THE LAW OF DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY

applies so much to HOLIDAYS!!!

Not to mention the slow internet connection which really piss me off.

But interesting stuff are coming, coz it's 29th November 2007 today, which means new year is nothing but beckoning.

Yeah!! Time to celebrate and have fun.

NO!!! How can time fly so fast??Damned, I'm turning 20 in June next year. OMG, am really feeling old now.

Been excited about going home on 14th January for a 40-day vacation in Malaysia. Been missing family and frens much and hopefully I can see most of them when I finally go back. Frens in msian uni's are starting their semester soon but I hope they will at least go back to Taiping once a fortnight or so for me to meet up and yamcha with them. Haven't seen some of them for ages really.

Too much of something is always not good. Yeah, the law of dimishing marginal utility. That defines human. We complain so much during the semester for not being able to have time for ourselves yet we complain during hols for having too much time for too little things to do. lol.

But it's not all boring and gloomy as some frens of mine here are really semangat. Dinner on Dong Zhi, christmas eve and I'll definitely set out early to watch the firework in Sydney on 31th December 2007.

Don't you think that time is flying so fast that it actually scares you???

I do.

Without yourself realising it, time is passing away and very soon you will be a graduate, a parent, a grandparent.....OMG stop that!!!

I just wanna watch my drama now. HAHAHA

Can you believe

that I'm paying $40 for a shitty internet connection here?It's RM120..and the connection goes off and on every 5 minutes. Startech, you are DAMNED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that I'm on holiday doing nothing besides reading papers, novels and watching dramas? Need to really recharge in this 3 months before heading to new challenges in my second year.

that I'm capable of baking? So far had baked lemon cheesecake, cheesecake brownie, butter scones, french onion scones, banana cake. Not bad for someone who just started baking for less than a month.

that I ate pasta for dinner at 4.00pm today? Yeah, coz I'm trying to cut down on food intake here. The food here is 10 times more fattening than the Malaysian food!!

that it's 1/3 of my holiday is over?

that I'm still cursing the stupid internet connection?

that I love the shower outside my window? Because I'm indoor lol.

that I'm less than a month away from going home? Don't get me wrong, this is not to grumble like someone living next door. I'm just stating a plain fact that I love my family and my home and am always excited about going home. I love life in Australia too, especially the one I'm leading now.

that my kitchen is sooo dirty? Am gonna ask Harvin to clean it with me tonight.

that Sarah sent me a bitchy letter? She was trying to sound like a white by using the word 'fu*k' everywhere. The fact is, she made herself sound like a real BITCH.

that I woke up at 9pm this morning, only to go back to sleep at 11pm and woke up again at 2pm. Was really tired last night.

that I'm writing nonsense in this blog entry?

that I decide to stop writing nonsense now?

Yeah rite

I was thinking about putting up pictures but the thing in the draft has gone corrupted.

Now super lazy to do everything all over again.

P/S Ho sheng, you and the pics 有缘无份. Sigh....

Well, I'm happy with my second semester result, but am reminding myself that second and third year will be at least 10 times harder.

Have been enjoying myself heaps. Chrismas is beckoning, though I'm not a Christian it is something to look forward to. There will be tonnes of nice stuff and a mega celebration in Sydney. Something not to be missed by us international students.

Plan to do some baking tomorrow. Shall I make scones or shall I try making pau?? I have the yeast which can be used to make both. Hm...I'll make up my mind tonight perhaps.

Natalie left to China and left her key for me. So I can literally say that I have access to a 200++dollar- a - week apartment. A nice place to rest when I'm bored at my $169-per-week five-bedroom apartment.

Life's been great

3 weeks of 堕落生活since final exam.

But I fully deserve this 3 months of enjoyment and lazing-around-doing-nothing lifestyle. Been working really hard during semester and hence regardless of the final outcome, I AM PROUD OF MYSELF.

