Common Questions

When I call my family/friends back home in Singapore, there seem to be a standardised set of questions that they will ask. Some of the questions can be quite interesting.

1. What time is it over at your side? (Note: They almost always use "your side" instead of Australia/Canberra).
2. Have you eaten?
3. What did you eat?
4. Did you cook or eat out?
   
5. What are you doing?
6. Is it cold?
   

The most annoying thing is, I usually call my parents just before I go to bed and as a nocturnal, that means I usually turn in at 3am - 4am Canberra time, which is 12am - 1am Singapore time (Yes, my parents are nocturnals too and that is the exact reason why I chose to call them at this time!).

My parents will start the conversation by asking why am I still awake, followed by some naggings like "Why aren't you sleeping yet?", "这么迟了,还不要去睡觉啊?". In an attempt to stop the naggings, I will try to end the conversation but before I could do that, they will start a new conversation. When the conversation comes to an end, they will ask me with the same questions, followed by similar naggings and this 'vicious cycle' will continue for quite some time before it really comes to an end. So diao right?

Makes me wonder if it's just my parents or are all parents like that? Oh well, I ain't complaining (maybe just a little grumbling) because I see it as acts of love. If they don't love me, they won't miss me. If they don't miss me, they won't try to talk to me. If they don't try to talk to me, they won't have to nag at me. Hahas.

Bolster in Luggage

How do I friggin' bring my bolster and pillow back to Singapore when I can't vacuum pack them, since I don't have a vacuum cleaner? It's gonna take up more than half of my luggage space. Sighs!

Just in caes ya wondering, my bolster is extremely precious to me. It's been my faithful sleeping companion for the past 18 years and it smells perfeeeeeeect to me. The 'bestest' fragrance I've ever had!

Keeping Me Going

I've been reading "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. I've heard about him and his famous last lecture but I have yet to watch the video on it. I've purchased this book just after my second paper and I read it during study breaks while preparing for my next paper.

Here are some life concepts/lessons which he shared in the book that I thought was very inspiring, especially at times when I feel like giving up.

"If I work hard enough, there willbe things I can do tomorrow that I can't do today."

"We cannot change the cards we dealt, just how we play the hand."

Randy Pausch shared a very inspiring quote which was originally by Walt Disney.

"If you can dream it, you can do it."

And this made me think that I can do what was deemed as impossible or challenging. I hope it will do the same for you too.

To My Beloved

I am starting to feel home sick because I miss my dogs - a lot, a lot. I can't imagine how they feel, especially Sugar.

It's impossible for me to communicate with them over the phone and there's no way I can explain to them (with them understanding what I say, of course) why I am away, how long I will be away and when I will be back.

I wish they know (maybe they do but I highly doubt so) that I wasn't abducted by aliens, that I am safe and sound, that my heart aches a little each time I see other people walking their dogs. [Tears formed in my eyes as I typed this.]

If only I could tell them how much I love them, how much I miss them and how miserable I am without them.

I hate to let them know that my return during the summer holidays is only temporarily, that I have to leave them again, that the next time we meet will be a good 6 months' (or even a year's) time, that I can't bring them along and that they have to go though the same heartache again.

My rabbits are dearly misses by me too. Guni especially.

If only we don't have to part. If.

Exams

My first paper, adult development and ageing, is starting in 2 hours time. The exam is 3 hours long. Sounds quite long ya? Not when you have 30 MCQs and 14 SAQs.

Unlike most of my friends who are doing commerce/business/economics, my exams are entirely closed book, so no cheat sheet or extra materials. Loads of facts, theories, research studies and results to remember. Worse thing is this paper starts at 2.15pm, ends at 5.30pm and my next paper is commencing at 9am tomorrow. Not the best exam time table.

Oh well, at least i'm having it better than a friend who has 2 papers in a day; one in the morning, one in the evening.Anyway, Wish me luck for my exams! Shall blog again next week. Take care till then!

It's Hailing

The are vast differences in the weather conditions between Singapore and Canberra(Duh! Tropical vs 4 seasons). Unlike Singapore, one rarely gets to see lightning or hear thunder in Canberra, not even when it is going to rain. I always get caught in the rain unexpectedly because there will be no signs to tell me of the impending wet weather.

Thus, I was a little surprised when I heard thunder this morning as I was mugging. Suddenly, I heard what sounded like a very heavy rain. I rolled up the blinds and looked out of the window. I was shocked to see many many white stones (or so I thought) filling up the ground. I shouted to my room mate "Come and take a look. It's hailing!"

We decided to walk out of the hostel to take a good look at the 'little white stones', which amazed us so much. We must have been a funny sight - 6am, two girls clad in pyjamas, out in the cold, getting all excited playing with hail stones and taking photos. Oh well, you can't blame us. We spent most of our lives in a tropical country where ice is man-made.

