Ping pong/mamak food on Wed/blogging in Malay?

*caution -- long post ahead

I feel like a ping pong today.

Home -- Caulfield -- Clayton -- Caulfield -- Home

Had to drop by Caulfield on my way back to (try to) get an overnight loan copy of something I needed. Bah it still wasn't available (been waiting all day for it) meaning I had to waste extra time waiting for train. Underestimation when I say today's been WINDY.

Blown here blown there its a wonder my books haven't been blown away..

Now there's 2 assessments due tomorrow, plus a test -- thats the unfortunate part. Fortunate thing is - I just replenished my Nescafe supply. Contrary to belief, I am gettting sick of not having much sleep.

K.L. knows how busy I've been (and still am) lately and has nicely offered to come cook on Thursday. We're still deciding - steamboat or just plain dinner (wth curry?). My class ends late so I'll prob be doing the "eating" part that day =P

Talking about curries, Wednesday's Merdeka Day. Life goes on over here. Uni's still on, shops still open and no "thousand flags on one car shows" on the road. BUT, and this's a BIG BUT - we're having something on in campus!

Mamak food.

They're getting Bismi (a mamak in Melbourne) to cater Malaysian food (buffet) on Wed night. Not too sure whats on the menu but shd have roti, murtabak, briyani, teh tarik etc. Wait till you hear bout how much it costs -- AUD 15 0_O

Amazing really, the price I mean. Convert it and think of how many rotis one could possibly buy back home?!

Actually, forget about converting it. I'm still going.

Also considering this - Merdeka Blogger Project (whoops it looks like the site got hacked?) - to blog in my chosen language on Merdeka Day. Most have been talking about blogging in Malay. Still thinking bout it cos its really been ages since I've written anything in Malay. The only times in the past few years where I've spoken Malay's when:

• at mamak -- "Boss, teh ais satu!"
• to the taxi driver -- "Bang, ada pergi XOXO" to which they typically reply "takde/jam lah"
• at government offices -- "terima kasih"
• er.. I don't remember anymore..

So this's whats happened to 12 years of acquired skills in Malay. I can remember how people liked to start off speeches with "Selamat petang Tan Sri XOXO, Datuk Dr XOXO, Datuk XOXO, Datin-Datin, Tuan-tuan dan Puan-puan sekalian....." which exemplifies Malaysians' "attachment" and importance placed onto honorific titles. Hopefully I can regain some usage of Malay language by Wednesday enough to blog about whether they had teh halia or whatnot at dinner..

Still on language - realised my Chinese writing skills have diminished somewhat. Went for a talk at the Chinese Methodist church last weekend where we had a visiting professor from Taiwan. He gave a talk on "The Journey to the West" (西游记) and associating that with the concept of sin in Christianity (ingenious and very original ideas!!). A very good speaker indeed. Jotted some notes and had to replace some words with "XOXO" when I was unclear of the exact strokes. Will blog about that session if I have time next week (very much in doubt though)

Also a thought's been stuck in my head. Someone mentioned something 2 days ago and I've been doing abit of thinking. It was mentioned to me - "perhaps you feel obligated to be nice/friendly to XXXX just because you know them". That was good insight and I realised thats kinda true. There's perhaps no substitution for growing apart and having different perceptions of how life is.

blog more later.. back to work.

Trade Expo pics

Its finally over! Not in a negative sense, but the expo marks the end of Week 14 for us in the YAA program. Spent a fair bit of time preparing for it.




MinHui and LeeInn dropped by..


Group pic at the end of the day (l-r) Saj, Laura, Nick, Julianne, Di, Steph, Neil, Namita


Adjourned for drinks at ThePub


Saj, Andy & Neil


Laura, Steph, Di & Julianne

YAA Trade Expo Melbourne

*Notice*
This Saturday will be involved with the YAA Trade Expo with Desiyah, my student company.

Location: Bays 17 & 18, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, 2 Clarendon Street, Southbank (located right opposite Crown Casino) - public entrance through DOOR 9

Time: 11am - 5pm, Saturday 27th August

What's there to see: 43 Young Achievement Australia (YAA) teams from metropolitan Victoria displaying their products and SELLING it to the public. There's stuff for everyone and it'll be interesting to see what all the teams come up with this year. Visitor entry is FREE!

