier and bottle feeding as my sister and liner have a christmas dinner to attend (during christmas day of course). But Gaby has made it known to the whole world that she absolutely HATES having any form of plastic in her mouth. Wahh... I've never heard such an accusing cry from an infant before. It's as if we're torturing the poor little fluffball. Alas, we finally got her on the pacifier one day on the tram! I took a picture telling my sister that it's probably one of her first few important 'moments' to remember.

See the pacifier! So clever!!
And one of my attempts to make playtime less boring by trying to stimulate her intellect with a cute, fabric IKEA baby book. She actually was quite uncomfortable in this pose because it was too upright, haha..

And what's a baby without all that poop right? Thankfully, as smelly as her poop is, Gaby only poops once in a few days, but that doesn't mean she doesn't fart every few hours, releasing a deathly stink bomb every now and then. Only then will my mum patiently lie her down and try to make her ooo-ooo (aka poop).

Notice the shape of my mum's mouth, it's the distinct 'Ooo-ooooooo' coo that all singaporean grandmas use to make babies shit.

Ok enough about the baby, you'll be seeing much more of her in many posts to come. More about Zurich then! OR actually, just a couple more paragraphs because I'll soon need to cook lunch for the hungry mother and my mother.

We went out shopping that day and this particulat mall had the most interesting benches! You sit on them to make them flat. Okay that didn't come out as clearly as I wanted. Aiya, look at the picture and figure it out yourself la.

Be careful not to put a sandwich on one end or it'll just propel up when you stand up
Look what I found in the tram station's vending machine again!! It's the famous Cannibis tea I blogged about when I went to Prague! All for 2.50 Francs! My sister and I shall try it soon and I'll tell you about the effectiveness another time. hahaha..
As bundled as I could get to withstand the cold. The sun sets at 5 like in Australian winter, making it a little difficult going out late. Average temperature during the day is around 6 I think..
And just to wrap up, here's a slightly tat-glam photo of the baby as she expressed her displeasure being belted into the car seat.
But of course any tat-glamness will eb salvaged by this very very VERY cute photo of her. =) Although my sister says that it makes her look like one of those cam-whoring ah-lians on facebook/friendster.
And of course while I'm here miles away with a colicky baby, what else can I do but miss my own babe back home? HEh... anti-climatic right? I knew you wouldn't be expecting this, haha..

Ciao for now!

Back and not really liking it.. yet

I typed a whole blog entry on Word and realised that I can't copy and paste. Darn. Oh wells, I'll just have an opportunity to write better then.

These few days have been pretty different, horrible in some sense but all right as well. I came home not knowing where exactly I stayed, thankfully the Bedok area is a familiar one with the church people and I managed to get back without much trouble. But my first night was horrible. Iwas so exhausted and my half deaf father was watching channel 8 as usual at full blast. I never expected that moving into a new house would have such an effect. I guess it's probably due to the fact that I didn't have anything to do in this move, even though we've moved countless amounts of times.

The post I drafted outw as really wordy and disorganised, so I shall reorganise it into simple dot points for my almost non-existant readers..

I came to realise many many things over the past 40hours of returning home:

1) As much as I though that living in a HDB would be no problem, I actually DO have a problem with it. I can't stand the fact that the old HDBs alwayhs have the piping outside of the wall and not built beneath them. It makes everything so unsightly. And I get annoyed at the fact that there's only 1 left serving so many floors.

2) I almost definitely do not want to return to singapore to live/work. Especially now when my family is halfway across the world, and they'll continue to do so for the next few years. I miss my mummy =( Once you take family away from us students who study overseas, I think it's a common consensus that that's practically taking away the primary motivation of coming back. Because the ugly truth is, friends do get lost over the years, and you make new ones back in the courntry where you study at

3) Another reason why I don't wish to return is how atrocious the society and it's people can be. Singaporeans are an inconsiderate bunch, and it's most evident on the road in my opinion. Drivers get impatient all the time. What's the rush?? As if our island isn't small enough.

4) Looking at the 70 year old cleaners in coffeeshops and all that give me a new perspective on how important welfare and retirement funds are. I tell my aussie friends that we asians tend to grow up and take care of our parents, which is why we have lower tax rates, so that the society doesn't have to support these people. But I feel that to be less and less the case. As a parent next time I can imagine myself worrying. What if my kid chooses not to take care of me =next time? That's literally a failed investment. At least the grannies in Australia have the government and CPF to fall back on.

5) However I still do like Singapore for it's many beautiful facets. For one, the pretty cars and lush, government planted greenary.

Ok I'm beginning to get tired. I shall update soon. Hopefully some pictures of the new place. Well, one thing I do appreciate is the generous amount of living space in the house. For once I'm not knocking into or over things constantly!

When you keep getting let down by the people around you, you stop having expectations.




But what is life without expectations and hopes?




It's something not quite worth while living.

Cannot wait for this to end and for me to go home.... =( And fly to Zurich to see fatty fat fat neh neh monster and my mummy and my sister and liner.

And I can't wait to chill in a random kopitiam in Bedok with feifei/poingo/yee/joan

And I can't wait to be driven around by nat (hopefully not against traffic sister!)

And I can't wait to just drink $1.50 bubble tea at when I feel like it.

And I can't wait to take the extremely efficient public transport, and I'm really curious about the new annoying song they play at the MRT stations

And I miss the smell of the circle line stations

And I can't wait to buy heaps of toiletries from Venus to stock up for 2011

But I can wait for the lack of internet when I go back to singapore

And I can't wait to go to the national library again and just soak up a sofa and nuah, reading

And I can't wait to sleep on a mattress that isn't as thin as half a loaf of bread, and has the depression from my backside.


