All done~ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~!

Finished my Masters with a glamorous graduation ceremony 2 weeks ago. Shall let the pictures do most of the talking then...




















Now.. thats me holding my Masters cert. All done~

After graduating one more time and this time with no further studies in mind, I was out looking for a job. I got to say I am pretty lucky to have secured a job before graduation as well. Now all I got to do is wait to sign the paperwork and it will all be sweet. Pay-wise for the job is pretty good as well. It is comparable to what I am getting from teaching alone.

Talking about teaching... so far all of my private tutoring students this year managed to get High Distinctions for their exams this semester. Haha. Can't be more proud of my own achievement~ Especially since there were only 20 or so students who got the HD out of 600+ students overall. There were suggestions abt me teaching full-time while studying for a PhD, but that all got to wait.

This year, I spent my first Christmas here. It is good. Very wonderful in fact. Surprises and gatherings. Christmas Eve was dinner in Brisbane, followed by a romantic walk after that. Christmas luncheon at Cindy's was fantastic. So much fun! Am now tempted to get fitter after all the good food.















Christmas Luncheon at Cindy's...















Shall let u all look at this... Hehehe...

Canberra, Masters completion. Auckland.

Another few months of no-writing, back again. I think I had been laden with too much work before and slowly, I had lost my touch when it comes to writing. I completed my Masters and now am just awaiting graduation. One stage of life has ended while another brand new one begins. I am officially now un-employed. Wait, I cannot say that yet since I have yet to graduate. I am still waiting for Dec 17th to come. While waiting, I had sent out about 10 over resumes and 2 had gotten back to me. One was an email saying I had failed in my application. Another was a phone call a couple days ago and an impromptu phone interview. After-which, he says he will get back to me. So I will wait and look out for more jobs available.

I had visited Canberra and Sydney during one long weekend holiday. It was a great trip. We spend approx AUD$200 each on food alone! Thats amazing given the fact that we were only there for 2 and a half days. Haha. Alot of nice pics were taken and I shall post them up in Facebook when I get the time.














The Parliament House in Canberra.

We spent a couple hours there and the tour was definitely the highlight of the trip.














The ladies' favourite cafe.. Lindt Chocolate Cafe at Darling Harbour.

I was asked to go Salsa in Syndey, but I turned it down as I didn't want to end up killing some bastard or him losing a limb or 2. Not sure why but whenever I think of salsa in Sydney, I get reminded of him. A very fruitful trip definitely, but it turned kinda bad on our flight as Mimi lost her iPhone 3GS at the airport after boarding our flight. But then again, I got her an iPhone 4 in return as I happened to get a good deal.

After that short weekend get-away, I continued with my placement at the Gold Coast Hospital and finished up my Masters program. We planned another holiday before my graduation before my student visa expires and this time, we are going to Auckland, New Zealand, for 5 days.

It is quite a nice country I will say. The land famous for All Blacks and having more livestock than human beings. Spent a day at the thermal-reactive town, Rotoura, and was amazed at the scenery which greeted us. Alot of the pictures are readily available in Facebook. One of the many is shown below, the White terraces of Rotoura.














The white terraces of Rotoura.

Another favourite place of mine is the mudspa and hot spring. The whole place has boiling lakes and ponds. A very magnificent sight definitely.















Wai Ora geothermal sites. Hot steam rising from the water.

And of course since we were there, we might as well try the mudspa and soak ourselves in the hot spring.





















At the private mud bath... before we soak ourselves in the Sulphur spa pool...

Definitely a good trip. Although we were all tired by the end of it, but its all worth it especially since we had cover alot of places during this trip. Perhaps next time when we go there, we will have time to travel to the South Island instead. For now, back to waiting for more calls and more job search...

Back to writing...

I know it had been more than 2 months since I written anything here. To be honest, I am surprised at myself for typing this entry this morning. Its not that I got nothing to write nowadays, but life had been so busy for me that I even needed a weekend get-away last week just to freshen myself up.

