Great Ocean Road Tour 120409

Woot! I finally went on my great ocean road tour. it was SUCH a blast i'm SO glad we all did it so early in the sem and all. :) The group was GREAT and i can't even begin to try to explain what fun it was... but i shall ATTEMPT at bringing u along with me as i try to go thru the day again for the sake of remembrance. :) Complete with pictures! heh

So there was a mess up and apparently they gave us wrong info. Meeting time was 8am but they told us 8.30... so hannah ended up having to be late.. but the i made it a point to ensure that the tour company knew it was their fault and that hannah wasn't late but early actually... so yeh, we set off from college square and got on our 20seater bus... 12 of those seats were our people. MWHAHA. we owned the tour group. :) Here's a pic of us just after setting off...



After a short drive, we stopped by a petrol station along the highway. While the driver pumped up his tank, we snapped a shot... yes.. at a petrol station. how touristy can we get right? :)

From left: Vanessa, Michelle, Jane, Davin, Phyllis, Joel, Chuan, Hannah, Lois

Then we continued driving until we hit this small village/town called Anglesea. It's really cute coz it's like a small little self sustaining village. It's got everything... a bank, a supermarket, a bakery, a repair shop, a church, a cafe, shops... so quaint and nice... the people looked really warm too... We saw Anglesea Baptist church congregation having an outdoor Easter service too. so funky!!! on the grass and all by the roadside. so funky... drums and guitar all there too! haha.



We just had a short stop there for toilet break and all then we headed to our lunch destination. It was this place called Apollo Bay which had a great view and nice cheap lunch shops... but we packed our food so we ate our sandwiches on the grassy patch... yes, it is an aussie thing to do. see grass, must sit.. so we've been sitting on a lot of grass recently since coming here. Anyways, it was a nice picnic with a very cool breeze and hot sun. ;) so nice



Finally, after driving so long, we finally were on our way to our first proper destination, the 12 apostles... well there are no longer 12 i hear... apparently there are only 7 left. but we didn't know a single bit of fact coz the tour guide only spoke to us to tell us when to come back to the bus and how long we had at the destinations [yes.... it was THAT BAD... no info sharing, no whatever. sigh... $45 wad to do? :)] So we arrived at the twelve apostles and started seriously jus snapping away... so here are the photos... enjoy...







Yup, after snapping all those pictures [we were only given 1 hour here] we had to leave and go for our next destination... yeh like 1 hour here only? wth! drive for 4 hours, stop here an hour... super diao... so anyways... we went off all happy and snappy... and traveled a very distance to Loch Ard Gorge... the tour guide's from china and when he pronounced it, we all heard it as laura gorge. :S hahah.. tour bus wasn't too happy with the tour guide's lack of professionalism and all that jazz... it was his 2nd tour group apparently, Davin and I had a chat with him.

So we arrived at Loch Ard Groge and we were given like 40 minutes here... it's jus a nice big rock structure with an eroded hole in the center... i think it looks like a big shorts... or boxers. hahaha. :) Enjoy the pics.




Then we drove on to London Bridge which is like this big long structure that has fallen down... and no, it's not the "london bridge is falling down" song... that's actually about a bridge in london... but jus so happens that this is called london bridge too. interesting no? :)
Supposed to have some myth-story about some couple that met here... but yeh, tour guide wasn't sure so his mumbling wasn't even understandable. :S hahah...




Yup, after that we just took some nice stylish shots and some jump shots... then we headed back.. bought dinner on the way [fish n chips] at a pitstop and dao-bao-ed to my place to eat... Lois and Hannah came over to eat before i sent them home... it was quite stress coz it was late and we 'partied' a bit after dinner with our Zion BP chord book and a guitar. hahaha... then when i dropped lois home, there were no more trams in operation anymore... but i decided to jus try and run back to the tram stop [which is like 2 streets down ok!] and lo and behold, there it was... shining in all it's glory, the last tram. i bolted towards it and caught it. i was so glad coz the walk back is long... it's ok la, can surely walk... but i was tired like anything... so yeh, the tram was a God send... really. :)

Yup so... more pictures can be found on my facebook. i advise u go check my facebook coz I did captions there. :) but yeh, to take us home, here's some stylish pics we took. :) I enjoy myself so much and am SO glad we did it. :) I love the last pic of wongster and myself... i think it's the best pic of the day [not counting the scenery shots of rocks] coz it's so comfortable, unposed and natural. :) yayz phyllis. power photographer. :) nice timing.




Ladies and Gentlemen, for your entertainment... Joel Melbourne Production Proudly Presents, for one night only, Hannah and Lois the mad crazy bus dancers!!!!
*p.s. check out the rest of the people in the bus... compared to the 2 of them... Thus i conclude, listening to iPod makes u... yeh... like THAT...*

Good Friday Outing 100409

Today we planned on having a very spontaneous Good Friday.

