Missing

I can't sleep! Feeling emotional right now. I'm so overwhelmed by what is going through my mind all of a sudden. Kinda strange though, I'm sure I wouldn't be feeling this bad if it wasn't the time of the month...heh...Just talked to my mum after my exam and she was telling me about all the things she was going to send over with my dad's friend. His daughter will be coming over to UQ to study too and she'll be staying in the same place as me. As a matter of fact, she'll be moving into Chris's block and she'll be Chris's next door neighbour. Anyway, my mum told me that she bought lots of stuff for me, including my birthday present (a key pendent) and even though I specifically told her not to buy me a gold pendent, she went ahead all the same. Hmmph...I told her to save the money but she refuses to listen. Then she told me that she had bought some lo han guo and chrysanthemum sachet drinks for me and was going to ask that guy to bring over for me. But I told her not to send any food items over because you'll have to declare it at immigrations and it would be really troublesome. I swear I heard the disappointment in her voice when I told her that she couldn't send those over. Plus the fact that she went out specially to buy those for me and now she can't send them to me....it makes me feels so sad that I have to disappoint her and all her good intentions have gone to waste. How do you tell her that I really really really really really appreciate her thoughtfulness and I so wish that she could have sent them over because it all boils down to her going out just to buy these things for me even when I told her to keep the stuff to the minimum. The drinks may be cheap items, but the thoughts my mum put into them when buying are priceless. They mean much more to me than the gold and diamond pendent my mum bought for my birthday. Ohhh...I can't describe what I'm feeling right now....it's just too much.... :( I miss my mum....

Things I Have Realised and Enjoy in Brisbane

1. The weather. I can wake up everyday knowing that the maximum temperature of the day will never be more than 30 degrees which is so different from S'pore where almost everyday you will get 30 degrees or more especially in the afternoons. The humidity there is also a problem....imagine the sweaty bodies on the bus when the school kids are on their way home. Eeewwww....the number of times I've had to turn my face and hold my breath; I can't believe I was once like that. Of course I've also stunk a few buses back when I was going home from trainings but during those times, you don't have the entire bus squashed full of people. I love the feel of the cold air blowing at me, even though sometimes I shiver and complain. Going out seems much less of a hassle knowing that the weather outside is great and just waiting for me to enjoy it.
2. Snuggling under my quilt when it's cold. Of course, this is much related to Point 1 and I can't begin to explain how comfortable it feels lying in bed with a nice, warm quilt that cost me $70. Hahaahaha....it's well-worth the money.
3. Having my own room. Ever since I can remember, I have been sharing a room either with my parents or my sister. Back home, my sis and I share a room and we sleep side-by-side. Thinking of the countless number of times where I was rudely awakened by my sister kicking me, punching me, putting her leg over me or just plain disturbing me makes me wonder how I ever got though those days. It's heaven having a room of my own and a bed where I can roll as much as I want, take up as much space as I want and not having anyone abusing me in my sleep. I shudder to think what sleeping will be like when I get back to S'pore. Will I be able to tahan my sis again or will I simply move out into the guest room?
4. Cooking for myself and other people. Now I realise that I need to appreciate my mum more. She cooks dinner for us almost every night and we all take her for granted. Cooking a complete meal takes time and effort and I truly regret not giving her the credit she deserves and praising her cooking more often. When I think back of all the times I went out for dinner with my friends and failed to inform her not to cook my share, I'm filled with remorse because finally I have tried putting myself in her shoes and understanding how it feels to cook for a loved one or a friend and having them reject it. I swear that I will make more effort to thank my mum for all the little things she does for me when I get back home.
5. Eating out. I also used to take this for granted back in S'pore. Due to the nature of my student and temporary work life, I find that I ate out all the time. Lunch was always eaten out and occasionally, due to late nights or just going out with friends, I would take my meals outside. Now that I'm here in Brisbane, eating out has become a luxury and I only eat out when I have to or when there's a special occasion. It's mostly due to the expensive meals over here and the fact that in order to save money, cook for yourself is the logical way to go. Sigh...when I think of all the times I ate out with friends or family at restaurants...come to think of it, I haven't had any meals in a good restaurant ever since I got here. The best I've had so far is dinner at a cafe.
6. The freedom and independence. This doesn't need much explanation. It should be obvious to anyone that being out here without any adults means not having anyone to watch over you and control your every movement. I can go out any time I want and eat any thing I want or sleep as late as I want and wake up whenever I want. Freedom at last!!!
7. Being able to take a nice, long, hot shower. Water is FREE here...hahaha...I've been taking long hot showers everyday and sometimes twice a day. It helps with the cold weather we've having right now and it's wonderful to be able to bathe as long as you want and not having to worry about the water or electrical bills. This is definitely something I could never do back home. Too bad I don't have a long bath here, otherwise I would be soaking in it right now.
8. Being able to download movies and songs. In the place where I'm staying at, there is this shared network which is used by all the colleges (hostels) within UQ. We are able to download as many movies or songs as we like without having to worry about being caught and fined for illegal file sharing like back in S'pore. Plus downloading movies take only about 2 minutes each while mp3s take like 2 seconds....woohoo....shiok...I can watch as many movies as I like (as long as I have the correct codec for the file) and it helps me pass time.
9. Bus services. I don't take the bus a lot, only when I have to go to the city for shopping or out to get groceries. At least the bus drivers are MUCH more friendly than the uncles we get in S'pore. Notice how the bus uncles are always these grumpy or grouchy-looking guys who smoke every chance they get, turning the bus interchanges into a super passive smoker's nightmare? They also don't seem to like to talk unless they have no other choice, otherwise they would just glare and grunt at you. And what about the way they yell at the passengers to move in? That is so annoying especially when you're standing next to the driver and the next thing you know, you're half-deaf from the shouting which comes without warning. Here, the bus drivers smile at you (not all of them of course) and they sometimes chat with you while counting out your change and waiting for your ticket to be printed. They are friendly and don't hesitate to give directions or tell you which is your stop. They say "please" and "thank you" and the passengers will automatically thank the driver when they get off the bus. Now this is what you call courtesy. So much for S'pore being a FINE city huh?