I got myself a new car. Bought it at a good price and bargained for an additional AUD$3500 discount. Might not seem alot at first, but given the final price of AUD$21,888, the discount is almost 15%. Good deal still. Am loving it. Dom thought its a RX8. Haha. Its way off my budget and if I have that sum of money, I rather spend it on another car or on something else.














My new ride...

I had been back to Singapore and back to Aust. It was a fantastic trip, although only 18 days long. I guess I really enjoyed myself towards the second half of my trip when I had finally settled issues at home and was able to 'enjoy' myself alot more. Caught up with alot of friends over dinner and it had been good. Met up with the boys and really miss them alot. I know I said this before, but although we are best of friends and we only meet up a couple times every year, once we finally met up, the feelings we have for one another is back to last time! Felt as if we had never been separated! Miss everyone back there.















A happy family!














With my favourite food guide!














The guys!

After coming back to Aust, its all back to work and finishing my studies. My boss had told everyone that from now on I am supposed to take over his duties when he is not around and it can only be good news for me. I had asked for minimum classes to teach in the first 6 weeks of semester due to my placement at the hospital as I am there from 7.30am- 4pm everyday during that time. After those 6 weeks, I was re-assigned to another department and have more flexible hours so my boss allowed me to take over his classes just so I can earn abit more money as well.

The placements had been good so far. Cardiac was fun and working in the catheter lab seems to be the way to go for me. Besides, since I have an affinity for numbers as well, my supervisors there had been teaching and guiding me the processes of cardiac implants along the way.














My working environment in a cath lab.

My second placement had been enjoyable so far. Just 3 shifts a week, shouldn't be too tough I guess. For now, I will just reorganise everything so I can take more classes as well. Need to boost my income a fair bit so I can be more stable financially.

Yvonne came to GC a couple weeks ago and we finally caught up with one another. I also flew down to Sydney and travelled to Canberra as well. We did catch up again in Sydney and went to a few good places to eat as well. The food there totally rocks and even their desserts are fantastic. Didn't have time to process the photos yet so that got to wait.

I think thats enough for today as I got to prepare to go Uni for a full day of teaching. Not sure when I will be writing again but lets just hope it doesn't take this long again...

Semester DONE!!

The semester is finally done! With my performance review on Monday, it marks the end of the semester with huge success! All comments and remarks given totally make my day! The Head of School (or Dean in some faculty) says I have done a brilliant job at keeping everything together and even my former boss (whose role I took over this semester) said that I "put his own performance to shame"! Hahaha...

Now just have to wait for my own results to be released and gonna head back to SG this Sunday. Shopping time~~!~~! Time for my massage-cum-physiotherapist session~!

You...

Lately I had been hearing alot of stories about you. No good things, to be honest. For one, its your attitude. True that we are no longer talking as much, but do think back, why does it happen? If you didn't put words in my mouth in the first place, we could still be friends. Now, we are simply acquaintances.

People are unhappy that you had taken us for granted. Even people working close to you are also feeling that way. Don't put yourself up high on the pedestal when you are not that qualified. I just hope you can reflect on all that and perhaps change your attitude toward friends. I wish you all the best for the exams.

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We had not met up as often as you might have wished. I am very sorry but assignments and exams are piling and I cannot afford to do badly in any of them. Besides, I know you had been pretty free recently and had ran into some issues with some people. I will try to catch up whenever I could.

The next few weeks are exam weeks and no doubt that you will be bored and want to go out. Just like this time last year, I will be staying home to study. However, this year with so many things happening, I hardly had time for myself. So do give me some time to sort things out and we will go out once everything is over. Don't think so much into things and you will be fine.

P/S Your pictures nowadays... are looking more and more unnatural... And I am not the only one who says that... The comments speaks for themselves.. take care yea...

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Last night as I fell asleep on my desk, I dreamt of you. I was back in Singapore and we were talking about how everything happened. Obviously we don't like how it ends but I guess its for the best. Maybe like you said, at least you have nobody to answer to, you don't have to stop doing things because of me...

I just wish you are alright now and please do take care of yourself. You should rest and let your neck recover. Don't want you to hurt yourself. Although we are no longer partners, but I am still concern about you. Take care and see you soon.

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2 months and a half.

