Through The Looking Glass: 2010

Yesterday, I wanted to do a picture summary of my experiences in 2010. I meticulously picked out all the photos I wanted to include, uploaded them and got ready to write. Then I realized that I forgot to resize them as they were too big to put on my blog coz the alignment would be screwed up. So yes, this goes to show how long I haven't blogged. Instead, I'll do a really short summary, just to remember all the momentous things that happened and mundane things I wanted to jot down but never got the chance to.


2010 - The year I went abroad to study. This year marks the first time I was away from home and my family for an extended period. I remember thinking everything would never be the same again... friendships especially. I'm glad to say not much has changed, the important people remain the same and our relationships are as strong as ever, despite everyone doing their own thing and pursuing their own dreams. I am immensely grateful for that. It's always nice to know that no matter what I do, there will always be people who will support me and love me for who I am.


I have gained many experiences and learned many new things in 2010. I learnt how to be alone. Really and truly alone. I always thought that I was comfortable being alone. Taking walks by myself, or eating solo. It turns out that I wasn't. But now, now I am not afraid anymore. I've learnt that being alone can sometimes be more liberating than being with people.


I learnt how to make friends from scratch again this year. And I think I've made some pretty good ones over there. I am grateful for that as well. I've learnt how to cook and be more independent and have enjoyed my freedom in Australia.


I also learned that there truly is no place like home. Even with all its flaws, Malaysia gives me those warm, fuzzy feelings in my heart. However, transitioning from home to my second home or vice versa is one of the hardest things for me. There are times when I feel so torn between the two places that I wish I could just mash them together and get the best of both worlds. I miss both immensely when I am away from either. But I've learnt to accept the fact that both are my homes and that it's okay to miss them both.


And now for the more mundane things:

• Witnessed my first drunken street brawl in which a friend's tooth got punched out and we had to spend 10 minutes in the dark looking for it.
• Clubbed for several times in a foreign country and realized that they go hardcore there. We don't go home till the next morning's public transport has started. Which is like...5 or 6am?
• Started proper salsa classes and enjoyed it
• Watched Russell Peters live and loved it
• Got my first housemate and realized that they can be a pain in the ass sometimes
• Travelled on my own
• Had my first dormitory experience in Melbourne thanks to Kit Mun, who let me stay with her. Realized that walking to the toilet in the morning is a pain coz the journey is long and it's freezing cold coz there's no heater! I've truly been pampered to death in my apartment. Teehee. It was fun nonetheless.
• Celebrated my 20th birthday (I'm swear I'm still 18. In denial. As you can see.)
• Volunteered to distribute food to the homeless and realized Asians are really very kiasu
• Inflicted major damage on my liver and tried many new drinks for the first time
  

And there we have it... my 2010 in super short summary form.

In 2011, I plan to enjoy my last year of university. Each and every little moment of being a student will be cherished. I will procrastinate less, study hard and play harder. I will become fitter and hopefully lose all the weight I've gained this year (highly unlikely, but it's always good to write it down :P) and dance more. Just because it makes me happy. Lastly, I will enjoy all the little things and remember that happiness is a state of mind.

"To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist, that is all."
- Oscar Wilde


Here's to a rocking 2011, may you be better than 2010!

The Top 5 Mistakes Guys Make When Dancing Salsa

Inspired by the amazing quality of male salsa dancers last night, this is my top 5 mistakes guys makes when dancing salsa list. In hopes that a guy will stumble across this and take heed! I'm not saying I'm the best salsa dancer out there, nor am I the best follower, and I understand that the guys have it a lot harder when dancing salsa coz they have to think about so much stuff. But really, these are just the basic, BASIC things you do to make the girl WANT do dance with you.

So here goes!


