Interests:Firstly God...then comes the other stuff like baking, cooking, talking crap, bumming around, procrastinating, not doing work, sleeping, playing comp games, music, playing music (tho I suck compared to most ppl I know), wathcing TV, DVDs, watching cool stuff, cute stuff, chatting, lame stuff, talking lame stuff...etc etc Expertise:basically doing nothing...and a bit of everything else. leader of the Philip Island Penguins Phederation as you can see above... Occupation:Student Industry:Education/Research
Alrighties. Mother came in Saturday morning where I was still sleeping because I couldn't sleep that night. Only managed to sleep about 8 in the morning and I really had like no energy to get up to clean the church. But the sleep didn't last long and I was in a semi-zombified state. After my mother came back from lunch with my sister, she immediately talked to me about what my situation is. At first I had the impression of a question and answer session but it quickly took a right turn into lecture mode. Then, whenever she askes a question and I was about to answer, she went on because it was a rhetorical question. Some questions that I thought were rhetorical were not and was waiting for an answer for awhile. Given my zombified mind, I'm not sure that I'm not reading the context of the questions properly or that really she is a champion in turning questions into rhetoric ones and vice versa. But her words were very divisive on my current situation. It's sort of like the words of Jesus except with far less consequences on your soul. She made it clear that there is no middle ground for something like this and I'm forced to choose one or the other. Given the time frame I'm in and on speculative hindsight analysis, I am quite incline to choose the other. She also sort of made it clear that she doesn't want me back home if everything fails which was strange. So, as it went for long lengths of time, I give a sub-10 word answer followed by a half an hour lecture from my mother. 2 hours went by before she had to go and meet her friend and stay over at her place. There was this battle inside of me of what to do next and it was so fierce that it appeared to feel like time had slowed down to a snail's pace. And then, something happened...
I somehow decided to check up on some of the other faculties in the uni to see if I have an out option which I doubted there was. But lo and behold, there was a night session on masters courses and they are accepting applications on that night as well and it's something that would give me another chance at a PR. How do you interpret such events given a history like mine and current circumstances? Do you see that as opportunity or is it all wishful thinking? Some people might even go as far as saying "That is a sign for you to get out" but I've always been skeptical about such comments due to the abusive nature of such words and first hand application in my family. Having said that, it has been percolating in my head for awhile and I'm inclined to accept such a comment. So what do you think? Carpe Diem or Persevere?
On a different note, I nearly fell off my bed after I just found out that, not only has a friend of mine gotten married but also just gave birth. She has never said much about her life and this was like a bomb. That was 5 seconds of initial shock I'll never see again. 2009 really is a year of marriage/married related events. Also I just got a lovely wedding invitation card from Sean to his wedding and I would L.O.V.E to go but it is in Singapore and it's in September Why Sean, why?? How can you do this to me? =P
Here's something to think about: according to a survey, half of all friends are replaced every 7 years. 7 years! One might think it's a long time but given how things are moving at warp speed, it's like a heartbeat. Which after a while of thinking, is sort of about right. We grow up forming our first fond memories in sandbox in the play ground right up to about after kindergarten. That's seven years gone. Going into primary school, we might see quite a large number of our kindergarten friends back in the same school or even class but we formed new ones in the process. Fast forward to the beginnings of high school, another 6-7 years gone and we might see the old primary school friends back in the same school but we formed new ones as well and losing others. And the process repeats with college/uni and then work place and so on. There are other factors involved but that's pretty much the main idea. Friends really come and go in a blink of an eye and for some, that's all it takes to influence someone's life. For us Christians, it gives us a rough idea on how long we might spend our time with each other before they disappear from our friend network, on how to preach and teach the gospel to others. Interesting.
Went to T2 yesterday to search for a present to get for Kat with Reiner and sister. We all agreed on a teapot with some varieties of tea but the "drama" happened when choosing the tea leaves to go with the new teapot. Us guys wanted to get the Just Roses tea which consist of pretty pink rose buds while the sister wanted something else. Here's our rationale; the teapot that we are buying was glass so you can see through to the tea. How cool and cute would it be if your tea leaves consist of pretty pink rose buds brewing inside the pot? We tried to insist on getting the Just Roses blend but the sister vetoed us. It was quite funny for an outsider to see this huge guy with this thin scrony guy making "noise" on getting pretty pink rose buds to a girl who is not interested in it. So funny.
Went to Match Bar for drinks and it was a very nice bar to go to. Nice and warm with very good drinks and the good thing about the weekday especially during the period of the exams, it is completely empty. Nice chillout sounds as well. I love a good chillout sound though I can be pretty picky about my chillout music. While everyone is discussing about their own things, I was left alone from the various conversations from CJD to tutoring in colleges. So as usual, outcomes my iPhone and play games. I decided to check the app store and lo and behold, there were updates. Updates for Flight Control *gasp* *press download* And there it was...new maps!! Never been this excited since I bought Flight Control. Two new maps, the first is a variation of the old map but with two helipads and a seaport for sea planes and the other is an aircraft carrier that rotates its position every now and then. The first one is a little bit intense compared to the old map but not that bad. The aircraft carrier map however is mighty intense. You'll sweat before the first minute is over trying to get planes and jets to land. To make things worse, every now and then the ship rotates its position, so what used to be easy access for one plane maybe completely difficult to get for the same plane coming from the same position. This will keep me occupied for awhile and it did.