And I know that once I get back, I probably can't wait to get my arse back in brissie and back to work again after a week of doing the above following. Talk about the persistent lack of contentment.

New Babe in Town!

There's a new babe in town!! :D I never thought I would be this excited to become an aunt, and I promised to myself that I will not gush and rave over my niece to every other person I know because they probably won't be as interested as I think they are.... But I can't help it!!

Yay now I realyl can't wait to get to Zurich to see that little smushed up, wrinkly, nehneh monster! (Name given as expected, by my sister). Here's a link to follow up and look at some awesome shots of her. I think much credit needs to go to Liner's DSLR as well... Only a camera that fantastic can make post-labour, tired mothers and their wrinkly smushed up babies look so good. Hehh heh.. But she is cute la. I mean, she's so tiny!!!

http://albums.phanfare.com/isolated/rYykzXOg/1/4889246#imageID=114185281

Countdown to Midway

I'm going to be halfway through my degree in 3.5 weeks time!!

Gosh that's scary. I can't imagine having to leave the sanctuary and security of having the sole purpose of studying and actually entering the workforce full time. Even though I've been working on a casual basis over the past few years, casual, non-commital work can never match up to being fully tied down and committed to a particular company, hospital, organization or what not.

I love being a casual staff. For one, you get paid a higher hourly rate (but of course don't enjoy the perks of more working hours or other CPF/Super benefits). Secondly, you're never ever obliged to come to work. And have the freedom of rejecting shifts and saying you have something on (even if you don't). Because there aren't any expectations for casual staff. You're like a fling. *gasp*

But I recently (well just over the weekend), found a casual job that I wish I could have on a more regular basis, it's helping out as an aide at an ASD early intervention centre. The kids are so lovely! (Even though they can be an armful with all the running, stimming, shouting, tempers and tantrums). But just having them respond to you or respond to you calling their name makes it all worth it. (I felt so loved by this kid who was twiddling with my colourful bracelet and shoes today) This kid wasn't as severe on the spectrum and you would barely notice the autism except for very subtle things like responses and stuff. But he has great eye contact, great intonation and he actually said hi to me! (Which is very very very rare).

Anyways, while I'm on a verbatim-y mood (I bet that term doesn't exist and someone is going to correct my horrendous engrish), my sister was supposed to give birth yesterday!! Silly Gaby is late! Wonder how long more she'll stay in my sister's belly. She's MASSIVE! The beauties of having another being inside you, haha..

HEh heh.. can't wait to try all those developmental tricks on Gaby when I see her!!
I don't know if I ever uploaded this, one of the few nail drawings I did on siyi's fingers. Penguin!! :D I really liked this one, haha... I shall offer to do nails for CNY~! Penguins or ladybugs anyone?> =)

A Proper Update!

So, I haven't been updating nice, pictorial posts in a while and have stuck to boring, wordy posts. (This is a sentence structure typical of an Australian's. note the 'So,' at the start of the sentence). And knowing that humans are ALL more intune to pictures and colourful stimuli, I decided I have to take action in order to maintain the few readers I have. (That of now is probably constance and my sister.) haha..

To start, I'll talk about the exciting Gatton trip last week. In case some of you don't know, Mark's studying at the Gatton campus about 80km (i.e. 1.5 hrs drive) away from me. So I only get to see him every 2 week or so. And I always like going down to Gatton because it feels like a holiday. For one, they have AWESOME food (food that's not cooked by normal people is good enough). Bread is soft and fluffy, milk is abundant, fruit are sweet and limitless (because the bloody place is surrounded by farmland) etc. Oh yes, and just to add on, Gatton is a very very small-ish town, I think 3/4 the town population is a result of the uni students. The town itself is a street of shops spanning maybe a couple hundred metres, and boasts a Audi, Reject Shop, Crazy Clarks and Bi-Lo. (they rest are small cafes and shops). And 2 macs of course. (Our Tampines alone has 3 Macdonald's right>?)

However this time, I had the unfortunate/eye-opening experience of being racist attacked on our way back from Maccers late at night. These bloody drunk bastards (sterotype depicted below), drove past us as they entered the Macs/petrol station and shouted 'f*ing asians. which I was quite non-chalent about (I mean, they only have like 10 neurons, you gotta give them some pity. But the next thing I realised was that they made a sharp U-turn back and were driving full force towards us.

I've never felt such fear and stress. I shouted to Mark to get off the road because I was so scared they would either run us over, or throw stuff at us, or barf at us or egg us or whatever. My first throught was 'run towards a pavemntor a sheltor where they can't drive up' and then I looked around... We were next to a highway, and the in front of a blardy endless field with no fence. Now THAT's going to save our asses...

Of course gungho-pissed off Mark didn't run and hide like I did, he just continued chewing his fries and walking. The bastards just swerved really really close to him and screeched their tires as they did. Blardy hell, if they had just missed I would be boyfriend-less. Assholes.

Anyways what followed was basically me explaining what I did to him and shoving fries down my throat, I haven't been so shit scared since the superman ride. I think even that wasn't as scary. But I learnt 2 things from this experience:

1) I can still think fairly logically in an emergency/time of crisis
2) I cannot think logically after that, and end up eating a lot due to post-stress-trauma. (Seriosuly, I think I ate like half his fries in 5 minutes.
3) The flight or fight response is damn powerful, and I'm damn glad mine is functioning fine.

That ends my racist encounter.
Random picture I drew to send as an MMS, The world of MMS has been the most uplifting, exciting technological advance I have made since Wireless mobile phones.


