Coming home is a bitter-sweet feeling...

Yes. I am all packed. Or mostly packed. I am coming back tomorrow. Somehow, this time it sure feels different. Before I go on, let me just say I finished my exams. Grades I hope for are as follow:

Maths and Statistics- High Distinction
Physiology of Exercise- Distinction
Biomechanics- Distinction
Biochemistry of Exercise- Credit

Really hope I get these grades as it will pull up my GPA and compensate for a disastrous first semester earlier this year.

I had been really busy after exams. The day immediately after exams on Thurs, I went up Brisbane. With both Amanda and Beatrice in the car, we went up to shop and eat. Main aim was to sing KTV in Sunnybank. I called Bernie along and we all had a good time. All was good and we had yumcha after that. I only managed to reach home at around 6am on Friday morning. We caught sun-rise by the beach and boy was it beautiful.

I had a couple hours sleep before waking up to go Movieworld. Spent a whole day there with all the rides and boy was it wonderful~. Tried to do some more shopping before joining Shelle and her friends for a beer at the tavern. The evening was spent in Currumbin at Kate's place where Amanda got drunk. The company was great and we definitely had too much to drink!! (once again!)

Woke up on sat on the couch at Kate's and had to rush home to freshen up for lunch with both Sisters. They wanted to bring me to George's Paragon and it was good. The food was fantastic! To my surprise, they actually passed me my first Christmas gift this year!! When I opened it, i was touched.















Yes... its D & G... expensive...















Cologne.. after-shave balm.. shower gel...

Gosh, I felt so bad for making them spend so much. They bought me lunch and I got them coffee instead. It was definitely an enjoyable lunch. Got to really thank them for taking such good care of me here. I promise I will do the same when I see them in Singapore in Dec!

That same evening, I met up with Amy, Amanda and Beatrice for dinner. It was sukiyaki and we ate too much. Hehe. Didn't do much except to go back to their place for DVD.

Sunday had a brunch appointment with Helen and we went chocolate shopping! $50+ worth of chocolate! Mostly given out as gifts as I was told that SG don't sell these... Here it is...















Half of the chocolate I bought..















Helen and I in a pile of choclate.... a girl's fantasy...

It was definitely wonderful as didn't know she is such a chocolate fan... that she collected all the wrappers. Haha. I finally managed to meet up with Eziq soon after. He had changed his ride and boy... I wished I had the money to do the same. We went off to somewhere far for coffee in his new toy and it had been really nice catching up with him.





















Eziq's new ride... BMW Z4

Today, had been home after going to the beach once again to chill. Had a good talk with my buddy before dropping my car at Auntie Shirley. She sent me home to pack soon after. Michelle rang me up around dinner time and asked that I go out for dinner. Having no plans, I agreed. Little did I know that she had actually called Trish, Erin, Jessica and Kyla along! It was a great dinner having good friends around and they even sent me home.

I am gonna miss them! Coming home in 16 hours. Lets just hope my Qantas jet land safely amid all the scares.

Au Revoir Australia...

Signs.

Nothing much had happened in particular except that I was sick last week. Very sick. Took quite abit of medicine and still unwell. However, I still attended a birthday party cum Halloween at Michelle's. It was good but pictures would not be posted as there's some agreement between us. Well, I left the party early as I was pale and everyone was quite concerned about my health by then.

I made several decisions this few weeks and firmly believed that those are the right ones to take. In whichever case, its decided. Some, I believe had certain signs to guide me along and some are plainly after some self reflection. Not going to say much here as alot of people reads this.

Moving on to happy stuff... Cindy and Amelia brought me out for dinner 2 weeks ago! It was at this expensive Japanese restaurant and good food was to be expected. In short, we were not dissapointed! Put it simply, food was fresh, company was great and we had so much to eat that we couldn't dance much at the latin party after!!















This is just the appetiser... did not take pictures of the main nor dessert as was too hungry!

Had coffee recently with some friends at Broady and this funny sugn caught my eye...
















I want a free puppy!! hahaha... but can also imagine children with expresso at night.. noisy and would not be able to sleep!!

I was tidying up my room when I suddenly stood up and saw this sign on my wall. It was a gift from my mum before she left Australia last Feb.















Mum's words... true? And they say mum knows best...

Thinking about it now, how true it might be? What do you all think?

You...
Thanks for the t-shirt! Looking forward to seeing you after almost 2 years! I will feed you more than just prata!! Perhaps we can come up with something and even more outings!!

You...
Am happy that you finally found someone! Oh boy! You really took your own sweet time to pick and choose yea? Hehe. Why no more updates now? Ever since got girlfriend, no time to write?! Now I am stuck with this song on my blog, you better write something.. Not that I am complaining as it is a nice song.

