Bad news

Just called home. Awful news. My dog's dying, spleen's bleeding and there's no way to treat it. So he'll live for another few weeks max. All while I'm away. My ah-boy's 10 years old, but for a German Shepherd he ought to live another few years. To others he's just a dog, to us (me), he's family. &%$# i donno what to say =(

Abit of this and that..

Just learnt something the hard way – make a copy of my blogpost before I click publish! Arghh the frustration.. I clicked “publish” it told me “Cannot find server”….?!? So now I'm re-typing it le..

*note – outdated post, with pics though! I’m prob the only person I know without a digicam, so its not often there're pics on my blog ;)

On Festival Victoria:
Guests (Sun) – Nicole C Mullen, Katina (liked their songs, few as it were), Dennis Agajanian, Tommy Coomes Band, Roma Waterman and Darlene Zschech & the Hillsong Band.
Speaker – Franklin Graham


On the way to Telstra Dome


The crowd.. plus.. lovely Melbourne sunny day with bluuey sky!


The stage.. my seat was 2nd Tier, quite faraway..


Worship


The call..

Abit of this, abit of that..

abit of St Paul’s Church.. are these spires?


The free City Circle Tram, background's Federation Sq.


The cost-a-lot but fairly-efficient Melbourne tram


One of my fave places in Melbourne – cafes at a lane near Flinders (cafes at the side, patrons all sit in the centre, lovely place for coffee..if you're ever in Melbourne) Very quaint usually, but the lazy Sunday afternoon explains the quiet scene..

Will update more in a mo'. Going off to make some niceeee coffeeeee =) Ipoh white coffee hehhe..

Surprise surprise

Called home yesterday and its just so ironic. Here I am, sick in Melbourne..and almost the entire family is sick back in PJ. When I called, only my father was home. Sis and mother went to the doctor cos he passed the flu etc to them. And.. another member of my family is sick too. My dahling ah-boy is also ill..aiseh.. sis says they're bringing him to the vet today cos he lost his appetite and body a little swollen. Hope its nothing le, cos he's getting old and all that..

Trying to figure out my plans for next week. Its the Easter break at last! The break's rather early this sem, right after week 4..

Prob will go

• Port of Echuca (border of Vic and New South Wales) day trip
• Yarra Valley Wine Experience..?
• A beach somewhere.
• Melbourne Museum

Thinking of the costs..would be handy to have a one-off job assignment now, to offset some extra expenses..

M'sian in Melbourne plus the weekend..

What does it mean to be a M'sian in Melb?

• See fellow M'sian - speak proper English with the "lah-s"
• See Chinese - speak Mandarin
• See Hong Kong-ers - speak Cantonese
• See anyone from other culture / background - speak proper punctuated impeccable English (usually with a "yea" to good effect)

Something people keep commenting when they meet Malaysians aka ME - "wah you can speak so many languages ar?!".. point here is every Malaysian knows at least 2 languages. My "known" languages - English/BM/Mandarin/Canto plus a smattering of Foochow and a teeny bit of Hokkien. Foreigners I meet always seem amazed by that. They're always surprised by why we seem to know more 'bout their country than they do about ours. Maybe its just me. I've always been interested to know more about other country's culture and way of life. I figure, we could always learn from their positives and discard their negatives - to improve.

When I first met Zoe from HK last year, she was surprised to know that I'd heard of some HK places before eg Kowloon, Causeway Bay, New Territory etc..chortling with laughter, I could only tell her "Thankyou to TVB for all these years of 'education'!" hahha so many Msians grew up watching the quinssetial dramas.. (actually I only started speaking Cantonese 2 years ago but its passable enough by now) .

Without really realizing it nowadays, I've realised my English changes slightly whole conversing with Zoe. Its a little difficult to describe but an example is this:

"city" usually pronounced as "see-tee" becomes "see-tih" instead. "Summer" becomes "saam-mer". We say tutorial as "tute", they call it "tuto". It took me awhile initially to gather what they meant when they said "tu-to"..