I made a monster!! It's called a Disgruntian. We used it for therapy during clinic. haha.. I just needed an excuse to do some art and craft for my self entertainment purposes.
Marky mark on his sheep prac. Just look at what the REAL australia looks like. He had to help in the shearing of 700 sheep ( probably more). Apparently sheep shearers get paid $200 a day. Do the math all you people studying at Unis around the world.... do the math and weep at your sad life.. hahahhaa

Tribute to friends and food

It's been a while since I blogged about something random (ok that may be a lie), but I figured I should post just once more before the exam period kicks in (though I suspect that I may end up bloggin more to escape the reality of having to study).

Siyi and I had a very long (I think it lasted more than 2 hours) discussion as to how fussy an eater I am by comparing what foods I don't eat and what foods she doesn't. ( I have a bad memory and could only recall about 3 items of her list). Siyi had one conclusion:

My food life/real life is damn sad.

I had 2 conclusions:

1) My food life/repertoire is damn sad
2) It would be way sadder if I hadn't had the friends I had in secondary school and JC (and a housemate who has a mom who cooks and eats everything organic and exciting).

Here's what we came up with what I don't eat (not that I strictly don't eat them, I just prefer not to). My standing rationale is that, if I don't appreciate it as much as you do, why should I take that opportunity to eat that prawn which I wouldn't enjoy? It's called the law of Maximising the Potential of the Prawn. (Ok I came up with that, but seriously, it's basically Maximising the potential of what ever that item is.).

Digression: That Maximisation of Potential law can and should apply to all things actually, whether it be food, clothes, or even people. For example, if a fat girl looks ugly in a pretty dress, it's not maximising the potential of that dress. She should just give it up to that stick thin model girl and go for a kimono blouse which would make a skinny girl look like a walking handkerchief. (and that skinny girl shouldn't deprive the fat one of wearing the kimono). So everyone wins and no one becomes an eyesore.

It can apply to people too, some couples should just break up because they're not maximising each other's potential. (I came up with an alternative theory that day and told nat that assholes and bitches should just get together and make the world a better place, because by doing so, they're saving 2 unsuspecting victims from the pains of being in a damaging relationship. ( I shall blog more about that another day).

Ok undigress and back to my topic title. (what the hell is a topic title, I'm talking rubbish)

Things I don't eat:
1) Lamb/sheep in most forms
2) Cow in australia (it just smells bad) but I do eat it when it's cooked well sometimes (e.g. steak)
3) Shell fish/craustacians
4) Duck (unless it's 'peked' or minced)
5) Capsicum (although siyi made me eat it once and it tasted ok)
6) pineapples on pizza
7) Bittergourd
8)Ladies fingers
9) Bread crust (I'm very spoilt now)
10)any form of innards
11) Noodle soup when I'm outside (I have bad chopstick control which I like to keep at home)
( I think there might be more but I can't remember)

Basically siyi started complaining that all i eat is chicken chicken and luncheon meat and processed crap. (heh heh.. it's the sodium I lovE)

BUT, I told her about the things I learnt to eat from my friends, who so kindly introduced the pleasures of such hawker food during the course of my adolesence:

1) Kuay chap (without the innards but just the taupok and egg) - shiyun in sec 3/4
2) Black sesame paste - Joan (who raved about it until I just HAD to try it) in sec 3/4
3) Brinjal with chilli - bong in JC
4) Nasi Lemak chilli - Yee in Sec 2/3
5) Mee Pok Gan with ketchup - shiyun & joan (my virgin experience with mee pok gan was sadly only in sec 4)

Ok fine it's not a very extensive list, but I KNOW there's more. At least I can proudly say I ate tutu kueh as a child. (Mark only tried it last year and scared the tutu kueh auntie while at it too). heheh..

Which concludes my not so random entry., Thank you to all the above mentioned for making my life a tastier one! =))

Self Talk

I believe that the majority of the population experiences moments, whether fleeting or not, of low self esteem, low motivation or morale, or just those moments where you think you're a useless piece of shit who has wasted your life so far. And it's in moments like these that you really really need some of that self psychoing, self motivation jargon that we see being sold the shelves of Borders and Times. I personally need to tell myself that I'm not a useless piece of junk once in a while, and that I haven't actually wasted my life, and that hey, I am actually pretty damn good at what I do. (Even though it may be a lie, but hey, that's what helps me get outta bed and out to face the world sometimes).


And right now, is one of those moments. So please don't mind, but seeing that this is my blog, I have the right to write whatever nonsense shit I want, and now I'm going to brag about myself (Well, actually not really brag la, just convince myself that I don't suck)

1) I have decent grades
2) I have a nice rented house that's kept clean
3) I think I have a life
4) I have a job
5) I have a brain
6) I'm not a grossly overweight US citizen
7) I can at least cook a meal and not burn down the house
8) I can play 1.5 instruments decently
9) I can run 2km without keeling over and dying, though even a 2year old can do that
10) I can juggle.. briefly
11) Oo I almost forgot, I have an awesome boyfriend who charms the life outta me and is literally, my prince charming on a (brown) stallion.. (hurhurhur) =)

Ok I think I'm ready to study now

I SO cannot work under stress, I do so many impulsive things when I'm stress. If I hadn't forgotten to bring my wallet today and only had $1 in my pocket, I would've bought a whole vending machine'ss worth of M&Ms already.

It's amazing how volatile the mind can be, all because of the hormones and endocrine glands running on overdrive in the brain.

oh gosh

Away from home away from home

Get my title??

It's all right if you don't, haha, it's semi-nonsense anyways.