You...
I know you have been very busy with new product launching in a couple weeks time. Do take care of yourself and I would be back then we can go out and have fun once again! So much to catch up on and really love the cards! *wink*

Both of You...
Thank for the concern lately! I am sorry that I made you worry so much that you couldn't sleep. Don't worry about me. I will be fine. Thank you for the talk as it just helped in one of the major decisions. I will catch up with both of you after the exams! By then, all would be better I hope.

You...
Its been half a year since we last seen each other! How have you been? I seriously think we have to talk when I get back. Cause as of now, its neither here nor there.

You...
I cannot believe that you actually told your friends. It was a shock when I was asked about it. Perhaps I have not known you long enough to fully understand you.

You...
I cannot believe how long it takes for both of us to click! Pretty fast I will say. Do take care and be fore-warned of what I told you that early morning. Things might seem difficult in future but have faith in it. You will be fine. You have my number if you ever need to call.

You...
Its been great knowing you. Studying together in the lab for this whole week seemed to be a great idea. I had known more now and would thread carefully of what and how I do things now. Regarding the conversation last night, lets keep it strictly between just you and I, as agreed.

Having taught so many students this semester, I have received comments on my teaching from their evaluations of me. So far, all liked my teaching with some even comparing me to other tutors/demonstrators they had. Its really heart warming when one of them wrote this in the evaluation..

"Before these tutes I did not understand one single thing about organic chemistry, so Ben patiently went through all the lecture notes and workshop questions with me. Even if i didn't fully understand everything in the tutes, when i got home and went throught my notes again (with ben's added tips) i was able to grasp the concepts and i definately now have confidence that i can pass the end sem exams. thanks Ben :) "

Teaching had been great for me this semester and now I know I can teach not only Maths, but Biophysics and Biochemistry as well! Haha. With exams so near, I had to turn down a couple request to do additional tutoring as I need time to do my own studying as well. I think this post is longer than what I expected it to be initially. Well, back to my studies now and maybe update again.

Camping in Murwillumbar!!

Yup! I went camping with Jian in New South Wales last weekend! We were both invited by Jess and Kyla. Its seriously an eye-opener as its not your ordinary farm-stay whereby there were animals and such. Its a real farm! Jess and Kyla's dad were sugar-cane farmers and own huge plots of land. So with huge land comes huge machines...




















Big machine I tell you...

Yea. Big machine in a BIG shed. Not only that, we had too much to drink. Jian calculated that we had an average of 15 bottles of beer each and to add on, 4 equivalent of strong Bundy-coke. We were all high and tipsy at the very least! It was a beautiful night with all stars and the Morrin family were definitely wonderful hosts! We had barbie for dinner and as it was really cold at night, we had a huge bon-fire going. Both Jian and I slept in the tents outside the house to get the real feeling of 'camping' and it was really an experience! Something I would really love to try again some time soon!















One of the many shots taken...

After the night of heavy drinking, we had a tour around Neville's farm and even visited his boat in the morning! The farm is definitely a good place to unwind and relax. Its really something you will never expect. Waking up to the chirping of birds and all that...















The farm..















Riding on the back of the truck... touring the farm.. lol..

Now with all fun seems to be ending one way or another, there's Michelle's birthday cum Halloween party tomorrow, followed by the SSA End of Sem dinner on Sat. Haha. Its about time we hand over to the new committee! Hehehe. Looking forward to dressing up for the Halloween party as my costume is abit... unorthodox! Haha..

Present!!

I bought this online...





















Made the purchase a couple days ago and its now on its way to my home. That little girl's feet get cold during winter and so I had decided to buy this to keep her warm in Canada. Might be expensive, a whopping AUD$186 but I think its all worth it as long as she likes it.

On the other hand, she had decided to get me American Eagle apparels. Hehehe.

While I try to study for my finals, I have to give myself some time to go shopping for souvenirs. As usual, I always get gifts for my parents and loved ones. This time, I have a rough idea of what to get and so it shouldn't be that tough. Hehe.

Mel, i am really looking forward to coming back for those supper!! haha. Can't wait!! We got so much to catch up on!!

End of Mid-terms!

Holidays came and left. 2 exams on the first week of Uni and mid terms are finally over. Time for a short breather and then start studying for end of sems. At least now we all know a possible aim for grades for end of semester exams.

Well, I just received another card from the same friend! I guess she must have read my post and therefore sent a card with a few simple words but used highlighters instead. I was wondering who it might send it as it wasn't signed off. However, the hand writing and greetings totally gave it away! Hehehe. Thank you so much! I miss you too!

Last Thurs we went up to Bernie's place for dinner. He cooked a big feast we sure had a good time with all the food. It was a 10 course dinner and a selection of 2 desserts. All very good food and cost only $2o!! It was a very good dinner with lots of leftover which we brought back as he couldn't finish everything himself.