Had Udong noodles for lunch today, and baked banana cake yesterday with Liu Yue. Nice and puffy stuff, I like the banana cake.

For the past 1 week, I had been travelling on travel pass. Am sure the utility I've got from it far surpasses the $38 I paid, haha. On the first day itself I travelled on a monetary worth of 20++ already, what more to say about the following 6 days?

Just attended a research by Macquarie University. Got my $30 from that one hour and 30 minutes. The experimentor is a phD student of Neurology. She chatted with me during the break and it was nice to chat with a local white after so long.

These few day's been raining. The sky always looked gloomy and the wind is often strong. Have thought about going for a swim later but it depends on the weather - hope it would be fine at 5pm.

You will certainly see an update on this blog soon. Meanwhile I need a nap and catching up with the TVB drama series which I take ages to finish.

Tata!

HOLIDAY MOOD IS ON

It's only the second week of my long summer holiday yet I feel as if I've been enjoying life very much for some time. That shows how torturous my second semester was and the freedom we get after the last paper is just inexplicably delightful. Just finished watching the 2007 version of drama series 梁山伯与祝英台 and honestly I can say that it's the best drama series I've known thus far - not merely because of the melodrama demonstrated by this Chinese classic ( in fact, I know the rough storyline before watching yet it manages to persuade me to go one episode after episode) but also the warmth, courage portrayed between siblings, between parents and son/daughter. Dong jie is very well-suited for the role of Zhu Ying Tai and Ma Wen Cai (Chen Guan Ling) is very handsome. Haha, that's how girls are mesmerized, basically.

Currently tutoring a student twice a week and still looking for a second job. The thing about Marsfield is that there's always excess labour during semester holiday. As an analogy, if there's 100 people in the workforce, there are at least 300 people queuing up to wait for the 100 to leave their position. Get it? See how hard is it to earn money despite the high wages offered. Sigh.....

Most of my friends minus me, Chean Yeaw and Weng Soon, had left Sydney for home. For me it's because I haven't been really enjoying life in Sydney during semester so it would really pay for me to stay here during December just to experience the atmosphere during Chrismas and Happy New Year. Heard from Harvin that the celebration will be gregarious and the last thing I should do is to miss it, lol.

Chatted with my brother Wen Li last night at 12 something midnight. Heard from him that Taiping is starting to develop with the likes of TESCO, GIANT opening. WOOHOO!! That means the duopoly FAJAR and THE STORE will face more competition and the prices of goods will be falling like no one's business. The timing will be perfect for me to go back in January to shop, haha.

This post is starting to get too long. I'll just stop here for this time.

I'm tagged by my neighbour

1. I am listening to: Qian Li Zi Wai by Fei Yu Qing

2. Maybe I should : Drag myself to look for a job

3. I love : Holiday

4. My best friend : This is too subjective to answer

5. I don't understand : how some people think gaming is more fun than DRST.

6.I lose : my ignorance towards certain things as time goes

7. People say : that defeat only happens if you give up

8. The meaning of my screen name is : I’ve been busy enjoying myself to even put on one

9. Love is : eternity thousands years ago, but it is materialism, reality, wealth, knowledge, social status etc in the modern world (sigh… have been watching drama that’s why)

10. I will always : try my best and leave the rest to God

11. Forever : I don’t think anything will last forever. So cherish what you’re having now!!!

12. I never want to : let myself down

13. My cellphone is : LG branded

14. When I wake up in the morning : I will drag myself to study desk during semester, lazing around during holidays

15. I get annoyed at : literally nothing, if there is my irritation wouldn’t last long. Because I know happiness is important.

