Vanity Fair

With not many things to occupy my time, I have been eating, sleeping, playing and.... shopping. I've gotten some new clothes, including jeans and a new prom dress as well as working clothes, at big discounts (we're talking 50% to 70% here :P)

This year seems like a good year for footwear for me :D Look what I've got this year:

Slippers with butterfly deco from Colleen, 1 Utama

White sandals from Carlo Rino, Sunway Pyramid

Black and White sandals in different sizes from Bata, Subang Parade

Heeled slippers from Bata, Subang Parade

Nice or not??? I was practically jumping in glee when I found the white sandals in Bata. I bought a pair very similar to that before in Bata more than a year ago. I really loved the versatility of the sandals, but sadly, it was really worn out by now. So I was really excited that I managed to find a replica of it again. And since the slippers there were so cheap I just bought everything I liked. It all came up to RM50 for 3 pairs, which seriously is a bargain. Luckily I managed to find my size for the sandals I bought there, as it was all last pairs or in super big or super small sizes. I'm still so excited from managing to find slippers and sandals I really like at such a cheap price as well! I'm not really a fan of Bata because their designs are not to my taste, but these were really nice. Shows how lucky I am in finding such beautiful things, all in one shop :P

I haven't worn those sandals yet as I could not bear to wear it. The first two pairs were bought during my winter break a few months ago, and I did not want to bring it to Aussie with me as I won't have a chance to wear it there. In Melbourne I'm used to walking wherever I want to go (especially to uni) so wearing those sandals would be a waste, as they would break from the harsh treatment. But next year I'll definitely bring some back with me, since they're so versatile (formal wear and casual wear in one!).

My Room

It's amazing how much things one can accumulate in a short period of time.

In International House, my sanctuary was my room. Living in a residential college with many other students sharing facilities does not provide one with the privacy that those who live in apartments outside get. We eat together, we play together, we work together, and in some cases, shower together. It's not like I totally hate the lifestyle. Living together means making friends. Having someone near by. Friends that are only a few rooms away. Events that we work together to accomplish. But even so, sometimes we want our privacy. Somewhere to retreat when we're tired of keeping up with the crowd. And that is the room we have been allocated to.

In Room 135, Ground Floor, Scheps building, I slowly build my sanctuary. On my first day in Melbourne, I washed and cleaned the room. From the huge suitcase which held my 30kg of stuff I took out my clothes, toiletries, stationery and other miscellaneous items. I went out the same day and bought myself a table fan. I set up my laptop on the huge study table. The room was beautifully simple and clean. Minimalisation, I realised, was the key to simplicity and cleanliness.


My sanctuary wasn't the same after that first day. In the next two weeks I accumulated a stack of papers from Unimelb. Brochures, ads and advices from goodie bags to help me adjust to my new lifestyle. Free stuff, like cds and hairbands and condoms. Receipts littered my desk from my purchases. Foodstuff tossed into the cupboard for my late-night snacks. Bags of plastic and fibre lay around the floor.

I did not have the time nor energy to clean my room, so it gradually became a mess. Then from the roiling activities of O-week I passed into the start of the semester. Life slowed a little (Oweek timetable, was basically 17 hours of non-stop activities and 7 hours of sleep, if you're lucky). I still did not have time to clean my room. Instead, I went on outings, to Philip Island, to the Moomba festival. And I brought back even more things. Namely, soft toys. Small, little toys from Philip Island. A huge Husky won from Moomba took up a corner of my room. The huge study table disappeared from sight under a mountain of papers.

Did I finally get the time/energy/spirit to clean it? Yes, I did. I did the whole works: Filing my notes, packing unwanted papers into a bag, doing my laundry AND keeping it away, changing my bedsheets, wiping and vacuuming and polishing. The room was once again clean. It did not stay that way for long. Soon after, things started piling up again. And of course, I couldn't be bothered to clean until weeks later. Thank god the toilets and showers were not cleaned by me but by the cleaning staff everyday.

In second semester I came back with more stuff. More clothes, more food, more things. And the whole fight between cleanliness and messiness started again.