Do stop by and say a hi to me! I'll be at the expo all day, and Desiyah's booth is situated right AT the ENTRANCE, so you won't miss me ;P

Just dropped by Eyeris's blog and he's got this niceeee post-poem thingy up which exactly reflects my life now. Hahha down to the last sentence. He listens today to Moby, I listen to Tony (2 classes of his today). He "dinner only got time to eat sushi", substitute "maggi" for mine..go check out his post!

Talking about Maggi.. last week was the first time I bought Maggi since I came to Aus. Usually I try out all the other brands out there (Korean/HK Nissin/China/Taiwan etc). Last week bought it in Coles after running out of the my stock. After trying the other types of instant noodles out there, I went "arhh" when eating Maggi chicken flavour last week. Oh man seriously it tastes so very different, different as in "not so nice" type of different. The noodle really just tastes weird to me - very "flat" taste. Suffice to say I'll prob not be buying any more of that while I'm here.

Still quite busy over here. This Saturday - YAA Trade Expo at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Very crucial assignments due on Fri and next Mon, test next Tue.

When I said I had the Monday blues, let me add this - I now also have "Thursday blues". It wasn't that I wanted to cram all my classes together, but simply it was due to their allocation of lecture and tute times. There were no other days available. Classes Thu start from 8am to 4pm, then a talk this Thursday night, plus another meeting also on Thurs night (I think I need to learn to split my physical self up to be at 2 places at a time).

Hate being so busy, with so much catching up to do its not funny. Been doing some reading recently, along the way checking up on some things I "vaguely believe I know but not too sure lah". Hence the frequent use of www.dictionary.com

Today there were 2 presentations re 2 articles - "Jihad vs McWorld" (by Barber) and "China's Big Mac Attack" (by Watson). When we talk about McWorld/Big Mac etc, its not in the sense of food. More symbolic of the Golden Arches is the conformance to American culture, of convergence towards norms of American consumerism and everything it represents. A single homogenous society - yes/no/why/good/bad? (plus all the usual questions)..Interesting thing to note is - in Msia, we don't seem to be really opposed to the presence of McD's or MTV, Hollywood movies etc. Areas cropping up incl education, toilets!, working hours, labour etc..

Today was a very interesting lecture, as promised by Tony. Topic's on new stratification in post Cold War period... Area of particular interest to me is inequality between individuals and between countries. Question raised - will the smaller/ less developed countries be able to catch up? Found out part of the answer today, good stuff. Some things are necessary in order to catch up (if, at least partially) - some of which Msia has, some not. Lots to think about, though not now. Will examine it soon in the Msian context..

On something else, LI came back from Japan recently and bought me a Hello Kitty thingy!! Thank you! *muakS* At this age, I still like it, though not too obsessively. And am very fussy - I only like RED Hello Kitty merchandise, not the pink ones. Still partial to Sanrio stuff, plus Bad Badtz Maru and extended family of Hana, Pochi, PandaBa etc.. must visit Japan!

You must be thinking - from globalisation jump topic to Hello Kitty -- thats me.

I just read this article - "Ong to Win Top Post, Majority in Question" (Bernama, August 19, 3.02pm)

Please please take a look. What I find seriously amusing about it is the title actually -- isn't the MCA elections held later today - 20th AUGUST? Do they have a crystal ball? Title's using very definitive words.

Now, I'm not a journalist or anyone taking mass comm. From a rakyat's perspective, this kind of headline seems misleading, especially when one is talking about elections.

A few bloggers have been discussing the run-up to the candidature for MCA president's post. I've always been interested to hear about what candidates propose to offer. After hearing about Mr Chua Jui Meng's manifesto, I checked out his website - www.chuajuimeng.com where he outlined his vision for economic/cultural/education issues etc. Tried looking for Mr Ong Ka Ting's one but apparently its not available. Complacency in the case of the incumbent? As a common rakyat, I'd be interested to find out their personal short-term and long-term vision of issues facing the Chinese. With so many events occuring recently (keris-waving comes to mind), what I've heard so far is silence - the sound of deafening silence.

