A quick update

MY HSC IS OVER!!!!!

*drops down and sleeps*

I'll do a better update...soon....once I regain my stamina and energy.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Too Much Food

Here's what I had for my  homemade vegetarian dinner today. I'm only glad this doesn't happen so often. One day I will go "pop" and that will be the end of me.

Appetizer: Salad made of rocket leaves, bococcini cheese, fried haloumi cheese and mushrooms seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice.

Main Course:
First Dish: Pizza made of tomato base, mushrooms, onions, basil leaves, half eggplant and half pineapple.

Second Dish: Fried eggplant with chilly base.

Third Dish: Angel hair pasta with olive oil, mozzarella cheese and basil leaves, and bottled tomato sauce cooked with onions, garlic, zucchini and mushrooms.

Dessert: Pulut hitam (otherwise known as glutinous black rice) with mango and lychee.

This is only half of those Chinese ten course wedding dinners I've eaten at but it feels like so much more. I should have just taken bite sizes out of each course but it just tasted too yummy. Greediness... *Groans* Who needs meat when vegetarian dishes are cooked like this? And I used to be such a meat lover.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

My Happiness(?) comes in so many forms...

Today, I logged onto Facebook and did the cursory accepting of gifts and returning them for my various applications. Very unremarkable, but...

Facebook tends to sort my friends through their networking groups and I've never really paid attention to them before. Out of idle curiosity I decided to check out the list of networks. Leaping out of the page at me was a single entry for "UTS". The only UTS I could think of was University of Technology, Sydney. I don't remember having any Australian-made friends going to UTS, hence my curiosity started to build up: who on earth could this friend be? I looked at the name and stared. Excitement and happiness peaked. OMG it's a guy from Malaysia!!! It's one of my Malaysian friends! There's a Malaysian person I know that is currently existing near me!!

It's probably just me getting happy for nothing because I don't even know that guy very well, but the prospect of one of my M'sian friends existing NEAR me was just so exciting! Not that we're going to meet up or anything but it's just...WOW! So cool! *grins from ear to ear* Since most Malaysian people don't tend to move into Sydney, my hopes of having any M'sian friends near me had been pretty dim. Seeing this listing was like eating peppermint ice cream - refreshing, chilly (in a good way) and absolutely AWESOME.

And even though my reaction is slightly delayed (universities are already in their last terms) I feel extremely happy that the world is so small. It gives me the reassurance that I'll always be able to meet up with my good friends no matter how far away they may once seem. Here's to keeping the world small!

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Death to all Vacuum Cleaners

If I ever invent something, it will be a green bomb that specifically targets all vacuum cleaners. I want to commit genocide on those evil machines. I will be Adolf Hitler to the vacuum cleaners.

A more rational idea would be for me to invent a vacuum cleaner silencer that is cheap and affordable. That way everyone can buy it without waiting for their vacuum cleaner to konk out while the "silent vacuum cleaner" phases in. Instant gratification is something we all seek.

It all started...since a long time ago. Every time someone pulled out a vacuum cleaner, I would run to the farthest corner of the house in relation to the dreaded vacuum cleaner's position. If I was stuck, I would stick my fingers in my ears until it was over. That hatred for vacuum cleaners reached its pinnacle the past week when  my sister woke me up by turning on the TV and forgetting to close the door. As the TV murmured its way into my disturbed and fragile psyche, pain ballooned in my cerebral cortex. And it wasn't just a normal, sledgehammer pounding headache. It was missile launching kabooms; New Year's fireworks echoing around the tiny confines of the grey matter that is my brain.

My nerves have been fried from the intensive study for the HSC. Hence, I am pretty sensitive during the mornings. When my mom walks in and out of the room cleaning up after my sister, I hear every, little thing. The squeak of the door, her footsteps, the swish of her clothes...yeah. It's okay if she does it once in awhile, but when she does it frequently...it multiplies and adds up, contrary to the theory regarding the photoelectric effect. But I can take it, because hey, that's everyday life, and it's my MOM. I'm not yelling at her. I'm not even gonna say she's wrong, let alone tell her to stop doing anything. So MOM + sister = frazzled nerves

Just when I'm at the peak of being frazzled, my dad pulled out the vacuum cleaner. MOM + sister + vacuum cleaner = World of Pain. I had instant meltdown and a torrential nosebleed. I haven't had a nosebleed since I stopped eating the oh-so-yummy but unhealthy/heaty M'sian food. Which means I haven't had a nosebleed in three years.

I just want this HSC to be over. I am done with it. Done with vacuum cleaners. Fine. Finito. When this is all over I'm moving deep into some remote jungle. No communications, no man made noise-making machines; just me and nature. Pure bliss.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

How to hole yourself up for HSC cramming

1. Kick any offending siblings out. NO SIBLINGS ALLOWED.
2. Make sure you have plenty of water at hand. At least six water bottles. You're not planning to move for the next couple of days.
3. Have lots of snacks handy. Wasabi peas are recommended - keeps you awake and fills your tummy.
4. Clear out your table. KNOW where your books are. Assign spots for stationary, notes and blank paper.
5. Wearing comfy clothes? Warm enough? Check.
6. Have the HSC date and count down staring at you. In. Your. Face. This is a must.
7. Download all necessary study material off the internet ie past year papers, HSC online notes, whatever. Everything must be stored in the hard drive, ready for the next step.
8. This is the most important step: Pull out the wire connecting your computer to the modem. If using wireless, switch your wireless radio off. You MUST refrain from going online at all costs.
9. Double check that your computer is offline.
10. Study! Study! Study!

This is a ten step process that I have devised for a person like me. I find it quite effective for at least a couple of days. And then I come up gasping for the internet like a drowning person deprived of air.

Only two weeks more until my HSC....Until my cramming will be over...Until my life is over.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Procrastination

It's a bad idea, but who can help it when the HSC is only 2 weeks away? O.o  Yep, it's a really bad idea...anyway, I've put up a new template. After the HSC I'll fool around a bit more and actually be creative. Because this template isn't mine. XD It's all thanks to Lorelei and the blogger team. I'm doing my part of the thanking, because I'm sincerely grateful for all your hard work. Please continue your brilliant work and share the joy! Ehehe.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Inappropriate things make me laugh

Maybe they aren't that strange. It's just that sometimes what I laugh at doesn't seem that funny to other people. But seriously, what isn't funnier than the words "Bad juju"? Every time I hear someone say that, bubbles of laughter threaten to rise and consume me from within. Somehow, those words don't convey that sense of urgency and danger that it is supposed to be associated with. Say it. "Bad juju!" Doesn't it sound a lot like scolding a very cute pet named Juju? It just like how I say "Bad Bobby!" when my dog bites my slipper (which has, over the years, been downgraded to his chew toy). In reaction to that, my dog sits down and just looks at me. Yeah, we trained him well. >.<

Funny thing number two: interactions between guys and girls. Especially when guys try to woo girls. Regarding this, I'll admit that I can seem a bit mean because I find almost everything about it funny. Especially when a guy is doing it to me. Hmm, no wonder the attention has dwindled over the years...Jokes, jokes, I laugh because it's how I deal with stressful or surprising situations - it really doesn't happen to me that often. But let me explain myself. I am not a person who laughs on purpose to spite people. That I am not. I laugh because the slightly sadistic part in me automatically reacts to the masochistic part of the whole process. Basically, I don't think when I find things funny.

Anyway, wooing involves throwing away pride. And unfortunately, the modern girl doesn't automatically fall down to her knees when they see a guy do that. An example would the group of guys I saw singing to a girl eating her lunch. They were actually pretty good; backup singers, guitar, drums, the whole gangbang. But the girl had this woe betide expression of "Leave me ALONE" on her face. Everyone saw the guys and went "awww". I saw the girl and laughed.

I ran off because I immediately felt embarrassed about laughing. The guys were trying their hardest. The girl was trying her hardest to put up with them. Then this intruding stranger laughs. Aiks. Point is, I found that whole situation highly amusing.

Something else I witnessed that was highly amusing (to me):

Girl: Tell me you love me.

Boy: I love you.

Girl: Shyte! You're supposed to say "no"! Now you've just made the whole break up harder!

Boy: ...

I bailed again. Had to laugh out loud somewhere more private or face getting more dirties and be called a meanie again.

If I exchanged positions with the girls in both situations, I would be laughing. Somehow, I think that my reaction would have probably offended those guys more than their prospective partners. Maybe it's a good thing that I'm NOT those girls after all.

Dear Buddha, I am sorry for my habit of laughing at in appropriate things. I will try my hardest to merge with the crowd and conduct the behavior appropriate to the situation. Today, I have already managed to not laugh when I saw a ball hit an inattentive person in the head. Instead I ran up to the person, inquired after his well being, kicked away the offending ball and gave him an icepack.