1. Holding the girl too close
Like, hello?! You are invading my personal space bubble! Proxemics, anyone?! (I've just studied this today in my interpersonal communication class) No dancer can dance properly when all they feel like doing is taking a step back. No, make that several steps back. I really hate the feeling, it makes me feel really caged as if I have no space to breathe or think. I can barely follow his steps as I try not to think about how in my face he is. Plus, doesn't he feel that I am pushing back damn bloody hard against his hand to try and put more distance between us? And how do you tell this to the guys without hurting his pride/ego/dancing confidence?


2. Having bad breath
Because we are already in such close proximity, if the guy has bad breath, it really just makes dancing 10 times worse. Because I'm either trying to hold my breath, which makes dancing really hard in case you didn't notice; or the wafts of bad breath just make it really distracting and I can't follow properly because again, I'm trying to step back and put as much distance between us as possible. Please, please, PLEASE invest in mints or chewing gum or something man.


3. Have clothes that smell like they haven't been dried properly
And this isn't only in the case of guys who dance salsa, in general people who smell like this make me nauseated. I mean, can't you smell that horrible smell emitting from your clothes? In my sister's words: "What, are you immune to smelliness?" I don't know about you, but the thing I like the most about doing my laundry is how all my clothes smell like detergent and softener after that - clean, fresh and crisp. And I'd like to keep it that way which is why I make sure my clothes dry off properly before wearing them again. For the life of me, I don't understand why these people can't do the same. It's really not that hard leaving your clothes on the clothes rack for another hour of sun bathing.


4. Elbowing my head at any point during the dance
I am already very short. At a measly 162 cm, I am already shorter-than-the-average person, especially here is Australia. So really, you have NO excuse to be elbowing me in the head when you spin me or do turn patterns. I wonder how these people manage when they have to dance with taller girls. Pffftt!


5. Robot salsa
This is salsa, dude, it's supposed to be smooth. This is not popping in hip hop. So, sudden jerky movements or steps or really not appreciated. Not only does it annoy me, it makes us look really bad on the dance floor. I understand that the guys have a lot more to think about when dancing salsa (keeping time, thinking of what steps to do next, leading the girl properly) but if at any time you're in doubt, just do the basic step larh! I don't mind doing 5 sets of basics before a turn pattern hits you but really, don't make ambiguous jerky leads where I don't know where you want me to go or what you want me to do. Meh.

Into The Night...

Just another quick My-Life-In-Numerics again as I take this little breather in between this crazy period of assignments and presentations.



1. There is this absolutely ridiculous group on facebook named "My Sister Said If I Get 1 Million Fans She Will Name Her Baby Megatron' which everyone seems to be joining. I think they've all lost their senses, the lot of them. Why the eff would anyone want to name their kid Megatron? Can you imagine the poor kid's childhood? The amount of teasing he would get about his name from all the other kids in school? Can you imagine what would happen everytime the kids introduces himself? Or what if the kid grows up and enters the corporate world? I mean seriously, can anyone envision themselves saying to their potential employer: "Nice to meet you, I'm Megatron!" People would probably think it's a joke and go :"No seriously, what's your name?" Take that and multiply it by a million times and you get the life of that poor kid. And I'm operating under the assumption that the kid is a boy, what if it's a girl? Besides, why you name your kid after the evil, not-very-cool baddie in Transformers? If you reall wanted to, should've named him Optimus Prime. At least his transformer truck is cool and the kid can be known as Optimus. Better than Megatron right?



I'm really glad my parents were sensible and didn't give me funny names. Thank you mummy and daddy for giving me a name that actually has meaning and sounds good and not Tan Long Kang or Kleenex Tan or some other nonsensical name like that!




2. I went for a local stand-up comedy show the other day. One of my sister's friends was performing and he invited us along for free. :) Personally, I feel that stand-up comedy is one of the hardest things a person can do, or do well for that matter. The show we went to was called "Exit Laughing" and was performed by ordinary people who only did a 6 week course in stand-up comedy and had the guts to perform after that. It was pretty amazing, because most of the acts seemed so professional! I never knew you actually had to write out a script for stand-up comedy. I mean, obviously you have to have some sort of draft, but I never knew you needed a full-blown script coz it always seemed so conversational and easy-going. I guess half the hard work goes into making it seem conversational instead of a memorized script.