Wow. Its been more than 2 months since I last updated. No doubt that its been along time, but I just lost the feeling of typing out my blog. The end of semester is already here.

Alot had happened. My birthday went pretty well. I went to Byron Bay. It was nice there. Dinner prepared by Liam was fantastic. No complains at all. All guests had fun and it was good.

Semester had worn on and it has been a successful semester teaching. Alot of positive feedback had been given with regards to my teaching and everything had been looking positive so far.

My Masters had been good and am just hoping to pass all subjects. Thats all I ask for.

Fauziah and I had gone our separate ways. Its for the best I feel. She had moved on pretty well and I should too. It had been a good year and few months. Wonderful memories will always live on and I wish you well.

I was involved in a near-fatal accident 2 weeks ago. I almost lost my life there. I am thankful that I am still alive. The other party had claimed liability and am claiming all my injuries and treatment to his insurance. My car is a complete write-off with insurance paying me $4,100 for it. Given that I paid $5050 for it 3 years ago, its a pretty good deal. Well, my car is un-repairable. Given that all alignment is gone and the fact that the impact literally killed my engine, its given that its a write-off.




















Note that even the wheel caved in....

She had served me well. When news that my car got hit on the side, a mate said "Woah, Goldilocks got rammed!!" Funny as it sounds, being car-less seriously is not good. Shall thank my lucky stars that am still alive today.

What happened was that I was travelling on a straight road when a ute (pick-up) turning right hit me from the side. It dragged me across to the other side of the road with incoming traffic coming straight at me. I got to swerve to the side, into the grass to avoid a head-on collision. I was very shaken after the accident and ambulance came to access my injuries.

I am very thankful that am still alive today. I could had been lying in a coffin right now if I were not careful at all.

Alright, enough of writing... time to concentrate on my Law and Ethics essay... am given a week extension due to the accident and now I got to finish it by next week!

A sudden change.

Work had been hectic. Going back at night to prep labs for the next day. Fuses blow and everything. Something just doesn't seem to be right. Its been a roller coaster ride this week. Amid of all things, one of ours died in a iron-man competition. Sigh. Whole department was in a disarray. Hopefully next week will be better.

Time had been scarce. I didn't even have time to sleep. Hopefully it will all be better next week onwards although I doubt it as labs will be tougher. Sigh.

Lectures had been good until I received a couple of feedbacks. Got to slow down alot more for a handful of students who couldn't understand the concepts they were supposed to know from previous course. As ridiculous as it seems, when there is a pre-requisite for the course I am teaching, and if you had not done that pre-requisite course, why are you in my course in the first place?! You still have the cheek to write in to complain and say I am going through things too fast for you. I got 120+ students, and 100+ are happy with whatever I was doing and only 2 of you were unhappy, so you got to complain? Argh.. u can never please everyone..

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There has been a sudden change in myself lately. I keep to myself more often nowadays. Sigh... perhaps its all the stress... perhaps its other issues... As for now, I am going to try and focus on my work and studies. Try not to let other things bother me for now. Need to put my focus in place.. its only Week 4 next week~!!!!

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Liam asked to cook for my birthday. So I called a couple friends. Although its very last minute as I didn't know what to do on my birthday til just 2-3 days before, I appreciate that everyone make time to come. I simply got no mood to celebrate. Although sisters in GC had planned a celebration last week, I am happy already. Just surprised that friends do remember as well. Liam should be here any minute. I should be getting ready too. Til then... bye...

Thoughts...

Had been bothered with stuff in my head lately.

First and foremost, Aust DIAC office took some time to process my visa and guess what? After approving my visa application, they did not inform me! There I was, nervous and worried about my visa expiring next week and after all the hoo-ha 2 weeks ago, still no news from them! I went to the DIAC office today and was informed that they actually approve my application last Wed. ~!@#$%

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I finally sign my teaching contract last Fri. Got to say I am pretty impressed with how much my pay scale jumped after graduation. Right now, am only giving 2 hours of lecture every week for 13 weeks and 9 hours of labs each week for 7 weeks. At least I doubt I have to worry much about my petrol cost for going up to Brisbane 4 times a week for my lessons.