And then I turned away and laughed.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Noooo, slow down!

I can't believe it. My second last week of high school! I only entered high school yesterday! This is absurd!....

I had my first farewell party in Maths today (there will be plenty more to come). It was a gorgeous spread, and I have to thank Mrs T. for being so generous and buying everything. We had our little gift for her too, a massage coupon from Red Balloon. =D It was so nice having her as a Maths teacher; she's a wonderful person.

Mr. M will be leaving his English class behind for NYC tomorrow as well. We tried to give him a farewell party, but he was having none of it. All we did was look at trial questions. Well, what I really want to say is:

Thanks, Mr. M. I will most definitely miss you. I wish you a wonderful time on your holiday marking our last minute essays on "BR" and "AYLI". I wish you'd pass your farewell speech to Mr. P so that we can still enjoy a roaring time without you. Even if you did, it just won't be the same, because the absence of your presence will be like a gaping black whole in the universe that is school life.

Sigh. It's spring and I'm as melancholy as an elder tree that has lost its leaves to the coldness of autumn.

Cheers.
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Another Late/Early Post

I'm going to beat my previous record and post at 4.34am now. Whoopee!

I'm currently taking a break from filling out scholarship application forms. Not that they are due tomorrow, but they are due to be validated by the school tomorrow. Oh dear.

I have a dragon's egg! ------------------------------------------------------------------->
Please click and view!

It's another all nighter. If I keep this up I'm hoping eventually I'll never need to sleep again (at least for several days at a time if not for the rest of my life). That would be the best ever. More time to be serious as well as goof off.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

The Taste of Multiculturalism and USyd

I had sushi, vegetarian stir fry, curry chicken and coca-cola for my dinner today. It just goes to show what happens to my meals when I'm living down under in a country that contains a soup mix of races.

I also attended the University of Sydney open day today. This computer otaku was still indecisive about whether to pursue a Bachelor of Software Engineering in USyd or the University of New South Wales, so I headed over to the engineering faculty. The first thing I noticed? The engineering faculty had been lumped to a corner of the campus. Now, I know they probably didn't mean to do things that way, but it gave me a feeling similar to "out of sight, out of mind". The engineering buildings are also so...functional (in other words, dull) in comparison to the law and science buildings (a mixture of futuristic modern buildings with some brick ones that resemble cathedrals). Typical of engineers not to care about the aesthetic value of things.

My next thought? Man...Asians. Asians everywhere. Heck, I'm an Asian. I fit right in.

Okay, now here's the best bit - TOUCHSCREEN TABLES!!!!! *shrieks like a fan girl* OMG touchscreen tables are soo cool just like the screens in NCIS LA and they have this Blackhole program which you can activiate to clear up clutter whenever too many things are on the screen.

I had hopped on a tour of the IT labs and they gave us demo of the two touch tables that the university owns. Unfortunately, they only own two touch tables, and those touch tables don't even stay in one place. Sometimes they go traveling all the way to Melbourne for exhibition purposes. The worst part is that I can't even begin to work with them until I"m a third year Uni student. *sob sob*

They also demoed facial interaction programs and CT image reconstruction programming. I spoke to the professors who confirmed with me that I will be able to work on such projects even if I took up software engineering and not an IT degree. That means I will get an engineering accreditation AND get to work on cool stuff. WHOOO!!!

Next week is the Kogarah Bed Race (a charity event where a 5-man team consists of four people dashing around while dragging a bed with a person on it) and UNSW's open day. After my Bed Race (my team is sponsored by the Word of Mouth Dentistry) I'm going to head straight over and check them out for touchscreen tables! Boo to them if they don't have any; I'm going to USyd! XD Nah, I'm not going to be so frivolous. I think.

UNSW is supposed to have even more Asians than USyd. Either way, I'm going to feel right at home. XD

Cheers!

Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Asian, Smasian

There's more to just being an "Asian" nowadays. Ever since the process of globalisation started making its way across the 7 continents, being multilingual is no longer something special. Nowadays, it takes more than being born of a certain race to be considered an "Asian" by society.

The three main stereotypical (and racist) representatives of the Asian race are the Japanese, the Koreans and the Chinese. That is, when ever people think of "Asian", they are generally referring to these races. When three big races coexist alongside each other in their fight for their positions in the world, cultures and backgrounds will eventually mix. Our interaction with each other has led to a complete disregard of racial and language boundaries. It's common practice to hear a Chinese suddenly belt out a Japanese or Korean song, and for Koreans or Japanese to speak Mandarin or Cantonese. Good news for the multilingual new generations - your future will be secure socially, internationally and most probably professionally. Bad news for the old monoglots or bilingual generation - you will have no idea what we are talking about. Haha...

Ahem. Sorry for that digression. (turns page)

The main point is, nowadays, to be considered truly Asian, one has to master the language of more than two Asian cultures. It is no longer enough to understand just Mandarin or just Japanese - further advancement in friendship bonding among Asian teenagers will be bared from you forever. And if you are an Asian yourself, woe be you should you fail to even understand one "Asian" language for you will be given the term "banana" and hence be left out of all conversations concerning drama and music. And teenage Asian girls being what they are, majority of our conversations will be focused on Asian drama and music.

Actually, majority of our conversations are about whatever topic comes to mind, which is usually a whole heap of airy, non-earth shattering matters. A great example would be this wearisomely verbose post concerning what it means to be "Asian".

Then there are the few of us who can't even master one Asian language, let alone two or three. People like us bring the definition of "multilingual" to a whole other level - we frequently switch between two or more languages in one sentence when our knowledge of a certain language fails in practice. Perhaps I should come up with a new category - Asians pretending to be "Asians"...that doesn't even make sense. An even better idea would be to do away with the whole idea of class differentiation completely and hence reduce this blog post into a bunch of meaningless words. As I have said before, globalisation has lead to constant interaction between different races, which has resulted in the blurring racial boundaries.

How I ramble on. Thank you.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

How my "three step" marble cake gained a million steps

Sometimes, life can be very unforgiving, even when you're trying to do something as mundane as bake a marble cake.

I like to think that the first sign of trouble was when I found out I was about 20grams short of caster sugar. It's not actually a major problem because (the older generation of) my family thinks most recipes are too sweet anyway. I just added 10 grams of normal sugar (gasps from chefs around the world) and I was good to go.

I thought it was a good time to try out the brand new cake mixer (Mr Evil) that my parents had brought over from M'sia. I was happily taking off the plastic wrapper, putting away polystyrene packaging, assembling things together and just about to plug it in when...wth? Instead of a plug, my cake mixer's main wire ended with stripped brown and blue wires.

I figured that dad must have removed the M'sian plug head so we could attach an Australian plug head for future convenience. Having reattached plug heads sporadically over the past few years, I didn't think it would be too hard to attach yet another one. The problem was finding one. I am sincerely grateful to the person who invented step ladders because they enabled me to reach the "spares" appliance box located at the top of the laundry cupboard. What I wouldn't give to gain three extra inches.

Not that my search was fruitful. At the end of my ransacking expedition, I came to the conclusion that we were out of plugs.

Fine. There was still the hand mixer, which I would have originally used if not for the "convenience" of an actual cake mixer. I plugged it in...and it went crazy. I had absolutely no control over it - I wasn't pressing any buttons - and the motor just kept running. I was still being optimistic that I could use it like this, but the velocity wasn't constant and so bits of butter and sugar kept flying out of the mixing bowl whenever my wayward hand mixer became overexcited. At this point I lost it, wailed something about "This must be a sign, life is unfair, all I wanted to do was make cake, blah blah blah," and then left the war zone to take a long bath.

For me, baking is like playing the piano. It's a leisurely activity during which I can relax, and with baking, I get to eat my cake. That concept flew out of the window today and left me more frazzled than ever.

I decided I still wanted to eat my cake, so I ran down to the local hardware store, wet hair and all, whereupon this physics student made a complete fool of herself by having a ridiculous conversation with the hardware man who obviously knew his stuff.

Hardware man: May I help you?
Me: I need a plug. 
Hardware man: A plug?
Me: You know, the thing at the end of electrical appliance wires which connects to the socket. (cue stupid hand motions - I was worried he might confuse my plug with a sink plug, which is something entirely different. And then, to make myself seem more stupid:) It's called a plug right?

Hardware man: Yes, a plug.