I'm sitting in the nice Gatton library blogging because I have the excuse of not bringing more work to complete. Actually, that's a complete shitty excuse, I've yet to actually complete what I've set out to do, it's just that I'm experiencing that bout of un-drivenness, or, being in Neutral. (Or in my case, I might just be going in reverse).

I feel like the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, just that I'm half as verbally fluent and not quite 1/20th as madly ingenius as he is in the literary sense. Don't you think Lewis Carroll is amazing? If you think about it, the stuff that's in Through the Looking Glass, Alice in Wonderland and whatever other stuff written is so linguistically aware and smart that it makes me, as an undergraduate, feel like a kindergarten kid knowing what wonders the mind is able to work (If you were ever so blessed to have one)

I've been workign with Dyslexic children in clinic this semester, and boy has it been eye-opening. Well, not as eye-opening as I would like it to be (considering that this is only my second week working with them), but I was rather surprised with the emphasis placed here in Australia how much the responsibility is placed on the Speech Therapist to get these children working to their maximum potential. Whereas back home, these children are either

1) Called stupid and left to lag and be punished all their lives
2) Politically-correctly called 'Normal' and placed in either EM3, and then Normal Technical or Academic
3) Shoved into Learning Support Programs which ironically, fail to support but instead condemn the children further as they lag even more,
4) Thrown to special education classes which might actually prove to help (sometimes)
5) If they're lucky/rich enough, mummy and daddy can send them to Australia where they can receive the support/encouragement they need.

I'm not saying that it's a haven here, nor am I saying that Singapore completely slaughters children with dysexia, it is the unawareness that kills the opportunity and potential that resides in these children. (LKY should know) I have no idea how he mad eit through school, my guess is that he was mildly dyslexic.

Even in Australia, they can't emphasize how much the education system still fails to recognise the problems faced by the children, and they too have shoved teacher aide after teacher aide to help but to no avail.

And that's not even the tip of the iceberg! What about indigenous children who have a much much higher probability of experiencing literacy problems solely based on cultural differences or because of where they stay? We might say that in Singapore you see educational gaps between certain racial groups, but here, it's even worse.

But.. if you look at it in a 'WHO' kind of way, where they look at things like dyslexia or disabilities not from the point of an impairment, but from the view of how these things affect their actual functioning in life, then it might be a different story all together. If someone can't read, but is a successful dairy farmer or whatnot and is earnign shit loads, what is to say that that dyslexia was a problem?

Ok this is a boring post.

I'm just getting os overhelmed with organising and filing what I've been studying, that when I went to sleep a couple of nights back, I was having dreams about travelling up the neural pathways and reaching the different orders of neurons in the cerebral cortex, hypothalamus and midbrain (or something like that), which is freaking twisted!! Garh I woke up feeling such a hatred for Neuroanatomy for invading my dream land where I was supposed to be playing with cotton candy, ponies, fairy wings, giant jello, chocolate cake with mega sludgy icing and Hugh Jackman. uhh.. oops maybe not the last one, heh heh

I WANT TO DREAM LIKE A CHILD AGAIN.

POny pony poNY!! :D:D

I skipped class~ I skipped class~

My first lesson skipped this semester! (As opposed to the gazillion I missed last semester) And I have good reason for it!... It's raining. heh

But the sky is clearing up and I do have lessons at 10. I actually enjoy going to schools on Fridays, it's the best feeling of all because I end early, which means that the rest of my day is to myself (and generally the library), and I yet there's that satisfication coming from the 'I-learnt-something-today-from-the-teecher' feeling. So you feel like you've fulfilled your duty as a student, whilst still having a slack Friday. TGIF never meant so much =) Plus, it's normally the day MarkyMark comes back from the town in the middle-of-nowhere via horseback. (Okok, it's a BUS).

So it's a double bonus! =)

I was emailing my sister that day and she asked me how it seemed like Mark and I have a long distance relationship, which is, essentially so sometimes (Especially if either of us has exams and we don't see each other for a couple weeks at a time). But I feel that this is good 'training' in that sense. At least we have mobile phones and MSN and what not, whereas during our parents' time, they had pigeons, snail mail, the telephone with no caller ID, and telepathy.

If technically we have THAT much more times opportunity to communicate with the other in this time and century, shouldn't there be way way less divorces seeing that the couples should understand and know each other better? But of course we all know that isn't the case right? You'd probably say it isn't that our parents know each other any less than our generation knows the pther party, but perhaps it's just the lifting of taboos or the changed/thwarted views people have of marriage now.

I believe it's more like this - Our generation sucks at tolerating uncomfortable situations, compromising or just basically, sucking it up and continuing with the shit you're doing. We're all about this freedom of choice thing and tell others, why should you stay on and 'suffer'? Well, to a certain I think that's a good point... if the party was abusing you and being a complete bitch/asshole/drunk/gambler etc, but just because he's not lifting up the toilet seat? Or not helping with the dishes? I guess of course the married people are gonna scoff at me and tell me I don't know shit. And I'm not saying divorce is wrong, I personally am one of the ones who believe in freedom of not having to go through all the suffering and shit, after seeing so many mums of the earlier generation stay on in their families 'just because they have to' when it clearly is detrimental to their health.

I follow my mum's general advice to some of her clients:

If you have a tumor growing on you, cut it off straight! Or it's just going to destroy you.

Only difference I guess is, if its just a cyst, don't go cutting it off because you might cause larger problems by doing that. Or don't go cutting off your tonsils or appendix just because you think they're completely redundant (Because we've learnt from our multiple disciplinary lessons that, they are pretty handy sometimes)

Ok I need to go for class =)

I'm old!!

I know this is like, 3 weeks overdue, but it finally has been hitting me...

I AM TWENTY ONE.