Shall upload pictures after my exams has ended. *Back to Mug*

The Land Before Time

I was reading on DNA cloning, damage and repair when I suddenly thought of dinosaurs. When I was very young, probably four or five, I watched this cartoon on dinosaurs at my uncle's house. The movie was so engaging and the story plot was so sad (and yet touching), it brought tears to my eyes. I felt really down aftr watching the cartoon, even after a week.

Many years on, I wanted to watch the cartoon again but I have no idea what the name of the cartoon was. I have no inkling idea whether it was a cartoon movie or part of a cartoon series. It was hard me to ask anyone what the title of the cartoon was when the only information I can provide is "it's a cartoon about dinosaurs".

After a long long search, I finally found out that the title of the cartoon movie is "The Land Before Time". I very badly want to watch it again. However, I have no idea where to find it. I did a quick search and found out that the movie was a 1988 production. Where am I to find a 22 year old cartoon movie? I highly doubt DVD shops will sell them.

I wonder if I will still have the same feelings and sentiments as I had if I were to watch the cartoon again. Hmms.

Lost & Found - Part 1

During the term break (some 3 weeks ago), I was working on my assignment in the school's computer lab. I placed my one and only thumbdrive in the USB port to save my assignment. After I completed my assignment, I downloaded audio lectures into my thumbdrive (Fyi: An audio lecture takes <10>30 minutes to download from my laptop back in my hostel). Then, my phone rang. My friend has ended her class and was waiting for me at the other end or school, so I quickly packed up and left.

Two days later, I wanted to proof read my assignment to ensure that no further amendments are needed, only to realise that my only copy of it was in my thumbdrive. Guess what? I came to realise that my thumbdrive's missing! I left it sticking in the school's computer usb port and I totally forgot about its existence (or rather non-existence) until 2 days later. How blur can I be!

Even though I was blaming myself for my carelessness, I managed to find peace and calmness. Sounds odd but it's true. If it were the same me a year or two ago, I would have been panicky and agitated, calling others to rant about my misfortune and vent my frustrations, while frantically trying to search for my thumbdrive. Hmms. Looks like I'm a changed person.

Anyway, on the 40 minutes bus journey to school, thoughts kept running through my head and I concluded that the probability of getting my thumbdrive back is < .10, since I have lost it for more than 48 hours. During that period of time, many people would have gained access to that computer which I left my thumbdrive in and I'm pretty sure one of them would have taken it. Moreover, my thumbdrive does not contain any personal information thus it would have taken the person some effort to trace back to its original owner (me). In short, it's much easier for anyone to take the thumbdrive, delete its content and keep it for personal use than to return it to me. As such, I did not harbour any hopes of seeing my thumbdrive again.

To be honest, it's not so much the cost or value of the thumbdrive that mattered to me. I got the thumbdrive for free when I purchased an external hard disk drive. It was the data inside the thumbdrive which held great significance to me. There were notes (important), assignments (super important) and photos stored in the thumbdrive. (Don't need to speculate. There aren't any photos similar to what Edison Chen had).

Later that evening, as I entered the same computer lab (Baume Infoplace), I glanced through the notice board for any "Lost & Found" notice. All I saw was a "Missing Thumbdrive" notice. Looked like I wasn't the only careless one to make such a silly mistake of leaving my thumbdrive behind. I gave up searching for it and continued to work on the same assignment with my project partner.

In the midst of project discussion, I got bored and decided to check my school email and I saw a new mail titled "USB in Baume Infoplace". I opened my mail and this was what it read:

Hey there,

Just to let you know that your USB has been left in Baume Infoplace. Was checking to see who it belongs to ... realised you are part of the SSA so I'll pass your thumbdrive to abc/xyz if you do not see this email in time.

Yours truly,
JY

Note: Names have been changed and included the initials of my benefactor to maintain privacy.

Oh my goodness! I can't believe how lucky I was. My thumbdrive was picked up by a fellow Singaporean who managed to contact me by looking through my assignments for my student ID (our student ID is used as part of our schools' email address). I looked at the date and realised that he had sent me the email two days ago! Oh gosh. That was the exact same day I 'lost' my thumbdrive!

I replied his email with great excitement (I've no idea why did I feel excited) and this was what I wrote:

Hey JY,

Thank you for helping me to safekeep my USB thumbdrive. That was really nice of you =)

Kindly advise on when (and where) it is convenient for me to pick up the thumbdrive from you. If possible, I'll like to treat you to coffee. Degree, purple pickle or street theatre will be good. I am contactable at 0123456789.