As soon as I got my plug, I bailed out of there, trying to pretend I was going for a morning run at 10am. I got home, attached my plug and voila, the world was working right again. My cake mixer was mixing, nothing was flying out, and the neighbour gave me some Macedonian sweets. I finally reached  "step 2" of my recipe; the marbling of my cake and placed it in the preheated oven (step 3). A few minutes later, lovely smells were coming from the kitchen oven and soon, I was eating cake. Just how I expected it to happen, only I had meant it to happen a couple of hours earlier.

Now that I'm happy, it's back to studying for my physics trials on Wednesday. I better know my stuff right or face repeating a similar episode of "the thing at the end of electrical appliance wires...".

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

You know you're exhausted when...

You know you're exhausted when the thought of staying up to study for exams makes you weepy and teary.

You know you're exhausted when every song you play on the piano sounds depressed and tired.

You know you're exhausted when you fall asleep on the train standing up amidst the 50 other teenage bodies pressed against you in the tiny cabin.

You know you're exhausted when you look at food and it makes you nauseous.

You know you're exhausted when you fall asleep at the dining table.

You know you're exhausted when time passes you by like fog and everything you interact with fails to be processed mentally.

You know you're exhausted when your eyes twitch and spasm to the beat of a crazy disco song you can't hear.

You know you're exhausted when typing on the computer involves a gargantuan amount of effort.

You know you're in trouble when you wake up and have no orientation of your location and time.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

1st of August

It's the first day of the month. If I were in school, either Nic, K or Hibi would say something really fast and give me a punch. I have spent one and a half years of my life with them, and til this day I cannot remember what little ditty is it they chant...

At the moment, the first paper of my trials are over! Whew, only six left to go. I'm drawing up a list of trial commandments as I go. The first is:

Thou shalt not speaketh of any paper thee has finished.

That's a golden rule that can prevent depression and further sinking of marks. I think everyone should follow it. Because what is the point of comparing notes after the exam anyway? It's done and gone. *shrugs*

On another point: I woke up this morning and made brownies because I was craving chocolate. I forgot to reduce the sugar and ended up with sugar-high-inducing-brownies. The rest of the day was spent in a sugar filled delirium and time passed very, very slooowly. And while we're on the subject of food...

I'm participating in the 40 Hour Famine campaign again this year. I think the campaign exists in Malaysia although I've never personally participated in it over there. Anyway, it concerns the Global Food Crisis, which is currently in its third year. The best way to help out would be to raise donations by depriving yourself of something crucial for 40 hours. More can be found out here: http://www.worldvision.com.au/40HourFamine.aspx

I've decided to go without food this year. Lets see what happens when I deprive myself of sweets, protein and carbohydrate. I'd probably end up sleeping the whole time. XD So, please donate! I'm hoping to raise 100.00AUD this year, because everyone should shoot for the stars, and 100.00AUD is awesome enough for me. Here's my link: http://40hf.com/Donate2Didi-40hrfamine

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Trials...

My trials start this Friday. The only thing left to do this late into the game is to review my notes and memorise a few more points and quotes.

I have one request. Everyone, minasan, please, please pray for me. Pray that I will survive two weeks of torture and come out psychologically and physically intact.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

School starts tomorrow

After 1 hour and 18 minutes it is going to be tomorrow, and it will be the official end of my school holiday. I'm sorry, it wasn't a school holiday, but a study leave.

Term 3 is scheduled to begin inauspiciously with an English exam on the last two periods of the day about death and memories. More specifically, it is an examination on our interpretation of Gwen Harwood poems. Advanced English students must develop an understanding of the the textual integrity of these poems, critically analysing and evaluating the language, content and construction in order to illustrate a personal and informed appreciation of the text. I only wish that we could respond with our own version of poetry. It would make studying these texts so much more fun.

I should go to bed now. I'm just posting for the sake of posting, I guess. Nothing really deep and meaningful to write about. Maybe after the trials I'll get my brain to start working again.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

The Boundaries of Time Do Not Keep Me

During the holidays, night blends into the day which blends into night again. Because of a new rule that my daddy imposed on me - don't use the computer in the dark - and because I keep my thick curtains forevermore closed to ward off the outside chill, the boundaries of time are meaningless to me. The computer clock display has been reduced to mere numbers. I sleep when I'm tired and wake up when I've slept enough. It's the ideal life, but quite unhealthy for any student about to start school with an exam on the first day.

Oh. School starts in three days. Really? XD Not to mention the fact that I have an English exam first day back. Time for a major freak out. *Freaks and yells at inanimate objects*

On another note, I'm so excited. School is starting again! No more soul-numbing, mind-sucking, full on studying. I get to see people. Interact with people. Make stupid jokes and laugh at myself with other people. Life will have meaning after all, and all will be good.

Cheers!

N.B. No, I have not been an extreme version of "the secluded nerd". That's just how it feels like.
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

An indescribable feeling, cake and footy

It starts at the base of your belly. Sort of ticklish, sort of fluttery. You can't sit still, bouncing off walls like a human ball. You're happy, angry, excited, melancholy, hyperactive and tired. You want to grab someone and just talk. You want to share and still keep secrets. You don't care if mathematical nonsense or plain gibberish comes out of your mouth - you're not even sure why you feel this way. It grows and grows until you feel agitated that someone hasn't come to relieve you of this burdensome wondrousness. It's an indescribable feeling.

Either that or you've just cracked from the stress of the impending trials. My mummy thinks it's the latter. That and a sugar rush from an Oreo mousse desert at 10pm (I really need to stop junking at night).

Talking about sugar rushes, I made cake a few days ago after resurfing from an intense analysis of facts and flotsam. Single layer vanilla sponge cake with butter icing. When I finished I was a very happy tiger cub for several days. Waking up and being able to have cake first thing in the morning is the best feeling anyone can have. Sweetness! Life is good. I actually looked forward to waking up instead of being my usual gummy-eyed zombie self. When the cake finished I felt a small hole of longing open up with me. But I don't have time to bake another cake so oh well.

Footy fever! I crawled out of bed today at 4.30am to catch FIFA finals, that being the only match my daddy allowed me to watch during the hols. For the first half and hour I was wide awake and watching every move with hawk like intensity. After forty minutes I began to shiver as my body started feeling the room temperature of 12 degrees through my layers of blankets. After 50 minutes and no goal I was nodding off. When one hour was past I was shaking myself awake to groan or mumble everytime someone lost a ball or got carded. I slept through half time. I watched Spain score a goal through half-closed eyes, and my cheer was feeble. Once Spain was confirmed as the winner I turned off the tv screen and slept on the sofa, not moving until 1pm.

It's all over. Time to study.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Death of a mess and "shopping"

After several days of deep studying for ongoing exams, I decided that I could not longer ignore the mess growing around me. What clued me in was the fact that when I moved, an avalanche of stationary and paper tumbled onto the floor.
An hour of hard filing passed before I could see my table again. Ahah! I have proven the existence of a table underneath the mountain of papers. (I'm serious. I actually lost sight of my table for a couple of days. The laptop was perched precariously atop a growing pile of notes.) Stationary still covers most of the surface, but I am satisfied with the patches of wood that I can see. The mess has been terminated midway through its invasion of my bedroom.

Yesterday,  I went shopping with my friends for a birthday present for another friend. We ate at this wonderful Japanese hot plate restaurant called Pepper Lunch. They served raw slices of beef/salmon/chicken on a hot plate with rice, corn and spices, and you had to stir it around to cook the meat. Yum. Hot plates are the best in winter. And the smell was heavenly.

After lunch came the actual shopping. We looked at handbags. Makeup. I gave a few feeble opinions before deciding that the best way I could help out was to help carry the purchases. We joked that my friends no longer need to invite a guy out just to help carry things. The other joke was that if I ever went shopping with a male acquaintance there would be no need for him to help me carry things. I am entirely self-sufficient - Not. My idea of makeup was colourless vitamin E enriched lip-balm. With only 10 AUD left to spend, my suggestion was perfect (actually, there were a lot of mixed opinions about the lip-balm and it was accepted with some reluctance), until we came across a small bottle of Japanese hand cream with cherry blossom fragrance. Guess which suggestion was tossed. XD That's why I stuck to carrying things.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Super short Ode for the Holiday

Holiday, so near yet so far,
I seek your comfort as the days
Pass by like tumbling sand in the
Howling wind that blows outside,
Welcoming the cold embrace of
Winter as Autumn fades away.

My call for your presence cannot
Be answered. Time follows no one;
Even now He scampers away
Into the Past, just moving on

As I ponder the meriment
Of having more time for leisure.