Education/employment/critical thinking..

Belatedly realised I have 2 lecturers named Tony this sem - INT's Tony and Tax law's Tony. Amusingly, both even look a little alike..Week 5 of uni just ended. If initially I thought this semester'd be slightly easier than the last, boy was I horribly mistaken.

This semester is when my lack of critical thinking skills is really apparent. Our Msian education system all along has been examination-based. Fail to do well in school/college/university = you're dumb. Totally wrong approach to learning I must say.

You're free to dispute with what I say, but majority of Malaysian employers still look at results when hiring people. Example, an accounting services firm came to Melbourne recently and their recruiters requested academic transcripts (high school to university) from potential employees. No mention of co-curricular involvement or community involvement.

Over here, I talked to a uni mate who recently secured a graduate position for next year with KPMG. Interestingly, she told me - they didn't even look at her academic results, which she said was "just average". They were mainly concerned with her involvement with community/clubs. That was probably what gave her the edge over other candidates.

Back to my (lack of) ability in critical thinking and analysis. Instead of choosing INT, I could've taken a simple (also known as easy to pass/score) 1st year elective unit. But I chose this. Many things discussed seems out of my depth. Tony talks about Marxism, juggernauts etc like its assumed knowledge. I'm vaguely familiar with other things discussed, but for most of it, I'm forced to turn to the Net or books.

When having "seminars" (don't know why for this unit they don't call it a plain tutorial), opinions are exchanged in a casual setting. Something that happens very typically with many Malaysians are - if asked for opinions, they say "yes/no/anything/not sure" without offering much reasoning or basis for saying so. In some settings, many are often quick to offer opinions and/or judge others, but most times this is done in private. When in the open however, they are reluctant to voice out.

A mentality inherent from school is - having different opinions from your teacher is akin to challenging their authority. Who cares if everyone knows the 1st chapter of Form X history was exposed as a hoax, as long as Teacher XXX says its in the book, we learn from the book - so be it. In secondary school, were we really learning world history? Books were so terribly outdated then (not sure if they've done any updating ever since). Spoonfeeding and the emphasis on exams is what's in our system. Good or bad? - form your own opinions.

I repeat this endlessly to myself - "the more I know, the more I realise I don't know"

It holds so true. So many times I've caught myself thinking inside a box, without giving much thought to other possibilities outside the box. Its abit like thinking in a straight line, without much flexibility or imagination.

oops gotta end here. Have some research to do, am so dead for online discussion. Don't know what I was thinking when I chose the topic "anti-globalisation movement" since I know absolutely NOTHING about it. =(

Snow Saturday..pics

Photos from last Saturday - Mount Buller with the Photography Club and MASS (joint outing). Some people went skiing, some went snowboarding, some went sightseeing. I chose to go toboganning with a coupla others..


On the way up..


Fantastic weekend to be up there, cos during the week we had some great snowfall. Being early on the slopes meant -- FRESH snow! Unlike the last time I was up there, this time it wasn't slushy slick snow =)


Di's PINK toboggan :P


Tobogganing area at the Village.

Toboganning's fun. Probably would've been more exhilarating if we had a steeper slope or larger area.. going down in a blink of an eye is nice, but the not-so-nice part -- lugging the toboggan up the slopes. Most people didn't know how to stop and simply crashed-stop their way. Had a coupla kids ploughing their way into us. Ahh kids.. no fears at all..


A view from where we had a little play space of our own..before the crowds descended upon us..


Snowballs hurt! (they're not the soft fluffy thingys one'd expect)


Mid way through building Mr. Snowman (seriously that ROCK of a snowman's body weighs damn a lot. Couldn't even shift it after rolling it into that location)


Jiny applying the finishing touches.. A nice lady gave us some "accessories" for Mr Snowman - sliced carrots for eyes, buttons, carrot for nose etc...she came prepared!


Mr Snowman & me..

Other areas::





oooh poor snowman..some kids "mutilating" it..

