to the new beginning

a new year. a new beginning. i was meant to announce that i've got the PhD scholarships! thank you melbourne uni for believing in me (my project). thank you department of medicine for my placement. so rest assured that i'll still be able to further my studies without burdening my supervisors or parents.

too many things to be done in such short period of time. was accomodating my family when they were here for my graduation. then right after graduation on the 17th dec, off i went on a road trip to sydney with eugene's family. all expense paid trip. i felt bad because they didn't let me pay for anything. but at least i was a good navigator when it comes to reading map and a 'portable' camera gal. always trying to help them take family pictures but always end up someone in the pic blinking! all in all, i had great fun! even got the chance to meet up with my childhood girlfriend, jane. it was nice chatting up with her, just the two of us. was wishing the night could have been longer. and thanks jane, for keeping your night free just for me, knowing that you actually had something on. and also for staying out so late eventhough you stay so far! i've checked on the map when we were leaving sydney, that liverpool is indeed pretty far away!

been busy packing up stuff and getting ready to move as well. didn't even get about to writing a draft for the journal my supervisor asked me to. now i also don't know what i'm going to do when i get in on the 2nd jan. hopefully he's not mad that i didn't do my homework.

then i'll be off to tassie the next few days for a week. soon enough, i'll be back in msia!

merry christmas

merry christmas and a happy holidays to all!

softies

softies in production! came upon this book in the bookstore, it caught my eye and it was love at first sight! then i went on to look for materials. because sewing machine is too expensive, i decided to choose the easiest looking one to make. scan template, enlarge, print, cut cut felt, sew sew sew. because it was handsewn it took quite a while. and thus born, morgan the monster!

then to my surprise when i came home today, eugene bought me a sewing machine!!! whoa! so i made another one with the sewing machine this time. though i must say, i had to spend quite some time understanding the functions on the machine before starting with another. but i'm happy! we decided to call this one, the ninja!

the happy duo!

*edit/

i've made like 4 now. ninjas in production! maybe, just maybe, you'll be lucky enough to get one of these weird and cute softies eh?

but i feel sick today. production is halted.

anxious

to find out whether i get a PhD scholarship or not. especially i just read an email that one senior in my lab got his scholarship offer already. it's the same one that i applied for which it says "application pending". i've been checking my mail like a thousand times a day! but actually, i think i'm just too keen to be independent. if i get the scholarship, then i don't have to rely on my supervisor to cover my expenses for next year. it's not like i won't be able to do a PhD or something like that. because no matter what, with or without scholarship, my supervisor has enough funding to support me. but you know, it will just make me think that i owe it to him. some more he will give me a top up scholarship regardless. where to find so nice supervisor you tell me. i hope i don't fall into the comfort zone to easily. else i might take things for granted. such a huge commitment ahead of me. i really hope i'll be able to meet up to expectations and responsibilities.

in slightly more than a week...

...my family will be here

...attending my graduation

...stop going to work for the shortest time

...go on a road trip to sydney

...so much is happening

once upon a time...

...i lost a toe nail


and now it almost looks normal...

when the internet is up and running

i'll be here online. online for as long as i can before it goes down again. though i don't exactly know what is wrong but at least it's rather easy to repair. must be not doing the proper thing though or else it wouldn't be down so often. maybe then i'll have more reasons to read more books. i just want to lay in bed and do nothing all day. i think this hayfever allergy thingy is starting to get on my nerves. when i wake up with a stuffy nose and watery eyes, i just don't feel like going to work. so i ponteng like the whole second half of the week. but i think i'll have to make up for lost time next week. cannot be so irresponsible do things halfway.

then i also have to look for potential new place to stay. this is taking up my brain power too. do you think it's better to get somewhere near the city, fully furnished but at AUD 200-300 more per month or somewhere which i might have to walk 50 mins to reach my campus (or 20 min tram - AUD 103 per month), need to get all furniture for house (cuz i already got furniture for room) like refrigerator, washing machine, sofa, dining table and chair, kitchen utensils,tv.