It was compulsory that at the end of the year we would have to pack all our belongings up into boxes or bags and store it in the college basement until our return next year. My stuff went into four boxes and a small bag. I packed my huge suitcase (the one from the beginning of the year) with food and some clothes to bring back home. It's amazing how much one can accumulate over a year. From one huge suitcase filled with clothes I ended up with boxes full of textbooks, files, toiletries, shoes, clothes and toys. Not to mention all the things that made a transit through my room, like food and papers and all sorts of things students use.

Ever heard of 'one man's meat is another man's poison'? While I consider my room to be messy and cluttered, to others it was homey and tidy. And, peeking into some other students' rooms, I can see why.

At least I never had clothes littering the floor and have less than eight boxes of stuff at the end of the day.

There's probably no one reading this blog anymore. Especially since I don't update regularly. There's not much excitement in my life, or rather, not much that is exciting to you, my readers. My life in Melb is divided between lectures, assignments, college activities and my friends. I don't do clubbing, and outings with friends are just to restaurants where invariably we'd forget to take pictures of the food and dig in as soon as the dishes arrives.

If I can say what was the best moments in Melbourne, it would be:

1. Making two new friends at orientation who later became my good friends.


2. Making a whole group of friends over at college during Easter Break over games of Catan and Dungeons & Dragons.

3. Going to Melbourne U and living independently. I probably have it easy, staying at a residential college, IH. I have no need to cook and clean, and pretty much everything is provided. However, I still need to do my own laundry, clean my own room and pick up after myself (LOL!). And there's the whole time management thing, the importance of which I discovered the week I had to attend Play practices at night, sew a pair of furry gloves, study for 2 tests and do an assignment due that week with my group on top of going to lectures and tutorials in the morning!

4. Coming to International House. The first week there was a killer, with non-stop activities and lack of sleep. But after the hectic O-week life slowed down, and I made many new friends. There are many event at IH that really enlivens the atmosphere, and I really like how we get to do what we're good in, whether it is singing, dancing, making decorations, or dealing with lights!

5. The Catan games we used to play like crazy. By introducing myself in the first week as a Catan player, I got introduced to the seniors who played it as well. Need more players to make up a game? Give me a call at ext 435. We even have a group on Facebook, where active players get titles for their playing styles. There used to be an elite group as well, made up of those who managed to win Catan games. They can then play the expansion set, Catan: Cities and Knights, a harder version of Catan. I nearly cried during a basic game of Catan when Vong led all the other players against me to prevent me from getting my first win. But I managed to win the game, and managed to be the first serious female player in the group.

6. Eating out. Me and my friends would go out to find good cheap eating spots in Melbourne. We've had all sorts of food together with good times.


7. Lastly, playing games. Whether playing with friends on Ian's Xbox 360, or roleplaying in D&D, or even playing Magic TCG, it has been fun and very enjoyable. It's not playing that makes it fun, it's the people you do it with.


My first year of U is now over. Does anyone realise that one Uni year is only 8 months long? The rest of the year is a holiday. So many things have happened that make me feel: I really am lucky.

I'm on my way back!!! Woohoo!



La Bamba by Los Lobos has been haunting my mind.....

Life crawls on again, as usual....

Plenty of things happening in October. Last week, we ended High Table on Thursday with Valedict Night, a formal dinner at my college, IH, to celebrate the students who are graduating at the end of the year or those who have reached their third year of uni. I actually attended the formal dinner this time, cause I knew plenty of the people who are the valedicts....

I realised how much I hated formal dinners here when I see students walking around being drunk and somewhat...hyper. I was at my assigned table, standing up as the Head of College gave a speech, when Maud at my table whistled shrilly twice as the students cheered. I changed tables after that, to protect my ears just in case.... The valedicts sang a rather...spirited although awful rendition of Seasons of Love. And I got tipsy after a glass of wine and another of champagne.

I remembered that I had a test at the Law Building the next day after Valedicts Night ended. I had to decline the invitation to join the rest to go to Freddo's for some gelati to study (I was too busy the past few days, and this was absolutely my last chance to study for the test....). I went through all the notes, woke up the next day feeling dead and groggy and sat for the test. I thought I was going to screw this one up. This was the third and last test for Principles of Business Law and it was the hardest test so far.