Just last week I cooked at Michelle's as well. I had a craving for Singapore curry and so decided to make a pot of curry chicken for everyone. Jian commented that the veggies is alot similar to the one served with chicken rice back in Singapore. Haha. I think what was lacking is only the rice itself. I could had made chicken rice but did not managed to get the proper ingredients and so had to go with white rice instead. It was a good dinner for 6.
















Curry chicken with the bai cai with home-made spring-onions..

We celebrated Kyla's birthday at Valentinos and that girl had a blast. It was followed by drinks at Howl at the Moon and boy, the ladies sure had a good time dancing away.















The birthday girl.. ain't she lovely?















A party together at last~!

It was definitely an enjoyable night as we finally managed to go out and drink as a group. Nobody drive that day and we all share cab to get home after. I spent the night at their place again as I had one drink too many~! Haha.

Jemz, am definitely looking forward to coming back to drink with you to our hearts content~! Haha. Then we can go Union and dance silly there after as mentioned by you! We were supposed to do it last year but you were too busy mate!~ No more excuses this time~!

Mid Sem term break

Yes. Its finally here. The long awaited mid sem term break! Although it only a week long but still its about time we all need some rest from all the lessons. However, I had been approached from students to teach during this break and they are willing to pay. I got to agree as it only means more money and I am in need of it.

Most of the results for mid semester exams are out. Overall, I am happy with them. Of course I could had done better in couple of them but then again, judging by my scores, I am happily sitting on the top 20 percentile at least.

I know F1 is already in Singapore and I was reminded of it when I received lovely postcards from a dearest friend. It came as a big surprise. It wasn't one card, but 2!!! They were sent 5 days apart! Perhaps its been a long time since I last received anything from anyone from Singapore. Last one I got, was a birthday card from Shirine.















lovely cards...


I am very thankful for having someone who actually remembered and sent me the postcard even though its free. I guess its just the feeling of being missed. The contents of the cards, is filled with encouraging words and even an invitation to join her at F1~!

One would only understand the feeling of receiving something from home when he/she experience it. I guess mainly because I am the type who naturally likes to send cards home and never thought of receiving one myself, receiving these cards totally made my day.

It was very thoughtful of her. I guess 4-5 years of friendship definitely runs deep. I guess that just gives me another reason to look forward to coming back~!

Mexican Night. Thomas's party.

I survived the worst week~! The 3 assessments on Wed was good. After which I went for Mexican Night party at Erin's. Bringing a sombrero and going in red, I was dressed for the theme as requested by the hostess. Soon after I arrived, Erin drew a moustache on me and I started speaking in Spanish! Haha.

It was a good evening filled with delicious food. Nachos with dip and chicken tortillas. Yummy!
















3 Amigos... Emmy... myself.. Trish..















Nachos with mince and dips.. yummmmy.. forgot to take pic of chicken tortillas.. was too hungry..




















She's gonna kill me...















One of the grp pics we had... =)

I could only afford to party that night as I was having another bug exam on Sat morning. The brilliant me suggested that we all camp over in Uni on Fri night and understand all the concepts we needed to know just so we could all be well-prepared for the exam. It was a camp indeed. Got ourselves a big project room and start bringing in the eski (ice-box) from my car. Salami, cheese, ham, bread, tomato, cucumber.. etc. Everything you need for a healthy sandwich is there. Coffee powder, hot thermos, creamer, tea, sugar, milo... etc. Everything you need for a hot drink is in there as well! All I will say is that its a big success and we are doing it again soon!

The paper on Sat was alright. Just hope I get the grade I aimed for. I find the subject the toughest this sem. However, we are all just waiting to get it over and done with as we were looking forward to the party up in Brissie that arvo. Thomas and myself went to the beach in the mid arvo for more training and running and footy before a yummy fish n chips lunch. We then proceed over to Brissie for his birthday barbie and finally got to meet his family. The food was good, company was awesome. We then went out with friends to club at Met. Good place with beautiful bars and even the main dancefloor has cages filled with dancers in them. Definitely an experience!

The night ended at around 4 for me while Thomas stayed on with his tall blonde for another hour or so. We all stayed over at his place and had a good breakkie at 10 before coming back to the beach on the coast again!~ Haha. Such beach bums.

Dinner was cooked by Michelle's mum and both of us just popped over soon after. The best chicken schnitzel and yumy potato salad! What a way to end the weekend! I crashed on her couch and fell asleep for almost an hour before I managed to convince myself to get up to drive home. Ha~! So tired... only a couple hours of sleep the night before and couldn't sleep well on Fri night as well.

Just another 6 weeks and end sem exams are here. Shall relax one more week before we all start engines again~!