Friday, November 27, 2009

an update of this and that

I've been meaning to update a while ago.
But then I haven't had enough time. After handing in my thesis, we left for Sydney for a week.
We got back after a week and hunlin's friend visited from Tasmania. Been busy the entire week and the day he left, eeling arrived in Melbourne.

On top of that, I had exam scripts to mark. Tons of em. Almost went crazy. But it's all done now. So there's time for updates and everything else.

It's ee's second day in Melbourne only but we've covered quite some ground. Went around the city yesterday, all the way to Federation Square, to DFO after that, to a sexpo after (hehehe, we got student tickets for that! haha. believe it or not!) and to crown at night. So much walking, that by the end of the day, we were so exhausted, all we wanted to do was to shower and take a good nights rest.

It's been a month since I mentioned about my gift in the mail. Well, I've got pictures of it and pictures by it. Hahaha.
Here's what I got...

behold.. a Paul-Smith Lomography Fish Eye Camera. wheeee...
it's very old-school. it uses film so we've gotta go to a camera shop to get 35mm film for it.
But the pictures that we took using it is soooo cool. one thing we've gotta keep in mind is that we've gotta really go close up to the subjects when taking photos. or else, the effect of the lense isn't that obvious.

front view of it.
the lense sticks out and it isn't removable. and it's a limited edition one too! wheee...


here are some photos that we took using the fish-eye lense camera

sand boarding by the beach in sydney. it was sooooooooo fun but it was burning hot under the sun. and the climb up before we can sandboard down is a killer!


we went to this reptile farm too in sydney where there were animals roaming freely around the park. we were given this small bag of food (some kinda cereal) to feed the animals. this looks more like me sniffing the kanga's butt. but it's ok. they were sooooooo cute, adorable, soft and cuddly!

the effect of the lense:standing in front of a lighthouse. the shot wasn't close enough. hence, the lack of the fish-eye effect.

us in Rhodes Shopping Mall in Sydney.
finally, my new facebook profile picture. It's in Sydney and the harbor bridge is somewhere behind.

Till the next one,
wait up for more holiday pictures... wheeeee...

Monday, November 23, 2009

two days and counting....

ee's coming on wednesday!!
can't wait. can't wait. can't wait.
we've been planning this trip since forever. she bought her ticket earlier this year and we've been counting the months.

and november is finally here.

will update again real soon with my sydney trip and more pictures.


Till the next one,
I've got final exam papers to mark...

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

abso-effing-lutely hawt

VERY DELAYED POST. sorry

Melbourne has DONE it AGAIN!
This place is well-known for its extreme weather. You can leave the house in the morning with a jacket cause it's 12 degrees with winds outside. By noon, if you've still got your jacket on, you're ridiculous cause the sun is effing hot and giving you a headache. Then, once the sun is gone, you might need to head home to grab your jacket again if you're going out for dinner cause the cold winds might just come back for a quick visit. And trust me, if you're in a nice summer-y top and a short skirt and the cold winds come along, you'd wish so hard that you had just brought out a sweater instead of having to pay for the stupid cab ride home. That's melbourne weather for you.

And summer just came early. I think.
I remember this time last year, it was still kinda cool with nice winds. It's only the start of november for goodness sake. I even recall that when I went back last year (11 nov), it hailed two days after for two days in a row!!
But now the melbourne weather is INSANE! The sun is sooooooooooo hot it eats into your skin if you're walking under it. Without any kind of shade, you'd wish you had a container that provides you with portable air conditioning when you're out. Ok, probably a car would do the trick. but not everyone prints notes. The heat is INSANE! It feels like back home in Malaysia where everyone rushes into a mall (gurney) to get out of the heat and into some 'free' air conditioning. You need sun-block over your face and your body (we just went to get some from priceline!) or you'd come back home looking like a burnt cookie!

Just a week ago, I told yvonne that she might probably need to bring a scarf on her sydney/melbourne trip cause the nights were 12-14 degrees. Guess her scarf will just sit inside her luggage now since she might even need to walk around in a bikini if possible.