First of course, we went to church for Good Friday service. it was better than i thot coz the OCFers hadn't left for Belgrave Heights yet.. so some of them were still around church. The sermon was good but like i told my fren ivan, i felt it was more directed towards christians rather than a gospel thingy for non christians. i felt that it lacked the application of 'what's this and that mean to me as a nonchristian'... it was more of a reflective sermon for us christians about what Christ's death means to us...

The main crux of the whole sermon was that it was all paradoxical... The speaker [angmoh called Jeff] talked about how Christ died on the cross. About how the soldiers who were at the foot of the cross were holding incriminating evidence. They were stained with Christ's blood, his garments were in their hands and they were making remarks and insults about Christ right there and then within earshot of God... When Christ died and the earth shoke, and the veil tore and the rocks split and the graves gave up their contents, then did those soldiers realize that this truly was the Son of God. Imagine that, you're there at the foot of the cross, the blood stained your hands and your words stained your mouth... and here was the Son of God, whom u put to death... imagine if the wrath of God poured out there and then... you were in the worst place to be in the whole universe, doing the worst things ever... there u were, standing there with stained hands and incriminating evidence. what would be your justification?

Now the paradox. the worst place to be in at that point in time is actually the best place to be in. Christ's blood staining their hands is the same bloog that protects them from the wrath of God.... amazing... and if ANYONE of us ever think we're too wretched, too sinful for God to forgive us, who are we compared to those at the foot of the cross there and then. if God didn't smite them? What better us?

After church a few of us decided last nite to have a very spontaneous outing today. The plan? Bring camera, meet at Federation Square after church and be ready to have some fun. So we walked from church to fed sq [which is super far away but didn't feel like it] and we went to the visitor's desk. I went up and told the lady,

"Hi, good day to you. We're a bunch of teenagers with a whole day with nothing to do and a low budget. What would you advise?"

Haha... so we did do a little research while waiting for our number to be called so i asked her about the Secret Gardens walk tour and it's a self tour.. so it shows u where to walk and what to look out for... and we decided to go walk that... so we [Davin, Lois, Jacque, headed off to Graffiti lane to see some real nice graffiti and then went to walk our tour.



we took so many photos it was quite crazy... on the way, we saw this huge floral clock... davin describes it as "floral clock... a clock made with flowers" :) but yeh, that was nice.. and we saw a lot of sculptures along the way too... then we saw this grass patch that was full of dried fallen leaves... and the leaves were heart shaped. so i was like why not we make a heart shape with a few of these leaves. and in the end, we made a HUGE outline of a heart with all the leaves on the floor. :)



It was one of the best parts of the day. photo whored inside the heart after that. ahha really.. woots! :) then we walked to the shrine of rememberance where they honour the war veterans of Australia... it was a very nice huge place with great photo ops... :) it was the highlight of the whole walk la...



so yeh, we took lots of photos there including a multitude of jump shots.... coz my camera has self timer and multishot so we set 10 seconds timer, set 12 multishot and jus jumped and jumped and jumped. it was so hilarious. jump jump laugh jump jump laugh... hahaha :) haiz. loved it. :) people were staring at us thinking we're crazy. haha



Then we went to roll on the grass. roll? yeh it was a slope down and we decided, let's roll down it. hahah okok jus a short way and davin didn't wanna roll. :( but the rest of us did. hahah whee! here's a video.



Yeh, then we went back to city area for dinner. bought subway and sat on the grass outside the state library [it's an aussie thing.. see grass must sit] and ate our dinner. :)



Today was SO fun i loved it so much. :) yayz!

Sleeping Puppy

This video is TOO cute. :) check it out... it's a golden retriever puppy... awww

Melbourne Comedy Festival

Hohoh... it was SO good. :) Tonite was the highlight of my week and it didn't disappoint. :) After a normal day in sch [with free sausage lunch courtesy of student union thru jacque] i came home and did some work. Then after that i got ready to meet up with Wongster and Kenrick for dinner and comedy festival. Lois and Matt tagged along for dinner and after we had our delicious meal at Mekong [love it to bits] we walked down Swanston to try to find our mysterious venue... after turning into some wrong roads here and there, we finally stumbled upon the place we were headed.

We dilly-dallied around the outside coz we were still early and snapped some photos. then guess wad... Mike Milmot walks up to the entrance and jus stands there smoking and chatting with the door men.. and kenrick was like That's him! that's mike, the guy we're coming here for! and i was like oh oh oh! let's snap a photo!