Check this out

Hey this is really quite funny and creative.
Regardless of whether you are a Star Wars fan or not, you should definitely take a look.
Thanks to Shuling for this website!

http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

It's Time

It's been 1 week...still, nothing. Guess it's time to give up. After all, it was only a dream. An illusion. Just wishful thinking. How pathetic is that? Should have known better. Shocked, anger, dismayed, disappointed, resigned...this was how I felt. Now it's time to stop and get over it. I still have much life ahead of me. Why waste my time on this? JERKS!

Tummy ache!!!

Argh...I need to use the toilet right now but Tommy's in there. I just hope he's not doing big business as well. Ugh...urgent urgent urgent...to keep my mind of my stomach I decided to come n write a post.

I've been thinking a lot about my secondary school life and friends. Of course I feel sad that I've broken away from those days and the friends I made in those 4 years. But also, in a way, I wasn't very close to many of them. Back then, I took really really long to warm up to people and the friends I felt close to were those who were in the same class as me for 4 years or in the same ECA.

In my class, I had 2 good friends and we always hung out together. I was very glad to have them because they made secondary school so much more fun. I did have other classmates where we could talk and laugh together but these 2 were special.

After graduating from secondary school, I lost contact with many of them. It was mostly because we went different ways. Most of them went the JC route while I went the poly route. So even when we did meet up once or twice, it was like we were from 2 different worlds altogether. I felt very awkward and didn't have much to say to them. They had more things in common with the rest because of JC.

I did try to stay in touch with 1 of the 2 girls I was closer to in the beginning. We wrote each other letters weekly to keep each other updated. It helped a lot because she was also in poly like me, although a different one. It made poly life much easier, knowing that I had a friend out there no matter what. Of course starting a brand new life in a brand new school with brand new friends wasn't easy. It was daunting....and scary at the same time.

