爷爷....

爷爷...




















Its been 4 years since you left us.
Everyone had been doing fine.

Don't worry about 嫲嫲.
Your lovely wife is healthy and had been very well taken care of.

As you might already known, Dad and 叔叔 are doing pretty well in business.
The business you started is still going strong.
姑姐 and family are doing just fine.

As for your grandchildren...
I am almost reaching the end of my studies here.
汉杰 had arrived in Australia.
All your grand-children had grown up.
May Ee is now in Canada.
汉豪 is doing very well in Republic Poly and had been dating.
Both 汉洋 & 汉嘿 are doing pretty well as well.

















I had been seeing a beautiful girl.
Her name is Fauziah.
We had been seeing each other for 10 months.
She visited me when this year in Australia.
There is still a long way to go and will definitely let you know if we were to progress any further.

















Many times I sit, staring at the ocean, just thinking of you.
Not having you by our side was definitely painful.
But I guess we had all moved on.

You had always doted on me.
We were very close.
From the day I was born, to the morning as I held your hand when you left us.
When you passed on, it was very hard for me especially.

爷爷，Thank you for coming into my dream this morning.
I will definitely come over and visit your grave when I am back.
Sorry for neglecting you after all these time.
You had taught me many lessons in life.
I had never regret spending time with you.

爷爷, although you had been gone for 4 years now.
Thank you for everything you had done for me.
I still miss you all the same.
You had always been in our hearts.

Last academic week.

This is the final academic week of my bachelor's degree. After this, all that is left of my life as a student is one Study Week, followed by 2 weeks of exams. Tomorrow marks the last day of Uni. Not sure how I should feel about this. Exams coupled with a few stuff which had been on my mind, I got to say I had not been able to sleep much recently. Perhaps its the stress of exams, perhaps its the fear of not knowing how to handle some issues, perhaps its just a wrong choice from the start... I hope things could clear up soon.

Approaching another cross-road, it will soon be time again for me to make another decision. Just hope I make the right one and do what's best for everyone.

I don't know what else is there that I can write anymore. Maybe I should leave this blog as it is and disappear along with it... Maybe...

Buenos Noches, Adiós...

Car. Mao's Last Dancer. Snappy.

Got my car back from the mechanic. Along with the various repairs done, they actually wax, wash and vaccuum my car! Now it looks as good as new. Haha. Can't be more happy as I had not seen my darling that clean for a long time! Not that my car is dirty, its been very clean all along! I wash the exterior every week and vacuum every month, but got to say would not had done a job as good as the specialists at the mechanic. So sparkling clean and shiny that I actually feel good and proud for owning that little darling of mine. Hahaha.

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Was invited to catch "Mao's Last Dancer" just now. Man... it is definitely a good movie. A show which brought tears to my eyes in the final moments. Its been a long time since a movie done that to me. Its money well spent and so far, its the first movie I paid to watch in Aust this year. The previous one was Transformer 2, where Daniel paid for us to oogle at Megan Fox. *wink*




















Cool poster... I like how the Chinese word is used as a background.

Not sure if this movie is shown in Singapore but its definitely one good damn show which I don't mind catching it again on DVD. If its not shown in SG, perhaps I might just get the DVD in Aust and bring back with me. What's even more interesting is that its based on a true story. Unlike some of the biography-movies which drives one to sleep, this one is clearly a winner.

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Does anybody understand the meaning of 'I am busy, will only do it later.' If its really important I will do it as soon as I can, but if its not and I am not interested in it, then it can wait. I don't care if its too late to respond by then because I am simply not interested in it! Sometimes I admit that I might be snappy but I clearly think that if you were to confront me and ask if I understand simple English, you were asking for it.

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Alright, am heading to bed. Danny is arriving later and I need my rest just so I can wake up on time to drive to Brissie airport to pick him up at bloody 7am on a Sunday!! *grumble* My only rest day of the week for this week and an even earlier start!

Mid-Semester Break. Car-less for a week. ZZ Birthday. Overspent.

Week 9 ended and its mid-semester break now. Kinda weird to have a mid-semster break in Week 9 when there's only 13 academic weeks. Nevertheless, we all deserve a good break to catch up on all the work that has been piling lately. Am pretty proud of myself, half of the pending work had been done over the last few days. Finished writing my Neuroscience research paper, lesson planning for next week and part of the Financial plan for a business subject. All that is left is preparing the presentation slides for the business sub and 3 journal articles review. At least now I have Thurs-Sunday to prepare all that. Neuro paper was a huge one and spent the whole day writing my part. Now its all up to the rest of them to pull their weight cause I believed I had done whatever I could.