On another note, I think the best comedians are the ones who don't need to use a lot of swear words or sexual content in their jokes. I noticed much of the jokes revolved around swear words and sex. But I think, if you can make people laugh without having to put in those two elements, then you truly are a master!




3. I've noticed this about doing presentations in Aussie. The Aussies like to read from a piece of paper instead of present. Well, most of them did anyway. For the entire presentation, they basically just held a piece of paper in front of them and read it word for word. Tutors back home would have cut major marks for style of presentation. But I guess it's not as important here. *shrugs*




4. We had a guest lecturer talk to us for our International Journalism and Mass Comm. lecture this week about war/crisis reporting. I've never aspired to be a hard news journalist but I really admire those people that do. And even more so, those that would risk their lives just for a picture or a story to let people know what's going on in a particular country. Anyway, the guest lecturer showed us a short film he made on the dangers of foreign correspondants and journalists reporting from war-torn, conflict countries and it is really sad to hear about all the horrors they've encountered. Especially the ones about the landmines. They must have gone through traumatizing experiences just to try and publish news and inform the world. I also think it's really sad that, more journalists have died in the Iraq war compared to that of World War 2 and all the other wars before Iraq. It's probably because the terrorists groups target journalists to either kill them or hold them for ransom. But I don't understand... what do they hope to achieve by doing it? I mean, other than the money obviously, and the power they momentarily gain over a country as they videotape themselves beheading someone. But that's it. Human lives lost in order for you to make some stupid point about religion and politics. Is it worth it?

(wordboner.com)

I think that pretty much sums it up.

5. Watched Alice In Wonderland on Sunday (finally!) and thought it was awesome! Who knew the Mad Hatter could be such a knight when he wanted to be? However, I think wayy too much emphasis has been given on the clothes Alice wore in the Red Queen's castle. I thought it was pretty and ingenious but it wasn't my favourite outfit. My favourite outfit was actually the first one she wore after she shrunk. But to each his, or in this case, her own I guess.

6. I've noticed that people seem to like converting old curches into something else here in Brissie. For example, the Pancake Manor used to be a church and is now a 24 hour pancake shop. One of the only 24 hour restaurants in Brissie I might add. And this club I went to the other day called Magic City @ The Church was you guessed it! A former church. Oh the irony of converting a former church into a club. And don't get me started on the name Magic City... it sounds like a place where people go to do drugs or something! Like they go there and suddenly everything is whoop-de-doo MAGIC! 0_o Calling it The Church is wayyy cooler albeit ironic. The good thing about clubbing here is that smoking is NOT ALLOWED inside clubs, or restaurants for that matter. The way it should be. No more smelling like chimneys after dancing or getting accidentally stubbed by cigarettes! :D Oh, and there are wayyyy more hot guys (and hot girls too) in clubs here compared to back home! Eye candy FTW! ;)

7. Two more days till the parents, aunt, uncle and cousins touch down in Aussie! I am quite excited at the prospect of seeing them. Let's hope there's no family drama-ramas. Don't think I can deal with it anymore.

And there you have it! I must now get back to doing the laundry and vacuuming, so the place looks spick and span when mom arrives. Mustn't give her a reason to nag ma, right?! :P

Enjoy the Easter/ mid-sem break guys!

Ingenious Little Sites.

These two sites are so ingenious!! A must-go when you're in need of a little laughter or inspiration.

http://nose4news.wordpress.com/

If you're Malaysian and are sick of all the drama-rama news going on about dreary politicians everyday, check this site out. It is hilarious!! Especially loving the one where it says TNB to sue WWF over Earth Hour - coz when I first read it, I actually thought it might be probable given how er... ignorant (used in place of a uglier sounding word) our politicans/ government are.


http://thingsweforget.blogspot.com/

This one is cute and inspirational. Someone should start doing this in Malaysia! I'd love to find some random, cute post it note along the street/ in a shopping mall somewhere. :D


I forsee a My-Life-In-Numerics post coming up soon!
Till then, cheers folks!