Last Sunday was another busy day. Woke up, had brunch, and then finished my powerpoint slides to hand in to Sarah Flynn, the Activities Committee(AC) Secretary to edit. Then attended Student Club(SC) training by a guy named David Moore. He was really funny, and made the whole 3 hour session interesting. He managed to get us to recognize our goals for next year, and to tackle these goals. Towards the end, he showed us a video on how to communicate effectively.
After SC training, had dinner, then prepared for our first General Meeting(GM) as the new SC. We had several motions to pass that we've been preparing for. Firstly, the purchase of new washing machines @ $22,500 from SC reserves over the past 4 years. This was to enable IHers to get free washing. The downside was that drying would increase from $1 to $2. I didn't really approve of the idea, free washing. Firstly, paying for washing would stop people from simply washing for fun. Secondly, by changing from pay-to-wash to free washing, the electric and water bill will increase (not to mention that currently, the company we lease the machines from pays IH $5000 to subsidize our electric and water bills). High possibility that IH will increase our fees next year due to this. Why don't anyone see it??

Secondly, purchase of Gym equipment by Ton, Shop and Gym Rep. Thirdly, a new IH mascot (a panda). Then we passed motions to buy other stuff, like a computer for HD video editing and dance mirrors and new sound equipment. We had O-week auditions towards the end. The craziest act was by Andrew Nielson, who waxed his chest hair to read IH. Ouch.

Next up is Music Night this Thursday. I'm in two performances, the Disney multilingual song Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas and an a capella performance.

The results for the test last week came in! With trembling hands I clicked to download the results list and the test feedback application. I scrolled down to student number 320--- and slowly turned to look at the result. I couldn't believe my eyes! H1!!! Yes!!! hhahahaha. With just four mistakes out of 32 questions I managed to retain my grade. With this, I have a current cumulative grade of H1. Now the rest depends on the final exam.

*Back to study...*

Where did I stop at? Oh, the Play.

Well, since the Play ended I had 2 assignments to finish, a test to cram for, and now, in the 2 -week glorious glorious holiday, 3 assignments to do and hand up in the 4 days after the holidays end. So this is now the 2-week-holiday-yet-not-period? argh. Since moving over to Hwei San's place on the other side of Parkville (IH is on Parkville, a km away from uni) on Saturday, I've been going out everyday....to uni. Yep, to meet up first with Ming Chin for ATA and with my groupmates for BPA. The ATA assignment is so so so hard that everyone feels half-dead doing it, while BPA is giving the creeps to everyone. I mean, for the first BPA assignment (which I finished with HuiYing, Yond and Lip Ee during Play), our group only had 22.5 marks out 30. The scary part? The highest marks awarded was 26/30 to one group, and the average lies somewhere around 18-20. So, everyone is creeped out, since assignments take up a total of 40% of final marks, and no one wants to screw up the second and current assignment. Haih. Oh, the stress!

Beyond that, life at HS's place is pretty relaxing and tasty. Home-cooked food is awesome after weeks of IH food. Yesterday we had home made wantan noodles, and the day before, pasta. Yum! There's a BBQ coming up this Saturday at Charlene and Jac Kee's place, with the shopping for food stuff on Thursday. YAY!

The consequences of staying at HS's place is that it's too far from uni (hence spending money on the tram) and that the Graveyard Crew (GYC) are back in IH. So I missed out on watching Tropical Thunder with them, as I refused to go out late at night alone. That and all the games of D&D I missed. This holiday is much much more different from the Easter hols last sem. During the Easter I made many many friends while playing games, culminating in the GYC. Then again, I didnt want to pay for staying in IH for 2 weeks when I can stay at HS's place for cheaper.