21

Oh gosh... it wasn't until I saw pictures fromJuliza's 21st party that I reality hit me that, whilst my friends back home (especially the ones who can afford it), are able to spend a night splurging on a nice, all dressed up night full of friends, awesome catering, full blast airconditioned, pool-dunking, alcohol drinking (or not), celebratory nights dedicated to the day they were born and all that they have become for the past 21 years, I was here having an awesome, sweet boyfriend-orchestrated bbq out in the overcasted Gyutt Park near my home. The overcast part was pretty much the scariest part of it, cos wewere so afraid that it would just rain anytime and kill the food/us/pigeons(as if we cared). But the crappiest thing was that I had shitty cramps that day, plus, as most girls would understand that annoying predicament we deal with every month or so, comes the ever so slight crankiness, tiredness, angstiness and just low-energy level because you just feel.. FEMALE for a couple of days. I think everything would have been more perfect than it already was had I not been crampy and stressed over the getting-back-to-school syndrome and having the constant worry that my scooter would entirely back up on me (Which it eventually did a couple of weeks later when I brought it to service, but that's another update), or that I had a pile of work (at least according to my dictionary) to catch up on (Yes it was ONLY the first week of school, but hey, you guys know I'm anal about stuff)

But apart from that, every weekend from then seemed to flash past, so here I am on our lovely australian public holiday (Exhibition Day), sitting at the dining table with a satiated tummy full of failed chilli chicken (as in chilli crab sauce cooked with chicken instead - not nice) and just setting aside 15 minutes to update this blog.

I think everyone who wished, celebrated, came, sent me spices from Melbourne (Even though she's in Zurich - haha), gave me oranges/lemons (They have fed me really well yutaro and bwedon) cake (My sister and siyi orchestrated to have a ccake sent in from a local cafe which was sinfully good)and what not (you know who you guys are), deserve a HUGE

THANK YOU!!

the very cute apple pie from Shiyun and Aiping (I should have seen it coming!!) haha, the girls are ever so sweet as usual!! And the pictures are damn tat glam can. Piang eh! haha,..Trying to look sweet and young so that we don't differ too much from the photos...

One of the few shots I managed to capture of liner and my sister before they flew off to Zurich for his PhD. (Yes she IS pregnant.. and due in October!)
And here's a little shot of what the Shrek castle looks like in Universal Studios Singapore. And for some people, that's how my boyfriend looks like. haha.. Thanks =)) You make my life so airy fairy sometimes I think I've become blond. hehh..

I shall update a pictorial about the other 1000 updates that have happened so far. All right, my life isn't THAT interesting. I think the most memorial event so far since I've gotten back is when my scooter broke down just 150m from the workshop when I went to service it at a God forsaken place called Moorooka (even the name sounds stupid eh?) But the people there were awesome, thanks to Jawn for recommending that place, they didn't even charge for 'towing' my bike in! =) (Plus the guy at the counter was pretty cute...) But being surrounded by all the Kawasaki/Honda/Yamahahahas/ATV/motorcross dirt bikes was a little intimidating. haha. Do you know they start training little boys for motorcross? Like, their bikes are maybe a metre in length, and I saw this little 7-8 year old getting one with his dad. Shit man, those bikes are more powerful than mine!! (I feel disgraced). But they are SO awesome. I shall blog about that soon. Writing makes me happy= ) ACtually, writing CRAP makes me happy. muhahaha.

Peace out from the land of funny names like Moorooka, Woolongabba, Yerongapilly and Indooroopilly and Gayndah!

TV IS BAD FOR YOU

One of my most absolutely favourtie poems which I wish I adhered to more as a child. IT used to frighten me, because of all the stupidity I thought I would cause my child to have if I let him watch as much television as I did. I think Roald Dahl is absolutely brilliant!

Television
by Roald Dahl

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set
--Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink
--But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!
'We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?'
How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?
'Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts.
They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.


The television not only rots the mind of children, even I, a soon-to-be adult can feel my brain mushifying as I turned on Ellen Degeneres and moved on to Zoe Tay a half hour later. I just sat there slouching on the couch with my already small eyes getting smaller from the flashing images, bad acting and miserable scripts. (Fine I barely understood the chinese drama because it didn't have chinese subtitles). But television/youtube watching is the msoe PASSIVE thing ever. (Perhaps I should be the first to write the modern day version of 'Television' and call it 'Youtube'. Oooo... (don't steal my idea). Sometimes I envy the uni students doing Lit, they get to come up with their own original stuff and get graded for it, whereas in my pseudo-science-arts course, we just read other people's work, rephrase it and cite them so that it sounds like your own. Bullcrap! That's the beauty of arts (well, probably only in Lit/poetry class, because even Sociology and Law requires citations.

Oh well. Okay..
CUIWEN GET YOUR BRAIN STARTED AGAIN AND STOP LETTING IT ROT!!!

I just want to go home now =(

Retrospect

My first paper is finally over and I'm behaving as if my entire exam block is finished, which is HORRIBLE BEHAVIOUR! I spent the morning washing my massive laundry load and flooding the floor because I stupidly didn't remove my excess clothes from the draining sink. Oops. Which reminds me, just in case you feel lousy/stupid/useless or brainless today, here's a list of stupid bimbotic things my housemates have done. It just proves one thing, people aren't perfect, even (to be) professionals. =P

1) Exploded eggs in the microwave MULTIPLE times - certain lawyer-to-be
2) Set off sparks in teh microwave by putting single serve peanut butter with the foil cover still on - yours truly
3) Rushed and run to school only to realise that there is NO LECTURE - Ms physio
4) Using an assortment of paper clips to hold up hair during exam study period. - majority members of the house
5) Spending 10 minutes trying to wear a very complex blouse that has 2 layers intertwined by the most ridiculous manner ever - yours truly
6) Melted a plastic single serve of honey in the microwave... PLASTIC AND ALL - guess which microwavce fanatic


Ok I bet there're more, but they have either coneniently slipped my mind or I'm just choosing to forget =)

Either ways, I was reading Marky mark's blog (which I have never ever known about until recently. ya I'm a lousy girlfriend). And it's just amazing how everyone changes with time. I was blog hopping on my other friends' blogs too, and it's funny how you are able to track the progress of lives over years. You should all save your blog entries, just in case one day the internet is destroyed and we never get our records back again.