**Edit**

Sorry, couldn't resist sharing one more!
I'm a sucker for interior design and have a perpetual fascination with how people design their homes so if you're like me, this one's good for you!

http://www.theselby.com/

I guess one of the reasons why I'm take such an interest in people's homes is probably because, their room/house says a lot of them as an individual. It's always interesting to see whether the people and their personalities match up. ;) Plus the site has gorgeous photos as well. Always a plus point!


Enjoy!

It Was Your Heart On The Line...

Currently listening to Mumford and Sons - Little Lion Man


Read this entry by Scott Adams, the creator of the Dilbert comics. So hilarious!!

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/man_points/


His blog is ingenious. A stereotyping of masculinity and how it is represented but insanely funny at the same time.


A proper post coming soon. With photos. Watch this space!

Waiting In Line.

First official post from the Land Downunder, well at least for 2010 and the duration of my stay for the purpose of furthering my studies. I'm pretty sure I blogged here when I was visiting my sister a few years back.

So, My Life In Numerics again because there just wayy to much to say, jot down and remember and because I've only just got my broadband. :D

1. Sitting here on the 9th floor, listening to the sounds of the cars whizz by on Coronation Drive below and the laughter of the patrons from the bar opposite floating in through the glass doors, I am at peace. Things have finally settled down a bit. It feels like home. Maybe it's because of the familiarity of the apartment. Was it selfish of me to not really consider all the other housing options? Very. I tried, I really did. But this, this feeling of coming home, here. Nothing beats this. Except maybe going back home. Home as in Malaysia home.

2. Australians have a very weird sense of newsworthiness, if there's such a word. I read one of their local papers the other day, The Courier Mail I think it was. And it was the day after the devastating Chile earthquake. However, their frontpage news was about school bullying. The whole page of it. Only a small, tiny section at the bottom showed a picture of the Chile earthquake and a small header. I was pretty much gobsmacked. I mean, who'd put school bullying over a major, earth shattering (literally) earthquake on the front page? It's very interesting to see how Australian media reports global happenings. I keep forgetting I'm not in Malaysia anymore and things are very different over here. My International Journalism lecturer put forward a very good point the other day. He commented that while Australia is geographically closer to Asia (and thus should be more concerned with it's happenings), yet loss of lives in Western countries creates a bigger impact than that of Asian ones. Probably still has something to do with Western supremacy and how Aussie was once a British colony. But still...

3. It feels like I've been constantly unpacking and repacking since the end of last year. Which is actually true if you think about it. Moving is always such a tiresome activity. I'm just so glad we had all my sister's friends to help out this time. Otherwise, assembling everything (bed, bookcase, couch, tables, chairs) would taken ages if it had only been the two of us. Her guy friends are all so sweet. The day we moved in, they all took turns coming to the apartment to help us fix up everything. It was like they were on shifts, coz one would leave and another would arrive. And this went on all day long. My sister has awesome friends!

4. I've just finished Matthew Reilly's The Six Sacred Stones. I always like his books coz they are just so kan cheong maximum! He manages to keep you at the edge of your seat at ALL times, which for a writer is such a difficult thing to do. Sure, his books don't have a lot of character development, but action/adventure books rarely do anyway. I always forget how a good book manages to keep me so engrossed in it, transported into this other realm, that time ceases to matter. It just trickles away so quickly! Mom was right to confisticate my books last time. They are hazardous to my health coz I sleep really late and wake up early just so I can finish reading them. But now that she's not here... =P

5. I have the most awesome pawsome friends in the world. Seriously. All the gifts you guys gave me before I left, the cards, notes and letters, the messages. You guys rockkkk! And the primary school bunch showing up at the airport to suprise me was just crazy! I was so touched. I totally did NOT expect to see you guys at all man. I feel the love, I really do. I am so, SO grateful to have each and every one of you as friends. Missing all of you here in Aussieland. And to those I did not manage to see before I left, I really am very sorry I couldn't organize everything in time. But rest assured, we will definitely go yum cha when I am back for holidays!