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Lately, I seen some friends making advancements in life. I am happy for them. Very happy in fact. However it made me think alot as well. I tend to question myself, "What about me? Have I done anything worthwhile all these 25 years of mine?" I am turning 25 really soon and looking back at my accomplishments, it seemed minute. Friends around me had been very encouraging and asked me to start planning early if I really want to make something out of my life. I do agree that I got to plan early. However, I just cannot help but think of all the 'What-ifs' in life.

I guess I really have to strive harder now. Got to strive even harder. Work towards to my goals in life, even if it means sacrificing my time.

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I had been quite surprised at myself this time. I never expected myself to do what I did. Although its already the past, thoughts of it still stings. Not that I think of issues on purpose but sometimes when you are alone, memories and thoughts tend to float into your mind.

Most important thing for me now is to let go... There are 3 phases in life. Acceptance... Forgive... Let go... Alot of issues I had been through, I was able to forgive. But to let go? It does seem abit foreign to me. However, I believe it will take some time for me to really let go. So please be patient with me...

Commencement of Masters.

Its been a long time. I am back in Gold Coast for more than a week now. The trip back to Singapore has been fruitful. I managed to catch up with alot of friends and without a doubt it had been an enjoyable 2 months.

I made some short trips when I was back in SG but memorable ones are still the BKK and KL trips. The best times I had back in Singapore got to be my last 2 weeks. Sounds kinda funny but its true. Although I was leaving in less than 20 days, the feeling I had was totally different compared to when I first went back.

This year, Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day fall on the same day. As such, my darling went along with me to visit. It was an enjoyable day afterall.




















CNY at Darling's..

Other than spending time with my family, I still managed to catch up with my best friends in SG. Thanks David for the dinner. It definitely tops all previous gatherings we had. I got to say that even KTV will not be as fun as this!















Dinner with best of friends..

Now am back on the Coast, time to do my Masters. As the course only has 10 students, it is quite obvious if anyone skips a lecture. Not that I am going to, but the thoughts of skipping one and how easy it is to be caught, is horrifying.

I will be finalising my contract this Friday. Seems like I will be the course coordinator for one module and everything seems good for now. I don't mind working as long as the Uni pays me well. So far, money is the sole motivation of me working.

Its gonna be a hectic semester as it seems right now. Not sure when I will be writing again....

An update finally~~!@

Its been more than one and a half months since I last updated. I had been busy enjoying myself and did not have the time to write. In short, my parents went over for my graduation and we flew back to SG together.














Family pic without our sis... MayEe... When you graduate, we should take one together as a family!

Had a couple of gatherings back here in Singapore. Of course, the first one was with family and best friends. Dinner with friends and it had been great catching up with everyone!















Meeting with best friends~

Not forgetting, I managed to sprung a surprise on my darling by coming back a couple days earlier. Planned with her sister to let me into the house early morning just so I could wake her up in bed. Usually, I tend to give her morning calls everyday when I was in Aust. So that morning, I went over to her place and woke her up in person instead. Haha. She thought she was dreaming. Hehehe.

I went Singapore Flyer finally! Haha. Not a bad experience as we are only paying half price for it. Thanks darling for getting the tickets! Spending New Year and Christmas in Singapore had been great. Both parties were enjoyable and managed to catch up with some very old friends.















In the cabin of Singapore Flyer...















I like this pic... lol..

I went to JB with my dad and his friends for massage, sauna and jacuzzi for one whole day. Paying only 98 Ringgit, everything was included. Food was free-flowing, drinks were all up to you to choose. It was very relaxing. Dinner was at an exotic-food restaurant. Turtle, squirrels and all sorts of animals were on the menu.




















Menu at that restaurant...

I went Bangkok for 5 days. It was a trip full of shopping, massage and eating. Everything about the trip is enjoyable. Tiring it might be, but still, all worth it. Getting to spend our first anniversary together in a foreign land with no one else to disturb us is a great idea. Perhaps we should do that next year as well. Hehe. Photos for BKK, shall wait for next update or check my fb~