Ramblings..

Was up doing a quiz. Been reading up on the articles for this weekly quiz set by Tony, which isn't assessed, with no time limit. MCQ = easy? NOT.

The quiz's to let us prepare for the one in October. Questions are quite specific. Had to readup on some excerpts including-

• Anne Krueger's "American Trade Policy: A Tragedy in the Making" (1995) - interesting one re evolution of international trade system, GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), how the term "beggar thy neighbour" was used to describe some policies..
• Graham Dunkley's "Greening the GATT or GATTing the Green?" (1997) - question is trade first or green first? Conclusion - Green's GATTed themselves a little but GATT didn't show many signs of being greened. hahha sounds confusing? but it really isn't that bad, it just shows how trade overshadows environmental concerns.

From another set of readings also found out the documents of GATT creating the WTO runs to a whopping 2000 pages! and Tony actually included that in the quiz!! Aduh..

Current reading list:

Mitch Albom's "Tuesdays With Morrie" - my opinion so far: Who needs Anthony Robbins when you have Morrie? Pertinent issues put through simply. No delusions of grandeur, no fancy jargon. Better still, the de-emphasis on material wealth/power/career as opposed to the other (undiscovered/unfulfilled) joys of life.

Weiss, Forsythe & Coate "The United Nations and Changing World Politics" (2004) - this'll be an interesting read. Haven't even gotten past the introduction of the book (which's like 1/9th of the entire book) due to the distraction offered by the following book below.

Krugman's "The Great Unravelling" - waited in the library loan queue FOR SO LONGGG to get this! finally got hold of it this week. I enjoy his columns tremendously. Looking forward to a good read.

On other things..

The Economics and Commerce Society is organising a series of "Entrepreneur: Business Start-up Seminar" over a period of 2 weeks - free. First seminar was "Intellectual property" on Tuesday. Went for a previous one in the city a coupla months ago, but it wasn't so detailed. This time, Susan talked abt it all and delved into the costs and timeline for obtaining patents.. interesting -- very costly it is, and takes darn long. Not really useful for me at this moment, but extra information never hurts..

Met Jocelyn and dined with a few other Thai companions that night. I tried learning to say "How are you" in Thai and just gave up. The language's just so so foreign. Been awhile since I actually NOT understood what others were saying - which makes a good change in environment =) Haven't really interacted with anyone from Thailand, so meeting some people is fun for a change. Gained abit of insight into Thai manners, as Ann's really demure and sweet.

Hmm..next seminar's tonight - Idea generation/Team building. It'd be interesting to note what they have to say about this. Some things I've already experienced with Desiyah..

As usual I'm posting in the middle of the night (or in this case early morning). Bad habit its becomed. Faced with a never-ending pile of readings, just have to learn to "make" time to get things done. I believe I haven't been reading this much at any one time for the past 4 years. Used to read lots but probably lessened ever since I started going off on road trips.

Man, those were the days.. skimping, working and saving for the expenses.. But every cent was worth it - seeing all of glorious Peninsular Msia, the experiences, fab companionship, beautiful sandy beaches, coconuts!, numerous hotel rooms, lazy nights, thousands and thousands of kilometres, fishing/swimming in Kenyir, eating in Penang, bumming in Kelantan, hundreds n hundreds of photos............oh dear I WANT TO GO ROAD TRIP!!! saddening thing is, times and circumstances have changed. Travel mates here? - not easy to find. People who are willing to travel simple, adventurous souls (or at least inquisitive) are rare..

Initial D car

Saw this at Caulfield last week, couldn't resist taking pics. If you've watched Initial D, you'd recognise this anywhere =P

Comes complete with the soft toys + number plate ^_^ the car owner must be a super-fan..

Back to screwed sleeping habits

In the beginning of semester, I told myself - must go back to "normal" sleeping hours. The healthy kind - sleeping at 12am, wake up at 8am. But I've never seemed to follow it. I've realised most of my blogging happens at bout 4am. Thats my so-called "break-time" between all the work.