I watched the Mummy 3 last Friday. The movie wasn't too good, with a rather holey plot and bad cinematography. And since when did terracotta warriors qualify as 'mummies'? But some of the lines were memorable. Like, when a revived skeletal soldier (on the good side) accidentally swung his spade and knocked off his comrade's head (ni de tou zai zhe!!) and tried to stick it back on. Me and tz laughed hard at it. I plan to watch Wall-E sometime soon, by getting it from HuiYing *evil grin*.

Fish and chips at St Kilda (HweiSan, HuiYing and me)
Sheryl, HuiYing, Charlene and ShingYun (background: a beautifully decorated hairdresser's shop =)
The Birthday Girls!!! Celebrating their 18th =)

Group pic at Universal Pizza

A post, just for fun.

Play's just over. Yesterday, we had our final show. It was a blast. It was worth sacrificing all those hours to see it become a success. Wondering what am I talking about? Read on....

IH (in case you forgot, my college of residence) does a play every year. Last year it was The Goodbye Girl, this is it's the Curse of the Werewolf. Admittedly, not many know that these plays exists. And why not do a more popular play in the first place? Well, the rights to do the more famous plays are too expensive, and we are already running on a tight budget.

The Curse of the Werewolf (CW) is awesome tho. I really liked the plot - A British family goes to Germany for a holiday, only to find that the village has more secrets than they think it has... The script was simply hilarious. It was a comedy musical. And coupled with the amazing cast (Grace as the stiff and stern Mrs Bancroft, and Fitzy as the dark Prof Steiner and Pam as Ingeborg the assistant) it was really, really good. We only had three shows, and while the first show was partly a disaster (forgotten lines, bad lights timing) it evolved to be a lot better the next day, with alot of improv to make the scene funnier. And when James Downing fell and 'died' in the scene his kilt lifted to reveal his underwear.....it was a real mistake, of course =P

Doing CW is pretty hard by itself, but as an extra I had very little to do, and so I didnt spend as much time on it. I just played the deceased Baroness in the first scene (I had to curl my hair and put on deathly white makeup) and I had to bite my tongue to keep from smiling as I lay dead in the 'coffin'. And the amount of foundation Andrea used on me made me look a lot better than I do. I really liked the costume too - a frilled black skirt with a corset-like top. Awesome.

There's no pictures tho, because I didnt had a camera and no one put it on Facebook yet. Facebook is really awesome. Friends link up pictures to me, so I get the pictures they take of me. It's awesome when I dont have a camera, or when I want pictures from that person. And I dont have to upload pictures at all!

But, I digress. Being in CW was great fun, although tiring. But I got to see how a play is when done properly. Admittedly, while CW is just a small play, it was nice to see how professional it was. Lights, sound, background, costumes, makeup, acting..... And all of these staffed by people from the college itself. It's amazing how many talented people we have here.

And with CW over, life's back to normal. Except that now I have to grapple with more assignments instead. Sigh....

Everytime I go on a massive blog surfing spree I always get wowed by the blogs I see. The style of writing, the pictures... it's almost like it's telling me how grown up, how funny and how mature they sound. And inevitably, after I finish viewing the blogs all sort of ideas on how to write my next post runs about in my head. However, within minutes the 'mature feel' that inspired me would run out and then I'd be myself again.

Whenever I read those commentary blogs I feel so amazed by these people. They know enough to give comments on politics and social issues and things like that that I often feel overwhelmed and rather silly for writing about nonsensical stuff like what I ate yesterday. And the thing is, these blogs belong to people I actually know. Which make me feel doubly like a small kid. Someone once told me "Your blog is rather like a typical blog," which I take to mean that it's filled with fluff and normally wouldn't interest anyone else besides people who know me well.

Sadly enough I do not have the mental ability to write witty posts on life, or ranting posts on the government, or even views on social issues like religion or world hunger. Quoting from someone else again, 'Impression you have of her(me): easily influenced'. Which show how much of a 'yes' girl I am, (mostly) agreeing with everyone's view of {insert topic here}. Although it could be their views were similar to mine in the first place. Hmmmmm...

I wonder what happened to my plans at the beginning of the year. I was planning to blog about the places one could see/eat/shop in Melbourne, but in the end that plan vanished into thin air. So, despite all the restaurants I've been to and ate at there's no mention of it anywhere in my blog (The food's mostly great, btw).