on the lighter note, i've gotten my results d. now just have to hope it's good enough to be considered for a scholarship. fingers crossed. trying not to get my hope too high because i know it's rather competitive and i think i'm just borderline. i really do hope i get it so i don't have to burden or rely on my supervisor's project funding. talking about project, i also haven't decided what exactly i want to do. i'm just too lazy! but it's good to know regardless of the funding i'll still be able to do a PhD. just think, if i don't get the scholarship, then it will be more troublesome in terms of re-enrolment. have to appeal for fee remission (don't need to pay tuition fees) then only can enrol, then only can make visa, then have to go medical check up, also health cover. sienz.

family potrait when my 'mum' came to melbourne.

ironic isn't it

my fav pic at the moment. but there's an irony if you look closely. where do you get this colourful candies from?

yes, eventhough i am officially on hols and should have more time to blog, my internet connection doesn't seem to be working the way it is. every other day it just gets stuffed then i lazy go fix it because my housemate still have exam. so never really online that much. weekend pulak go jalan jalan so never online also. ah. this is the life! if only it's not so darn hot!

everything new

i finally got myself that haircut. now my hair, looks nothing like before. you know you always go to the hairstylist wanting something different? this time, it's really different. and i'm liking it! my supervisor said "oh, i see you got yourself a post-thesis hairdo" and my senior said " someone took a bite out of my hair". so yes, deceivingly long but it's superbly short. no pics yet tho because i didn't have a camera.

went to have a early christmas lunch with the lab today. total of 20 people turned up. the whole lab, changing the tram to our destination, supervisor too! i think it's kinda cute, don't you? had japanese teppanyaki. it was plentiful and covered for by my supervisor. then we had a kris kringle. initially i asked myself "what's that?" then i realised it was exchanging of presents. you draw out a name and then buy a present for that person. i got chocolates. a lot of other people got chocolates too. i guess it's just something that most people will like. which i definitely do! there was christmas ornaments, photo frame, teacups, candles, book, vodka, wine, shovel !!?, necklace, wine, more wine and more chocolates! then we hung out chit chat exchange places and chat somemore. imagine, the whole lab is away from work on a wednesday afternoon. doesn't only end there, went for more drinks later!

til it came a time i had to leave, thankfully everyone else leaving too. it was already past 5pm anyways. then i went to look at the new digital camera i was eyeing on. and now, i have a new gadget! i just couldn't wait for a month, for my parents to buy it from malaysia. of course it's slightly more expensive to buy it here, but my rational was if i buy it here means i'm buying it with my own money (my parents does not contribute to my allowance or expenses here in any way because i have enough from the government and from working). another rational is if i work for 30 hours on my hourly pay, i'll be able to pay off for the camera. that's me trying to console myself for my splurge. but i'm loving it!

back from the land of pengpengpenguin

came back from the land of pengpengpenguin two days ago. though was literally living on the same island as the penguins. didn't went to visit them. no one was interested since most already went. so i missed out on coming in close contact with those cuddly friends. the trip was awesome! 10 gals and 1 guy. yes, that's the ratio of honours student within the St. Vincent's campus. and out of all these, only 2 of us are going to continue on with PhD, hopefully. as for the rest, there's too many options to choose from. med school. masters. research assistant. etc etc. we promised to keep in touch. we'll see how that goes. the student room will never be the same without the other four gals.

at the moment, enjoying the life of having nothing urgent to do. cleaning never seems to end. clean room. clean house. clean kitchen. wash clothes. wash dishes. so many boring things to do. since the rest are having exams. no one doing housework. don't need to tell you also you know where needs cleaning most eh?

bake. i like to bake. but i can't take pictures of what i baked today because my camera is sick. it has blurry eyes. now it can't see nicely. so it's rather redundant. hoping to get it diagnosed soon.

need a haircut. need a facial. fugly. too lazy to make appointment.

need more cash. to enjoy. woo!!

/edit

cuppacakes! yum yum yummy!

//edit
bad picture quality taken from sony ericsson w700i hp camera

over and done with

thesis is due tomorrow. have gotten it printed and all before i came back home today. that's it. i'm not going to look at it again. i don't want to have pick up any mistakes. the only thing i can ask for, if only their paper was whiter! i have an obsession with seriously white paper. not oath white but bleach white! anyways, it's still really good that the IT guys help with the printing. save us a lot of time and money in printing it. just need to get it all bound tomorrow! so exciting! whole year worth of work is gonna be determined by this one bound piece of work!

all the best to the rest who still have to sit for exams!