16. Parties are : dangerous

17. My dog is : I don’t have one

18. Kisses are worst when : I’ll tell you when I have experience on this.

19. Today I am : still gonna enjoy myself

20. Tonight I will : still gonna enjoy myself

21. Tomorrow I will : still gonna enjoy myself. Don’t forget it’s holiday

22. I really want : to get another job

23. When I looked at myself in the mirror today I : comb my hair and wonder why the mirror is so dirty lol

24. I will drive my car : not at the moment.

25. A word that rhymes with park is : shark

26. Bright or dark room? : bright except when I am asleep

27. If I'm alone in a room with two beds I : You think I’m so rich meh??

28. Now to tag people:

I tag all my blog readers

Pure randomness

"Thank you for teaching me what the true world is like.Thank you for inflicting upon me what is my toughest year so far.Thank you for letting me learn what true friends are made of.Thank you for letting me experience a true crafter of manipulation. Thank you for allowing me the chance to know how fake a person can be."

I so happen to read this in my neighbour's blog. I think I can write some useful reminders for myself.

A true word is like a coin - there are two sides, one labeled with 'good', another with 'evil'. And 99% of the time, you choose which side is to be facing up.

In the modern world free of slavery, and provided that you're not a victim of criminal activities, no action from other people will inflict pain on you unless you ALLOW that to happen.

Manupulation is what life is make of. We manupulate things in our favour most of the time. So what's wrong with that?? Everyone does that, and we should all understand that human beings act in self-interest. To put in another way, you only have yourself to blame if you fall for any. And usually that happens because you have done exactly the same thing to that person. The universal law of retribution, there it goes.

All of us, at some point in life, have to put on a mask. The reason is simple: We are imperfect, but we want perfection, so we act to be the way we want ourselves to be. We act in self-defense, we act in self-protection. We act when we attend interviews, when we do presentation, when we talk etc. Acting is an essential part of life, otherwise life is all gloomy. Things are not always nice to see and nice to hear, but given the fact that most people prefer these, acting is essential and NOT CRIMINAL. Whenever we complain about how fake a person is, it is always useful to ask yourself : 'Have I done the same thing??'. Invariably, the answer is YES.

Haven't you heard of this chinese saying:

Life is a life drama - there is no preparation of scripts or plots. We are all life actors and we act to make the drama as pleasant as we can - but we don't always succeed - and that makes it a good drama.

Farewell, Joy

I got this from her in the morning:


natalie sent 11/27/2007 12:47 AM:
joy here...

natalie sent 11/27/2007 12:47 AM:
it goes like this it was great getting to know you....

natalie sent 11/27/2007 12:48 AM:
thank you for all that you've done and thank you for teaching me valuable lessons

natalie sent 11/27/2007 12:48 AM:
i've never have learned how it is to have true friends if i

natalie sent 11/27/2007 12:48 AM:
i've not met you

natalie sent 11/27/2007 12:49 AM:
thanks you for being the wonderful person that you are and i wish you the very best in your future undertakings



Joy left Sydney in the morning and the effect is immediately seen. Natalie, her housemate who's been dependent on her as a mentor called me to complain about her presentation partner's poor behaviour. Sigh..... I will miss her. Natalie, time to learn going about things on your own.

Me and Ray will miss her cooking. Natalie will miss her being around like a big mama. Luckily she taught me how to make my precious cheesecake and very soon I may decide to give it a try myself. Yay!

We fellow JPA people plus Ray gave her a scrapbook and I wrote two pages of crap with a pink pen lol. She gave me tonnes of her stuff and whenever I asked her if she wants some of them back when she returns next year for graduation, she went like :"NO NO NO". I would say, oh well, thank you very much. (lol, I'm the second largest inheritor of her treasure, just after Ray).

Joy, your're a great friend and mentor. Although certain aspects of your life seemed bizarre when I first heard it (at the beginning of the year) I fully recognise that different people prefer different ways of living and the fact that I don't lead the same lifestyle as yours does not stop us from being very good friends. Do come back to visit us!

All the best in your careers and future endeavours.

MERDEKA ! MERDEKA ! MERDEKA!