Regards,

Mildred

After replying that email, I was preparing to leave the computer lab when I saw two friends of mine, whom I knew from SSA (SSA = Singapore Student Association. Fyi: SSA is a society/club formed by Singaporeans for Singaporeans in ANU. Coincidentally, the SSA president was my polytechnic IT classmate, Jason. He has since stepped down as he will be graduating and returning to Singapore at the end of this year). We chatted for a short while and I randmonly asked "Have you any idea who is JY?"

My friend, Chel went "I know two people of the same name. Which one are you referring to?"

I thought for a while before saying "To be honest, I have no idea," and went on telling her my story.

She replied "If it's the guy who picked your thumbdrive up from this lab, it's most probably him" and she gazed to this guy sitting two computers behind me. "Do you want me to ask him on your behalf?"

I shook my head and said "Don't want lah. So paiseh."

Just then, that guy walked in our direction and Chel went "Want or not, want or not? I help you ask, okay?

I kept insisting "Don't want, don't want. Really very paiseh!"

Just as that guy was behind me (he was walking in our direction, towards the Gents), Chel went "Did you happen to pick up a thumbdrive?"

That guy glance at everyone in the clique before looking at me. Then, he said "So you are Mildred?"

"Errrms, yes" I replied with a sheepish grin."



Super long post. I logged in 5 times on 5 different ocassions to type up this post. Shall publish this part of the story first before I continue the rest in my next post. Hahas!

Stay tuned, k?

Back To School Again =(

My two weeks term break had ended last Sunday. This is the list of things I had been doing during term break:

• Took a 45 minutes plane ride to Melbourne and stayed there for 5 nights. Satisifed a lot of food cravings, walked a lot of streets, seen a lot of buildings with nice architectural designs, had awesome breakfasts, took a tram for the first time in my life, seen wild penguins (there were oh-so-cute) and met up with a friend whom I haven't seen in 8 years. No thanks to Tiger Airways, I spent a good 4 hours at Melbourne domestic airport rotting away. Yes, my plane got delayed but I guess I shouldn't be complaining cause my friends' flight (which was scheduled to fly the next morning) was cancelled. Will post the pictures on my blog when I upload them onto my lappie. Very busy at the moment, studying and preparing for presentation. (Woops! Sign of slacking too much during the holidays.)

• Attempted to diet because I found myself putting on way too much weight. It didn't help that I got 1kg heavier after returning from Melbourne. I chose to ate lesser during meal times but ended up snacking more. What is this!?!?!?! Guess my body is too used to me eating too much. Gotta take baby steps to slowly reduce my food intake. To think I used to struggle with the huge portion of food given at cafes and restaurants in Australia. Now, I can finish the entire plate by myself, even though I still struggle at times. There is no way I am going to let the food go to waste when it cost a whooping $14 on average for each meal.

• Attempt to lose more weight and stay healthier by joining gym. Chose fitness first for their equipment, environment and facilities. I also get to go for free classes such as yoga, pilates, zumba etc. I actually prefer the classes over working out on the machines. I make an attempt to go for as many classes as possibe because it's fun, interactive and interesting. To be honest, the classes can be more tiring and taxing than running on the threadmill; I feel that fats all over my body are 'burning'. Hahas. I have to highlight the fact that I'm not being spendrift (or atas). If I were to filter in costs like locker and what nots, I am going to pay more for the school gym than Fitness First. On top of that, the showers in my school is haywire; it either scalds me badly with super hot water, or freezes me with super cold water. Worse thing is the school toilet does not have heater. The moment I remove my clothes, I can see goosebumps on my skin (partially because I have low tolerance for cold). Bathing is a challenge. Few plus points about Fitness First in Australia includes lower subscription fees than if I were to sign up in Singapore, free access to any Fitness First across Australia (just in case I relocate), free trainer for three sessions (though they have stupid terms and conditions) and I can use the Fitness First gyms when I'm back in Singapore. Cool right?

• Stayed over at my friend's hostel (Val @ Fenner hall) and had loads of fun. We made pasta from scratch, from mixing the flour to rolling the dough to shaping the pasta. After that, we cooked it in aglio olio style with mushrooms. Boy, it was hard work! I doubt I will be doing it anytime soon. We also baked banana cake in cupcake style and it turned out really well, despite the fact that we didn't get some proportions and ingredients right. We did not have all the ingredients we needed and happily substituted with whatever we thought was good. The cake mixture didn't look right but the cupcakes turned out well. At least much better than we had expected. Thank goodness I stopped Val from throwing away the cake mixture when she thought it was going to be a 'gone case'. Just for your info, we were cooking/baking/having fun from 1am to almost 5am in the morning. Haha. Thanks Val for hosting me and doing crazy stuff with me at insane times even when you're sick. Please recover soon, it's been almost a week! *hugs*

• I deactivated my FaceBook account for various reasons which I do not wish to elaborate on my blog. I will most probably activate it again when I'm back in Singapore, depending on how well adapted I am to a life without facebook. I may just be tempted to facebook again in the following days/weeks or I may get so used to a life without FaceBook, I may never want to activate it again. Oh well, see how it goes.
  