6. The weather's been crazy lately. First it was so hot, we were practically boiling. Then, it rains non-stop and the sky is all gloomy with flash floods happening everywhere. Completely nuts. And Brisbane flash floods are mighty scary let me tell you this. I don't think this city was built for heavy rain. At all. I also think Mother Nature is mighty pissed off with us all. What with the crazy weather, and the Chile earthquakes, flooding all around the world. I think we've damaged this earth too much, and it's just going nuts now. Sigh.

7. Starting anew has really refreshed me. I think I forgot my love of learning over the holidays and it has come blasting back at each of my first lectures. I am nerdy that way. So it's not just you Wee! And Ea! :D I guess we are all nerds at heart. The only subject this sem that I have slight resevations for is my web designing one. I am hopeless with HTML codes larh. And I'm guessing we have to design a webpage as one of our assignments. Don't get me wrong, it's such a useful skill to have. I'd be able to improve the look and feel of FreshlyBrewedIdeas so much more easily if I knew how to write the codes and stuff. But I sense a LOT of learning ahead for this one. Which involves hours in front of the computer trying to figure out why my code wont work coz I probably forgo a bracket or something, knowing how careless and scatterbrained I am. Which brings me to my next point...

8. I am so forgetful I amaze myself at times. Like today for instance, I forgot to take my entire file containing the campus map, my timetable and all the locations of my classes as I dashed out the door to catch the ferry. I met this really nice Malaysian girl who goes to QUT while waiting for the traffic light to turn green and because at that moment, I realized my hands were devoid of my file I had to rush back to the apartment to grab it. Hence, losing the opportunity to talk to her a few moments longer and get her number so we can grab coffee one day or something. So, Amelia if you ever read this, I really meant to stay longer and chat!! I managed to catch the ferry JUST in time by running like a madwoman back. And in spite of that, I was still late to my lecture by 10 minutes. Sigh. Plus on the ferry, I saw this cute guy which made eye contact and smiled at me but I was so out of breath from the running (and out of shape too from not going to the gym), and worrying about whether or not I was going to make it in time for the lecture and sweattyyyyy + wet coz of the rain, that I totally did not smile back lorh. All the opportunities lost because of my carelessness. Lol. A day in the life of me indeed.

Anyway, it's getting late and I have a 9am tutorial tomorrow so I'll sign off here. More updates to come, with pictures this time hopefully. Watch this space! ;)

The Sickness Is Myself.

I'm going to do another one of those My-Life-In-Numerics posts again just to jot down some happenings and feelings I want to remember. Bear with me, these few weeks have been absolutely nuts!


1. Paintball yesterday was a pretty cool experience. I survived the war with only a small reddish mark on my left leg as a souvenir. No major bruises or cuts which I am very thankful for, but aching and sore muscles are aplenty. I would definitely go back for another round. This experience has taught me that being caught in a crossfire is utterly not as glamorous as it looks in movies. Confusion is rife and you literally don't know what hit you till you feel the pain. Plus getting hit is so easy coz stray pellets are everywhere. In Adele's words: "I definitely don't wanna be a policewoman." Oh and note to self: If I ever go for paintball with Jern Han again I will shoot at him continuously when he is out of pellets to give him a taste of his own medicine. *evil grin* Bugger refilled 50 pellets when I only had 20 pellets left and then rained pellets on Adele and I as revenge for shooting him earlier. =/


2. The first day after I stopped work, I woke up feeling deliriously free. Maybe I'm so used to the prospect of work or doing stuff that I felt kind of weird not doing anything anymore or counting down the days till I have to busy myself with something. It was awesome really. But I must say, I'm glad I got to work at Hot Potato. It was a rewarding experience. And seeing my name in print in the magazine was pretty cool.