Yeah I know, today is not 31st August. Wonder why I say that?? You get it, my exams for 2007 are OVER and DONE WITH!! Woohoo!! From yesterday 1230pm, I don't have to see my closest friends during my semester --- MY BOOKS AND NOTES. They finally retire from being placed everywhere on my studying desk, they are getting their deserved rest now - and have been enjoying their retirement in peace....in a box at a corner of my room. Hahaha.

Perhaps I shall start planning for the coming 1.5 months before I go back to Malaysia. Drama series watching is essential to kill time lol together with other activities like hanging around with people whom I don't normally spend so much time with. Time to go the Ranch for a dance (but I will ALWAYS say no to alchoholic drinks!!) and also make a trip to some of the suburbs around Sydney. I've been to Chatswood, Eastwood, Paramatta thus far. Now is just a great time to loiter around Newcastle, Gordon and other places minus the city coz I've been there too often already.

My time during the semester had been devoted 99% to studies, 1% to working. MY BRAIN SERIOUSLY NEEDS A GOOD REST. Hehe, even if I feel like working there's no guarantee that I will get one because everyone will be fighting for the limited positions after exam. Sigh.sigh. And I try not to work for Asian bosses because they are way too stingy and 'ke bo' that I don't think it is worth my time working for them. I don't need money desperately until some other people so what is the point of torturing myself into working for those Chinese restaurant which pay workers at the rate of 5 or dollars an hour. Forget it, mister, and by the way, don't forget that you are asian, and forever an asian. You are in no way resembling an ang moh, for God's sake. lol. Some asians here are really ke bo towards asian. I will just reply, NO THANKS.

Justina came yesterday and will be staying in my room for the next 6 days. People finished exam way before I did and hence is not enjoying the freedom as much as I do now! lol. She has her gang of friends bringing her around Sydney so I needn't worry. I told her I 'm sick of Darling Harbour, Circular Quay etc and she went giggling and said she can understand that. And as expected she complained about the expensive bus fare here as compared to the ones in Melbourne. And I went like, "thats precisely why I don't go city that often, it costs me $8 for the ride itself."

Sydney is such an expensive place.

Last paper is as important as the first

JIA YOU AHHHHH

JIA YOU!!!

GAMBATE !!!!!

ECON111 tute questions & other stuff

ACST 101 test was done just now. What's next???

1. Econ tute exercises to be done before lecture
2. ACST 211 tute to be done before Friday

FINAL EXAM timetable:

15th Nov ECON111
17th Nov ACCG105
20th Nov ACST101
22th Nov ACST211
23th Nov MATH133


After which kemerdekaan is achieved. (laughing out loud)

A true scenario of pain before gain, suffering before happiness. It's even more evident in the Actuarial course.

Of neutrality and EXAM

few weeks before exam is a testing period of one's

resilience to stress
self-discipline -- STOP PLAYING
willingness to sacrifice leisure
ability to convince oneself to carry on loads of revision
prowess at speculating potential exam questions
consistency over the semester
friendship and independence
self-control and studying pace
time organisation
mental strengh aka psychological toughenness
ability to stamp out procrastination
ability to catch up with speeding uni work

and most importantly,

self-belief and the faith that as long as one tries his/her best, the rest is decided by God.

Less than a month before final exam......

is the period of recession of my blog. There wouldn't be much interesting events narrated because there isn't any to start with!!!(laughing out loud)

A friend of mine told me " Four more weeks.." and I continued exactly as how he wanted it to be " and our nightmare will be over" hahaha.....everyone is stressed out, no doubt.

I need to finish up my accounting assignment, study for math test and catching up with loads and loads of work with the limited time I have. I have already cut down on gym-going (just like last semester during the month before exam) so that I can concentrate more on my preparation.

After exam Justina will visit me and we shall have heaps of fun! And Joy agreed to hang out with us before she runs off to Singapore. I hope I will manage to learn some baking skills from her during the week before she goes back.