I guess that's all for now. Gotta go prepare for presentation and study for quiz. Shall update when I think of anything else that I have done during the term break. Shall end this post with a picture of myself, just in case you people miss me. I feel so bhb. Hahas!



This picture was taken on mid-autumn festival when I was at Floraide nightfest (I will try to blog about the nightfest soon). I called my granny's place that night because I knew my extended family will be there for dinner. I was so glad to hear their voices, especially Uncle Cal's (though I never told him that).

I even got skyped with my grandparents at night. My granny saw me for the first time since I arrived in Australia and she commented that I look better when I'm fatter. I've no idea if she's speaking the truth or if she's trying to comfort me but I choose to believe the former. Hahas.

Anyway, just in case you guys are wondering, my friends (John + Janelle) and I came to conclude that the moon in Australia is rounder than it is back home in Singapore. Who says 家乡 的月亮 最圆 ?

Day Light Saving

I always feel that 24 hours a day just isn't sufficient for me and to make things worse, I have only 23 hours today!!!!!!! That is due to something called "day light saving". It usually takes place in spring when time is advanced by an hour due to lesser sunlight in the morning and more sunlight in the afternoon.

Think of it as shorter mornings, longer afternoons. So the sky gets brighter at a later time (in the day) and darker at a later time (in the evening). Thus, for safety reasons, the time is brought forward. However, not all parts of Australia observe daylight saving (weird uh) and that there are 3 different time zones in Australia (even weirder). I was quite clueless about daylight saving until googling and reading up on it extensively. I know I sound kinda dumb but back home, 1pm will always be 1pm and 10am will always be 10am. I never had to fret about adjusting the time etc. Anyway, more information about Australia time can be found here.

I think many back home in Singapore will be as confused as I am but to put it simply, Canberra (GMT +10) used to be 2 hours faster than Singapore (GMT +8). However, after 2am today (this is the day & time they chose to begin daylight saving), Canberra will be 3 hours faster than Singapore. Basically, 2am to 3am will pass in a minute (the one minute is spent adjusting the time on my clock. Haha!). Anyway, there are several controversies to daylight savings, with some supporting and others discouraging the use of it. If you are keen to know why, you can read up on it here.

Distracted

I am guilty of not doing my best in ANU. So what if I get into a good school, it all comes to nil when I don't work hard enough and put in due effort. I felt like I let my parents down and wasted their hard earned money.

Oh well, no point regretting now. Just take it as an expensive lesson and work towards a better future =)

Tough Week

Sorry for the lack of post last weekend. I'm now going through a very tough week.

I have a

• 40% test this Thursday at 9.30am (20% completed)
• 5% quiz this Friday at 9am (0% studied)
• 50% assignment due this Friday at 5pm (30% completed)

I'm so screwed. I'm now in the midst of studying for my test and rushing for assignment. I forsee myself sleeping minimally in the next few nights.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been binging a lot when I'm under stressed. I found myself gaining a good 5kg! Not very healthy given the short time frame. I tried to control by eating minimally but I found myself eating more subsequently because I felt extremely hungry after, so much so that I was having gastric pain. What is this! >.<

Thus, I've decided to adopt a healthier lifestyle this week by eating healthily. I'm going on a detox plan until this Friday. I realised that I am starting to display allergic symptoms and it's a wake up call to cleanse my body of the junk food that I've eaten in the past 2 months.

This time round, I won't be doing a juice diet as I did previously in Singapore. Read: No Blender. Instead, I'll be following this "7 day detox plan" even though I'll only be doing it for 5 days. I'll be eliminating processed food, red meat, eggs, milk, simple carbohydrates etc. Hopefully, my body will start getting rid of some toxic and react better to my allergic symptoms. I'll be happier if I can lose some weight. Hahs.

For a start, I ate organic muesli + organic raisins + organic yoghurt + granny smith apple + mixed nuts + pure honey for breakfast. I'd better adhere to this diet for the next couple of days.

Okays, back to 'crazy mode'. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can pass this week smoothly, be able to score Distinction average for my assignments and tests and remain strong (physically, mentally and emotionally).

Keep me in your prayers.

Loves

All of you hold a very important place in my heart. Each and everyone of you are greatly missed by me. I love you.

State of Equilibrium

I was sorting out some thoughts when this quote started forming at the back of my head.