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Was up at 6.30am (SG 4.30 am) today. Went to drop my car at the mechanic. Seems like they will take one week to repair all damages. So most likely will be home-bound for one week. Some friends are nice enough to offer car rides to/from Uni. Will not want to inconvenience them as well. Shall take it as it comes.

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ZZ birthday was yesterday. Called to wish him happy Birthday and caught him by surprise! Haha. He reminded me of how the 3 of us used to lie in bed and chat. We should really catch up when I get back. Good luck ZZ~!! We know you will do well. *wink*

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Realised that I had been over-spending quite abit lately. Perhaps its true, you spend more when you earn more. Therefore its time for me to start eating more at home. That should save me more money. Hehe. Hopefully will have enough money for me to spend when I come back to SG. Hehe. Looking forward to my return in Dec...

Lecture. Accident.

Everything was going fine for the past month or so. I was asked to take over a lecture 2 Thurs ago. My boss, R, got something to attend to and he doesn't want to cancel the lecture. So he sent me an email at 7am asking if I am keen to do it. I was up early that morning and upon seeing the email, I rang him up immediately. Below is how the conversation takes place.

Me: Morning R******, this is Ben. I just saw your email and would like more details.

R: Morning Ben, what other details? Its ok if you are not comfortable with it. I just thought to ask if you would be interested as had been receiving emails complimenting you on your teaching.

Me: No no.. thats not it, I am definitely interersted as its something new to me. Besides, it would be a good experience for me as well. I would like to know what lecture you want me to give.

R: Thats good to hear! The topic would be on 'Electricity and Safety, EMG, ECG, EEG and ERG - kinda stuff.

Me: Sounds good! Alright, see you at 1.30 then!

I went off to see him and he did warn me that normally only 50 students turn up for the lecture at that time as its scheduled at 5-6pm. He told me not to be disappointed if I get less than that as he had been seeing only arnd 30 students the past 2 weeks. So at 5pm, when I entered the scehduled lecture theatre, I was amazed at the turn out. Almost 150 students turned up! Haha. The lecture was good and they all enjoyed it. I was smiling inside as its indeed good experience and of course, I was smiling on my way to the bank! Wahaha.

The next time I saw my Boss to sign the new contract for the lecture, he told me this...

R: Ben, I had received emails from the students asking you to take more lectures. Good job! At the rate you are going, I think I would be out of job really soon.

M: *smile* Thank you, R.

R: I was thinking, since I would be going on my long service leave next year, would you like to take over the lecturing position on a contract-basis? (Contract as I would be unable to do full-time due to my own impending Masters.) As you had taken most of the tutorial classes this year, you would had known at least half the students, it shouldn't be that difficult.

M: Thats would be great! Thanks R. Perhaps we shall discuss this towards the end of this year after my graduation.

R: Definitely! Let me clear this with the head of school as this is considered an unique appointment and it should be no problem given your experience in teaching these 2 years in Uni.

Haha. If everything goes well, I should no longer worry about my financial issues. Everything seems rosey and sweet until last Wed.

I was involved in a car accident. Who in the right mind turns left without checking her left side? Only that stupid lady! I was on the left, turning into the main road. She was on the right. Both of us wants to turn left. She keep checking her right and fails to notice me. When she turns, she turns into my car!! Even after hitting my car, she didn't stop! She drove right through almost pulling my front bumper apart! Its as if she felt no impact or what-so-ever.

I drove forward and pulled over at the road side. We both got out of our car. The first thing she said was, "Are you insured?" While the first thing that came out of my mouth was, "Are you alright?" Bloody woman. Talk about empathy. She blames me for pulling up next to her. I blame her for not looking her left when turning left. We did not want to argue so we just took down each license's number and details. We called our own insurance company and let them deal with it. In all, my company is sending me some forms for me to fill up and to draw the diagram as they are well aware that both parties are blaming each other and its a case of my word versus hers.

Now got to wait til the forms arrive and Tues for my car damage assessment to be done at the insurance mechanic. Sigh... Not sure how is it gonna be. Of course its possible to look on the bright side and say its material damage and I wasn't harm. But still, its a heart-breaking to see my first car like that. Sigh. A close friend did mention that Chinese has a saying that material loss is a form of way to ward away evil things that might harm you. So maybe take it as a form of blessing instead. Sigh, lets just hope that its one big evil thing that was coming at me... and no more please...




