Staying up again (-_-) this sucks. Still doing up the business plan. On early Sat while staying up, I was working on the draft and waiting for the rest's parts (cos their parts impact on mine, i need theirs) but it never came. Brought the papers up with me on the trip.

Bumpety-bump the bus went.
a headache i got, from the reading on the bus at 5am.

Seriously there's definitely something wrong with the bus's tyre alignment. At one stage I was just watching Frank (bus drivers in Australia insist on being called by their names, never-ever call them "driver") driving in a curvy line ON A STRAIGHT ROAD.

Will blog bout the trip (with pics) when I get the time. Came back rather tired, slept all the way back. Came back and what was staring at me again? --- BUSINESS PLAN. Hardly slept yesterday and have been holed up the whole day trying to finish it.

Sometimes really makes me feel like throwing the towel in. To do it well, I need time. The first draft was rushed and wholly unsatisfactory, I admit, cos I was doing that up plus the very very imp INT presentation. But time's a scarce commodity at the moment. There're deadlines, plus the usual meeting tmrw. No mood to think about it. There's so much else to do that I've neglected, besides Desiyah stuff.

Now there's gonna be such a thing called "sleep schedule" - back to my 'sleep one day don't sleep the next' routine. Or should I revert to the 'sleep 2 hours per weekday and all day Saturday' routine??

As usual keeping me company at this late hour is Nicholas and 988fm. ohdear yet another cover of a Korean song - this time its Kelly Chen singing a song adapted from Seo Jin Young's "Missing You". Takde originality le.. even the Francis Yip and Andy Hui duet was an adaption of a Korean song (JTL or Fly To The Sky me thinks)..

will stop rambling, have to get back to serious stuff..

Going crazyyyy

middle of the night, am still sorting out my part of Desiyah's business plan. In exactly an hour and a half (at 4.15am), will be leaving for a day trip. Kuan will be giving us a lift to meet the rest at Caulfield. Where're we heading? - Mount Buller. Not for skiing though (I can't afford that, super-uber broke at the moment).. heard this's gonna be THE bumper weekend for snow season due to all the snowfall over the past few days.

Not to be distracted on why I'm blogging. I'm losing my sense of humour, and have started to hate Mondays, and all the other days of the week as a matter of fact.

This week thus far:
~Monday - 2 meetings (1 morning 1 evening to night), 3 tutes and a lecture.
~Wed - PwC visited, and that was half my day. Another meeting in Clayton, which wasn't quite productive. Got back only at night, and VERY VERY cold it was. =(
~Thurs - Presentation + classes all day
~Fri - YET another meeting going through part of my biz plan.

The "to-do" list is endless. Top priority now is biz plan (and since I plan to re-do almost everything, its gonna take another full day - most likely more). Next, there's ongoing assessment on one unit (INT) - online quizzes and discussion - which I'm expected to CONTRIBUTE to.

I was allocated to group 10 - The anti-globalisation movement. Know peanuts about this, hence the need to readup on the facts/issues before giving any opinions or presenting any arguments lest I make a fool of myself by uttering facts/arguments not substantiated. General knowledge in this case is totally useless, as discussions are to be more specific.

Back to the business plan. Received feedback on it, most of it justified. Hence the need to WORK on it more. and thats exactly why I'm going abit crazyyyy at the moment. Going to bring up some parts of it later. crazy man...

Feel so sorry for Klang Valley folks

... after seeing all the numerous posts in PPS about the haze. Initially thought it was just the usual smog and smoke. After dropping by PPS and realizing 95% of the posts are blahs at the haze situation, it suddenly seemed more serious. Then saw some pics at Wingz's blog, plus so many other people posted pics. When I can't even see OneUtama from the pics, yupp its pretty major.

Being a coupla thousand miles away from the Klang Valley, I can only feel for you guys back home. Was online when AFP came up with "Malaysia in state of emergency" (or some headline to that effect). Was also online when news mentioned the minister's "softly-softly" approach to talks with Indonesia. Wondering what'll happen when the wind blows the smog over to Singapore. Would they use a similar approach?