There's also a lack of pictures of my friends in my blog, due to them being mostly guys, and well... guys don't take pictures without any valid reason. (Taking pictures of them to stuff in my blog is not a valid reason). I think it's due to their genes, which commands them to stay away from cameras of any sort and especially from girls who camwhore 99999 times a day. So, beyond a very blurred picture of them playing D&D (some hiding behind books and paper due to Ian's warning "She's going to take a picture!") and Shreenal's surprise photo of some of us playing Catan there's no pics of us at all.

Which (probably) explains why I only blog once a month. Heh.

I had nothing to write.

............................

Yea well, maybe I do, but maybe it's just that I'm too lazy or that I consider the activities I've been doing lately of no interest to anyone except those who has been doing it with me. So there you are.

And yes, in case you didn't know yet, I'm back in Malaysia. For one month. That's right people, start including me in your gatherings and what-nots :)

It was quite hectic last Thursday when I was due to fly back. Due to some misunderstandings, it turned out that I would be flying back the same day as my last exam. As soon as I heard that news I panicked like crazy. I started packing up my belongings into the wardrobe (college wants us to pack up so they can rent out our rooms while we are away) was trying to make sure all important documents were around. The night before my exam, I tossed and turned in my bed as I plotted out the next day's schedule. It was a tight fit with me having to do my laundry in the morning, go for the exam in the afternoon, come back and bath and pack and fold my laundry and pack.

Luckily, I packed finish in time to head to the college's foyer to wait for Starbus. Emir commented that "that's the first time I saw a girl pack so light" as I was only bringing back a small box, a backpack with my laptop and my handbag. Tanid and Heng Lin kept me company while I checked and double checked that I had everything I need (passport, check; ticket, check; wallet, camera, handphone check; oh, we only need a passport and the ticket to get through right?)

Well, at least nothing went wrong, what with my obsession that people would slip drugs into my bags when I'm not looking or run away with my handbag or laptop (the latter it's cause of all the stories of thieves in the papers). I was also momentarily frightened when at the check-in they asked what I packed in my box; I guess travelers who only check in a box are extremely uncommon or stupid or both. Yep, I get scared when I am caught unprepared, and I am very bad at dealing with sudden situations.

The best part of traveling without my family, without doubt, is when I open up my luggage and unpack all the goodies I brought back for them. Dark chocolates, biscuits, sweets and so on and so forth. It's the same reason I spend like crazy on Christmas presents for my family members. As long as they like it it's worth it. Just to see the smile on their faces :D (Although, I couldn't buy a bottle of wine like I did in Spain. Still, I can do it next sem when I finally turn 18 and the alcohol shop can't boot me out for being underaged.)

It's been an interesting 3 months so far. From starting my university and college life, to fitting in and finding friends, as well as juggling assignments and fun activities. The slight depression when I first came here, friendless and lonely, has changed to the enjoyment of the company of people.

Mixing around with the the seniors who has stayed for more than 4 years in IH has opened my eyes to the world of *politics?* for the lack of a better word. Stories of the previous year's rebellion led by Vong, and the subtle political machinations behind the running of IH makes one aware of the enormity of things beyond.

On a lighter note, I've been going around Melbourne trying out restaurants! Now, if any of you come over to Melbourne, I can bring you out to eat :)

I've been rather addicted to Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics over the past few weeks. Before this, I've never been much of his fan, and had never read his comics before, although I've read some of his novels. But ever since Higgins loaned me two of his Sandman comics I've been hooked. Speaking of reading, I'm on the lookout for Garth Nix's latest Key to the Kingdom book, Superior Saturday. I've been collecting his books for several years now, and now that my dad also likes his books make it easier for me to buy his books :P

Remember Asia Cafe, or AC for short? There's a internet cafe at the back by the name of FTZ. I've always wondered why students like to go there to play DoTA. Yesterday, at a LAN party (bring your computers, hook up to the IH network, and play games with your friends!) I was introduced to the world of Warcraft and DoTA. I can see why people are addicted to DoTA now, although I still am not interested in the game yet. But TD (Total Defense) is really fun, and addictive! We played from midnight til brunch at 11am, and I was so tired that I had to miss going to the Japanese festival in Box Hill.