Unfortunately, this particular friend was a Christian, and a very staunch one. She had accepted Jesus Christ quite late in life. I believe it was after we left secondary school or maybe in secondary 4. Anyway, her church was opposite my poly and she would invite me to their church sessions. I agreed to go, and I went, twice. The first time, it was like a gathering with other people around my age. It was held in a small room and seemed like a normal get-together session. However, they singled out the non-Christians and I hated that. I hated seeing everyone staring at me as my friend introduced me to them. The second time was a church mass. I think that was a day where people from the church were asked to bring their friends along to take a look and experience Christianity. We were given small gifts as we entered the church and during the mass itself, again the new aka non-christians were asked to stand up so that the pastor could bless us in his prayers. I didn't want to stand up but my friend said that she would stand with me. I just felt like I was in an alien situation and didn't like it. The entire event was extremely uncomfortable.

After that last experience, I refused to attend anymore church activities. I felt a pressure to convert and they were putting this pressure on me. It was totally ridiculous because I don't even believe in God and I've told my friend that. I also told her that I didn't want to attend anymore but she kept persuading. In the end, I stopped contact with her because it seemed like everytime we met or talked, the church would be mentioned and I didn't like that. I accept her as a Christian and I accept that she believed strongly in Christ. But what I couldn't accept was her trying to push and push me to go to church with her and try to convert my own beliefs. This is what I dislike most about Christianity.

Maybe it's not the religion's fault. I know many people who do not try to convert others and I have relatives who are very strong Christians. Come on, my uncle is a pastor and he accepts that I don't believe in God. I have attended church activities like Christmas parties and masses with my cousins and they have never ever asked me if I would want to convert. If my own family doesn't pressure me to change, what right does a total stranger have to come up to me and preach to me? Right now I'm not referring to my friend anymore, but to those people who stand outside MRT stations or shopping centres, waiting for unsuspecting victims to pass by so that they can grab them and start trying to convince them to accept Christianity. And what about people who go door to door in HDB flats, knocking on their doors and trying to preach? These people don't take no for an answer and they never stop. I liken them to spiders. Ruthless predators who prey on others, either by waiting patiently in the middle of the web for a prey to fall in and then eating them or by chasing their prey relentlessly until the prey has no where else to run.

All in all, I do hate people who are like that. I'm also sad that because of this, I've lost my friend and I don't know if I can have her back. I miss her friendship but at the same time, I worry that she will start asking me to go to church with her. That is what I definitely do NOT miss.

Belated present and expenses

I got a parcel from Julie today. Heh and I assumed that she had forgotten my birthday. I appreciate her spending the money to send the presents over. Postage alone cost $7.30. I love receiving stuff from S'pore. She gave me a cute toy clock, a pair of butterfly earrings (I have 8 new pairs now!) and a card which I liked the most. The clock isreally useful because I don't have a clock here and I have been relying on my handphone and watches for the time.

We went out yesterday to Roma and purchased our train tickets. Each ticket was $58 and the train ride is about 14 hours. I hope I don't die of boredom but luckily it's a night train so I think I should be able to sleep most of the journey away. I had to pay and extra $18 for this stupid international student card so that I could get the train ticket at half price, otherwise I would be paying $100+ for the actual ticket. What annoys me the most is the fact that I could have got the card FOC if I have made it in S'pore. The thing is , I didn't know that the card would be needed here and I also thought I could get it done here but didn't know that I had to pay $18!!!. Stupid IDP didn't tell me all this.

Anyway, after that we went down to Indooroopilly to exchange the quilt cover and they were actually able to give us cash back. What a surprise!! You certainly don't get services like this in S'pore. I decided to take a different design this time and chose a blue quilt cover even though I currently have a blue quilt cover already. I can't help liking blue so much.

We also shopped a little and I bought yet another bottle of shampoo and body wash. They were only $2 each! This brings my collection to a total of.....nah.....I don't wanna reveal the actual number.....haha....you guys would be too shocked. Even Chris doesn't know how many I really have.

We went on a chocolate shopping spree at Coles supermarket too. They were having a promotion on chocolate bars like Mars, Snickers and Twix. 80 cents each. Hmm...strange enough, it was KK who informed me of this ongoing promotion and he's a guy. You would usually expect such information from girls, not guys. But I guess being away from home now, we need to look out for promotions and become somewhat like an auntie who's always looking for cheap stuff and discounts. Chris and I also bought a 2 kg lasagne each. This will be really good during the exam period when we don't feel like cooking.