Comeon DO more, TALK less lah. Also the news got plastered over so so so many international news sites. Trying to keep it low profile won't work. Almost all agencies have included a paragraph explaining "how the API was determined to be a state secret for fear of scaring tourists away in 1997/8" and how the Middle Eastern tourist with 3 children is saying - "Its really bad here". See lah, refuse to release API readings and it backfires spectacularly. Malaysia is suddenly on the news, for all the wrong reasons.

Such irony, Melbourne this week has been VERY cold so far. These few days in particular ranging from 4-12 degrees. Yesterday, many were hoping for snow in the Central Business District (forecasted 40% chance of it happening). Its been almost 20 years since we've had any snow there. They forecasted suburbs fringing the CBD would have snowfall (minor) including Carlton. Unfortunately, none fell in the CBD, nor where I stay..

I seem to be rather (un)lucky with wild weather. Was in Gold Coast when they had their "wildest/worst weather in 20 years with flooding etc" and made it in time to Sydney for their "day of very wild winds of more than 100kmph". Now, senior weather forecaster Mr Williams says of Melbourne:

"It's certainly the coldest air mass we've had over us for the last 20 odd years"

For more on the day we missed our chance of snow, click here.

Now cold weather sounds fantastic, in light of the alternative back home (smoke/acrid smell/respiratory problems/etc etc etc). I shan't complain. Shall just go turn up my heater :P

My room smells of mandarin orange. Bad habit really, of eating in my room. Come to think of it, I do EVERYthing in my room. eat/sleep/read/watch videos/etcetc. There's always the pantry outside but never liked to spend much time there. I like doing more than one thing at a time. So if I can eat and watch drama at the same time, why not?

Mandarin oranges - we have ample supply almost throughout the year here, though not too sure bout the summer months. Winter's when it seems to be season. Going grocery shopping here is about the only thing to do, esp at night. Basically everything else is closed and whats left is only Safeway and Coles (2 major supermarket chains).

Last week I had an interesting question put to me. We were at a restaurant. My friend asked "eh whats brocollini?". As I was explaining on about that, and some other things on the menu esp vege, I was quite bemused to note she didn't really know most of the fresh produce available here. And she's been here much longer than me. er it doesn't prove anything cept I prowl the supermarket aisles more often than her.

I don't really know where the vegetables and fruits I purchase come from. One flow of globalization - origin of goods are obscured. We don't know (most of the time unless its specifically labelled "produce of...") and the question is - do we want to know? does it matter to consumers? Many ppl "think" with their wallets not their heads. A uni-mate mentioned his mother checks the labels and tries best to purchase Australian made goods. But he disagrees with such practices and argues that it promotes inefficiency. Resources used to produce these goods at higher costs should go towards more efficient production of other products.

Whats an alternative view on that? An issue arises - just because we buy from where its cheapest, what happens to Australian industries when they compete against economies with far lower wages / different labour conditions / non-existent environmental controls / non-compliance with human rights etc etc. There'll be no industries.

Something to think about..

On other things.. tmrw PwC's coming to campus. Fellow blogger Jean from Tidbits apparently is going. hehe so I'll see her in a coupla hours. After that will have to go Clayton for another Desiyah meeting over the business plan. Time not determined, location not determined. I only have a vague idea of the expected meeting time. Not so good for planning, as I have so many other things to do besides that. There's a presentation for IB due Thursday morning. Plus all the catching up for ALL the units.

time oh time i need more of YOU!

up next - not sleep, but more on Vernon's theory (for presentation). Don't think I'll get to sleep anytime today :(

4.03am - thinking/globalization/China/research topic..

4.03am. Sleepy.

Am not up watching dramas or daydreamin, still up doing work. argh.. and looks like I'll be up for the rest of the night. So much to catch up with and so many things to think about.

I have not yet decided:

(i) whether globalization is a zero sum game. Sometimes I think it is, but then again, it may not be. Trying to link all the flows is messing up my mind. Leaning towards a nay though..I keep thinking about the side effects of globalisation, particularly the environment & social costs. Who bears these effects? Who gains from it all?

(ii) China's growth - is it sustainable?