Being trilingual has its usefulness.. basically it makes conversation in "Asianized" Melbourne easier. I was just talking with a friend yesterday.. something I've noted on campus is that the Aussie students aren't really the friendly type, at least not that I know of. Australians generally are friendly people, but when I say that, I mean those Aussies working, in shops/bus/elder generation. The younger ones... ? just my 2 cents worth.. On campus what I note is that Asians still mix with Asians and likewise with the Aussies. There doesn't seem to be much of a dialogue in between. Of course there's also the Australian born Asians. But again they seem be mix amongst themselves or with other Asians.. ??

oops got abit distracted.. as I was saying..being bilingual is good.. I'm comfortable in most basic languages, in fact I believe my Mandarin is even improving.. such irony innit? For it to be improving while abroad. My chinese housemates (from China) actually told me they were rather disappointed to be speaking in mandarin most of their time here in Melbourne. Rebecca (my hsemate) prefers to practise her English with me so we try to speak English sometimes.

I do admire their efforts to improve on English. They hardly speak English while in China and classes can only teach you that much. Another admirable effort was seen last night. When I got back I found XiMin having a few Time magazines and an amazingly thick Oxford dictionary in the dining room. Rajin-nya I thought.

In Msia, some people always say their level of English is low. They say, but do they do anything about it? Would they actually make the effort to improve? like what XiMin does? In fact, after conversing with XiMin in English, one would be quite surprised. His English is really good and he expresses himself quite eloquently. But point is - he's striving to IMPROVE. He's actually making the effort to brush up on unfamiliar English words. So don't complain when we get left behind..in terms of education levels/other developments. People get ahead of us in life. Thats because they work hard. At least, harder than us..

Talking bout housemates.. had a conversation with a few of 'em coupla nights ago - XiMin (China), Min from Korea and Danny. Interesting to gather some insight from other countries. Although we share the same heritage, things are definitely very different in Msia and other countries. Happily Danny made some supper for us too =)

This's now the beginning of Week 3 of uni. Week 3 only?? I already think its mid sem 'dy. The past week was just soooo busy. Inundated with work and the weekend was really tiring.

Saturday:

• Photography workshop (Monash Photography Club) - fun! Julian was the instructor and he's actually an IT lecturer. Thought he was from the Arts faculty initially. Nice thing 'bout having instructors like that are they're all doing it voluntarily. He basically walked us through some photography essentials eg light, flash, focus, zoom etc. Talked alittle about aperture and control of shutter speed etc. Julian prefers the "old-fashioned" manual SLRs, just like me =) we're both probably the only "old-fashioned" people in the room. I'm still the only person I know who's using a film SLR... He showed us his 300mm lens too..amazing piece of equipment..plus some photo samples. It was quite a short session and after that we had a a club initiation party. Amusing thing from the meet. 2 of the first few people I met were named "Ana" (Indonesian), "Hana" (Vietnamese) and I'm "Diana"...ohdear it was quite amusing for Jackie hahha
• Malaysian Students Society dinner at Sofia's - turnout quite large, food decent, and I had a bit of an itch to take pics.. Kuan did a good job organizing things. Amusing fact found out that night - we're neighbours, he stays right across the road. Made some new friends, some of which are my coursemates in some units. Had some scary tales told of my so called "suicidal" units this sem..ohdear..

Will blog about Festival Victoria soon. Will have pics up yayy! Anyways to be concise - it was really great! =P

Was also at the Nike warehouse clearance sale at Flemington Racecourse. Actually it was a last minute decision to go. I didn't know bout it till a friend told me her housemate went to 扫货 ("sao-huo" chinese term meaning to grab/buy LOADS of stuff especially during times of sale, common behaviour seen in members of the female human species). Usually not a big fan of shopping. Main purpose was more to teman my friend.

Thought I could get some sneakers but since today was the final day of the clearance, there wasn't much of the ladies stuff left. There were LOADS of guys stuff left. I'd say about 85% of the stuff there was the men's range. Almost every guy in the warehouse was seen lugging large boxes filled to the brim with shirts/pants/caps/socks (which at $2 per pair is really dirt cheap)/ football boots etc.. Really, this's the first time I'd seen guys shopping so frenzily..