Went for dinner with him after that. We ate at this place which had nice decor but really terrible service. We waited almost an hour for the main courses to come and they were those really small portions put in the middle of a big white plate. AND they got my order wrong, I had ordered lamb but they gave me chicken. The food wasn't very nice but at least we were only charged $24 for everything when it was supposed to be like $40+. I believe the cashier calculated wrongly. Hmm....don't want to say too much about the rest of the night.....

It was a very long day and I was out almost the whole day. When I got back, I invited Mildred over to try the cheesecake and chatted to her for half an hour. I then took a bath and went to sleep. I was pretty exhausted and couldn't keep my eyes open. Darn I still have pizza left. Think I have to finish it up tomorrow because it's taking up so much space in the fridge. Might go down to Hawken to get more milk tomorrow too. It's so scary, the rate at which I finish my milk....I think I drink 3 L in 1 week or less....becoming a cow soon....hahahha....

Interesting facts??

SHOPPING MATH
A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs. A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need.

GENERAL EQUATIONS
A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband. A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife. A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend. A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

HAPPINESS
To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.

LONGEVITY STATISTICS
Married men live longer than single men, but married men are a lot more willing to die.

PROPENSITY TO CHANGE
A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't. A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, but she does.

DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE
A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.

HOW TO STOP PEOPLE FROM BUGGING YOU ABOUT GETTING MARRIED
Old aunts used to come up to me at weddings, poking me in the ribs and cackling, telling me, "You're next." They stopped after I started doing the same thing to them at funerals.

So much excitement and panic for you guys

Haha so it's my birthday today. Happy 21th birthday to me!!! Heh heh heh...even though this is a special day, it started off as a regular day. Slept at 4 am last night and woke up about 11.30 am. Had a bowl of cereal for breakfast/lunch and watched Dr Phil while occasionally chatting to Steph and Wan Shi. No one wished me happy birthday although I assumed it was because my housemates didn't know that it was my birthday. Surprisingly, Chris didn't wish me either. My dad was the 1st one to wish me, last night at about 10pm. I was expecting my mum to give me a call so I was a little put-off when she didn't call at all. Not even an email from her!! I read through and edited Chris's assignment then proceeded to watch a movie (In the Cut). Super boring movie (sorry Mantou) where I almost fell asleep but tahan-ed to the end just to find out who the murderer was. Mantou, I know I asked you to recommend some horror/thriller movies but this was just not my type. I would rather watch shows like Texas Chainsaw Massacre or Hannibal where there's more blood, gore and mindless killing.

I took a nap after the show and woke up at about 6.30pm. Then I decided that I should go down to Hawken to get some groceries so I changed and went out. I was halfway to the ATM machine at the bus stop to get some money when Chris called me and asked me to come back for dinner. When I told her that I wasn't hungry and asked her if I could eat later after I bought my groceries, she started to sound quite panicky and told me to come back immediately. That was when I started to suspect something.

I was really tempted to refuse to go back but that would have been too mean, especially if Chris had planned something for me. So.....I went back, and found Chris and Mr Tan waiting downstairs for me. We went upstairs where I found that the lights in my apartment were off. I knew that a cake was probably going to come out next but seeing Ah Hao's head hiding behind the corner and hearing his voice kind of spoilt it all.....hahaha....I knew the 4 guys had to be here and then I saw my 3 housemates too. So I got the cake, the birthday song, the candle-blowing and the photo-taking.

We had pizza for dinner which was nice although the pizza was cold and the cake was good. Mango cheesecake....ummm....very rich and sinful but still tastes so good. I got a quilt cover set from Chris and the 4 guys, too bad it was the wrong size. They bought queen size when my quilt is actually double size. My housemates got me a pair of dangly blue earrings. Very very nice! I always appreciate earrings, no matter how many I've already got and the quilt cover will be very useful. Hopefully we can get it changed tomorrow for the correct size. I think I'll try to put up pictures in this blog if I can, just to show you all the earrings I've got so far....hahaha....