• So far what I've read indicates its a huge challenge for the PRC. For the next 10 years it shouldn't be a problem. But what happens when the resources run out? they're consuming 10% of world energy use, with the figure set to go higher.
• Global oil supply starts going downhill? They're already a net importer of oil. Part of the reason behind the rise in oil prices in recent years is due to China's ever-increasing demand.
• Escalating social unrest will bring what problems? Although the percentage of poor has risen, inequality is growing between rural and urban areas, coastal and interior regions.
• Environmental impact of current rapid economic development brings huge implications. Air quality problems, acid rainfall etc..
• Military spending as per capita of GDP - possible spark a regional arms race?

so much to consider, too much to read.

(iii) Haven't decided on my essay topic for research. Lecturer has suggested a few possible issues.

• India..outsourcing (may consider this..seems to be a hot issue at the moment in many Westernised countries esp the U.S. and Australia)
• Samuel Huntingdon's "Clash of Civilisations".. (fascinating but I don't have the depth of knowledge to attempt something like this..yet?)
• View on desirability and possibility of a "global civil society"
• Globalization's effects (changes) on Australia.

know peanuts about so many issues.. we're given the freedom to suggest our own topics, provided we get approval from him. Its a good idea of what sort of things to discuss, but aduhhh.. I'm not really that outdated on current affairs and its great to be finally learning in a uni environment.. just means I need to read even more. Its been a long time since I actually had to go back to check the meaning of a word I heard.

And this's an elective unit. I actually took it for "fun" (actually cos I was interested la..just abit sien sometimes - peer pressure rears its head - my classmates have healthy opinions & are politically aware individuals who actually USE their minds hence the need for me to stimulate my mind to THINK for myself more)

Bedtime reading plus reading material on trains lately has been this - "The Rise Of China", an International Security Reader comprised of a series of essays related to the rise of China. Have gotten through about half of it Interesting their discussions are.. in particular one which discussed the rise of China and the implications on its neighbours/U.S... They discussed the Japan-U.S. security alliance, plus Taiwan. Even any defensive actions taken by its neighbours could be construed to be offensive. Deep-rooted historical mistrust no doubt still healthy.. Next essay up for reading - containment OR engagement policy? (by its rivals/neighbours)

One impression/fact I gained from all these reading - Msia's too small to be of much significance in these global powerplays. Not that I was ever self-deluded into thinking we are the centre of Asia or something.

All these just tells me the importance of competing globally in this era. Unlike some nations, Malaysians are still busy "suppressing" the competitiveness of each other through some deadwood policies while others are thinking of how to compete internationally in the wake of the rise of economies such as China and India. If we're not competitive/efficient/effective domestically, how're we even going to compete globally?

aihh lazy to think bout stuff back home for the moment. Back to my work.

buriedburiedburied under a mountain of work.

Yet another presentation on Thurday, on Vernon's product life cycle theory for yet another unit. This time, I'm going to argue that its no longer relevant for the current environment. But of course need to back up my opinion with more reading. darn haven't even finished one set, another crops up.

Having meeting for the presentation later in the morning (in 5 and half hours to be exact), then a full day of classes. Then off to Clayton I go for the weekly meeting for YAA.

loooonnng day again (-_-)

Birthday weekend it was, not mine though.. 2 friends had their birthdays over the weekend and we took some time to catch up on things. Anyways I'm not gonna blog bout birthdays.

:: an open letter to YOU ::

Sometimes the things you do make me want to yell at you.
You present a different "you" to others around you.
I hope the day never comes when you feel you have to do the same in front of me.
Why can't you just be true to yourself? Nobody asks you to be happy all the time.
Pursuit of "happiness" is so very vague.
Some things just won't make you happy. I'm sure you know that.
You make me wonder sometimes.
Really..

