Went out for dinner at Pacific Cafe for roasted meats with Lionel, Dominique and SY. Came back in time to see that Scholar's Dinner was just over, and found out Heng Lin got the Sundarason award. Congratulations!! Should've tried out for the scholarships, since i'm a 'well-rounded' person hehe.

One more mid-sem exam to go, and then I can relax for a wee bit until Introductory Econometrics assignment comes in!! Cafe is in two weeks, and the acts I'm in are not even remotely perfect yet. Not telling what I'm in yet :P but you'll all know soon enough. Thankfully Raffle is going well. Despite my concerns about the lack of prizes before Easter the parents have been really supportive and donated stuff. It's nice to know despite all my stumblings Raffle is doing fine, and even Vong said it looks okay (but he isn't in IH anymore, so he wouldn't know much, anyway). Anyway, support us by buying a Raffle ticket!! The prizes are awesomely good (hehe of course, personally went with Yi Jien to pick them out, and thanks to the shop managers and staff for their help!!) Hopefully there'll be no more hiccups on the way, and then I can breathe easy once I start calculating the profit >3

Have to apply for internships soon, and fast. Crossing my fingers in the hope that I fit what the companies are looking for!

Had noodles in spicy tomato sauce and honey soy chicken! What a difference from IH's constant beef dinners.

Currently, it is Easter and I am staying at a friend's place near Queen Vic Market. My friend seems to live on sunshine and air and sushi, while I eat at least two big meals a day. Man, I feel like a pig (oink!) I planned my meals and bought the foodstuff I need already, and 3 of my meals are going to be sponsored by IH, since I'm doing my 9 hour self help there in the kitchen.

Easter is really fun here, with chocolate bunnies and eggs. And free chocolate! I've been getting choc eggs which is really cool. Easter is a really welcome break from uni too. I've been burning out over the weeks, what with the assignments, Cafe and uni hours and extra tutorials. For the first time since arriving in Melbourne, I shopped the whole day yesterday. There's bargain sales all over as the stimulus payments are received and the retailers tempt people to spend.

I spent friday and saturday of the easter break slacking off. I had lunch with my girl friends in Lygon at Taste of Asia (not bad for malaysian food), and while walking back through uni, saw Emir's friends, Nathan and the other guy (forgot his name, although I talked to him alot), which I then walked back to IH with, since they were going to visit him :P Hanged around in the common areas, then went for dinner at Lygon again with Emir, Nathan and the Other Guy, and Vong, whom we met up with in Lygon. This time, MyCube Cafe, which serves good malaysian food, like ramli burgers and chau tau kuay. Then, back to IH to play Guitar Hero on the wii.
Saturday, cleaned up my room and moved out, and had dinner at Rose Garden, where they served up their famous Spicy Chicken Ribs (chiu ying kai fan). Smacking good.

The rest of this week will see me trying to study for my mid semesters, as well as bake my jam tarts, using my home made jam ^_^ Also will be doing my self help in one shot, and doing my assignments. WHY DOES THERE HAVE TO BE EXAMS AFTER EASTER????

I found out that confidence is the way to get to the forefront of the world. Opportunities open to people who oozes confidence and optimism, as well as the 'can-do' attitude. I, as an observer of human behavior, should know this. People with confidence gets jobs and tasks because others are impressed by the way they say 'yes i can do it,' not 'erm...maybe i can do it, if...' Because that confidence causes those with less confidence to look up to them as leaders, and those higher-up are impressed by their enthusiasm. Even if one isnt physically attractive but confident there'll be people who will love you because confidence creates a sense of beauty. There is something in the way a confident person hold his/herself up that captures the attention of others, compared to a shrinking violet. And the more confident one is, the more things one can do.

Just my jumbled thoughts on confidence.

Currently spending my days lounging around.

After reading Bryan's blog, went out to search for creative bento pictures.

Valentine Day Bento - http://motheringcorner.com/

Everyday, I keep my mind active by playing puzzle-based games. It requires skill and plenty of thinking. Walkthroughs help when stuck :)

My friend and I were talking about Chinese restaurants in Melbourne. He recommended Shark Fin House. Sounds a lot like Dragon Boat Palace which I usually go to. But Shark Fin House has better dim sum (but terrible service) than Dragon Boat Palace at around the same price. After reading all the reviews (and the pictures) of the place, I have a hunger for dim sum now. Cheap, tasty dim sum, where I can eat as much as I want without caring about the price :)

Currently packing for my trip back to Melbourne. About 50% done.