Wah my writing is so rubbishly lousy. I tink I spent to muts taim stardying science, den dunno how to rite orleady.

This time 2 weeks from now, I'll be back in sweltering, sticky, crowded, cheap singapore. BARBER TEA HERE I COME!!

Oops digressed (half my post isn't even CLOSE to the title) . Hehhh. You know how when you become voyeuristic and start reading people's blogs in hope of picking up juicy bits of info?? (Don't pretend, if you're reading this blog, you probably are one of those voyeurs~) haha, anyways, I feed you juicy info okok????

I'm crazy over this awesome dood who stays 2 hours from me in a pseudo farm-school and who talks non-stop and can talk to a anyone (even a rock) and who has cute fluffy hair, and who is as skinny as a string bean but eats as much as 2 cow-horses (cow + horse combination) and never ever gets fat, who fusses about his face (sometimes), who never washes his jeans unless its a holiday but changes at least 4 T-shirts in a day, who thinks drinking 3 litres of water is a cure for any illness and thinks that he'll die from eating Indomee, who makes farnie videos and acts as zombies in some of them (uh-um), who is someone jsut bursting with a million ideas and dreams, and who so happens to be my boyfriend =)))

(Btw this is probably the first time I'm mentioning this on a public website *gasp*)

Another week ends

Time is flying fast, it's flying TOO fast. I don't want my tertiary life to every end! I'm just going through a moment of nostalgia, today I decided to watch the 1998 local movie, The Teenage Textbook.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gVmpQu1RSA&feature=related

I don't know if many of you remember, we weren't really teenages when it came out, but I do recall reading the book somewhere in my secondary school life, along with the teenage workbook. It just gives that sense of nostalgia, care-free, happy-clappy kind of feel that you have whenever you look back at your life.

And then...!! I heard this song!



I was elated when I heard it because it was a song I always spent my teenage years looking for. It was a song I woke up to at 615 in the morning when my mum's radio would come on as an alarm. (Those mornings sucked because it meant going to school, but felt awesome as well because I would reach school before the sun rose). Come to think about it, I love it when the sun hasn't risen yet. You get the sense of feeling ahead of everyone, an unexplainable alertness, the air smells fresher, and the people are nicer (perhaps they're just sleepier). Many wouldn't share my sentiments of early early starts, but I do. =) I guess it's technically the same as working late late late into the night and getting that sense of calm, only at 6am, you'd probably have had enough sleep. =)

I discovered a couple more things this week:

1) Singaporeans aren't the only ones who like to complain, Aussies do to to a fair extent
2) I finally know the difference between AFL and NRL, and who the Lions and Broncos belong to respectively
3)Reading to your child is veryvery very good for them. Remember the buddy reading system? The government had it pretty spot on.
4) Drivers here are amazingly patient. I have still yet to be horned or cursed at despite my crazy driving.
5) With a scooter you feel like you can do anything... I drove on a pavement and made a dozen illegal, ridiculous, impossible U-turns ever since I got my scooter. Shhh don't tell my mum. :D

Boomz

Woke up at 5 only to waste the past 40 minutes not doing work when that was the whole bloody point of waking up when it's freezing cold instead of staying nice and warm in my blanket. I'm so sick of all this, just so sick of everthing that's going on. Screw it, I've got my own darn left to unscrew.

There're only a few things that really bother me or get me down. Well, actually it's pretty much one thing that umbrellas a number of small factors.

Expectations. More specifically, expectations which I set for myself. It doesn't matter if I'm not stick thin as long as I don't expect myself to be. It's all right if I don't have 1 million friends that I hang out with as long as I just expect that 1 to be there. But it does affect me when I get bogged down with catching up with work, moreover, work that I can't seem to get. I've concluded that I really really prefer science, because with science, all you need is a couple good summaries or good reads off the internet and comprehension isn't as much of a problem as memorisation is. It's the terms that might get to you, but besides that, science is straight forward. Cold, hard facts.

We've began touching on therapy and intervention methods for the child who says wabbit and tat and what not, and honestly, I don't see the bloody difference between the different methods. Same with the intervention for kids with language problems (generally more towards disabled kids who aren't even verbal), and I feel even more lost! How is rubbing the kid's feet or jumping around with them helping? ABA, Hanen, RILD JDJG DFJDD ADODOJDJD or whatever aconym it's just frustrating!!

I wanna be autistic now.

Times you feel like shit

I feel like crap, though it's pretty uncalled for and retarded. I feel brainless and useless. Gahhhhh

It's one of those periods where I wish I was just a mouldy spot on the wall and didn't have to live for the world.

I feel so brain dead that I'm determined a car crashed into me and killded my brain.


I need a hug =((( I want my mummy's cushie tummy to rub my face in. (Yes I still do that to my mum)

Sometimes I ask myself, how long more am I going to cuddle and hug my mummy till? Whenever I go back to her I become a child again, regardless of how old/massive/giant I am (my mum has shrunk considerably due to her aging porous bones and muscle atrophy) But she's still as cushi as ever and I love it =)

If she ever went for liposuction I'd be devastated.