After dinner we sat around the table and talked about the planning of this "party". Apparently they didn't wish me on purpose because they wanted to act like they had forgotten about my birthday when I actually assumed that they didn't know in the first place. Then my appearance in the kitchen around dinner time gave my housemates a shock because they thought I was fixing my own dinner when they already had food planned. My disappearance from the house gave them an even bigger shock. According to Wan Shi, she had heard the door slam and she went out to check. She started to panic when she saw the "Gone out" sign on my room door because she was hoping that I had just gone downstairs to do laundry or something. But she knew that I don't put on that sign when I do laundry and I usually don't leave the room door closed as well. So she went and knocked on Steph's door and Steph immediately called Chris to tell her that I had left the house. The 4 guys were at Chris's place writing on my card and Chris started panicking as well. She told the guys to go out and stop me but apparently I walk very fast and they could find me. Meanwhile, Wan Shi and Steph were looking out the window trying to locate me but they couldn't see me at all. That was probably when I got the call from Chris asking me to come home. Wahahahahahhahahahaha........oh my god!!! I got such a kick listening to their individual stories and imagining their reactions and the looks on their faces when they realised that I had gone out and possibly spoilt all their plans.

So much excitement I had caused for these few wonderful people, don't you agree? Nevertheless, I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Creating such a disturbance will be in my memory for a long time and it definitely made my 21th birthday so much more fun and exhilarating. Ahahahaa....I still can't keep that smile off my face whenever I think about all the fuss and havoc I created. Yup, this year's birthday was really really memorable.

Lots of hugs and kisses to Chris for organising this wonderful day for me.
A big thank-you to Wan Shi, Tommy and Steph who were in on the surprise, acted as spies in my own home and gave me so much fun and laughter.
Love to the 4 guys for even bothering about my birthday because I know that being the guys they are, this is already a huge effort coming from them. (Plus I do feel a little guilty that we did so little for Kenny's birthday but did so much more for mine)

I still have 3 slices of pizza and about 1/4 cake left. Maybe I'll give some to Crystal and Mildred...hahaha....as much as I love the cake, it doesn't mean that I should gorge on it and gain the unnecessary weight....heh heh heh....

Oh yeah, I really do not appreciate it when someone (I suspect it's Ah Hao) wrote "cheng X zhong" on my birthday card. Thanks so much for reminding me about that embarrasing moment when I misread the chinese name for Chinatown. For those who do understand Chinese, it was supposed to be "Zhong guo cheng" but I read it from left to right instead of right to left, and I didn't recognise the middle word "guo" because it was in "fan ti zi". Oh well....we all have our embarrasing moments.

Another interesting article

Boost your metabolism! Here are 10 tips for losing weight by burning kilojoules more efficientlyYour metabolism, the speed at which your body uses kilojoules for functions such as breathing and digesting food, can work for or against you. The bad news is, if you’re someone who crash diets then piles the weight back on again, you may have seriously slowed down your metabolic rate, making weight loss even more difficult.The good news is that the process is reversible. Here are 10 expert tips on how to speed up your metabolism.

1. Count kilojoules
This may be the first time you’ve been urged to eat more. “Your body’s programmed to defend your usual weight,” says Dr Liz Applegate, professor of nutrition at the University of California. “So if you suddenly drop 4200 kilojoules from your diet, your resting metabolic rate will automatically slow down because your body now assumes that you’re starving.”This is the best argument against crash dieting: ultimately, you will end up fatter, as rapid weight loss can slow down your metabolism by as much as 45 per cent. Unless you’re shorter than 150cm, never eat less than 4800 kilojoules a day.

2. Breakfast
Yes, it definitely is the most important meal of the day. Never skip breakfast, because it kick-starts your metabolism in the morning. Without it, you won’t burn as many kilojoules.

3. Get the nibbles
If you’ve been racked with guilt about your inability to make it to your next meal without snacking, the good news is that by eating five or six smaller meals during the day, instead of the traditional three big meals, you’ll keep your metabolism working for you all day long.Beyoncé Knowles swears frequent small meals are the secret to her gorgeous figure.However, be sensible. Try snacking on fresh or dried fruit, nuts, oatcakes, vegetable sticks, bio-live yoghurts, wholemeal toast and cheese.