"It's amazing how the mechanics of life work where a state of equilibrium is always maintained by gaining some and losing some. There’s never too much or too little of something; it’s a fair bit of everything."

Being Thankful

Last Sunday, I made a life changing decision I never thought I would. It was an untimely decision; I made at a time when I was rushing for deadlines, struggling with labs and mugging for tests/quizzes. It couldn't have been worse. I never thought I could tide over this phase easily. I was all alone in a foreign land.

It was through these series of events that I started to notice people's concerns for me and I learnt to appreciate their acts of love and kindness. My friends and family from Singapore were constantly skyping with me to give me the moral support that I need. My friends in Canberra were physically here for me, making sure that I was coping fine. Even though the odds are overwhelming, I know that I am able to survive through it an emerge as a stronger person because of the ample love and support I get from the people around me. How blessed can I be?

I never used to feel or think in this way. And this statement "Everything happens for a reason" was crap to me.

When met with obstacles in life, I used to question "Why put me through all these shit in life? What did I do to deserve these?" Previously, I used to believe in the Christian faith but at my lowest point in my life, I had doubts. I lost faith. I started to ask "What do you mean by everything happens for a reason? You mean these things happen so that I can suffer in pain?"

Instead of putting in effort to get things back on track, I spent a great deal of time mulling, crying, grumbling, complaining and swearing. In short, I was feeling helpless and angry, all because I chose to be that way. I rarely reflected on what I had done to contribute to that outcome, I always took the easier way out by putting the blame on others. When people around me started to show acts of love and concern, I was oblivious to them, all because I chose to focus on the problems and how much they have screwed my life. Kind words always fell on deaf ears.

Nonetheless, all these changed in recent years, especially after I came to Canberra. I started to mellow down and began searching for directions in life; to know what I was looking for and where I was heading to. I am more thankful than ever, for what I have and with that, I learn how to appreciate the better in life. Though I am still nowhere near perfect but I am no longer the disgruntled little kid I used to be. I guess being away from home and my loved ones has taught me how to see things from another aspect. I may have taken them for granted in the past and this is something I hope will never happen again.

Now, I constantly remind myself to be thankful for whatever I have and I truly do feel that way. I am thankful for receiving a fine education, being well brought up, having food on the table, enjoying the companion of others, basking in love, making good friends, being missed dearly, gaining more knowledge, learning new things, being well received and everything else which I have that made me who I am today.
As I look at the bigger picture and now, everything seems to make sense. If I haven't been through tougher times, I probably would not have learnt how to appreciate the good times now, and I definately will not have gained 'enlightenment' and see things from a different (positive) perspective.

I may not have the best of everything but I am making the best out of everything I have and all that was given to me.

I am starting to love life, I really do.

Me being happy and thankful for all that I have. Anyway that's our (my roomie + me) standard dinner. I always try to make it a point to have 3 dishes and 1 soup but at times it proves to be a little challenging, especially when it comes to cooking soup because the stove they provided is an induction stove that takes forever to heat the pot of soup up (not to mention boiling it).

人情味

"最美的不是咖啡的香味，不是食物的美味，不是空气中迷漫着的气味，更不是恋爱的滋味，而是在人间散发着浓浓的人情味。"

This quote started forming at the back of my mind s I saw how an international student tried to negotiate with the lady boss of a restaurant, on behalf of a student association. If only people could be more compassionate, this world will be much better a place to live it. Don't you agree?

Sakura Trees

In winter, one tends to feel melancholy when everything fades into a shade of white, grey and/or black. Even the colour of clothes sold here compliments the season. All plants either are botak or withered. Sometimes, walking down the pathways can get a little depressing. Thus, I was really happy to see flowers blooming.


I spotted two cherry blossom/Sakura trees while walking from School of Psychology to Union Court (the center of ANU where most people gather at, due to the eateries, cafes and shops) and it really made my day. I didn't know they were Sakura trees until I saw the flowers (then again, maybe I'm wrong. They could just be another tree with Sakura look alike flowers. Thus correct me if I got the trees wrong). They really made my day.



Looks like Spring is nearing.

Pore Strips

I highly doubt I will be visited the beauty salon for a facial in Canberra, mainly because it is difficult to explain to them the condition and sensitivity of my skin [I have atopic eczema with extremely sensitive skin]. I definately would not want to pay AUD100 to be a guinea pig and try if the facial may have any adverse reaction on my skin.

Thus, for the next few months, I will be relying on some DIY and/or organic products. I was getting tired of squeezing my own blackhead and when I found this video, I was ecstatic. No more biore pore pack; I forgot to bring from Singapore and can't seem to find them in Canberra.

I shall try them this weekend, after I've purchased the required ingredients and update you guys on how well it works.