And still, you are the very best
At giving out time for me to
Relax. When you are here I will
Gratefully remember your kind
hand and cherish every moment
Spent in that glorious reprieve. But,

Holiday, I see you dancing
Just at the horizon, and with
You I see your marching legions
Of work that I need to complete
And study. The Trial is coming
Right behind you. I am forewarned. *

* unfinished

Please excuse the language and structure. My Extension 1 English subject is a study on Romanticism, which includes romantic poetry, and all the reading and creative writing has gone into my head a little. Although I cannot say that this is written in true Romantic style, it is not true modern either, and it is a bit melancholic, which is not typical of me during the day. Nighttime is a time of magic and change...And I should probably stop staying up to study and get distracted by the internet.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

How to destroy your health in one day

Well, not exactly one day. There were precursors that helped it. Anyway, here's a step-by-step list of how to destroy your health in "one" day.
1. Fall sick with flu.
2. Don't sleep for one night because you're up studying.
3. The next day, run to the train station because you think you might be late. (and later realise it was pointless because the train came late.)
4. Crash from the adrenaline rush and sniffle from running in the cold.
5. Attend an excursion to a place far off that involves hands-on activities.
6. Expand and waste energy being happy as if you didn't just miss a night of sleep, coughing your way through activities.
7. Run to catch up with your friends after the excursion ends (because they wanted to go home and you were wandering off in mind)
8. Catch a nap on the train.
9. Break your rule of no caffeine and buy a large mocha because you are about to shut down.
10. Play an hour of piano.
11. Take a bath, but rush out to fetch your sibling from school when the parents forget (with wet hair - nevermind that today is 15 degrees celcius)
12. Run all the way to school in frantic worry that your sibling may be alone since everyone returns home punctually and you're already fifteen minutes late
13. Grab large gasping breaths and suffer another adrenaline crash.
14. Attend a one hour maths tutoring session and attempt to actually use your brain
15. Suffer through a caffeine crash while trying to do homework.
16. Attend a one and a half hour of physics tutoring and hear your voice change.
Here is the knockout - 17. Stay awake typing away at your blog at 1am even though you're sniffling and can't think straight.
Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

The "Sam Par Lo"

Please forgive the bad spelling of Cantonese pinyin. What the title basically means is "rural person". Or so my mom tells me. Basically I'm going to post a few things that I have come across in Australia that I won't in Malaysia. My fascination with them is similar to how a rural person acts in the city. WHOAAAR!!!! XD

1. Seeing people put on makeup/ nail polish in school.
2. Pronouncing intestines "in-tes-stines" instead of "in-tes-stins"
3. Having a microwave, fridge, tv and stereo exclusively for Year 12 in school .
4. Year 12 school jerseys.
5. The concept of being in Year 12.
6. The concept of going to Uni next year.
7. Fredo chocolate.
8. Fast internet connection.
9. Access to computers in the school library. Actually, the whole school library.
10. Winter.

Haha...I told my dad about this "Sam Par Lo" concept. He laughed and said I was more of a "chou lo" than anything else. Cue me banging knee on the table. Dad said, "I rest my case".

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Physics - Risk Assessments and Brainiacs

It's the DOUBLE period of physics on MONDAY! Yay! *^o^*

Today we explored the world of insulators on transmission lines. But I won't go into detail on that.

The innovations of technology! Everything was prepared for us on a powerpoint presentation that was put up onto the smart board installed in our lab. If the teacher wanted to make a note all she had to do was lift the "marker" and she could make a mark directly on the presentation. Gyaah!!! So cool! There was also a video hyperlink included in the powerpoint presentation but it failed to work. It doesn't matter. Techno rocks!

On a random note: I'm so happy that I managed to fit all my notes on insulators into one A4 page of paper! It feels so neat.

We also had a demonstration of a simple AC induction motor that consisted of a turntable, rare earth magnets and a suspended aluminum disk. Rare earth magnets are COOL. They are so strong that you can't just pull them apart - you have to push them apart. And watch out for fingers. What happens when I have a rare earth magnet and someone else brings another rare earth magnet close to mine? Right, they SNAP together. Because it was an accidental meeting of magnets that wasn't meant to happen, my index finger was in the way. SNAP. Right on my nail. It stung. It hurt. But rare earth magnets are still fun. Our physics teacher looked at me shaking life into my finger and made the comment that she should have probably made a risk assessment before conducting the experiment. Risks increase exponentially when I'm around. And then again, almost everything that comes into contact with me is either lethal or destroyed. That is why delicate things tend to avoid me, and I am grateful for that.

On the other hand, I learnt about some famous scientists. Max Planck, Albert Einstein and Millikan. Here's how they are all connected: Max Planck came up with a mathematical trick that explained the black body radiation curve, but he had no self-confidence in his idea because it violated the ideas of classical physics. Albert Einstein was his student, and he borrowed Planck's trick to create a hypothesis about the photoelectric effect that Max Planck had observed (but Planck didn't think anything about it). Millikan was the one who proved Albert's Einstein's hypothesis, effectively proving Max Planck's trick because Einstein's hypothesis involved the usage of the trick. What trick is that? It is the Planck's constant, h = 6.626 x 10^(-34) J.s, as well as the equation E = hf. Planck's trick was also the basis of quantum physics as we know it today. WOW that is so cool how one trick could string together a bunch of brainiacs and affect our world just like that. 

Okay, I'm going to stop my rant now and sign off because I'm exhausted and a little sick. When I'm feeling better, I may elaborate on this post and bore everyone to tears over how much I love physics. XD

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Blue polar bears and definitions

Ah. I've been bad. I have not kept up with my work at all. Neither school  nor recreational work has been up kept.  Because I have been a sleepy pig. The only explanation I have is I must have some mutation in my blood that causes me to have the characteristics of a cold-blooded reptile, because as the cold change rolls in across Australia, my levels of activeness have dropped dramatically. I have been sleeping so much. So lethargic.

The woolen blue polar bears have returned to school. Everyone resembles them by being so wrapped up in layers of uniform blue colour. I'm a blue polar bear too, with blue fingers and lips to match.

This week I have busied  myself catching up on work and scribbling down quotes and definitions that I  found funny and profound:

Sweater - a garment worn by a child when a parent feels chilly.

Baby sitter - a teenager pretending to be an adult when the adults are out pretending to be teenagers.

Tornado - Mother Nature doing the twist.

"Especially since my toddler recently discovered where Mummy disappears to during the day and now takes like a Mexican immigrant and dashes across the border into The Promised Land whenever the authorities aren't watching. Try typing with a toddler on your lap. They have 46 hands, all of them trying to delete your work." - Mia Freedman, Life, The Sun-Herald

"All he knew for certain was that when it came to his emotional state of being, he was f**ked up - to put it in the vernacular." - Chief Christopher Heart, The Switch by Sandra Brown

"I know quite enough about you to love you," she said earnestly. "I know you're kind. You're strong on the inside. You're clean...." - Missy Wright, the Ladies of Missalonghi by Colleen McCullough

"Sam sees the glass as half full. I see it as half empty. Kensi just drinks straight out of the glass. Nate wonders why it's glass. And Eric breaks the glass when he puts his feet up on the table." - Callen, NCIS L.A.

I love the last quote. It describes each character in NCIS LA almost perfectly.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Trivialities! XD

Talking about not thinking so much....

For the past few days I have been happily amused by trivialities. Trivialities like the "clicky box" of mints that were given out in thanks for all those girls who attended the chartered accountant seminar. And blazers. Blazers rock because they have inside "hidden" pockets, where you reach inside your blazer to pull out mysterious and secretive things close to your heart. Just like they do in movies. Whenever they have confrontations, all these mafia-like people pull guns out of their "hidden" blazer pockets, and I go WHOA OMG they have GUNZ!... With winter around the corner I have an excuse to wear a blazer everyday, which means I have a valid excuse for acting suspicious, making shifty looks at my friends, reaching into my "hidden" pocket and pulling out a .....pen.
N.B. I never do this very well. Whenever I attempt to do such things my friends look at me like I have carrots growing out of my ears (or something equally weird).

Today the things that amused me included an iphone application of a piano keyboard (I played "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" and beamed at people around me every few notes), my crunchy apple (it was one of the crunchiest I ever had. I just had to listen to myself chewing) and primary kids' class blogs (now I know for sure there are people out there who have absolutely nothing to do). I amuse my associates by being amused. Hence, I bring joy to the world around me. XD

Three other unrelated things that I have to get off my chest or else I will have no peace:
1. Ludwig Van Beethoven is NOT of the Romantic period for music.
2. Snoozing that extra 5 minutes in the morning counts.
3. I blame my American burr/writing habits on too much American television and books by American authors. (In truth, American spelling is prettier. "Mom" and "Mum", "realise" and "realize": Which one is prettier?)

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Crazy World

The world has gone crazy on me. After one term of discussing Einstein's theory of relativity and a sleepless night, everything looks a bit...weird.