I NEED A HUGGGGG

Interesting things in Good ole' Brissie

I realised I hadn't actually done a proper update regarding my new house etc in Brisbane and felt that it's high time I do it, regardless of whether people actually see it or not. It's awhole new feel this year, a whole new ball game at school too. Everyone's all warmed up and it kind of gives the same vibes as being in J2 again. I suppose it's because my course is so small and we actually see each other pretty much all the time (Our guy count has gone down to 2, aww) I just noticed how different the whole vibe and feel of the course is just because there aren't many guys in the course. Guy deprived.

ANYWAYS, yes back to the main point of this post. ( I jsut woke up and my fingers aren't very coordinated. They're typing clumsily) Pictures!!!!

This is what happens to you when you enter the household of Audrey/Siyi/Cui.. your IQ undoubtedly drops by 200 points and you hit rock bottom (if there actually is one) of the negative IQ scale and end up doing retarded things like this. The guy on the extreme right has already done plenty of regretable stupid things in our house, like paint his nails pink, get guy-liner drawn and get hooked on Glee. The rest of us are just normally retarded anyways (hurhur... oxymoron worrrr)

This is Condo my pet Praying Mantis which I kept for about a week! I let him go and he came back a couple of days later! I felt so touched and attached to him, he helped me eat like 5 moths in total. Don't ask me how he got his name, it's a long story. But from now, praying mantises (?) are my official favourite insect =)
I baked egg tarts during Easter break! Ok they were flat and kinda failed in my opinion, but I'm gonna work on them till I successfully make awesome tarts. Until then everyone's gonna have to eat my horrible flat tarts. Actually you know what, I won't call them egg tarts, I'm gonna call them flat tarts.
And my awesome scooter!! I HAVE A SCOOTER. I ACTUALLY OWN MY OWN VEHICLE! Man topping up petrol for the first time was so embarressing cos I didn't actually know what to do. How bimbo is that, hur..
Picture from a while back, this is the colour of the hair dye they used on me in china. It came up Red after that.

The path we go down

Isn't it amazing when you take a step back and look at all your friends that you have acquired over the years, how each one that you are considerably close to would probably be able to bring up significant reminders of a time that once was? For instance that one friend from your primary school whom you actually keep in contact with. Or the close clique you had in secondary school. They remind you of who you once were, regardless of whether you have changed (you probably have) over the years. I know this is a little random, but I was just thinking about it today when I read Roger's retarded April Fool's blogpost (haha, nice one Roger, but predictable of a man of your amazing bullshit ability level, haha)

Havingn old friends is an amazing thing, but I find that they might hold you back as well. Not in the literal 'don't do this' sense, but subtle things like viewpoints, mannerisms, outlooks and what not. Especially with girls, since we are (mostly) social creatures who can't seem to shut up when we're around our kind. (heh) But the dangerous thing to me is ending up talking and revolving about the same thing over and over and losing perspective about larger things.

A Psyc lecture I had about aging brought something really interesting to my attention, something regarding older people and friends. To many of us young ones, we look at the old granny and say 'aiyo, so poor thing, she no friends'. The logical thing is to presume that it's because either all her friends are dead, or she's a little mentally unstable at that age and hence cannot keep friends. Contrary to popular belief, the opposite might actually be true. The fact is, this old granny is CHOOSing her friends and cutting them off as she ages, to optimise and maintain a high 'standard' of friends. In all honestly, I never thought of it that way until that lecture. However I already begin to see myself displaying behaviours as such, which, at the yound tender age of 20+ may not actually be all that healthy.

My point? I have no idea. Precisely why this site is called blabber, whether or not it's ACTUALLY interesting is another matter. Heh..

At this rate...

Time has been zipping past so fast that at this rate, I'm never going to get to experience life.

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to fast forward and rewind what you like?

I feel like a child at times. I just want to explode and disappear like a bubble popping sometimes. Sometimes I wish I were as airheaded and brainless as a bubble. How fantastic it is to not have a brain hey?

Anxiety

Anxiety is a a scary, frightful thing. Your heart beats uncontrollably, crescendoing and amplifying as each second passes, giving the impression that it's just about to spill our of your nose. Then the throat gets dry, and stuck, stiff as if someone has shoved cement down your throat. Swallowing becomes akin to rubbing sandpaper on granite, and the lump never seems to go away even after each swallow. Your voice cracks and comes out with such an uncontrollable quiver such that you think you'll never be able to calm that vocal earthquake. Then you realise that you have to think. The thoughts just fly, ramble, zip zoom and spawn like a overflowing store cupboard that has been accidentally opened. There's no longer rationality. All reminders and mental notes are thrown out of the mental window like a piece of rubbish. You find yourself just fighting and struggling to stay afloat all that chaos, like a drowning cat in the turbulent sea. Muscles you never knew existed tense and contract and spasm. Soon my forehead aches because of the frown. My shoulders arch to the extent of Frankenstein-ness and the teeth clench, gnash and bite. fingers get clumsy and jittery as you try to operate something as simple as the keyboard.

A million things go through your mind. Even writing them in hope of seeing some organisation fails to allay the worry. The stress. The anxiety. Anxiety Anxiety Anxiety.

Cancer shouldn't be the number one killer, I reckon stress is.




I just want to go home and never have to face the world again. Sometimes being a cow, pig or any other source of meat doesn't seem such a bad idea after all.