Lunch In School

To save my poor little tummy from hunger, I made myself lunch by preparing the food the night before just so that I didn't have to wake up early to cook. Since the weather gets really cold in winter, I decided that it didn't make much sense to bring food like fried rice or spaghetti bolognese. Imagine eating them cold, like fresh out of the fridge. [Yes, the temperature here is that low, the water I drink from my bottle is cold even though I filled it with hot water.] How disgusting can it taste right!

Thus, I decided to make salad. However, you can't prepare vegetable salad beforehand without compromising on it's quality and taste. If you were to add salad dressing to the vegetables the night before, the vegetable will turn out soft and soggy instead of fresh and crunchy. After much considerations, I decided to make seafood pasta. It's a no brainer dish that can fill my hungry tummy. It's easy to pack into a lunchbox and can be prepared beforehand without losing its quality.

I happily cooked my pasta, add in the right ingredients, pack it nicely into a lunchbox and store it in the fridge. The next morning, in a rush to get to school (as usual), I opened the fridge and swiftly grabbed the first lunch box I see.

During lunch time, I merrily took out my lunch box [Previously I used to skip lunch because eating in school was way too expensive.], only to realise that I took the wrong lunch box. The one I took was filled with leftover butter rice from the day before. Great. So now I have butter rice with no ingredients -.-''

All that hardwork and excitement for nothing. Since I still had classes for the rest of the day, it simply doesn't make sense for me to keep the butter rice in my bag and bring it back to hostel (which is a good 30 minutes bus ride away). Firstly, I've been keeping the container of rice in my bag and walking around with that 'excess weight' for the whole morning. Secondly, I'm starving. Thirdly, the butter rice is probably not going to make it till night. Why would I want to spend so much effort just to bring spoilt butter rice from hostel to school and back to hostel?

So, I decided to get some food to go with my rice. After much deliberation, I went for a big fat sausage that cost me AUD 2.70. Smells good, tasted awesome and goes extremely well with my butter rice!

Singapore's National Day 2010

The bunch of Singaporeans who I usually hang out with. I'm so lucky and blessed to have them around. They make my life easier when it gets tough. We were advised to wear red and white but with our coat/sweater on, it's hard to tell what colours we are wearing. I was not wearing red because I brought 0 red clothes over. Most of my clothes are either black or white. Monochrome. The only other colour that I have is denim because I brought quite a few pairs of jeans.

Since National Day falls on a Monday this year (and it definately isn't a public holiday in Australia or Canberra), we, a bunch of Singaporeans who are studying in Canberra decided to celebrate it a day earlier with a potluck session.

As usual, I made baked rice because my group of friends love it. Not that I'm complaining. I sure am happy that my baked rice is a hit but I'm just a little sick of making it because it no longer is a challenge. I've made chicken gourmet sausages with broccoli baked rice, ham and sausages baked rice and seafood baked rice. Moreover, baked rice gives me sore and achy shoulders. It's a rather simple recipe but it's a long process which requires quite a bit of hard work. It doesn't help that the furniture and fixtures in Australia (such as the kitchen counter) is catered for Westerners, thus it will be a strained in my muscles for a petite Asian like me, especially when I spend too much time in the kitchen. Yes, I'm still having sore shoulders and strained neck after a good two days.

My legendary baked rice!

At times, I even have to tip toe while standing at the kitchen counter, just so that I can toss my food well or stir fry the food proportionately. Fried rice is another dish that requires a great deal of effort. Zzz. At times while cooking, I will start wondering what if my mum or Mel (my sis) are staying here with me in Canberra? How are they going to cook (given the fact that they are shorter than I am)? If I buy a stool for them to stand on, will they be tall enough to cook comfortably? Hahahahahas. Oh well ...

Helping to heat up the fried beehoon.

Another reason why I was reluctant to make baked rice was that, I'm dying to try out new recipes; recipes which my mum & sis sent to me and recipes which I've been surfing for the past few days.

Anyway, back to the main topic, I had great fun at the mini potluck session yesterday. It was nice to meet up fellow Singaporeans, even if it means to just sit around, chit chat and slack, taking a break away from books, notes and household chores. Best of all, the food I had yesterday made me feel at home. From fried bee hoon to baked rice to green curry to tang yuan to tau suan. Yums! I could barely resist the fried bee hoon; it tasted and made me felt so good that I continued eating despite feeling bloated. Hahs. That was how much I missed food from Singapore.

Very awesome fried beehoon cooked by Valerie, with the help of the Fenner Boys. Did I mention she was a fantastic cook? I'm so lucky to have a friend like her. Nice and sweet with good culinary skills!

The green curry went very well with the fried beehoon! Courtesy of Valerie and Fenner boys!