Minor things of no interest:
- unadon is addictive
- improving in ping pong thanks to Ian
- SWOT vac nearly here! time to cram cram cram!
- weather turning colder, need a new jacket
- dessert wine is delicious
- playing Pictionary with Monica, Luxian, Naomi, Aaron P and Mark is guaranteed to be loud and noisy
- don't ever forget the 5 rules of Catan (PS: Emir the Shepard has stolen Ian's title of General of the Largest Army; that title now combines with his other to become Knight General of the Black Rams)
- NEVER do assignments last minute
- sleep moar!

*no pics, sorry guys. wait until i return*

IN THE NAME OF THE MIGHTY REGINA WONG, THIS BLOG SHALL BE REVIVED!!

Ok. After countless "this blog is dead" and "update!" messages from my friends I decided to write another post for now. A summarized version of my activities over the past one month.

Okay, so Uni started in March. If you asked me whether I was excited that uni started, my answer would have been a resounding 'No'. It's hard for me to get excited over events like this (aka 'normal events'). Just like me not getting excited over coming to Melbourne 2 months ago.

We IH freshers had our first taste of the formal dinners to come at the Commencement Dinner. Dress code: Formal wear + academic gown.

Then, my trip to Phillip Island. Me and Hwei San had signed up on the Melbourne University Outdoor Program trip on the 8 of March. We saw kangaroos, koalas, wallabies... It was pretty awesome.

And after just 3 weeks of university, we had our Easter break. IH became empty as most of the students left to go home, or to go on a trip, or to stay with friends/relatives outside IH. I had planned to study throughout Easter, but after joining Emir's D&D (for you people who don't know what D&D is, it means Dungeons & Dragons) I just could not study at all. So began a week of D&D and Settlers of Catan (a board game). And at the end of the week, my assignments were still not yet finished, but I made a lot of friends. Now we mostly hang around the JCR (Junior Common Room) 24/7.

With the start of uni again, preparations for Cafe Night started. Cafe Night is basically IH's fundraising event where paying guests come for dinner and performances. So now, I'm doing balancing act between Wushu Fan Dance (yes, for Cafe), playing in the Catan tournament and doing my assignments and going for tutorials.

(And that's why you stupid little girl, you're getting a flu)

Today, the day of the IH Ball and the Beautiful. Basically an excuse to dress up, spend tons of money, and to drink. Now, with my bad experience during MPT5 & 6 (my highschool's prom night) I had no desire at all to go. Besides, when you think of it, the ticket price is equivalent to one day's stay at IH... So, we, the JCR gang decided to go out tonight for hotpot (which I hope will cure my flu).

And that is basically all for now, the pictures will come later (maybe) so just keep checking.

So here's the pictures of the college I stay in =)

My round, "nuke silo" building, Scheps

The laundry room

The locks and keys in IH

Bed + study table

Sink + wardrobe

The kitchenette at every floor

Part of the gardens

The dining hall

Some of the games offered

Orientation for us 'freshers' started last saturday and will continue until this sunday. For starters we learned the Fresher's Dance, which was pretty cool. Last sunday, we had a party at night called the 'Poor Taste Party'. Earlier in the afternoon we were brought to a second hand shop to buy the worst outfits we ever saw. At the party...

Cross-dressers?

Charlie, one of the organisers and me

The organisers

Tonight we had a cocktail party as well. The difference to yesterday's party was that instead of dressing in bad clothes we had to wear semi-formal to formal clothes and there was alcohol around. Too bad though, I'm still underage and banned from drinking =(

Cocktail party

Tomorrow I'll have to go to uni for further orientation and to collect my timetable. It's a 10 minute walk from IH to MU with windy weather. COLD!

I suppose that it was a momentous moment when I left my family at the turnstile to immigration. Even though I did not know it, it was a start to a phase where I am gradually learning to live on my own.