3. We had our company Chinese New Year lunch on my last week of work at Spring Garden, Tropicana Golf and Country Club. The office boy, who's a young mid 20-ish Malay dude, was invited to join us. That was his first Chinese meal he's ever had in his life. We had to explain each dish to him, the ingredients used, what it meant. He didn't even know what yee sang was! 0_o I realized at that point, that we are so close together physically yet so isolated and disconnected from each other's cultures. The concept of exposure also dawned on me. Some people don't even have to chance to be exposed to or get to experience the culture and traditions of another race who live in the same country because of poverty. We take forgranted too many things. Really and truly.

4. Today is Thursday. I am jetting off on Monday. I have not packed. At all. I think it's a combination of procrastination and the significance of packing once I do start. Packing makes leaving real. It makes leaving behind all things comfortable and reliable - friends, family and home, tangible. And it scares me. The unknown. How do you pack your whole life into a 30kg suitcase? At least moving was slightly easier, the unknown was only 5 minutes away and I could take as many boxes as I wanted to. But this... this is taking things to a whole new level. I think the magnitude of leaving has finallt started to catch up with me.

5. I got another piercing on my ear today. I've been wanting it for ages but it was a spur of the moment thing to do it today. Kit Mun and I got it done - hers on the right and mine on the left. Mel chickened out at the last minute even though it was her idea to go pierce. =.= I think I have quite a thing for impulsive decisions. Probably has something to do with the adrenaline rush I get when I do impulsive stuff.

6. I cut and dyed my hair yesterday and it looks much healthier now. I think I should have cut it slightly shorter though, it's gonna be pretty long when I come back from Aussieland. =S

7. Today was our farewell outing amongst the college gang since everyone will be leaving after this. I think I'm gonna miss laughing and doing crazy things as well as telling funny stories with you guys the most. I'm glad we found each other. I love how we manage to gel together to easily even though we're all so different. I am going to miss you girls so, so much!

8. I handed in my withdrawal form to Monash today. I felt a hollow sensation in my heart at the thought of walking in as a Monash student for the last time. Monash was a heck of a good first year of uni and I fervantly hope that second year will be as good, if not better.

Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. Check back later for longer posts. Will definitely try to squeeze in a few more before I leave. Cheers!

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

Currently listening to: Muse- The Resistance album

(Thanks to Zaleha for giving me the cd! The album is mind blowingly awesome.)

I know I haven't updated in awhile. But like I said, I have my bouts. Sometimes I feel that I have totally lost my blogging mojo and other times, I feel so pumped to blog but when I actually sit down to do it, the feeling dissapears again. I can barely latch on to it.

I still haven't fully regained my blogging mojo. So you'll have to forgive me if this post seems terribly unstructured. But I was thinking how this year has been such a blur. I haven't been blogging much and I haven't written in my journal in the longest time ever (mostly because I was busy but these last month was because I can't find it! It's probably in some box somwhere. Sigh.). So I figured I'd better list some stuff down before the year whirls by me again and I have nothing tangible to hold on to except those fragile memories.

Besides, these past few months have been very awesome and I'm afraid I won't feel this way again ever. Even when I think back now... only wisps of it emerge only to flit away again. Ah, this is what you get for being lazy Swan!

Gonna do this in point form coz it's easier (in no particular order/importance):

1. I have settled in. Really and truly now. I went back the other day to the old sanctuary. Everything felt the same yet different. But in a weird way, that reassured me. The mini fountain was still sprouting water, the white picket fence still stands proudly and the alamanda tree is as beautiful as ever. Bobby was being his usual crazy self. It was a beautiful day, that one. Big fluffy clouds littered across the sea blue sky. As I stood there looking at it, I felt bittersweet. But I didn't feel empty anymore. It was empty, most of the furniture gone with only bits and pieces scattered around, remnants of the life we had here. And I didn't feel empty anymore. I guess that's a good sign. This is home now.