I was walking back from school when I made the observation that the pole in my path was making its way towards me instead of me moving towards the pole. At the same time it was not me that was pushing against the earth and exerting a force that enables me to walk but the earth that was pushing against me and exerting a force equal to the force I exerted and thus allowing me to lift my feet. I felt that I was not "walking" but continually falling until a force is exerted by my other foot that enables me to "stop"/change direction. It was also observed that I could be "stationary" and it was the earth that was moving beneath my feet and changing the direction in which I was traveling.

This is pretty scary stuff for a person who was surviving the day on a high from sleep deprivation. I ran home and curled up in bed, only to feel the bed moving beneath me. But I figured out that this could be explained by the blood circulating my head. Flinging myself onto the bed after running did not allow my circulating blood to change direction as fast as my body was, thus creating the sensation that I (or the bed) was still moving even though I had already "stopped". Liquids don't move as fast as solids. Same reason why the Earth has a spare tire around its equator.

Happy Anzac Day! Although theoretically I should not say "happy" since it is in fact a day that commemorates the Australian and New Zealand soldiers that fought in WWI.

I probably should stop thinking so much now. I'd be heaps happier.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Food for thought...

Today, the klutz fell down and scraped her knee. Well, the ground was uneven. And I was looking at my mobile phone. All perfectly valid reasons for falling down.

But here's a thought: wouldn't the world be so much more convenient if we didn't have blood? There would be no more gushing of body fluids the minute our skin cells are broken by a sharp external object. Of course, we would also be conveniently dead. Which doesn't make the world convenient at all. =.=

I definitely need to do more thinking on that thought.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

The Ramblings of a Klutz

It's a Wednesday. I have cuts on my arm and foot, a strained muscle and a yellow/green bruise on my hip. I would have liked to say that these are my victorious scars from a glorious battle to death with some maniac that was twice my size. Sadly, the real story is about a table.

Ever have one of those moments where plans look really nice in your head but when you carry them out it isn't smooth sailing at all? Yeah, well, this was one of those moments.

The new table arrived. A completely ordinary table, made of pine, about waist high and a meter wide. Not very scary. My dad and I lugged the old table down into the garage. Just the normal process of shifting furniture. Then he decided to move the things around in the garage, and I was left alone with the new table. No problem, I thought. I can do this by myself. All I have to do is move the table from spot "A" and up the stairs to "B". Then laugh it off with dad and tell him it was magic that brought it upstairs. It was the perfect plan.

I picked up the table, using my right hip to support it a little. It wasn't too heavy; the rectangular shape was just a bit awkward to handle by myself. I had to carry it at my side other wise it wouldn't fit up the stairs. The table tilted dangerously as soon as I got up the first flight of stairs. WHAM. That was my foot. No worries. Just a bit of epidermis scraped off. Looks like a little blood, but it doesn't hurt too much. On with the journey. Take a small break on the landing. 

So I was there on the landing, enjoying the bit of sunshine that came in through the door when Oh, shoot, wind, doorknob, protect new table, SLAM. That was the arm. No, the door didn't crush my arm. I was lucky. I only got off with the doorknob scraping more epidermis off the side of my arm. Aaaah. Stings. I can hear dad. Okay, hurry up, just a bit more. Push, heave, pull, don't give up on me you lame arm muscles. Maybe I should do more push ups. Adjust the hip bit. Hmm. Wood is hard. =.= Yes, we're there hooray!!!! Just as I shifted the table into place, I banged my head into the shelf above me. My thick skull finally came into some good use.

When my dad finally came up the table was where it should be and I was watching TV. I tried to make the joke about magic, but my dad noticed my new dinosaur cartooned plasters on my arm and foot. He laughed, shook his head, and muttered something about "hopeless case".  So much for the grand plan.

And don't worry, Kristy. I'm on the mend already. Us klutzy people have developed speedy recovery systems over the years to combat the numerous injuries that we unintentionally inflict on ourselves. Besides, the brontosauruses on my foot is smiling at me. That's a good sign. XD

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Property Visiting

I have witnessed my first house auction! XD

The property involved was about 460 square feet. The buildup was a double story brick veneer that had an "in-between" level built above the garage. Very very awesome. There were lots of rooms - about 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, two living rooms and a huge backyard with a northern aspect. That means lots of space and lots of sun. The entire house was also air conditioned. I found the fireplace in the living room ironic until I realized that it was electrical.

About 15 families recorded an interest to bid for the property.Once everyone had gathered in the backyard at the ground rules had been read out, the auctioneer suggested that someone start bidding at about 800k. No one wanted to go first. After a looooong while under the sun, someone finally suggested 700k. No one was too worried about this since there is a reserve price on a market anyway, so if the bidders don't bid high enough, the house remains on the market for other potential buyers. At this point the auctioneer encouraged people to raise the price by 50k increments and "be brave and bold". He left out "and be poor". Other agents were planted strategically among the crowd to encourage people to join in. In the background, a banker advertised loans.

There were only two serious buyers who bid against each other once the price was raised above 840k (it beat the reserve price and took the house off the market to be sold there and then). There was also a third guy whose strategy was to come in at random intervals (he only bid 4 times in total), but he stopped once the price passed 843k. By this time the price was only increasing by 0.5k to 1k. It was down to the two of them. Who would win? Asian or Caucasian? In the end, the Caucasian buyer figured out that the Asian buyer was really really determined to own this house, so he backed out and the house sold for 848k AUD. Whoo! Commence clapping for the victorious!

Excitement over! I left.

At another property that I visited I came across this plaque.

That is so true.

Cheers.
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Dim Sum in Australia

I finally had dim sum in Australia! The Crown Dragon restaurant of the St George League was my asian salvation when it came to food. I had century egg porridge, ha gao, char siew pao, rice noodle rolls with shrimps, tau fu fa, etc... it was magnificent! Glorious! The siew pao made my day. It's pastry was so soft and crumbly and light; it melted away in my mouth. Although I only had one piece per serving, so many dishes were ordered that I made a complete pig of myself, stuffing myself to satisfaction, so much that I had to forgo dinner. It makes me so glad that I don't come across good food everyday, otherwise I would be a behemoth by now. Actually, that's debatable. Maybe I already am a behemoth and I'm just in denial. >.> FOOD, glorious FOOD!!! XD

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

School Holidays

It's that time of the year again when my sleeping patterns involve being awake at 4am and napping at 12pm. It's that time of the year when I look at the heap of homework I have on my desk, and I think, "Later..." but later never comes. It's that time when the internet plan caps after five days, and when the whole period is over, I wonder Where the heck did time fly to?

School holidays. I have such mixed feelings about these stretches of school-less days. On one hand, it is a period for reflection, self-recollection and study. On the other hand, it is a period where I don't see my friends unless we make plans. And even then, plans are hard to keep because the holidays is also a period to be spent with the family.

So far, I have three goals to accomplish these holidays.
1. Complete all homework before the 2nd week.
2. Master Clair De Lune, the Blue Danube Waltz, The Girl with the Flaxen hair and my fear of keys containing more than four sharps or flats.
3. Thoroughly analyze and reflect on what I have done so far and figure out what I must do next to improve my dead grades.

I will be working hard. I have no choice really, since I'm going to mentally kick myself if I slack off. Ouch! Time to go off the blog.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Happy Earth Hour!

At 8.30pm today, I turned off all the lights and electrical appliances and experienced my manufactured blackout for exactly one hour and 5 minutes. During that one hour, I wrapped some presents in the dark and played the piano by touch. Hence, I have officially participated and celebrated the Earth Hour this year.

Earth Hour is celebrated globally every year, with many countries participating in this act to save earth. I remember celebrating it frequently in Malaysia as a result of blackouts during thunderstorms or for some other random reason in the middle of the day. My usual modus operandi for such occasions is to play the piano or sleep. If I have to do work, out comes the torch-lights and candles. However, such appliances usually lead to shadow games and wax artwork...with the eventual result that no work gets done anyway.

On the more fun stuff.

Yesterday was the school walkathon. Wahoo! Instead of participating in the actual walk, Year 12's were responsible for creating food stalls and activities for the tired juniors at the end of the walk. My group decided to have a Mehndi stall. Was it popular! We were supposed to work in shifts, but that went out the window the minute the lines started building up. I was pretty hyper (as usual) and working non-stop actually left me pretty thrilled. That and the fact that I was gorging myself on food for one hour prior to the arrival of the juniors. My only complaint about it is that everyone wanted the elaborate designs. Elaborate designs hurt. However, there is that strange sense of satisfaction whenever I complete a complicated design and it turns out pretty. At the end of the day my hands were splotched and mottled brown from mehndi stains and resembled some weird skin disease. But my group raised 297.5 dollars! Whooo!