Erm when Nike has warehouse clearance, its really THE WAREHOUSE clearance - clearing their warehouse (Not clearing their warehouse outlet in Smith Street fyi). Prices were dare-i-say almost rock bottom. Only the jackets were selling for AUD 50. The tops/shirts etc mostly going for AUD 15/20. FIFTEEN! Everything's original, of course.. I did get some stuff of course, plus a shirt for my father.. bahagia-nya...

Weekendweekendweekend

In a triumphant mood now, the weekend's here! officially for me it starts tmrw since there's no class in Fridays. Had my presentation on Wed and happily enough it went very well, report due tomorrow - which I've finished 'dy (for once its not THat last minute) which all means - I get to sleep tonight =)

Still sound sick and AM sick. Medicine seems to be not really working. Was at the campus clinic on Monday and this is how it went:

Receptionist (MissX): Hallo, how're you?

Di: Good (though actually I'm not too good but its the std response la), I'm here to see the doc

MissX: Appointments are full today, I can only slot you in tomorrow

Di: Erm.. (thinking thinking hard - what was the probability of me losing my voice just in time for the presentation?) alright then..

I was there at 9 plus on Mon and already they're so full, must be "sick" season now.. Doc prescribed some Claratyne - tiny tiny pills, 1 dosage per day. Finally, something without paracetamol.. Have been buried "up to my eyeballs" with work this week, so I suppose its not exactly a surprise why the medication isn't working. A minorly interesting thing bout the campus health service - they've got an sms alert service reminding you of your appointment etc. First time I'd heard of it..

A very busy weekend ahead :
Sat - Photography Club meet AND Springvale (I've got nothing except cheese, celery and kimchi in the fridge such an odd mixture..aihh time to grocery-shop. So 师奶 'dy).. AND dinner at Sofia's

Sun - Visit the Australian Synchrotron Open Day AND Festival Victoria at Telstra Dome AND ...

As E.L. used to say - so 三八 (an undescribable chinese adjective..usually to denote some unnecessary curiosity..?) if anyone asks me why would i wanna visit the synchrotron I'd just tell them this - cos Malaysia doesn't have one. My whole point of studying abroad is to see/experience stuff not found in Msia. If one spends all his/her time studying or shopping etc, then whats the point of being abroad? Might as well stay in Msia and do the same things, at the same time saving some forex..

Something just popped into my mind - Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I've been meaning to get this book since last year.. but books aren't cheap here..so.. shall get it soon though. Why I suddenly thought of it was bcos of an entry in a PPS blogger's blogpost about "How to Read on the LRT" and it was mentioned (or something like that) that the reader'd better not drop the book while standing. The book, I must emphasise, is heavy. Its a very thick tome which would scare most "non-book lovers" away, but everytime I see it in Borders I just go "aihh..i want the book! (plus about another 200 from the next few racks)"

Another odd thing. Had a weird dream today.
Dreamt that a kitten swallowed an orangey yellowish lizard, and then spit it out.
Then it (the kitten) died.
And the lizard wriggled off somewhere.
All of which happened in my house's laundry area in Msia.

Weird huh..

This blogger is sick

Started falling ill since Thursday and due to inborn streak of stubbornness, decided to not see the doctor..more on that later..

Thurday night I went to Camberwell with Danny and Rebecca for a special service, part of the March for Jesus tour. Pastor was from Hong Kong and there was a special performance by 萧东山 from Taiwan. He's a reknowned saxophonist and performed to songs eg 谷中百合花 (Lily of the Valley) and 奇异恩典 (Amazing Grace). Really enjoyed it..

The pastor - 梁永善牧师 is a tremendously gifted speaker. Raised some relevant issues in a very humorous way, he had us pondering over some questions..

人看外貌，神看内心。。 人不能，神万事能。

By Friday night I was regretting my decision to "self-medicate". Unfortunately the on-campus clinic's closed on weekends.. ended up contacting a friend in the middle of the night to ask about clinics in the city.. and so passed a long and lonely night.. was just talking to myself "see doc also so troublesome, if in PJ i just need to walk out and its only 5 minutes away..here &#%^..." Ended up I didn't go look for a doc. Since I can breath properly again, I figure going tmrw is no later..