In such weather, it's really important to hydrate and rehydrate yourself to make sure you don't just fall flat on your face in the middle of melbourne. Without enough fluids, fainting might be the next thing to avoid. I haven't been having enough sleep for the past weeks cause of my thesis and I probably haven't been hydrating myself enough either. I had a nose-bleed yesterday, TWICE! Scary okay.. But I had juice this morning with breakfast and bought more juice home too. I've been trying to have as much water as I can to make sure I don't have another nose-bleed. It's embarrassing and irritating to have to position your head in a way that it doesn't flow out/bleed even more. Oh well, it's all better now..

apart from that, all's well here in the city of melbourne. the thesis is completed. the semester is over. and the holidays are here. towards the end of the thesis, I took over the entire dinner table for my work. Obviously, my own study table couldn't handle the pressure.

yea. that's SOME of the journals that I had to read to complete my thesis. There were loads more. On a chair on the left and right of the table!!

But enough of nerdy updates and more of the fun stuff.

My housemate left for Vietnam today so we decided to go out for dinner yesterday before he left. Like a mini-farewell dinner. We planned to go have indian somewhere along lygon but in the midst of all the stress and handing up assignments, we totally forgot that most restaurants close on Mondays! We changed plans and decided to have peking duck but that was closed too. We walked all the way to Bourke Street to have dinner at Postal Lane but THAT was closed too! We walked along Collins to try this underground place but that WAS CLOSED TOO!! It was about 9.30 by then and we were hungry. On our way back to Swanston St, we passed by this Japanese place and decided to give it a try. We walked in and they had teppanyaki. Whee. Yummy. I haven't had someone cooking infront of my face in a while and serving it straight onto my plate while I waited. We shared orders of chicken, beef and seafood. Each set came with veges, rice and miso soup. It was expensive, $50 for each person. But Collins Street wat... wadaya expect?

anyways, here are some photos.

i look really really tired cause i havent had good sleep in two weeks. stayed up all night two nights in a row. that's our housemate, thong

that's a sauce on the left, the veges which I've finished in the middle, and some kinda japanese soy sauce on the right

the veges with seaweed. was really yummy.

the chef, who's working part time there. cause he's a student too!

and that's hunlin waiting patiently for dinner

I don't have that many photos cause I was supposed to update this before I left melbourne for sydney. I was rushing, with lotsa errands to run and packing to do so only managed to upload a couple. Sorry for the very delayed post.

I'm having an awesome time here in sydney now. Hunlin's sister and her bf are awesome hosts. We've been going on day trips and stuff. I finally went to see the Sydney Opera House.Will update with pictures when I get back to Melbourne this wednesday. btw, I got burned :(


Till the next one,
see you back in melbourne!

Thursday, November 05, 2009

The last hours

The past weeks have been hectic. There has been so much work to do. Without any extra time on my hands, I've been eating out for the past month, every single day:lunch and dinner. I haven't had much healthy food, barely did any exercise and my work station is filled with papers, notes, books, journal articles, tables, regression analysis, correlations and what-not.

After having only about six hours of sleep every night for the past two weeks or so, it's down to this day. Twenty-four hours till I have to print my thesis. I still have so much to do. So much more to write, so much polishing up and proof-reading. I've survived the entire semester. It's just another day. I can't wait! But this last fight is going to be a hard one. A one that I will never forget.

Till the next one,
Wish me luck and I'll catch up with the world on friday!


ps: It's michelle's birthday today! Happy Birthday babe! It's been ages since I last saw you. I hope you're doing great in perth. I will call you soon to catch up. I miss the times we had in Nilai. Pathetic but priceless. Without you and rengga, Nilai would have been a disaster. Have a blast on this special day of yours! mwahhh



pps: to yvonne, have a safe flight to sydney! Can't wait till you get here. While you're in the plane on your eight hour journey to sydney, I'll be staring at my laptop, typing away and working my ass off!