In the face of mounting stress and uni work.

ECON 111 assignment was due at 7.30pm just now. What's coming next???

1. Math133 assignment due on Wednesday.
2. I'm trying to finish Math tute and econ tute
3. I'll do my acst 101 assignment tomorrow morning
4. Maybe should catch up on techniques and elements last week
5. OMG i must also catch up on last week's accounting tute answer
6. Acst 211 tute to be done before Friday
7. Accounting generic assignment due next Wednesday, crap!
8. A Math test is awaiting on the same day

It's so true that consistency is the key to surviving Actuarial courses.
All the while I've been trying hard to catch up, but time is so so limited that I feel so breathless now. Maybe it's because Econ assignment had taken up too much time.

And my final exam starts lesss than a month from now.

I hope I can survive all this. Ah, back to math tute now......

A Random Post After ACCG Tutorial

I am really getting a headache because of Econs assignment. It sucks because i am still clueless with the question about why national income is always less than the true value of output. It must have something to do with the formula, somehow, and I need to figure out that.

Asha Sekar was talking about the need for lecturers to gain respect from students. I totally agree with her. Sometimes lectures are noisy because of the lack of effort on the lecturer's part in building up mutual respect with the students.

I hope my Friday lecture would be more quiet after the change of lecturer.

MY SPRING BREAK - RECAP

The past tw0 weeks fly pass and it's the last day of my mid sem break. I decided to do a bit of recall on what happened in the past 14 days.
HM.....what have I done???

1. Visit Canberra
2. Attend forum group that earned me $80 in 1.5 hour in Clarence Street (woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
3. Tutoring Tina -- and as usual, she paid me $45 for 3 hours
4. Celebrate Tang Long (or Mooncake) festival at unit 111 with my JPA and Malaysian gang. Yes, we had fun.
5. Empty talk with my housemate Harvin about her apparent 'wisdom and maturity' from dating a Bangladeshi for 6 months (so far)
6. Cook Bryiani and Curry chicken - they were yummy, thanks to Victor's Bryiani and Mummy's curry recipe
7. Catch up on my uni work
8. Assignments and Ants Pants Accounting Workbook --- lol

Now back to Econ worskshop exercise.............................and not to mention I have a test coming on Wednesday.

The really 'chim' (deep) philosophy behind the city of Canberra

THE PARLIAMENT HOUSE

The first hall we arrived at after going through the entrance was this made-of european-materials place. Apparently it is meant to recognise Australia collonial past (under British).

However, as we walked further we stepped into the parts of the building made of Australian authentic materials. It represents a transition from collonial past till the present independent nation. When Kai Xun told us this it's 4.45pm and the parliament was set to close at 5.00 pm. So it was kinda funny because Kai Xun sounded like a professional tour guide talking really fast and all of us were just awed by his sheer knowledge. LOL.

The great wall tapestry. Yeah, from memory (i read the explanation on the sign board) this was produced by three great artists. The forest like image serves as a reminder of .....something like Australia has vast areas of land and the parliament is a place to improve the land's welfare....something like that.

This is the hall for the House Representative. The seats are in green colour. The corresponding Senator hall (which we didn't have time to go) is filled with red seats.

Can you see a Kangaroo and an Emu???

Both animals couldn't move backward. Australia hopes to move forward forever, so to say.

This patch of grass is on top of the Parliament House. The architect who designed the Parliament House really put in alot of thoughts into it. The grass allows the ordinary people to 'step' on their leaders when the parliament meeting is going on.

The people are the King, not the leaders.

And by the way the pathways connecting other places to the Parliament House are just slopes (no stairs). Again the idea is that ordinary Australians are on the same level as their leaders. They can just walk to them. (deep philosophy huh???)

This is the old Parliament House who has already been converted into a gallery.

I remember the weather was so cold (close to -2 degree celcius) that all of us were shivering in cold. For this reason we didn't actually stay long here.

