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.