Was at the annual MOOMBA festival yesterday for awhile yesterday. Metup with some old friends there and proceeded on to Chinatown for dinner. The city was reaallly crowded yesterday, seemed as if more than half of its population was out on the streets.. My whole purpose of going was for the 15 minute fire show. Prob had high hopes cos its the festival's 50th anniversary.. while it wasn't spectacular (imho) it was nice.. had some fun jalan-jalan and taking pics with friends. Managed only a few shots with my camera. First attempt at taking pics of fireworks and I hope I get at least ONE (1) decent picture..I've a feeling the pic taken with "bulb" won't turn out..

A last note to end a bad weekend - i cut myself (accidentally). Just now while taking the cling wrap from the cabinet, I somehow managed to "swirshh" - sliced my finger neatly (and deeply too) with the cutter thingy from the foil box...

drip drip drip it went.

i could only go - horrid weekend horrid weekend horrid weekend

sigh

April 1st?

Kena conned! as with so many others, we all kena kau-kau by doc and michael ooi. For context, read my previous post and then go look at their sites.. arghh they really "keng" managed to pull it off. But great think bout it (besides making us all look so malu) is it shows the "togetherness" of many Malaysian bloggers. Silent readers, like me, was tempted to blog bout it and 关心 them. Couldn't imagine if it indeed were true, as I'd miss doc's humorous posts now and then..

Melbourne current temperature: 14 degrees brrr..

Had a pretty hectic day, not much to blog about. This year, Australia's adopting the Intl Acc Standards so compared to previous years, there's a lot of new stuff to be learnt, comparisons to be made and effects felt. Taking these units this sem:

• Auditing
• Advanced Financial Accounting Theory and Practice (sounds canggih? well it is. heard it's tough..)
• Intl Accounting (elective unit)
• Corporations Law and Trusts

Its an almost suicidal semester. Most people go "wahh why all the tough subjects together??" But I'm thinking ahead. 先苦后甜 (bitter first then sweet)

Alot happening in Melbourne these days. But all I wanna do now is sleep. Tuesdays are FULL days for me - 2 lectures 2 tutes. Was actually up till 3am this morning trying to read up on my adv fin acc readings. Note the "trying" part. Only managed to get thru part of that book (there's a 2nd text book for that unit which I've yet to read!)

Someday I shall blog on "lemons" - in the financial context. Let me digest first =(

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Your Dominant Intelligence is Spatial Intelligence

http://www.quizdiva.net/bt/spatial.jpg">>You' help in best. You would make a good navigator, sculptor, visual artist, inventor, architect, interior designer, or engineer.

What'>http://www.blogthings.com/intelligencequiz.html">What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?

Quit blogging?

Esteemed (and certainly very amusing) blogger Dr Liew is contemplating quitting the blogging world. He has brightened up many a day of mine and I really hope its a positive outcome. Not sure of the issue involved here (sounds serious though). Will pray for doc and Michael Ooi and hope its all resolved soon.

Good luck doc!

DrLiew is one of the few blogs I read regularly. Another is SixthSeal. I've been reading his (killuminati) posts on and off and have fairly enjoyed reading about his fairly meticuous reviews (the food ones la not the "other" ones). So happens I'm now studying at his old campus and share the same hometown. I remember telling my mother 'bout "a place in Sibu selling RM15 bowl of noodles" and she names the exact place..when one can get "kam-puan-mien" (a type of noodle) for RM1.50 in Sibu, really don't play-play with RM15 a bowl (its not shark fins btw).. Funny how I'm learning more bout my hometown thru some stranger's post..

Other blogs I visit from time to time:

• The Waiting Room
• Always Wow
• The Scarfer

Just a few posts ago, I think I was talking bout the blazing hot weather. Well..now I'll be ranting on about the chilly cold weather.. The weekend was COLD. The max temperature for the next coupla days is a mere 20degrees, min is bout 11..aduh.. I've now ended up alittle sick from getting drenched on Sat. I've finally understood the funny feeling I get when there's fairly strong winds. Its the feeling of my throat constricting from the intake of "whoosh" - cold air, the feeling where I'm not getting enough air and feels like a precursor to my old 毛病 coming back. It would look quite ridiculous to be going around the streets of Melbourne wearing a scarf - in summer. So for now I'm settling for a simple "zipped-upped-to-the-throat" jacket..The cold seems to slow my mind altogether. Pace of my life seems to be crawling these few days but it ain't as bad as it sounds..