Took the bus the other day. Got delayed when a woman got onto the bus at Darling Rd, sat in the seat behind the driver's seat, (pretended to) fumble for change and after that kept bugging the driver to let her travel for free for "just" a coupla stops. Annoying person she was. Driver insisted (veryyy nicely) on her paying the fare however. Bengang-nya, she didn't want to get off the bus. Kept saying "oh but I only want to travel a few stops..oh but I don't need a single trip ticket (for $3.10 i think)" blablabla

My dear, if everyone's like you, Metlink no need to make money already la. Often international students are viewed as fare evaders but lookey, locals are at it too, perhaps even more blatant. I pay $95.80 for my ticket, you should pay too. Even if its a single trip, why should you be exempted? She finally got off the bus after refusing to get off for like 10 minutes, wasting my time saja. bleh

Norm to say I'm busy lately, though I hate saying it. August schedule looks very very full at the moment. Having such good resources (2 korean housemates) but no time to ask them to help me wth language. sigh.. being stressed + busy has triggered abit of asthma lately. Weather changes hasn't helped either. The bad thing about Melb is clinics aren't as widely available as expected. Last sem when I was really sick I called a friend to ask where were the clinics in the city, she could only name 2 and wasn't quite sure whether they open on weekends. Campus clinic's fine but its not open on weekends. When they DO open however, the wait list is long. Unless its something serious, you won't get to see the doctor that day itself. Instead you have to make an appointment. Kinda loses its purpose then, cos when I finally got to see the doc, the symptoms'd already gone.

Photo series: sky

:: Different times, different locations :: a glimpse of Australian skies..


Bayswater, Melbourne (with camera phone)


over Victoria


Gold Coast highway, Qld


near Carrera Market, Qld


Surfers Paradise beach, Qld


Surfers Paradise (taken near some residential/holiday homes by the water)


Sydney Fish Market


View from platform at Circular Quay, Sydney


Baddd weather looming - lookout point near the Rocks, Sydney


Scary sky - photo taken from Sydney Harbour Bridge, pedestrian lane.


Taken aboard Manly ferry, Syd.

Everything nowadays needs to be planned at least 2 weeks in advance. Faced with a near-full schedule, its a challenge to do everything I want to get done.
Only choice to me so far is - wanna work hard play hard EQUALS less sleep..

UNi
YAA
Language
Sketching
Volunteering
Photography

Priorities are right at the top. Wk 3 of uni just began, having a muddled time comprehending GST (er haven't fully read up on it though). Wk 11 of Desiyah's existence already. Just got back from the weekly meeting, some major changes to organisational structure.

Desiyah's got so much going on these coupla weeks. Friday 5th July Product launch at Sigma HQ in Clayton. then dinner/bowling. Next week 2nd batch of production should start in earnest. Business plan due on Monday (OMG I'm wondering how many drafts we'll all re-do)..and before we know it, it'll be the YAA Expo! - 27th August. Yet another meeting either tmrw or Wednesday to sort all the departmental strategies..

Next week PwC Malaysia will be visiting Melbourne. Since I'll be graduating only in June next year, Salika suggested I try applying for vacation trainee instead. Will talk to her when they arrive next week. Heard of an another opportunity this week, now considering both alternatives. Well just have to see what happens in yr end..

In between all these, there are peoples' birthdays, assignments/presentations due, weekly updates, photo-opps and loads more. sheesh time management will be more and more important. Someone today half-jokingly asked me to let go of some responsibilities, so I'll have more time for myself. Maybe?

Hmm what happened last Fri? - photography workshop in uni. For about an hour plus, Julian shared some of his "tips" on taking photos in studio environments. Having no proper light sources (cos we were in a tutorial room), a coupla reading lights from Ikea substituted. Made me quite jealous that I was unable to join the rest for their studio session the next day cos I had the bloggers meet. Next time yeah!

After that went over to the B Building where the Msian Students Society hosted a (actually two) movie session - "Meet The Fockers" and horror flick "Shutter". Yeap that was in uni. Didn't dare stay for "Shutter" (i don't watch horror shows) and due to being so tired, almost fell asleep on the comfy cushiony seats in the lecture hall..

Saturday bloggers meet went well, after that SW came to the city and we had dinner at the chinese place in QV that offers "claypot rice" and lots of other choices. Contrary to what people tell me, we didn't have to wait 45 minutes for the food to arrive. Priced rather decently, food was nice and really felt like back home. Operated by Hong-Kongers i think.
Thanks SW for walking me back! =)

Now..back to work.