4. Exercise
Regular exercise – 45 minutes of cardio three to five times a week – really is the best way to speed up your metabolism.

5. Chill out
Apparently, our cave-dwelling ancestors were a lot slimmer than we are because they didn’t have central heating. Our fondness for keeping the heating cranked up in our homes, cars and offices makes our metabolism lazy. Make your own central heating by simply turning the temperature down a few degrees. This can make your metabolism speed up and burn more kilojoules.

6. Spice things up
Lovers of spicy food have a temporary edge on the rest of us in the quest for a speedy metabolism. According to research from Laval University in Canada, a chemical found in jalapeno and cayenne peppers can increase the body’s ability to burn kilojoules. This chemical speeds up the metabolic rate by temporarily stimulating the body into releasing more stress hormones such as adrenaline.

7. Period pluses.
Some cruel scientists have done research to prove that the week before your period is the best time to sweat it out in the gym. “Women burn 30 per cent more fat from ovulation up to two days before menstruating,” says Leanne Redman of the University of Adelaide. This is when the hormones oestrogen and progesterone are at their peak, promoting the body’s use of fat as energy.

8. Soy milk is packed with protein, which helps to speed up your metabolic rate. Studies have shown that people who drink soy milk rather than the ordinary stuff, lose weight more quickly, especially from the difficult belly and waist areas.

9. Eat your meat
Protein is a necessary part of your diet, and having a healthy portion of it daily can work in your favour in other ways, too. Because protein takes longer to digest than carbohydrates, you burn more kilojoules in the process and speed up your metabolism. As well as meat, other excellent sources of protein are fish, cheese and pulses.

10. Sleep
The most important part of the day, as far as insulin levels are concerned, is between 11pm and 8am, when you’re getting some well-earned sleep. A healthy level of insulin in your body means that you won’t have an unhealthy tendency to store unnecessary body fat. Which is the perfect excuse to stop reading this now and have a nap.

Birthdays

I have always believed that birthdays are special and that they are a good way of identifying which friends truly care about you. I never remind or hint to my friends that my birthday is coming. I feel that if they were friends who couldn't be bothered finding out and remembering when my birthday is, they obviously don't care enough or are not the kind of friends who would consider me one of their closer friends. Of course, that would be fine with me as long as I do not consider them my close friends as well. I'm not that unreasonable and I'm not perfect. I also have my fair shares of forgetting friends' birthdays but the ones I hold close to my heart, I make a point to remember their birthdays and do something for them for their special day. This is why sometimes I treat my birthday as a kind of test for my good friends, or at least the friends I consider to be close to and the ones who reciprocate my feelings. I always hope that they will make the effort to remember it and at least wish me happy birthday on the correct day. This is also why I get quite annoyed when friends ask me repeatedly about the date of my birthday. It seems as if they cannot be bothered to remember. Well, this year I did get some early birthday wishes, due to a fault in my friendster profile. It's fine because I'm glad that they did send me wishes, no matter that date and time. I would feel quite insulted and upset if my good friends forgot. I realised that this seems quite weird but that's just the way I feel. Of course I don't go out complaining and accusing my friends of forgetting.

Well for this year, I went out and bought myself some earrings. Haha...I kind of got carried away, probably because I was so deprived from shopping for so long. I ended up buying 6 pairs of earrings, both long, dangly ones and small stud ones. It wasn't that expensive because I got some at a discount and I only paid $13 for everything. It was a great feeling to have bought something nice for myself after such a long time.

Malaysian dinner

Well, the Malaysian food was a success. There was nasi lemak, nasi briyani, maggi goreng, roti canai, chocolate cake, ondeh-ondeh and sago dessert. These were the food that I tried and it didn't cost me more than $6. The pricing was cheap for Australia, the rice going for $3, the ondeh-ondeh $1 for 4 and 50 cents for each piece of cake or cup of sago. Of course the food are quite cheap to prepare but it was wonderful to taste real chilli again. Yum yum...I must say that the standard of the food was pretty high, considering that they were prepared by students. Watching the people help out at the stalls made me wish I was part of them. I guess I miss being part of a club or society where I could help out with organising an event and watching the success of the event.