Tomorrow I shall work on an elaborate design to cover up those stains. Today I shall rest. XD

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

I blame it on the flu!

Those of you who have interacted with me the past few days may have noticed that I have been weirder than usual. For starters, I have claimed to being afraid of going to sleep at night because when I wake up it will be the next day. Hence my lively nocturnal activities at 1am on a school night. Other new habits would include a sudden fear of train doors closing on me and a fear of being alone. In my textbook, these are all relatively new paranoiac fears.

No need to worry! These phenomenons are completely explicable! I blame it on the flu! Being sick messes with my head because I'm usually so hyper all the time. It has been creeping up on me for some time but I have refused to acknowledge the presence of any virus attacking my body system. Then a friend mentioned that my voice has changed, so if I don't say I'm sick, I will officially be in denial.

On another issue, I reckon TJ and I share a bond that goes beyond blood ties. I called her for a quick catch up, and I suddenly started coughing. The result was that when I spoke into the phone, I stuttered her name out in a voice that was high and squeaky, and amazingly, it was instantly recognized and the was phone handed over the correct recipient. Anyway, it turns out that she was sick, and she was currently going through an asian drama mania. Freaky business!! I am currently going through my own asian drama mania, and talking to her through the phone has gotten me sick! Haha...

Also, thank you so much, Nichofe, you saved my pocket by producing all those asian drama Dvds. No more spending and no more boredom! Two kills with one stone! XD

Ah, happy day.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Writer's block

I have been working on my Extension 2 English project for the last couple of days. I have a target in mind: to finish the first draft by Monday. By my reckoning, that's alright and fine for a deadline. Unfortunately, after 5013 words out of the needed 8000, I've hit a snag: I have writer's block.

To get my creative juices flowing again, I shall list whatever randomly comes to mind now.
1. Domyouji from Flowers Over Boys (J-drama) is an incredibly spoilt little boy who will never grow up.
2. He reminds me of Peter Pan.
3. Wendy had the short end of the stick in Peter Pan (Disney version).
4. Sherlock Holmes (latest movie) is funny.
5. Snails and daggers...snails and daggers...
6. Deidre (from another story I'm working on) is too perfect to be realistic.

7. Hatsui is completely clueless for a King.
8. My main character of my project needs a grandmother.

Now that I've finally come around to thinking about my story, I shall start editing and writing it again.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Post Exam Celebration

The physics paper today was the last paper for these exams! Whoo....

By timing everything right, I was able to squeeze out a few moments of time between school and piano to hang out with my buddies in a post exam celebration. We took some retarded sticker photos ~ Yeah that's what happens when I make any split second, impatient decisions involving "images". Lesson learnt: don't let Di choose the sticker photo machine!!! Haha...I had tons of fun with you guys though.

We also watched Alice in Wonderland in 3D. Those tickets are whoppers: AUD 19.00, and that's for students! The movie was quite okay for a digitally rendered movie. The interesting thing about it is that there is no love twist between the main characters! HA! Finally, a movie without a love twist! However, the story line messed with my head a little. It didn't help that I have previously read both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Besides that, I found the movie a tad sinister and complicated to be rated PG.

On a different note, I would like to say: rock  on, my buddies, and you too, Johnny Depp. XD

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Exams + World's Greatest Shave

I've just had my exams. Ones which count towards my HSC. Actually, I'm still in the process of having them, but because my last paper is physics, and that is on Wednesday, with four whole days of holiday inter spaced between now and then, I am willing to relax a teeny, tiny little bit. (Or a whole lot more than that. That would depend on your frame of reference. Time dilation and everything. XD)

It's been those weeks when hell's fires burn unending and everyone freaks out because they suddenly realise that they don't know anything...Not. Some of us have been quite stress free. (You can't really tell with me because I always have a smile on my face.) Even the usual depression after the exams seems to vanish with the present mind moving on to tackle the next. A more mature way of thinking perhaps? Or has everyone finally grasped the reality that there is really not much use fretting about an exam when it is the very next day, or when it is done and over with? Hmm...

The latest event going on here is the World's Greatest Shave. I don't remember anything of that sort happening in Malaysia, but that could just be me being thick headed, unobservant and stuck in my own fantasy. Which is general how I really am. Anyway, it's a major foundation that helps raise funds and hair for cancer (specifically, leukemia) struck people. There have been ads every where, and it is a cause worth noticing. Naturally, my school is doing its share, and there was a "crazy hair day" today, where everyone is allowed to wear mufti to school and have, obviously, crazy hair. In return for having fun, we agree to a gold coin donation (as with all mufti days) and the money goes towards the foundation.

Unfortunately, with "crazy hair day" being in the midst of the Year 12 examinations, we have been left out of it. Doesn't matter really, since we only wear the school uniform for the two hours of exams we need to sit. And there are plenty of hairdressers around supporting the cause. =D

Here's a link if you would like to read more about the World's Greatest Shave. http://www.worldsgreatestshave.com/ I know that most of you are overseas, but I reckon that it's great general knowledge.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

First day of Autumn

It's a cold and wet inauspicious beginning to Autumn. Perhaps even an ominous indication of the coming winter? Brrr. Despite the fact that winter uniform regulations are not out yet, everyone is dragging out their jumpers and tights from the musty folds of their winter wardrobes. I just hope that the Year 12 jerseys will arrive soon, since we are allowed to wear those the minute we get them.

Falling rain + eastern wind + Didi who hates umbrellas = Didi the icicle.

Some crazy part of me finds the weather incredibly entertaining and exciting. Must be the loss of blood circulation to my head that is making me deluded about how numb limbs can be fun. Fun like how paper cuts no longer sting or bleed all over the place.

Unfortunately, the exams have come, and I cannot afford to catch a cold. My livelihood literally depends upon the results of these exams. Henceforth I shall be sensible and bring that clumsy contraption that is called "umbrella" to school everyday and attempt to gain mastery over it again. I swear, that thing has a will of its own!

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Physics - Motors and generators

Double physics today: fun, fun, fun!!!!

We've just started a new topic this week: motors and generators. For some peculiar reason learning about motors and generators makes me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside. Today was the real word application of current carrying wires and external magnetic fields. Since we were learning about torque force, we were given a demonstration on how a simple motor works.

The simple motor with three wire coils, 2 curved magnets and a tiny commutator was connected to the power box and whooo!!! It spun!!! Then we saw a motor that a science teacher had made, and it was absolutely fantastic. It consisted of a wire wrapped around a cork with nails in it attached to a pencil, permanent bar magnets, felt and copper strips, all taped on a board. Its simplicity was stunning. AND IT WORKED!!!! Okay, it did not manage to turned 360 degrees, but it made it to 90 degrees! So amazing...I want to make one someday.

As a bonus reward for being so attentive we were given Newton's cradle to play with. *tap tap tap tap tap* XD I could stare at that the whole day and not get bored. If I have one of those I'll never get anything done. So maybe it's a good thing I don't have one of those. Haha. Another toy that was demonstrated was the chicken toy. Four chickens on a board with their pivoting necks attached to strings that ended in a weight under the board, and when you swung the weight, the heads bobbed up and down, pecking at the board!!! Gaaaah I love the toys physics has.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Rash...

I have a really bad rash running down both my arms. It's driving me crazy.

I don't know how it came about. I just woke up this morning with my arms itching like crazy. I tried ignoring it but it got worse as the day proceeded. Now I have a patch of scarlet and inflamed skin on both arms. It looks like a really angry, bumpy version of sunburn.

Someone helpfully said that it's probably heat rash so I should cool it down by applying body lotion. I did that and my rash didn't bother me for about 5 seconds.

Then my mom told me that I should put Zam-Buk. After application I discovered that the Zam-Buk we have had expired one year ago...The only thing effective about it was the stink.

I've resorted to using Eurax to relieve the itching a little. It doesn't completely relieve it but it has brought down the itching levels to "bearable".

It's come to a point where I'm considering wrapping my arms up in clean bandages so the dust-filled air doesn't aggravate my skin and further. Maybe I should include ice in the bandage wrappings too. UGGGH. Go away you darn rashes!

On a happier note, the thought of my English Ext exam next Thursday takes my mind off the itch. Studying English has never been such a relief! ^.^

And to all of you who are having exams over the next few weeks, happy studying and best of luck!

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Going out for dinner on CNY's Eve

Chinese New Year's Eve was epic!!! XD

First of all was the car incident. To day, we drove to Bankstown's RSL for dinner (along with a million other Asian families that were too lazy to cook). After successfully avoiding the highway jams by corkscrewing through back lanes with the help of the mighty GPS, we came to the worst of the worst horrors all drivers experience at any stage in their lives...FINDING A PARKING SPOT.