Adjourned to Hairy Canary for some light chow. Their pizzas there are not bad. We had chorizo and prawn pizza, caramelized onion and potato pizza and Jamon (sort of like proscuitto) and basil pizza. Very nice. Wanted to try the paella but it is a minimum of two people. Dang. Anyone wants to go with me? Or better yet, pay for me? Would like to try their mains but it was too late at night to do that so I might go there some other time.
And just now, I've broken my high scores for all three maps on Flight Control by quite a bit. Goodness me...
My mother called me on Tuesday saying that she is coming to Melbourne on Saturday (tomorrow!). Normally, most people would be thrilled about hearing their parents giving them a surprised visit but I'm a bit skeptical. My mother is not a person who makes a trip like this on a whim without a reason and after hearing the little things from her it makes it even more illogical for her to come on such short notice. She said that she hasn't even booked the ticket yet She'll be here for slightly under 2 weeks so we'll see what happens. Just a note of warning, if I suddenly become emo over the next 2 weeks, you'd probably know why.
Who would have thought that my first traditional East Malaysian cultural experience would happen outside of East Malaysia or even Malaysia for that matter? After basketball, I went out for dinner with Yee Meng and Reiner which is normal. The twist is that we suddenly invited to an open house by one of the church members from Cross Cultures and these are people that we barely knew (YM and Reiner not so bad). When we first entered the house, I immediately felt very weird as I'm here to have dinner at someone's place who I don't know at all. Very quickly my eyes scanned the environment for visual clues as to what is going on. For starters, I don't even know what is the occassion about for the open house. There was definitely something but still not very sure about it. The thing that really gave it away was one of the older women was wearing a traditional Iban costume (it's something you can spot a mile away) and apparently I heard there was "tuak" or rice wine going around. So must be an festival of sorts for the Ibanians. Then I heard people were wishing the woman and her family "Happy Gawai" which was kinda strange, but yes, it was Gawai, a celebration for the harvest in Iban culture. This was cool but still felt a bit weird in the house. I barely spoke a word eating very sheepishly and had 3 shots of tuak which to my surprise wasn't very alcoholic. It was sweet, almost like honey and very nice to drink. Before I left, someone played the gawak which is sort of like a guitar and the woman starting doing the ngajat, a dance normally performed at Gawai. I couldn't really hear the the gawak but the dance was very elegant and graceful. The only thing missing is a male dancer equipped with shield and sword. That. Would. Have. Been. Awesome. She managed to dance barefooted on a very rough concrete floor and still kept her grace and elegance and she turns about the floor. Her husband joked that the sword was on her side of the bed and that's why he is so well-behaved. The husband is an Australian. Very interesting experience though just a foretaste of the real deal. Which reminds me I should make a trip to East Malaysia someday.
After tutoring, head back to the city to join Ming and others for some desserts and drinks for her birthday. Chatted quite awhile before we adjourn to somewhere warmer and have coffee. Ended up in Troika where we spent hours bouncing ideas off each other on a variety of things. And all of this without a solid meal. Came back home at 2 in the morning armed with cup noodles and a sandwich pack from 7-11.
So, I decided to make a cake for the overdued birthday. After last week's experience, I've chosen the simplest but most time consuming cake I can think off just to appease the other people, not so much the birthday person. And I have chosen the all time favourite chocolate crepe cake. This time though, I was pleasantly surprised. So far, I can only make a maximum of 12 crepes which isn't very good considering that apparently you can make about 20 paper thin crepes. But this time, I manage to develop a system and I can manage a full 20 crepes. 1337 mad hax0rz skilz!!1! I was so happy that now I can do paper thin crepes everytime. Now the only thing left to perfect in the crepe cake was the cooking time for each crepe. I find that I cook the crepes too long so they end up looking like roti canai, still being paper thin. Once I have mastered that, time to find something else to bake. I have yet to make like small chocolate cakes with a molten centre and that shall be my next challenge.
In our Bible study group, when we broke into our prayer groups, Sheik said the funniest thing. "My group is in this corner, Xiao Xi's group is in this corner and Zhi Kai's group is in that corner. The rest of you, go corner yourself..." Lol...so funny
Today was also a day with no solid meals except for a slice of crepe cake and some snacks. And it so happens that it's one of the rare occasions that supper was not on. Came back and cooked fried macaroni with carrots, peas and corn plus an omelette at 2 in the morning. Cooking at this time felt very strange. I think I should go back to regular eating times...
Ooooh ooooh, you've got to see this!! Rubberduckzilla!! Roflcopter
Why Sean, why?? How can you do this to me? =P
Would like to try their mains but it was too late at night to do that so I might go there some other time.
She'll be here for slightly under 2 weeks so we'll see what happens. Just a note of warning, if I suddenly become emo over the next 2 weeks, you'd probably know why. 