freaking

whoa. i think i just freaked myself with that countdown. what? 4 more days? feels as though i have more time than that? wonder why i'm not stressing out though. seeing that i still have so much to write. hmm...somethings not right. i shouldn't be as calm as i am.

current obsession

almost there but not quite yet

final honours presentation: 18th October
final thesis submission: 27th October
honours student retreat: 29th October - 4th November

is it home time yet? not quite yet.

graduation: sometime in mid December

now, is it home time yet? not quite yet.

quality time: til January

so, when will it be home time?

anytime before next chinese new year that's for sure!

my favourite idol

he's my fav from the start. hopefully he's there till the end. this is him performing another fav song of mine.

matt corby performing the blower's daughter by damien rice.

enjoy y'all!

Craze for Starbucks

today has been based on impulse. planned to wake up early to go have breakfast before heading to uni but was too cold, didn't want to wake up. so I slept till late. when I finally decided to get out of bed, crossed fingers, when into the shower and yes!! it's working! shh...I went through almost a day without shower. so I thought, better do something from home then go uni for lab meeting. checked mail, tadaa! lab meeting cancelled. woo hoo! now what? because I know I won't be doing work from home, it's too cold and dark inside the house, so decided to head off to my favourite place, Starbucks!

so here I am! supposed to be doing work but as usual. finding distractions even without internet. see see, Microsoft Word 2007 has blog post function. just testing it out. plus I wanted to blog about Starbucks. the one in the city has a mezzanine level and lots of comfy couches. i'm sitting here at my favourite spot with my cup of double mocha macchiato on my laptop in my vain attempt to do some work. in the mean time getting distracted with everything. great ambience, great view. well, generally observing people. mostly Asians hanging out reading or chatting or doing work. occasional Caucasians doing the same. some businessmen don't know talking about what. mostly people dropping by for a take away. very busy joint indeed.

I like doing work in Starbucks because I can have my favourite coffee any time of the day then sit here for ages trying to get some work done. even if I end up not doing much, I know it would have been more than what I would have done if I was home. plus they have abundance of plug points so don't have to worry your notebook ran out of battery. they actually have internet too but I don't want to pay for it. internet will just make me more distracted from work, don't you think? think I better get some work done or else it will be a waste of 5 bucks for my coffee.

 

Do try it, Starbucks Double Mocha Macchiato, it's yum be it cold or hot!

somewhat familiar

just had this very familiar feel while streaming some movie. it just sends tingles down the spine when you think about it. somehow this situation in the movie brought upon a sense of dejavu. sometimes i think i watch too much drama that clouds my judgement on what is real. anyhow it goes something like this. literally translated the situation is where two person who have been through so many obstacles in their life trying to be together, ended up not being able to fulfill their dreams because of just minor misunderstanding which excalated. i guess at some point in time everyone would have went through something similar. to me, this sort of situation seems to appear in drama or movie too often. so often that when it occurs, it just makes me wonder. wonder why does it get processed in my mind differently. my mind seems to put too much emphasize on it. perhaps it is a reflection of what happened in my life. personal connection. arbitrary.

what do you think is underground?

i wonder what's beneath the ground !? these are the flowers growing in our backyard. needless to say, we don't water them ever! nor do we fertilize them. but these flowers seem to grow beautifully! the red ones grew on a tree that used to have fruits that looks like peaches or apricots. now it looks like a cherry blossom tree.

spring is in the air!

once upon a fine weekend

i was so excited when i saw this restaurant! how often do you see someone with the surname KHONG, what's more a restaurant! =)

aren't they the cutest thing ever? the agouti one is super friendly while the brown one is super 'kepoh'. shy shy but want to follow people around. then when you try to touch it, it run away!

another cutie pie. i think it's a goat? but super fluffy! then also very curious creature, tried to climb up the fence to sniff people's hand!

chocolate heaven! one of the chocolates on display, too bad it's not for eating. it was for a chocolate handicraft competition. i voted for this one of course!

bendigo was once a mining town. so it's not surprising there used to be chinese people there. follow the money, people!

this is 'loong'. apparently it's like one of the oldest dragon in the world! but what is it doing in bendigo, australia?

sacred heart cathedral

one of the most amazing structure i've came across so far. perhaps it was because its size. majestic.

p/s: it was really hard to take a good pic considering i don't have a tripod. it's at night. it was freezing cold. and raining.