Bizzarre weather aside, the house here's almost fully occupied. Most tenants are from China (Connie, Rebecca, Ling, Hong, Amber, Chen, FeiFei, another girl (?)) plus Danny from HK, Min from Korea and 3 other guys from Malaysia..there's still room for more..fortunately so far everyone seems to be decent and fairly friendly. The funny thing is that although Monash offers varied courses in so many faculties, almost all my fellow housemates are taking accounting. They're all either first years or taking masters.

I'm abit mystified as to why most Asians take business courses here..?? I suppose their parents all go "my dears its easier to get a job and earn a decent living and bla and bla and bla..." My point is - do we all work just so we make enough to eat/drink/entertain/holiday once a year/etc.. whatever happened to this thing called "passion"? or does it even matter? Esp in Malaysia, there's the emphasis on making a living (my opinion..esp if coming from a middle level income family where there's no family wealth to sustain years of nothingness. Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong if your family's rich la). If I suddenly decided to take a year off and go volunteer in Chile I'm sure most people would gasp in amazement and wonder - whats in it? Anyways just a meaningless rant.

Final thoughts for the night: I pray for a dream. Something to replace what I've lost in the past.

Conversation!

yayy I'm enjoying my night..am doing some multitasking - having a longgg conversation thru Skype / blogging / swapping files etc =) Bahagia-nya..

Still in abit of a holiday mood. But this semester's tough. After attending all the 1st lectures, I get to gauge the amount of work required by the lecturers and OMG its not a joke.. There's plenty of readings to be done. And it seems that I've got presentations for almost every unit, plus mid sem test. One lecturer was noting that "you are deemed to have received notice for the mid sem test on XXth April 2005 at Location X 6pm" sounds so serious ay.. Something which surprised me during the week was that enrolment for my Intl Acc class totalled less than 20 people. T-W-E-N-T-Y omigosh thats absolutely tiny.. Usually accounting units are jam-packed, with normal numbering around 200-300plus. This time, lecture's held in a tute room and tute follows right after lecture. I suppose a smaller learning environment could be more conducive..? We shall see and hopefully I won't be overly inundated with work as the semester progresses..

First week back

Nothing special bout my first week. Quite comfy in my own room, so it actually kinda feels as if I'm returning home (literally true, as it IS my 2nd home away from KL)..

As for the mail I mentioned in my last post, everything's resolved, and quickly it was too. The mails n response from MAS can be seen at Screenshots where Jeff kindly published last week.

Melbourne seems much more alive in summer than other times of the year. Its taken me sometime to start catching up with all thats going on these few weeks. First things first - uni. Actually its most important =P I'm in Melbourne to STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY. I dare say this semester is going to be much tougher than the next one, with all the units I'm taking.. Had my first auditing lecture today and all I have to say bout that session is - Its no fun.

Besides studying, of course when one is abroad, there are many other things to be involved in. Here, uni life doesn't just equal the Malaysian mentality (exam based academic life) . On campus today (and till end of the week) they've got O-week going on, where all the tents are set up on the (smallish hehhe) lawn and all the clubs/societies hold their recruitment drives. Free food&drinks&music&blazing sun = carnival atmosphere. But I suppose the heat was enough to make anyone (only the Asians that is) wilt even under the shade. FYI the Aussies love their sun. Most Asians go "aiyoh..can melt already..." while the Aussies enjoy basking at the lawn / any available patch of green. Today, as the notoriously fickle Melbourne weather showed, temperatures hit a high of 35. THIRTY FIVE! just a few days ago it was a mere 15 (or around there) . Thank goodness today's the last day it's gonna be warm. We Melburnians live by the weather forecast..