Milestones

This semester's courses begin getting more and more relevant and interesting. There's one about voice disorders, child speech and language disorders, boring physiology and one about child development. You know how people always talk about milestones in relation to children? For example, when they first smile (5-6 weeks), sit up on their own (5-6 months), crawl (9-12 months) walk (12 months) and all that stuff which makes everyone go ''Oooo!!! Clever boy!! Know how to pang sai already!!''

Yeah, those milestones.

I feel as if we all have milestones of our own, set by parents, ourselves, and society especially. When we enter university, when we learn how to drive, when we learn to cook for ourselves, do our own laundry, stop sleeping in the same bed as mummy, or stop having that smelly old bolster. Basically, when we suck it in and grow up. Sometimes I wonder when I'll grow up. People might say I'm independant or mature or able to handle myself and things in general, (yes I'm bragging, but wait, there's more to come!) but put me in a place where I feel safe and comfortable and I become a total baby. For instance, put me in my room and I cling on to my bolster( affectionately called booboo) for dear life and sniff up all the dust mites embedded in the 17 year old cotton. Or let me go back to Singapore and I'm STILL share a room and bed with my mum even though there's another room. I'm not embarressed to say I still sleep in the same room as my mum, cos I know if I don't, she'll whine and scream and shout like a kid. (For those of you who know my mum, you know how much she acts cute la). But I feel it's the least I can do for her because that's one of the few things she asks of me; to not leave her alone at night when I'm back in Singapore. It's amazing how I still feel a child even though I'm going to be 21 this year.

New House, New Life... Perhaps.

I'm finally calm and rested enough to finally sit down on a proper chair, in front of a proper desk with a lamp and someone else's internet (As usual), and type this all out. As I finish this sentence, the internet which I'm piggybacking on wavers and disconnects like, 200 times. Oo, did I mention that there's a monster of a grasshopper sitting next to me? He's about TTTTHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS long. Heh.

I swear or house can be the new Insect Safari of Carmody Road. We've had 3 grasshoppers, 2 cockroaches including a baby one in our grilled chicken today, about 2938 moths, 82927 mosquitoes and random flying things, and probably 6-7 resident lizards. Not to mention the whole family of spiders I swept away this morning who built their empire behind our shoe rack in a short 2 days. I swear, it's like the bugs just nest and build homes on anything that doesn't move for more than 24 hours!

As horrid, scary, creepy, eeky or what ever it sounds, it's still an awesome home. I guess after spending the last 21 years of my life living in various high rise places far from soil/ground is finally coming back to hit me now. Isn't it amazing how different 2 countries can be? I went for this survey job last Saturday whereby we knocked on the doors of houses in a low SES community. In my mind, I was initially thinking, 'what d'ya mean poor?? These people live on LANDED property and have CARS'

Then again the poor in India live in landed properties in slums and have bicycles too.

I'll be honest and say that these few days have been rather traumatic. My bed feels funny, the room is not like the breezy, massive IH one and everything I have is either stuffed in a random box somewhere or hidden among lumps of stuff. And I sorely need my private chillout space to just nuah, or play the guitar, or pluck my eyebrows, or stare at my own reflection and reflect (haha pun intended). None. I'm just living by the moment from day to day.

But then again it isn't that bad, my housemate's pretty cool and capable at doing plenty of stuff. Much to my delight.

I want my mummy... =( All you who read this,

GO HUG YOUR MUMMY/DADDY/SIBLING/GRANDPARENT NOW AND GIVE THEM THE APPRECIATION THEY DESERVE.

GO!!!

The ironic inefficiency

AFter spending a year overseas, (well, to be honest, it works out to be about 8 months only), one of the most notable differences between the easterners and westerners is this: Efficiency. Looking at these different Asian civilisations; Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, one thing comes to mind. These people are incredibly efficient. Well, at least for most of the time. Internet connections are everywhere, and are at the speed of light. Such that the term 'Broadband' or 'Dialup' is such a thing of the past that we can no longer imagine any country still depending on these connections. Phillippines still uses dialup, and my now-pseudo-home Australia primarily uses Broadband connections. (I've probably whined about this countless times as to how we have a limited data quota every month) Hello, all the iPhone users in Singapore now have data plans of 12Gb a month (which essentially is limitless considering how much that can actually get you on a phone!). And there I was in Brisbanem, surviving on 5Gb for the entire semester (proud to say that I didn't even finish that 5Gb!)

Anyways, here's the ironic thing I've noticed ever since I've been back. We pride ourselves how efficiently we do things. How we're so small and well connected that we can reach the other end of the island in less than an hour. How we can get phonelines, internet lines or television channels set up in less than 2 days. How we can cook obtain a meal from the nearest hawker centre in less than 10 minutes and how out NTUC cashiers can scan so furiously and bag so quickly you wouldn't even know what hit you. But here's the thing, smses in Aus cost 15 cents each, whilst they cost nothing here. So when I came back this time, sms-ing people was such a PAIN because it ends up taking people 10 smses to conclude that: "Ok, we shall meet at 2pm at Bugis."

Why is this so? Because people just simply reply without initiating something progressive. When are you free? tmr. Shall we meet? ok. What time is good for you and where? I got school in the morning.

This alone takes up 3 smses each, in Ozzie cents/sense (pun intended), 45 cents. repeat this process several times and low and behold, lotsa marnie wasted. Not ot mention time and precious thumb action. I hate sms-ing. And I thought that if I called people, I'd get the job done quicker. Ironically again, NO. Nobody calls anymore! Out of 5 calls I make, 4 will be unsuccessful cos people no longer look at their phones expecting calls. People expect only smses, which free you from the obligation of immediate answering and decision making.

I can't wait to go back to the world of phonecalls.