My friends were so patriotic that he downloaded past years' and this year's national day song and started blasting on his iPod with 4 speakers in the function room. The music was so loud (and probably annoying) that some random person from outside the function room slammed our door shut. Hahs.

My friends started commenting on how the national day songs remind them of home, how much they miss home and how much they wish they were in Singapore etc. For some odd reasons, I don't feel the same way. I sure miss the people, furries and the food but I don't feel homesick at all. Not that I am totally in love with the life here but I don't exactly dislike it enough to be homesick. Hmms ... I guess this must have disappointed many people back home in Singapore, who are reading my blog. Oh well, just think of it this way. I'm adapting well to my life in Canberra. Does that sound better?

I'm not a great fan of red bean or tau sar but I still ate a lot of red bean tang yuan because it tasted fantastic and I love it. Plus, it really makes me feel like I'm back in Singapore, eating from some hongkong cafe.

Anyway, there will be a gathering organised by ANU's Singapore Student's Association to celebrate National Day tonight at Haydon-Alleen Tank. Heard that there will be free food (probably Singapore/Asian style), a mini trivia (games with regards to Singapore. We were told to go read up our social studies textbook -.-'') and screening of the National Day Parade from 6.30pm to 11.00pm. The best part of the games is the goodie bags. They actually shipped 10 real goodie bags that were meant to be given out at National Day Parade, all the way from Singapore to Canberra. I thought that was amazing.

However, I will most likely give it a skip as I've got loads of readings to complete with pressing deadlines to meet. Plus, the event ends a tad too late for me. Sorry Jason, if you happen to read this.

Nonetheless, I'll most probably be catching the National Day Parade on live telecast via NDP 2010 Offcial Website. I guess that's what the most of us intend to do. By the way, this year's theme is Live Our Dreams, Fly Our Flag.

Fire!

This picture was captured when the fire alarm went off due to some prank.

I was enjoying my beauty sleep last night (or rather this morning) when I heard my roomie calling for my name. I finally woke up after she called me for the nth time. Being half awake, I heard her voice in the foreground with some sound in the background. I thought it was my really fantastic alarm clock (the SGD100+ alarm clock that never fail to wake me up) was ringing, until my roomie blurted "It's the fire alarm!"

Too groggy to bother about any image or speech manners, I went "What the Fuck!" and I seriously meant it. I can't stop grumbling about how would anyone smoke at 5.30am in the morning (Note: The past two times when the fire alarm went off, it was the 'good job' of some jokers who decided to smoke in the hostel room.) I was extremely reluctant to get out of my bed and evacuate, especially when I just went to bed at 4am.

Imagine wearing only cotton pyjamas with bedroom slippers, standing out in the cold at 2 degrees celsius with the wind blowing crazily for a good 20minutes. I bet you can NEVER imagine how it feels if you've stayed in Singapore most of your life without venturing out of the tropics.

It was so cold, my fingers were literally numbed, my joints felt rigid, my teeth were chattering, my knees were shaking, my nose and ears painful from the cold. That was how cold I (or rather all of us who were evacuated) felt.

Just when I was cursing the guy/girl who set the fire alarm off (I thought it was a prank), the fireman came to speak to us. This was what he said "This morning is a typical case of heater catching fire. By placing the blanket over the heater, it catches fire easily, so please becareful when using the heater!"

Apparently, one of my neighbours had this small electric heater in between the two beds. One of them accidentally kicked his blanket (while asleep) and it covered the heater, causing his blanket to catch a fire and that set off the fire alarm.

Though I was annoyed by the fact that I had to wake up at some unearthly time to evacuate in the cold, I was thankful for the fire alarm. Imagine what would have happened to my neighbour if the fire alarm didn't ring. Both he and his room mate would have been roasted pigs, and the rest of us would be some roasted half-done steak.

He was in a state of shock when he found out that his blanket had caught fire and felt extremely guilty about having the hall residents standing in cold. He was apologetic for the entire incident. (His room mate was a huge contrast, smiling away throughout the whole episode without even trying to act as though he was apologetic.) I bet it must have been a horrifying experience for him. It could have happened to me. I'm just thankful that he's safe and unhurt.

In my opinion, even though the electric heater heats up easily and is convenient to use, it can be really dangerous; it catches fire extremely easily when there is no ventilation for the heater (Eg. Covering it with a piece of cloth).

Just in case you are wondering about the heater which my roomie and I purchased, you can rest assure about it because we bought an oil heater which I think is relatively safe. Moreover, the heater we got is quite tall in height, thus we will have to master some kung fu skills before we can 'aim' to cover the heater with our blankets during bed time.

Oh, did I mention anything about skipping lecture the next morning? Hahas. I couldn't get back to sleep after I got back to the room; I felt like a piece of frozen pork being thawed.