Actually, that wasn't too hard. We found one almost immediately. It was the parking that was difficult.

It doesn't look that hard, does it? Well, because the car had its headlights right up to the fence, and since the lane was only as wide as the length of one car...we were in a very tight spot. How were we going to turn the car to back into that parking lot? After spending half an hour of inch by inch progress in turning 90 degrees (navigated by father with flamboyant hand motions and driven by mother who pushed the steering wheel to its limit), we made it. It was the first time it took longer to actually park than find a parking space. EPIC!!!! It wasn't until the amazing feat was done that we realized it would have been easier to reverse all the way out, turn 180 degrees in big open space, then reverse back into the parking lot. =.=

The next epic thing was the lion dancing!!! Okay, so we've parked the car, we've gotten into the restaurant, we've bypassed the crowd, we're at the counter paying  for our all you can eat buffet, it's all good...when cymbals sound and the huge drum starts up. Gaaaah!!! It's the lion dance troupe! It's starting! Where's it going? Where's the cabbage? <.<  >.> <.< OMG!!!! The cabbage is right next to us, at the counter!!!!

As it happens the lion was basically staring us down, bobbing it's huge head at us. Why are mere mortals blocking my heavenly way towards my bribe of cabbages and money? Then it decided to change position and back right up to us, with its fluffy tail now bobbing in front of me. Here, I'll show you my butt. You can have a nice lovely rear view of me tearing my cabbage up. YUM. Gong Xi Fa Chai, Happy Chinese New Year, I have accepted this bribe so this restaurant will have prosperity all year long! I'll let you mere mortals who have seen me reap the benefits of this amazing phenomenon as well! I couldn't resist. I had to grab that tail. Boing. AWESOMENESS!!! I have touched the amazing heavenly lion's tail!!! Now I'm positive I'll be getting that high ATAR of mine this year! ...

On another note, more than half the crew of that lion dance troupe were white people. Interesting. I also had an amazing sugar high from the desserts served at the buffet. Aaaaah...Meringues. I saw heaven  for a minute there. ^.^

The car ride home was also fun. The GPS has a habit of saying "Follow the course of the road for 5km" and then not saying anything for 5km and hence freaking my mom out because she has no sense of proportionality. Without prompting, as soon as she thinks the 5km is done, she will make a turn to the left or right, provoking a reaction of "Recalculating route" from the GPS. So my sister and I had the job of reminding her to stay on course and telling her periodically how long more she has to go.

New word learnt :
Odourmeter - the device that determines the strength of smells in the car, hence prompting a requirement for an internal car wash.

Actually that was just me misinterpreting the word "odometer" when I heard my dad asking my mom to check it. Haha.

Have a wonderful, wonderful Chinese New Year Eve everyone!

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

It's HOT.

Walking home in the summer is pure torture. ""=.=""

The first five minutes out of the air conditioned train are no worries. I just listen to my music and walk with the beat to beat the heat.

The next five minutes requires a struggle of concentration to put one foot firmly in front of the other while sweat pours off me in torrents. I can feel myself melting under the intense heat. I can hear the sun evilly chanting "BURN baby BURN."

The final three minutes stretches on into eternity. So near yet so far. The upbeat music in my ears are nothing more than a drone of noise. I am now a mere pile of goo just dragging my body around.

The cool relief offered by the sanctuary of my house is bliss. I just lie down on the tiled floor and go into a convalescing sleep. ^.^ 

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Physics - Relativity XD

I have just been reprimanded by three persons for making their life even more complicated. Oh well.

What happened was physics. We were talking about relativity, a concept that is a bit hard for me to get my head around. I keep firing questions at the teacher. (keep is in present tense because it is an ongoing process). One of the many questions I asked whether l₀ of the length contraction equation referred to the length at rest according to the moving object or according to the stationary object (I later figured out that I was being redundant as this was basically the same thing in both frames of reference. No wonder everyone got so confused. They probably subconsciously spotted the mistake but couldn’t figure out why my question was so confusing. XP). After much discussion, it was determined that l₀ referred to the proper length in any inertial frame.

Another question was about time dilation (moving clocks measure slowly), ie. a clock travelling at the speed of light would record a time shorter than a stationary clock on earth. Here comes my dilemma: according to time dilation, a human being travelling at the speed of light would theoretically age slower than a human being on Earth. OH GOSH. I think I’ve just stumbled across a formula for immortality!!!... NOT.

What took me about two days to figure out was this: it doesn’t matter whether time appears to move slower or faster. Human beings have an average lifespan of under one century in Earth years that cannot be changed (just yet). Just because the time seems to go by slowly does not necessarily warrant a longer life. It’s just like how one year on Mars is about 2 years (687days) on Earth. Does that mean we age slower on Mars? No…. the only thing that is different is the measurement. We are STILL aging. Dang!! Bang goes that immortality theory.

By the time I figured all this out, lots of people were getting confused. Sorry, I can’t help it. It’s my nature to ask until something clicks in my head, regardless of whether other people understand it. XD

Haha, I like this article. It’s just a little bit of insight that I have gleaned from my physics class. As well as the incredibly long thought process of mine.

Cheers!

PS: When an object approaches to the speed of light, energy gradually becomes the equivalent of mass. Despite the fact that energy gets converted to mass when an object is travelling at c, increasing the mass exponentially, why hasn’t anyone tried to stop that process of mass conversion and instead use that energy to continue the acceleration of the rocket? (Put in layman terms, it seems easy, but apparently it’s a long and difficult process way beyond anything I’m likely to learn in High School. Sigh.)

PPS: Does anyone know how to insert equations into the blog? Or would you guys recommend me to stay completely off the subject because it bores you to sleep?

Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Gaaah!!! Where'd the time go?

Here was the goal: to update the blog every two-three days. That goal seems to be non-existent at the moment. Gaaah!!

Here's a quick rundown on what happened the past week.

Monday, my birthday!!! Was surprised by an sms at night, followed by a bunch of flowers at the train station. Then the cupcake followed, and a gorgeous gorgeous notebook, spontaneous birthday song by my physics class, lots of hugs, and an AWESOME power point presentation that nearly made me cry. I LOVE YOU GUYS. As if you didn't know that already. XD Lily and Vanezha gave me pressies on Tuesday too! You guys are the best! I'm the luckiest person in the world! ^^

My night was disrupted by two guys who didn't know the meaning of time difference, but it's okay, I still love you. ^^ The hangover carried on to Tuesday though, whereupon most of us were already getting tired. Homework has been crazy. And all those essays due? Crazy.

Wednesday was so interesting!!! Albeit uncomfortable. My friends and I were walking to school from the station, when suddenly we realized it was raining... two meters in front of us!!!!! Just as soon as we got the umbrellas out it started to pour over us. Not quite soon enough. I got partially drenched. The hair was most important. The hair MUST stay dry. XD Lol....

Thursday. Haha!! Karmen found out just how weird her friends (namely, Nichole and I) were in a group chat on msn. We drew faces and typed little kiddies songs to each. XD Hehehe.

Friday. Nichole's bday!!! I was in charge of buying the traditional cupcake but since I passed by three bakeries, I bought three cupcakes of different flavour. Haha! Tasmin went "that's just so you!" XD

That's all I can type for now it's like, 11pm here and I'm supposed to be in bed. Uggh.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Sunday is Spent outside

At the painful hour of 6.00am, my dad turns on the radio to the rock music station and puts it on loud, evilly cackling, "No torture, no fun...Come on, we're going on a hike."

An hour and a half later, our booties are finally on the sidewalk. The train ride from Mortdale station to Circular Quey takes another hour and 10 minutes before we hop onto the ferry to Taronga Zoo (which is situated on an island), our hiking destination for the day. As I look back to the mainland, I see ominous rolling black clouds in the distance, hovering just above the edge of the city, and I wonder, what is going to happen next?

The hike starts off  uneventful. My dad is more obsessed with making his mobile GPS find him than with nature. Looking at him (and remembering the Indonesia trip where he was obsessed with taking photos of a live volcano wherever we went) I figure out where I get my own occasional idiosyncratic obsessions from.As we walk on, we come across two parakeets loudly calling out to each other. How are you? I'm just fine! My husband went to visit the harbour bridge today. My husband is off mating. Hey look someone's taking a photo! How do I look? It's fine, it's fine.

The trail we are following is called the "Bradleys Head Walk" and leads to a gun battery, built after four American warships managed to sail undetected into Sydney Harbour in 1839. As I gaze at the cannons and bullet pitted firing wall (my dad says the wall is just weathered), I imagine the carnage and bloodshed that must have happened during those times. [If you look carefully the cannons are on rails that rotate 360degrees. My sister and I tried to push one but it refused to budge.]