2. Some people really have no idea how to behave in social situations. I am not kidding. I feel sorry for them. How do these people make friends? I was standing at the library printer the other day, waiting for the printer to spew my papers out and this dude was who was next in line was standing SO close to me that if I turned around, I probably would have collided with him head on. Jeez. Have you not heard of PERSONAL SPACE? I hate, let me say this again, ABSOLUTELY hate it when people invade my personal bubble. No matter how close you stand to me, the printer is not going to print any faster so really, why bother? I could have "accidentally" stepped back onto his foot or "accidentally" boob nudged (in Zaleha's words) him with my elbow OR even turned around and be all bitchy and go:"Excuse YOU, could please not invade my personal bubble? It's rude." But I decided to play nice and ignore him that day and walked off after I got my stuff. Meh. I was freaky dude again on campus and he was staring at non-stop. Urgh.

3. Today was a wonderful day! We went back to Pink to have lunch and I finally had my Thai style fried chicken with fried rice again after what seems like an eternity! I miss Pink, I do. Made a stop at Sunway and met Iekaaaaa! Whom I haven't seen since... LAST YEAR GRADUATION NIGHT! Can you believe it? It was great seeing her again. Briefly met Wee Guan when walking out too. And Ms. Santhi couln't recognize me. >.<>

4. 500 Days of Summer is THE must-watch movie of the year. I swear. Everyone I know who has watched it, loved it to bits. I loved it because it was real. It isn't your typical boy meets girl, BANG they get together kinda thing. Reality isn't like that and I'm glad that this movie showed it. And I loved how the movie portrayed the feeling of being in love (through that little musical number and the spring in Joseph Gordon Levitt's walk) and the feeling of being frustrated with love (how everything he loved about Zoey Deschannel turned into hate after that) and also how the way things play out in our heads never does in reality (the part where they split the screens into two, one being reality and the other fantasy). And I also like the fact that Joseph Gordon Levitt was stuck in a job he didn't really like and didn't plan for even though he studied architcture because really, that's how life is! I'm glad they didn't start off the movie with him already being an architect because that would have been so generic and typical for the protagonist to have some well-paying job but not a love life kinda thing. And the SOUNDTRACK! I so totally need to get my hands on it man.

5. I'm loving this semester in uni. It hit me one day as I walking to FTV lecture. I remember saying hi to a number of people and stopping to make small talk with a few of them. Jowee and E'a were with me and Wei Lin and Vicky were not far behind. The weather was perfect that day- breezy and not too sunny but not overtly cloudy that you'd feel depressed either. And it just hit me... that uni life here is so awesome. I love the lecturers, I love the friends I've made. And this was... home. I felt like I belonged. And I'm giving all this up to go to Aussie next year. And there was just this pang in my heart. I'm sure Aussie will be heaps of fun too, but things'll be different. I guess things are really good now and I don't it to change. But change... change is the only thing that is constant. I think I've finally learnt that by now.

6. Monash Ball 2009 was such a memorable, fun-filled night. Even though BEP was performing right below us and we couldn't be there, I didn't feel the slightest bit of regret. AND gotta thank Guiness for hosting Arthur's Day on that day coz right after prom ended, we were treated to a free fireworks display. It was beautiful indeed and a great way to end prom before we headed off to MOS to partayyy.

7. I can't believe semester is ending already. It is now Week 12. It seems like just yesterday semester started and I was so excited because Jowee saw the light and came to Monash too. ;P

And we could finally cross off Going To University Together from our childhood list of Things to Do Together/ Before We Die.

8. The problem with having a king sized bed with yummy silky sheets is that you never want to get out of bed. I would gladly hibernate for a week.

9. And here's the quote of the day:

At some point you have to make a decision. Boundaries don't keep other people out; they fence you in.Life is messy, that's how we're made. So you can waste your life drawing lines or you can live your life crossing them. But there are some lines that are way too dangerous to cross.Here's what I know. If you're willing to take the chance, the view from the other side is spectacular.

-Grey's Anatomy