In the end, I

1. went to update my status on facebook, visited my neighbour (the one whose blanket caught fire)

2. checked out how he was doing, lent him my room mate's sleeping bag (with his blanket gone, he had nothing else to keep him warm)

3. sneezed non-stop and had to open a new box of tissue

4. sms-ed my sweet neighbour(he lives directly opposite me and we get to see each other everytime we leave our doors opened), Isaac. He told me to just skip lecture if I still continue to sneeze. Afterall, I won't be able to concentrate in class when I'm feeling sleep deprived. (With his encouragement, I mustered enough courage to skip lecture. Haha!)

By the time I dozed off, my alarm went off at 7.50am. When I tried to wake up, my head was spinning and my nose was busy (read: sneeze). How to attend, concentrate and stay awake during lecture in such a state? Plus, I only had that one hour lecture for the entire day. How not to resist the temptation to skip school?

*Woops*

Maybe, I'm just trying to justify and reduce my guilt for skipping lecture.

But ... I really was down with a flu for a good 2-3 days. So ... yeaps! I had a good reason for missing lessons, Right?

Direct Factory Outlet

In a desperate attempt to search for matching/suitable shoes for a ball, my friend (Felicia) and I decided to head down to Direct Factory Outlet after school to shop. I was expecting a warehouse like place selling loads of cheap clothes (like the typical warehouse sale in Singapore) but to my surprise, I saw this large shopping mall!

DFO is like a mall consisting of many small shops selling a wide variety of products, ranging from clothes to shoes to furniture to kitchen utensils to accessories/fashion jewellery to eyewear to stationery supplies. Some of the brands they carry include Roxy, Cotton on (some stuff are really cheap), Supre, Oakleys, Nine West and Diva. Think IMM.

The good thing about it is most of the products at discounted rates and thus we started shopping merrily, something we rarely do in Canberra City (Civic) because the things in Civic are generally more expensive, and the range of products isn't that fantastic.

We shopped from dawn till dusk. Haha. I was kidding. Even though we went there in bright daylight and left when the sky darkens, we were there for only 3 hours. The sky in Canberra starts turning dark at 5pm. I've no idea whether it's an Australia thing or whether it was due to the fact that the days are shorter in winter. Hmms.

We shopped from 3pm to 6pm because the shops at DFO closes at 6pm punctually. I bought quite a number of clothes because I brought very few to Australia. As a result of my father's insistence that 'there's no way I can wear summer clothes in winter', I brought 0 shorts, 2 t-shirt and loads of jeans + coat + sweater. What my father didn't know was the fact that there's heater in my hostel, lecture theatres and tutorial rooms. Thus, the room will be too hot for me to wear my coat and/or sweater and I will literally prespire. Luckily my mum and sister left behind 2 t-shirts (which they have worn to Australia) for me. Otherwise, I will have to cook and do household chores in sweater/coat.

At DFO, I found a nice pair of shorts from Cotton On for AUD 5.00 and from now on, I shall wear that instead of jeans to do household chores and cooking.



Somehow the clothes or rather the fashion sense here seems to date back to 10 years ago. It's so difficult to shop for suitable clothes here. These were the rare times when I miss Takashimaya, Ion, Far East and even neighbourhood malls like Lot 1. I couldn't even find the Hugo perfume that I usually use. Oh, and you know what? There's no Starbucks in Canberra (Read the following link for more info about why isn't there Starbucks in Australia's capital.) I miss my Caramel Macchiato!

Sometimes, I wish I was studying in Sydney or Melbourne instead.

Scientific Calculator

I had my first practical/laboratory session today. Not knowing what to expect, I went to school with only my pencil case and lecture notes. When I arrived for lab session, this was what the tutor said.

Tutor: : Anyone of you brought a scientific calculator?

A girl raised up her hand.

Tutor: Cool! The rest of you might want to calculate manually with the calculator in your handphones.

Rest of Us: !!!!!

After the experiment was carried out, we were given formulaes and calculations. Without the convenience of a calculator, I had to do some mental arithmetic (not the best thing to do early in the morning) and before jotting down every single step. Halfway through, I got stuck when I saw this √2306, √5906 & √12706. The calculator on my handphone did not have this function and there was no way I could calculate the square root of some random numbers without the aid of a scientific calculator.

I started to dig for my iPod touch and it took me quite some time to get connected to the school's network. I quickly searched for a free scientific calculator software. Guess what? Before I could finish calculating the answer for my first step, this message popped up "You have reached the limits for the trial version. Please click to download the full version."

-.-"

Gosh. I started frantically looking for another free software and after the 5th download, I managed to submit my answers. So much for using the calculator on handphones.