Signed up for a few clubs, but unfortunately the Monash Caulfield Photography Club did not set up a booth this week. I wonder whether Samuel forgot bout it (?)..Paid my dues as a Msian dutifully by joining the Msian Student Association (or is it society?) for a year. Although they didn't hold any activities last year (disappointingly as I told the rep at the booth) I still support le, being Msian. The rep says this year there'll be more activities, as last year they had some "problems". Hope they've sorted it all out. Msian contingent at Caulfield is sizable I would say, but not many choose to join.. Throughout the years, I've comed to notice that in societies/clubs, many who hold posts do it for the status (though not all're like that). Msia is a wonderful place, simple to promote as we have much in common with others in the region (language, food etc). Starting with tourism would be a great idea cos I've realised that many students (Asians/Aussies/etc) travel round the region during the summer break..oh well just an idea..relishing the memories of my lil' road trips over the years. Realised that I prob wouldn't go round the peninsula again since everyone's so busy these days..

Oops got distracted rambling on bout the weather instead..Anyways, today I dropped by the Ticketek counter in uni. Ticketek's something like Msia's Axcess where one can purchase tickets for a large variety of shows ranging from musicals/theatre/football/rugby/concerts etc. What I actually had my eye on was the Cirque de Soleil. They're starting a season in Melbourne, till May 1st. Alas, the days I was eyeing are pretty full. Tickets don't come cheap but I really want to catch their latest show - Quidam (pronounced key-dam). It cheapest to go on weekday afternoons, but even most of that's sold out. What the lady at the counter advised was to wait for their extended shows, and come on the morning the tickets are released. Aigh this is not good. Cos its unconfirmed whether the season'll be extended further..

Grand Prix weekend 4th-6th Mar: Its this week, at the Albert Park circuit. I haven't decided whether to go anot. Ticket (cheapest) one costs $60 for raceday. Siew Weng did mention bout the view (not as good as Sepang). With the exchange rate soSOSOSO high, I think I'll skip this le..

Next weekend 11th-14th Mar Moomba weekend (clickable link) yoo-hooo! I'm looking forward to the FireShow on Saturday. Most definitely will be going then, as this year its their 50th Anniversary so it should be something special. FireShow's on Saturday night, plus prob going to see the parade. Its all FREE. Have to check the dates though. Hope to practise some photography and hopefully there'll be at least a coupla decent shots..

Following weekend 18th-20th Mar Festival Victoria. An event at the Telstra Dome where Franklin Graham (son of evangelist Dr Billy Graham) will be speaker. Quote from the festival's website "Music, testimonies and the Gospel message delivered by Franklin Graham...Featuring these artists and many more: Nicole C Mullen, Darlene Zschech, The Katinas, Roma Waterman, Dennis Agajanian, Tommy Coombes Band, Marina Prior and Guryel Ali." Schedule of events can be found on the site..

Also on the 20th Sunday - Melb Dragon Boat festival! wahsay..I just saw this too..

Melburnians are very proud of their "most livable city" tag. All year round there's something going on - arts/culture/exhibitions/sports etc..Many events are free, and they always want the participation of the local communities. If things like exhibitions cost money, they tend to be pretty affordable (i mean if you earn AUD la). Something like "keeping it within the reach of the masses" I suppose. We could learn from them in Msia. Alot of places aren't easily accessible these days.

Turning to something interesting I noticed during my break back home. I wonder at times, when they (the authorities) were thinking of "integrating" the public transportation system, did they really plan thoroughly? Some things are obviously a little..how shall I describe..odd(?)

An example: KL Sentral as a transportation hub in the city. The idea's fine with me. What I think is odd is the positioning of KL Monorail opposite KL Sentral. Maybe the people who designed it wasn't aware that if you really want to have a hub, first you have to connect the different modes of transportation properly. As in CONNECT. Commuters now have to cross a busy road to get across to KL Sentral after they get down at the Monorail stop. Walking and all that is fine with me, no complaints.

But what they conveniently forgot was to build some shade overhead. Blazing hot sun during the day - fine. No complaints too. Problem is when it rains. And when it rains in KL, it absolutely POURS. Tell me, is there any way to dash across the road without getting wet?? It has happened to me a few times and what happens is, I end up huddling by the road side with other suffering rakyat.. going "aihh.." We can see Sentral, but can't get across without an umbrella. Wish for once that the planners/builders of the system actually go through the whole process of travelling through the entire system (personally experience it la) when it rains..actually i think its kinda obvious la, but can't understand why they still don't wanna build some shelter overhead. Compared to the cost of building the system, I'm sure it costs only a fraction..