The damage...




















From the side...

Jess's Dinner. E-bay. Overworked & Fatigue.

Its been 3 weeks? Anyway, been to Brisbane to catch a Hossan Leong show. Yes, he came down to Australia and had a mini show there. It was good networking with counterparts from UQ and Overseas Singapore Unit definitely. Recorded the 2 songs Hossan performed during the hour long segment and will post it up soon. One was meant for his upcoming show in Oct I think.

Finally managed to have time for dinner with Jess. Although we see each other in Uni 4 days a week, its always about Uni and stuff. So we arranged a dinner at her place where we spend some time to catch up on each other's personal life. It was good. She made lasagna and I brought over a bottle of red. We spent 4 hours sitting there with wine and doing nothing except chatting! We did promise to have another session soon as we are graduating end of this year and we will be going our separate career paths after that. Gonna miss my favourite partner~




















Jess...
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I bought my first item on ebay! It arrived 3 days after I bought it and I was soooo happy. Haha. I acted like a kid getting his first toy and its definitely a good present for myself. Wahaha. Its something which will bring some fun into gatherings and definitely doesn't run on electricity. Jeremy reckoned its a good buy and I just paid for it immediately. Well, without further ado, have a look...















The packaging...















Check this out... Metallic suitcase...















A 300-chips full poker set!!

Wahaha... seems like I can start my mini casino in no time. Poker set with chips! Casino style kind of chips! Same weight, except un-marked. I chose un-marked as I do not want to be limited with their denominations. Hahaha. Now now.... shall think of a good timing for its opening ceremony. Hehe.

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Week 7 is coming. Having 3 exams this week. No doubt it is hectic, I guess I would have to survive Monday, Tues and Wed. I worked so much last 2 weeks. My visa only allows me to work a maximum of 20 hours a week. However, I took on around 40 per week for the past 2 weeks. More than half was due to private tutoring so no breach of laws. The money is good. That, I can't deny. But I did so much for this weekend, that right before my exams, I am in bed by 9 or even 10pm! I couldn't study!!! The last 2 nights, I was asleep on my laptop. Literally face down on my laptop as I was so tired. Only walked to my bed at 2-3am instead.

Perhaps I should be more careful when the End of Sem exams come. That will mean I might have to give up some students or even reduce my hours. Damn!! Now I better worry about my own studies before it kills me tomorrow.

On the brighter note, was commended for my teaching. My boss actually informed me that he had received numerous emails praising me on the way I teach. Haha! He also told me to expect an influx of students in my class as many are disgruntled for having incompetent tutors. Yesterday, at a staff meeting before the Year 1 exams, he actually appointed me chief invigilator!! All seems good so far. Am looking forward to the second half of the semester.

Alright, should stop writing and try to focus on my studies before the exam rapes me tomorrow.

End of Week 4. Sizzler dinner. Bachata CD.

End of Week 4. Although I had been turning away some students, as of this week I have 7 students now. I was teaching from 8am-4pm on Fri and it drained me. Although its good to be doing all that given the money earned, its about time I focus on my own stuff. Not forgetting, I scored my first perfect score for a presentation this semester. Haha. Seems like we got ourselves off a good start. Anyway, with much plans confirmed, seems like this semester is just gonna fly by pretty quick.

Last week, dinner with Sisters was great. Its been a long time since we last met up and Cindy had changed her hairstyle. Haha. Really nice meeting up with the 2 of them once again. We went to Sizzler at Mermaid Beach and had agreed not to patronise that place again. The food was so-so and service was below average. However, still a good evening as its the company which matter more.















Matt and I...















2 Sisters... first time they decided to take funny pics.

Last night we went up Q1 to salsa under the stars. Its definitely a different feeling dancing on the 20th tallest building of the world. Listening to salsa music, dancing on the 77th floor, overlooking the night skyline of Surfers Paradise is definitely romantic. Damn... how I hope she was here with me. Michelle and Trish were saying that it would be romantic if they were to have their wedding reception there. Haha. The night was great and I actually won an Aventura Bachata CD. I was standing close to the DJ console and he said the 2 fastest man who can produce their Queensland driving license will win it. I was one of them! Haha. The next one is in Nov and hopefully, my exams would had finished by then. Shall remember to bring my camera next time.