At Monday 9.40pm the Boeing 777 code MH149 left KLIA.

Destination: Melbourne, Australia

After 8 hours and several turbulence during the flight we reached Melbourne at 9am Melbourne time, where I would spend the most of the next 3 years studying. After passing through Australian Immigration I went to collect my huge 28.8kg bag from the baggage carousel. It was rather funny, with me chasing my bag around the carousel trying to heave it out. Finally I succeeded after 5 minutes, by forcefully chucking it out of the carousel.

I had booked UniMelb's arrival services weeks ago and they met me and several other students and brought us to our destinations by bus. My destination was their first stop and so it was that I reached International House at 241 Royal Parade where I would be living in this year.

I was assigned to Scheps, a round building at the end of the grounds. Rumor has it that a student had suicided there 18 years ago. brrrr. There are many buildings in IH, such as Scheps, New Building, Clunies, Hilda Stevenson, Greycourt and Waldham. At Scheps, my room has a sink and thick fat walls. According to some of the seniors, Scheps' rooms are small, but they have sinks and thick walls to mute sounds. "Big is not better," said Christopher, third year UMelb med student. He described his previous room at Greycourt (it stinks and maggots fall from the ceiling. yucks).

The other students at IH are generally friendly. There's Charlie, the so-called short-term memory loss guy; Ted and Han the IT experts; Ruvi and Hash the Catan players; Jubi the postgrad student from India; Oliver and Shunsuke the exchange students from China and Japan and many more. Today Charlie and Lushien taught me ping pong!!

After unpacking my things on Tuesday I made my first foray into the world outside IH. I took the tram to Barkly Square, a place where we can do some shopping. Guess what was the first thing I bought since I arrived? A FAN!!! It's tiny but cheap (so what if I am a cheapo hmph!) and it gives some much-needed ventilation to my small room.

The International Students Orientation was on Thursday. After it was various talks on the different subjects we could take as breath subjects. I had earlier made a list of talks I wanted to attend, but it didnt work out. I went for the Accounting talk at 1pm in the Commerce building, and 1/2 hour later I was rushing to the Geography building 0.25km away to attend the 1.30pm Informatics talk. UMelb is a big place with many buildings and small shops scattered around.

So now I'm trying to make up my mind on what subjects to take. While the subjects I need to take as part of my accounting major is mostly set, I still need to pick 4 or 5 breath subjects from other faculties to complement my degree. And that's where the cause of my headache is. Should I take Japanese, or Math? Or maybe do Renaissance Dance? Perhaps I should take Psychology? It's very confusing @@. I am already taking Law as part of my breath to gain my accounting accredition.

Tomorrow the orientation at IH starts. It will last for a week and coincide with the orientation at UMelb. It will be alot of fun ;P

PS: Wait for the photos to come. I am pretty lazy right now.

Sakae Sushi for lunch with Jia Yi ;P

So I went back to my hometown for CNY, and that's why you never see a new blog post (that's the story I'm sticking too anyway).

It's been a tradition that we kids would gamble on CNY by playing cho tai ti and Black Jack. However, this year the stakes were too high (rm1 bet for black jack, anyone?) and there was just no fun in playing cards. So me, Helena and Aidan decided to learn MAHJONG. Despite my grandmother's nagging that only old people play mahjong, we still managed to get her to teach us.

With nothing better to do, we went back on Friday night. Then I had open house on Sunday!!! Bryan, Ji Yung, Mei Kim, Wy How, Kein Yip and Ken Hon showed up. Ack! That day my house had an overload of the Y chromosome since most of the visitors were male. We played cho tai ti and...mahjong.

While I was at the hairdresser's yesterday, Steph smsed me. We then arranged to watch CJ7. The story was quite nice and I actually shed some tears for the "pet". After that we had dinner at Ajisen Ramen and went SS all over Pyramid =)

Chicken Teriyaki Bento set

Today went skating with Wei Vern at Pyramid Ice Rink. Then some arcade, and some shopping. Didn't buy anything though. Kinda lost the shopping impulse ever since I started going out with male-dominated groups (going out rule no.1: dont shop when guys > girls in the group). Besides, no use buying any clothes when I'm limited in things I can bring over to Aussie lol.