We passed the National Science and Technology Centre but didn't get to visit due to time constraint. Hm...I will certainly pay a visit here next time I go Canberra. We missed out the War Memorial and this one.

Tee Shern Ren -- The reincarnation of Albert Einstein.

FLORIADE -- THE AUSTRALIAN CELEBRATION FOR SPRING.

Jason and me.





























From left: Ru Xing, Pang Paing, Shi Shing and me















From left: Li Cheng, me and Sze Rhui












Tulips and me













We left Canberra at 3.00pm on 23 September 2007.

Thanks guys, I had lots of fun during the 45 hours we spent together. Yeah, we arrived at 6.00pm on Friday and left at 3.00pm on Sunday. Precisely 45 hours.


Special thanks to our couple of the trip: Kai Xun and Su Yin for organising our trip, Jason for being such a funny joker and co-tour guide.

My Spring trip to the city of CANBERRA

My Friday 21st September started with taking some pictures of the cherry blossom trees in front of my house. They were bold during winter but see how pretty they are in spring.

Our journey from Sydney started at 3.00pm and we reached the peaceful city of Canberra around 6.30pm. Waiting at the station were Jason, Jared, Darryl, Leonard etc.

It was nice to see all of them after so long

We had dinner at this famous restaurant (according to them). I personally didn't find the food too fascinating but it was the joy of eating together with my fellow taylorians and two Inti-college people that made the bill worthwhile.

We visited the Ursula hall. Li Cheng and Pang Ping were crashing here. This is the com lab with all APPLE PCs. Apparently the hall imposes some form of quota on every resident on internet usage.

Jared reminded us to bring our passports because he wanted to bring us to 'A FEW BARS'

And yes, he honoured his promise.

We went BAR CRAWLING - moving from one bar to another - in a big group. The ang moh looked like us as if we were some nerds, or perhaps a bunch of teens who had just turned 18 and were eager to try out things unreachable by underaged.

We played drinking game and I lost twice (Sze Rhui, and Su Yin also lost twice; Kai Xun lost thrice; Jared wanted to lose but luck wasn't at his side :)

I drank 2 x half glass = one huge glass of beer and got a bit high and dizzy. But later we went bar dancing to kill the sleeping worm. Haha, and I ended up very energetic.

THE SECOND DAY................

We woke up and got ready for the day trip. But surprisingly the usually sleepy us woke up really really early.Thanks to the bright sunlight of Canberra that shone on my face.

We went to Australia National University.

And this is the ANU equivalent of Macquarie Uni's The Grand Walk

On top of the Telstra tower.

The bird-eye view of Canberra from Telstra tower.

There are flowers all over Canberra during spring. These are just puny little flowers which are step-resistant.

I took this pic on my way down from the Black Mountain on which the Telstra tower is located.

Lake Berley Griffin of Camberra. Canberra being a planned city has got no water - front. For the sake of feng-shui the Aussie dug a man-made lake, named after the architect of Canberra Berley Griffin

Australian History lesson thus began.

The museum's strange symbol. It looked like a roler coaster rail from far.

In front of the new parliament house with my fellow Canberran ex-Taylorians.

By the way Shern Ren (in yellow jumper) why you looked so ............... interestingly away from the camera??

Here goes the story that Kai Xun told us:

to be continue.....

Bathroom repair -- I DON'T LIKE !!!!

I received a notice few days ago from MUV, telling me that I can't use my bathroom for 5 days due to a 'maintenance procedure'.

And this morning I was greeted by the repair person. He said he was about to make a lot of noice....










Look at the mess I'm in.

No wonder I can't use my bathroom....

Besides the noice, clearly the repair work has screwed up my room. There's dusk everywhere, on my clothes, my cabinet, and the laptop I'm using now.

Perhaps it's a good time to clean up my room after this.

I DON'T WANT ANYMORE REPAIRS!!!!!