My plans for winter break have been dashed. So much for my food tour :( 私の日本語はきえちゃった。　

"Supper was the meal Valancy liked best. The faint laughter of winds was always about them and the colours of Mistawis, imperial and spiritual, under the changing clouds, were something that cannot be expressed in mere words. Shadows, too. Clustering in the pines until a wind shook them out and pursued them over Mistawis. They lay all day along the shores, threaded by ferns and wild blossoms. They stole around the headlands in the glow of the sunset, until twilight wove them all into one great web of dusk.

The cats, with their wise, innocent little faces, would sit on the verandah railing and eat the tidbits Barney flung them. And how good everything tasted! Valancy, amid all the romance of Mistawis, never forgot that men had stomachs. Barney paid her no end of compliments on her cooking." - Blue Castle

One of my favourite books is still Blue Castle (LM Montgomery). I borrowed and read it three times before going out to buy it. A must keep book. The rebellion of a girl suppressed by society and the romance that unfolds amidst the backdrop of backwoods Canada. The description of the fictional Mistawis captures the imagination, leaving behind a sense of wonder. I never fail to shed a tear at the ending. LM Montgomery's other works are also recommended, especially Anne of Green Gables - the much beloved girl from PE Island.

Whew. Work ended on last Friday, leaving me jobless and free. My work has been somewhat boring ever since the new trainee came. She gets all the nice jobs while I get stuck with keying in data. Very boring job, especially after you've done it for approx. 7 hours a day 3 days in a row. The only time I was happy was when I was asked to send out 50 letters. To me, that was more exciting than keying in data.

I went back to school to see the choir club a week ago. Since I left the club, they have steadily improved and started winning competitions. I was very happy that the club that was once avoided as being 'unpopular' has finally became a popular club, well on its way up. However, I'm still a little sad that I couldn't be with them as they joined competitions and tests. I would've loved to round up my choral exam certificates from Trinity with the gold cert :( Currently they're practising for the interschool choir competition, as well as their latest musical, Footloose. With the way they sound now, it's easy to see how they managed to climb the ranks to hit 2nd place in the interschool. Some of the choir members still remember me; they're not the young juniors I once remembered anymore, they're now seniors, well on their way to college/uni. I met Kian Jin and Eu Jin at the musical practice. They were helping to direct the musical, although KJ leaves for Melbourne today and EJ will leave for Melbourne too in another few days. It was good to see them again and to remember the fun times when they were still in the choir many years ago.

Today, I went around book hunting. Getting my textbooks here is cheaper than getting them in Melbourne. Unfortunately, the uni bookshop near Taylor's doesnt have any of the textbooks I need. Shing Yun was going to the bookshops in KL, so I asked her to help search for mine too. Unfortunately, no luck there. Looks like I will have to get my textbooks second hand again.

I spent part of my paycheck today. Many of you might think 'oh wow, belanja me' since this is my first paycheck and all. Haha. Well, this is actually my 4th job now. The first was a two week stint at Taylor's; the second was a few months translating science books from......English into Malay (I know, sounds weird) and the third was a 3 hour job manning the residential college information booth in Unimelb. Like the kiamsiap person I am, I never used the money, especially since all my paychecks came in when I wasn't around. My next purchase will be contacts - handy when doing vigorous activities, like the wushu fan dance last year. It's hard to concentrate when my glasses keep sliding down while twirling the fan. So not cool.

I almost forgot WeiVern's farewell. We had her farewell 2 weeks ago, in pyramid. Currently she's in Adelaide, settling in to her new lifestyle there. And here are the photos of the reunion:

Wei Vern, Shu Ning, and me

Chun Hon also had his farewell last Monday, as he was going to fly to Melbourne on Thursday. All the best, Chun Hon and Wei Vern!