We come across a small staircase that leads to the clear waters of Taylors Bay and decide to take a break. Taking off our shoes, we wade into the water and enjoy the cool breeze. Midway through our break, my left shoe decides to go off on a paddle, drowning before I could save it from getting wet. After transferring some weight from our backpacks into our stomachs, we set off again, me with a one wet shoe squelching through the bush.

Our hike brings us through a maze of tree skeletons (bushfire reigns supreme in Australian bushland). On the way we come across the equivalents of ant high rises (ginormous ant mounds on trees) with beautiful views of the bay. The living standards of ants are high in Australia.

Heading towards Clifton Gardens, we emerge on a beach, whereupon I fall in love with an absolutely gorgeous Mountain Bernese. This dog [Dunlop] is twice the size of my own golden retriever. An amiable dog, Dunlop allows me to fuss over him and even gives me his paw! ^.^ Other gorgeous specimens include an Alsatian mix who loves swimming in the water and a Huskie (omg their eyes. I. Love. Their. Eyes.).

There is a cute little boy happily running around bottom naked in the playground near the beach. After awhile, he pees on the sand, and even squats for better leverage. It is a big puddle, but he proceeds to cover it up with sand when he is done. Another boy sees the sand pit and dives into it. "Sand!" he cries. O.O

In Georges Head I come across more cannons overlooking the harbour [FYI these cannons are extremely long range. They have to be, from their positioning]. As I walk around a couple trying to read a sign, a little bundle of fur startles me. After admiring big dogs, this tiny Chiwawa cross Pomeranian is not in my adjusted narrow vision. XD Max is also the first Chiwawa that I have come across that doesn't yip at anything that moves. After a bit of sniff, he warms up to me and allows me to pet him on his head. When I move away, he growls and asks for more petting. >.> Ruff.

On with the journey to Balmora Beach. We observe the Mercedes and Porches and Mini Coopers amidst the custom built three storey houses on slopes. Here the hike ends and we take a bus back to Taronga Zoo, and catch the ferry immediately after. When we reach Circular Quey, a unicyclist with extremely corny lines advertises his performance.  I know it looks easy, but it isn't. So don't try this at home. Hey look, two wheels! How did you guys manage to ride a bike? It took me 20 years to learn how to ride one! After awhile we become bored and so we go home.

And that is my Sunday out.

Footnote: I don't think feet are designed to walk on flat land. And it's not the shoes that cause blisters. It's the tiny grainy bits of gravel and sand that get in your shoes that cause the blisters.

I'm also very sorry that I don't have postcards to send this time round. I forgot to look for them in Taronga Zoo and only remembered in Circular Quey, and their postcards aren't much to look at. I'll remember next time.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Hmmm

The first thing almost every single Australian high school girl does when she gets her school uniform is to tailor it a uniform 10cm above her knee. This measurement is uniform because if you observe the girls from afar, their skirts are all the same length O.o

So, shouldn't the schools just ask the factories to design the skirts 10 cm above the knee, hence saving on wasted cloth and money? Only one in about 100 girls are afraid of short skirts, and that's it. Surely it would be cheaper for those girls to tailor the skirts instead of the other 99? The extra money could go to buying us extra fixings for the school. Such as new lights for a Room 5. *light flickers...dies*

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

First Day of School

It's the first day of school!!! XD

Awesome awesome awesome. Returning to school to learn new things is always awesome. Especially when you meet friends that you have not seen in a month and a half. They also put in new, bouncy earth in front of the drama shed!!! *boing* It's also probably bouncy people like me that causes the grass to keep dying. If that's the case, I am responsible for the murder of the grass in the Year 12 quad as well as the grass in front of the drama shed.

They changed our time schedules. I now have lunch classes! T.T Had my first lunch class today and almost ended up starving. Apparently we're allowed to eat in class but I was seating right in front of the teacher and everyone else seemed to be on a diet....I stole a couple of bites and ate the rest in Maths after. XP One very very very excellent change that they made was my English teacher. I now have a teacher whom I think is an absolutely brilliant and funny genius. *anticipates her first English class tomorrow*

It is also the first time that I walked back from Mortdale station (instead of Penshurst) with NEW walking buddies (my old one moved away and abandoned me to the sharks. Jokes. XD). On the way I met even more friends that I haven't seen in a year and two months! We are definitely going to meet next time and get all excited again.

Anyway, it's been a wonderful, wonderful day.

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

In Aussie

Haaah! Who knew that connecting flights could pack such a big punch? I've been knocked out cold and I'm staying down....

My first day in Australia has been spent unpacking all the stuff that was previously packed. I am now stretching my organizational skills to its limits by trying to make space where there isn't any space. Now that I look at it, I think I may have gone a little crazy with the need to stock up on stationary. =D Either way, stationary ROCKS!!! *spoken like a true believer in the power of stationary*

My body clock refuses to readjust. I look at food and I just think "bleah". I also keep thinking that it's earlier than it's supposed to be. Nothing a good twelve hour siesta shouldn't fix. ^^

Cheers!
Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Cleaning Frenzy

My house is the busiest on the block and it looks like a full scale spring cleaning is going on. The gardener is tidying up the garden and one result of his efforts is that our bamboo grove now resembles a leafy table top.The house is now squeaky clean and all the toilets work. XP

The dog had a bath and has commenced rolling on the ground once we let him go.

The luggage is being repacked due to the fact that it is overweight. Very overweight. We are in trouble.

Cheers!

Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Honesty and clear air

I'm going to be honest. When I come across large patches of Chinese on the net, I copy paste the words onto Google Translate. XP

More often than not, Google Translation leaves much to be desired and I end up reading the original piece anyway. It really makes me wonder why I bothered wasting the energy of copying and pasting in the first place. Haha.

I am also glad that I was completely frank with a certain somebody today. The air cleared up (well, not really. CK odor is pretty lasting) and I'm going to hold you to that promise. As a result, the world is still spinning on its axis at an angle; everything is okay now .+*^.^*+.

Cheers!

Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

Hanging out

These two days were fantastic. And crazy.

I got my first pair of high heels yesterday. Haha! I'm breaking into them this Saturday. Hopefully my sense of balance will not completely abandon me while I totter around on 3 inch sticks.

LK came over for a sleepover to catch up. We talked. A lot. I miss you already. One sleepover is not going to make up for eleven months of separation, but I will have to make do with it. I'm feeling melancholic about leaving already. I'll never get used to that.

Today I had a two hour lunch with some of my besties. THANK YOU Meng Yan for lunch. I don't care; somewhere, some how, some day, we're treating you. I'm glad you cheered up as time passed. You made LK and I worry. Also, sorry about the super short time frame. I promise that next time will be the full blown six hours we're used to. Or possibly the whole day. Or week. As long as we don't grow tired of each other. XD

Managed to get one great shot. Here.

Ok, so the quality's not that great. And one guy isn't ready. But it's the only group shot I have from this year (yeah, I know, pathetic) so I will cherish this for a long time (I wonder what a teenager's concept of "long time" is?).

Thanks for everything! .+*^.^*+.

Cheers!

Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

The strangest things fascinate me

When it comes down to things that catch my attention, I am a baby.

I was visiting this remarkable heritage site the other day, with tons of history behind it, meaning it was a gold mine full of interesting observations to be made. And the first thing I observed? Grass. It sounds underwhelming, but to a person like me, touch-me-nots are lots of fun. I sat there poking and irritating the clump of sensitive plants until my dad made me haul ass to look at real stuff. It was completely worth the entrance fee. =D

Then there was this other time when I had a glass cup full of hot tea and ice in it. This is most certainly not the first time I had a glass cup full of hot tea with ice in it. Yet, I was completely enthralled by the melting ice and oblivious to my surroundings. There is just something fascinating about layers of melted ice water mixing with tea...

Another incident was the ant incident. It was raining, I was bored, the school bell was going in five agonizing minutes, and then this ant crawls onto my table. The innocent little ant captures my attention. I just sat there watching the poor, lost ant crawl all over my table. Before I knew it, the bell rang.

So there. Now you know that if I'm staring hard at something mundane, I'm not visiting planet Mars. I'm actually observing that mundane thing.

Cheers!

Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO

It's hard to wean off facebook

It's completely ironic.

Most of you who know me know that I don't like blogs because I find it too impersonal. Yet here I am, typing away impersonally, because this year I'm in Year 12 and I need to find some innovative and useful replacement for Facebook. According to certain sources (ahem), Facebook apparently stunts my mental capacity and blogging does not.

So here's my first entry.

Cheers!

Free Template Blogger collection template Hot Deals SEO