I actually intended to just purchase the food and go home and enjoy the food in the comfort pf my own home. In the end, I sat down over there with 3 other girls, Steph, Olivia and Debbie. Of course Steph was a pleasure to be with and surprisingly, Olivia was pretty nice to talk to too. Debbie, on the other hand, was not so nice. I didn't enjoy her company at all. Somehow I feel that she is the kind of girl who is quite self-opinionated and from the way she talks, seems to care only about herself and her own ideas. When Olivia commented about the cheapness of the food, the way she explained how cheap flour and other stuff was....it just felt like she was indicating that common sense could have told you that and you were an idiot for not knowing. I definitely do not like her and I have never liked her since the day I first met her when Steph introduced her to me. When Debbie said that Steph and her were supposed to be housemates, I balked and thanked God that it didn't happen. Imagine me staying in the same house as this girl!!!

Perhaps something to cheer me up is the fact that Crystal most probably will be moving over to Bishop Tower next semester. I do like Crystal and she is fun to talk to.

We received a letter from the management stating that the electrical bill for our place had gone up because of the overuse of the heaters since winter has started. Heh....I haven't had to use the heater yet so I guess I'm not one of the guilty individuals. The letter also stated that the fans in our rooms had a switch to change the function from "winter" to "summer" or vice versa. Then I realised why my fan never seemed strong enough especially during the winter. My fan had been on winter settings all along where the fan generates warm wind. Well, I've switched it over to the summer mode now and I've been loving it since. At least I can finally feel the breeze from the fan now. It's almost like I have a brand new fan!!!

All assignments over

Phew, I've just finished my final assignment for this semester. Strange, I expected to feel a huge gush of relief but all I'm feeling now is exhaustion. My brain is tired and I feel like all my mental energy is gone. I actually felt like going out to get some fruits plus it's Friday and I didn't want to waste it by staying at home. But now all I really want is to crawl into bed and take a long nap. At least I am going to this Malaysian makan night in school later with Steph and Wan Shi (my housemates). I already gave Steph warning to keep calling me until I wake up....haha....I'm afraid that I'll be sleeping like the dead. Hmm....maybe I'll go out tomorrow. I really need to get some nutritious food like veggies and fruits. Have been eating mostly carbos and meat this whole week and I feel very unhealthy.

Good results

Well, well, well...the day I was dreading finally came. Yesterday I received my marks for my Molecular Microbiology exam and I did pretty well. It was definitely much better than I had expected. I was thinking that I would get about 70+ upon 108 marks, but I got 85.5!!! All that worrying for nothing. I'm just glad that I got >80 marks. My poster presentation for the same subject also went pretty well yesterday. I didn't think that my poster was nice enough; what do you expect from 4 days of last minute work?? But as compared to the other ones that I saw, I think I actually put in more effort than many of my other classmates. I hope I get my poster back. The amount of money invested in it was pretty high. Let me see...that's 90 cents for the backing, $2.55 for double-sided tape, another 90 cents for colour paper, not to mention the colour printing....ahhaaha....At least the 5 minutes presentation passed quite fast. It was more informal than I expected and I'm glad that the "judge" we got wasn't Jason but some Singaporean guy. Yup...yesterday was a good day besides the fact that my internet was off for more than 24 hours meaning that I had problems completing the other 2 reports which were due on Thursday and Friday.

Still I managed to finish up the plant report and handed it up early. Another good news....I got back the marks for my leprosy project. The one where I "pia-ed" like hell with the editing and everything. Heh I got 20/24 for my individual part and 6/6 for the group part. I must add that the 6/6 is all my doing and I'm not shy to boast. After all, these 6 marks are all my blood, sweat and tears....hahaha....A small bummer when my groupmate got 21/24 but I don't care. I'm still happy with my marks and I can't complain. I got 86% for this assignment anyway.

Now I'm trying to complete the final report for this semester. I hadn't done anything about it until now so it's super last minute work. Hmm....it is a little harder than I expected but oh well.....just have to do what I can. I still have some time tomorrow to touch up before the due time at 4 pm. Time to get back to that report....sugarcane, here I come!!!!!