I attended the University of Melbourne's pre departure orientation on the 18th of January! We had to arrive 2 hours before the orientation started, so I arrived at KLCC Convention Center 3 at 11.30am, with only a cup of Milo in my stomach because I woke up late. I saw Leon and Sulfya from IH there, Ruwan (Shing Yun's friend) and Kar Mun, who sulked when I ignored her (I did not recognize her since I only met her once during a barbeque at Charlene's place). We started off by making goodie bags for the students, and I started chatting to a guy who was helping the other volunteers to bag the brochures they collected since I was next to him (I arranged the bags he bagged in a box). He was a fan of Heng Lin's and was going down the same path as Heng Lin, which is Genetics. After the goodie bags were done we were given a talk then we split into our jobs (signing people in, ushering, counting heads). After that when the orientation started I hung around outside since there was nothing to do inside yet. I was kinda surprised to see Heng Lin and his parents there, since I thought he was still in Melbourne. After Amy the Malaysia-Singapore counselor gave her talk we split the students up according to course and then split them again into groups of 10 for a volunteer-students briefing. I talked for about 2 hours until I was hoarse, answering their questions about Melbourne. Then later I talked to some parents outside the hall, and only left at 5pm. I enjoyed myself very much at the orientation and did not realise I had nothing to eat the whole day.

Chinese New Year is fun as well as boring. Fun because I get to meet relatives that I don't get to meet during the rest of the year, and boring because the old routine of chotaiti and blackjack is well, getting boring.

This year, as usual, started with the reunion dinner. My uncle came back from Singapore, and it was good to see him again. I felt kind of sad when he said that one must learn violin at a young age in order to reach the professional level. There goes my chance of learning violin! Then all the youngsters (me, my brother, and my cousins Helena and Alvin and their cousin Henry) went to the computer/piano/storeroom to play games and surf the net. This time round I brought my laptop there, so that we wouldnt fight over the 2 computers and my cousin Alex's laptop :P

Picture stolen from my cousin's blog!! hehehe

The first day of Chinese New Year was normal. Cousins did not invite their friends over, so there was less people. Usually many people like to visit my grandmother's house to eat her keropok udang and savor the many dishes she and my aunt cook. My aunt also makes really good peanut biscuits and assorted cookies. Whereas my mom has promised 5 years ago to make a quiche with me but until now I haven't seen any. In fact, I always thought quiche was a kind of fruit tart (the ones with kiwis and strawberries and grapes and with custard) until one day IH served up a bacon and egg quiche. My second cousins which I had not seen for two years also came over. When Shyuen finally gets round to putting up the *current generation* portraits up on Facebook then I can post some pictures of us girls camwhoring. At night Alex drove us cousins and my uncle to Cheras for some pool.

Second day started off with Alvin annoying me. He keep wanting to play chotaiti with money, even though me and Helena did not let him. Reason: he's too young, even though by his age we were gambling already :P We went off to KL Sogo while my cousins' family left to go back to their other hometown. We ate at Siang Seafood Restaurant in Sogo (excellent service, great food, killer prices) as my uncle wanted to eat dim sum. I recommended that place because the last time I was there Shing Yun's mother treated us to dim sum and it tasted really nice.

Halfway through the shopping my grandmother said Kam Poh asked us to go to her place near KL, so we hurried there. We had to go up a winding road leading to the top of the hill to get to Aunt Me Li's place, who is Kam Poh's daughter. Apparently I havent seen this branch of the family for more than 10 years, since Aunt's Me Li's brother married ten years ago (he has 2 kids now). They expected me to be a small cute little girl, but I've already grown beyond that :P I got very excited when I heard Aunt Me Li and her husband are chartered accountants; I ended up following them round the whole time, asking lots and lots of questions. Their answers enlightened me and my interest in Accountancy was revived. I want to do be like them, who loves their jobs and is still interested in it.

Busy playing PS3

Chatting away

A beautiful picture...

Once we got back at night my grandmother said that I left my handphone at their place and I got a scolding from my mother. I just totally forgot about my handphone at that time since I was busy. Anyway, my cousin took out the mahjong set and me, Helena and my bro played mahjong while my grandmother grumbled that small kids shouldn't play. My mother watched as we played and said "How come you all know how to play I also don't know how to..? I must learn next time!" I won the first few rounds because I managed to remember what I learnt from last CNY and I last played with Ian and Luxian once 6 months ago while the others last played last year at CNY. Then the luck changed and favored my cousin, although I managed to win again after a few rounds. My sneaky brother saw I was winning, and when I left the room for a minute he stole my seat for the *good luck*.

Tomorrow my relatives are coming over for a house visit, so more updates in a few days!

The chocolate cake I baked. Yum!