Anyway I'm posting again 2moro, check out fo it!!! xD

A lil' something Stephy made =D

Yesterday, at Strawberry Fields in Taipan, I had my farewell.

Wei Vern had organized the whole gathering (Thx WV!). We met at 1pm. Well, actually when I came there with Steph the rest were already there. There was: WV, Steph, Susan, Mei Kim, Shu Ning, Mandy, JC, Wyhow and KY. We talked and chatted about our future plans and current news until around 3, when some of us decided that we should do something else besides sit and monopolize 4 tables at Strawberry Fields. The rest had to go back home, so me, WV, Ning, Wyhow and KY went to Summit to watch the Game Plan.

Unfortunately when we arrived there we found that the next screening of all the movies would start at 4.30 or 4.30pm. So we gave up on the cinema and was thinking about buying a DVD and watching it at WV's house. While we were discussing in front of a DVD shop, Wyhow started wandering into the arcade next door.

Since me and WV always go to the arcade whenever possible, we went in to play. Me and Ning head towards the House of the Dead game (which was expensive but good fun). Then played the taiko with KY and DDR with Wyhow. Somehow all of us developed the fever to play taiko (a japanese-style drum which you hit in tune to the music) and we played until our arms hurt. Then on to Monkey Ice for some fruit flavored ice. Met Elaine who was working there :). And that was the end of a really fun day xD. Sorry, no pictures tho.

And who could forget what today is? CNY eve! Happy Chinese New Year all!!!!

Oh no, my blog's collecting dust! *blows*

Yups, it's the case of the Lazy Syndrome. The sickness where bloggers (like me!) are just too lazy and unmotivated to update their blogs. Ok, so now for the updates~

Jan 21, celebrated Wei Vern's birthday at Pyramid. Met her at 4pm and went shopping before the rest came XD. Ken and Kein Yip came at 6.30pm when me and Vern were buying J.Cos. After wondering why some other people seem not to be coming (meeting time was 6pm, but you-know-lah, MRT Malaysian Rubber Time) went and called them. Ended up JC and Mandy came late whilst the rest never even show muka. See la, my planning skills suck :(

Jan 24, Jia Yi's birthday. How not to know la, this girl constantly give hints that her birthday coming.. :P So I went and belanja her at Secret Recipe. While talking we saw a reallllllly outdated ad for Enchanted. Ah so kesian, if I knew she hasn't watched yet I would've asked her to watch it with me (I havent watched yet). But I thought she watched d.. T__T

Jan 25, saw Sweeney Todd. Wanted to eat sushi but 2 guys ffk'ed on me (too little people, how to eat?). Hahah Sweeney Todd was a bloodfest. The whole show was gray black and white except for the red red blood. Been waiting a long time to see this show. Johnny Depp is my one and only fav. actor since I was a kid. And who isnt curious after reading the synopsis? Ok, I admit, I wanted to see the human meat pies. KY came along to enjoy the bloodfest (this guy is like some blood and gore magnet).

Jan 27, went to Novotel KL. It's some hotel at the Golden Triangle KL. There was a briefing by the U for students. Managed to get alot of info (like what to bring and so on). Of course, my real target was to see who is going to the same U as me :D. I saw some of my classmates from E4 (they're going too! wee!) . Vern Ming, Ming Chin and Shawn. Joyce, Jenny, Yi Jien, Hui Wen from Seafield is also going. In fact, so many people are going (and all the good students too!) that I'm starting to feel quite dumb. Saw Fiona also from my joint Econs class with E3.

Jan 28, I got my new laptop!!! It's a Compaq and specs include 1.8ghz processor, 2gb RAM and 14" screen. Hahahah damn cool. But since I got a freedos one (empty laptop, no OS), I had XP installed. Then had to dl and install all sorts of programs (adobe, nero, winzip, winrar, itunes..)

That's pretty much all, I'll update another time. Oh, and February is just hours away!