Thus the photo. :) The comic of the night with a lovely wongster and tanster flanking him on both sides. He was a real nice chap to talk to and have a short pre-show chat up. :) Then we went in and got our seats after hanging around the bar for a while. 2nd row from the front! eeps! haha but it was all good coz it wasn't front row. no one likes front row for comics... coz they always pick on the front row... and thruout the whole show, he kept focusing on the front row from time to time. scary stuff. :)

But all that said and done, he was HILARIOUS. i was SERIOUSLY laughing my head off at his jokes. crude, rude, adult, dirty at some points but OH SO entertaining and i was telling wongster that i'm SO glad we got to watch him and not some safe quiet funny comic coz there's no point in coming all the way here to melb and not getting exposed to alot of things that spore shields u from. we get entertained but like wongster said, that doesn't mean we need to carry on his act in our own lives and speech... hahaha. so it was real fun and kenrick was laughing so hard next to me too... wongster was in the zone la. bet her cheeks were all achy... kenrick and i took turns jus leaning over in our seats from laughing and it was really a great night... the jokes were funny as hell and the way he delivered it, classic! :)

Yup... now looking forward to Flare Dance casting tml, thursday night potluck gathering, Good friday service and GREAT OCEAN ROAD TOUR ON EASTER!!!! :) bring.. it... ON, my finger's already on the shutter! :)

Quote of the day: 'Raccoons are just huge rats dressed as robbers' - Mike Wilmot

The Antique Music Shop

Disclaimer: This is just a googled image. The photo is not the actual shop i visited.
The walk was much needed. It was my personal quiet time with myself and my hobby. I didn't initially plan on going down Elgin Street but thought why not; I had time to kill, nothing to do but follow a lead my friend tossed my way a week or two ago.

"Yeh, down Elgin street. Some 2nd hand music shop. It was a steal but 2nd hand lah"

That's all I had, no names, no shop titles, no directions save for 'down Elgin'... So with that, i ventured down the street that I'd never have thot twice of. The weather was good for a walk with the sun shining at just the right spots of the path that let me experience both sun and shade in the stride of a block. It was a calm day, the trees echoed my thoughts as they gently brushed through the air, careless and carefree; at least for this span of time. The cars trickled by; One, two, Camry, four; this part of the street didn't get much traffic.

I almost walked past it. Sitting right on the mainroad yet so conspicuous from the exterior. The stained windows and wrought iron parapet fencing that danced along the window. The rust on the iron shuddered its age and richness. I peered in and making out shapes moving inside, I was comforted that the walk was not in vain. Reaching out, i pushed the door inwards as a jangle of bells at the foot announced my entry.

"G'day mate, how y'going?" Looking through his half moon spectacles, the plump yet fatherly store owner raised his head to greet me.

"I'm good thank you. I'll just have myself a look around if you don't mind yeh?" Wondering if I had overstepped my welcome in assuming this shop was opening for viewing. I glanced around and took in the brown bodies lining different areas of the wall. Standing embossed along walls of torn wallpaper and semi collaged posters, the instruments that hung from them looked amazingly rich.

I took a stroll through the small archway that led to the guitar section and a smile spread across my face as I turned left and right to absorb the guitars that hung and lay against the walls of this new section. Baby taylors, Fenders, Yamahas, Epiphone; all antiquely coloured and shaped. I grinned at how their price tags seemed to fight with their age as they went old guns blazing, never wanting to give up their value. Interesting, to me, was the way they became so much more valued with age. As I walked around, the colours that peeked out of their wooden bodies were such a refreshing sight as a sea of brown and mahogany encapsulated my vision. I took a twirl around the room and noticed a sign at the back of the room that hung above a small passageway leading into the back of the store.

'Cheaper acoustic, electric, bass guitars at the back'

An arrow cleverly inviting me into an offer I couldn't refuse. All these modules about creative advertising made me wonder to myself if I was drawn to the back because of the mystery of what was behind those walls or whether it was just in response to the sign. Whatever it was, i felt my foot stretch out and glide towards the passageway. The floorboard beneath my feet creaked as i inched towards the passageway. It snaked right then left and finally a hard right into a back room. The guitars that hung here were different from those in front. These weren't polished acrylic, they were old wooden beauties. They were like Pinocchio, carved from wood for a specific reason and each screamed a story; A story of their origins and their treatment as till the present. I allowed my fingers the lustful temptation they desired as I stroked the brown wood that resonated with quality. Even the air was musky, understandable for a section not normally visited. I looked up and each guitar that hung on the walls were 2nd hand and cheaper but yet, each and every one of them made me want to just sit down in front of them and listen to them tell me their own individual story. I picked up one, unwilling to let a chance like this pass me by, and I let loose its tongue. The sound that it produced was full, complete and it lingered on. It chuckled at me and spoke

'Sonny boy, in my days, guitars were for the rich and I was handcrafted for greatness'.

".. here today yeh? would that be possible yeh?" I heard the voice of the owner draft in from the main section of the hall as he spoke to a customer. Snapping me back from my teleported state, I put the guitar respectfully down and bade it farewell as I turned my back on this section of the shop. I looked over my shoulder before departing and knew that this place held riches far beyond that of kings. Its beauty was encrusted in time and its stories along with it.

"Goodbye pappy, I'll be back another day to hear the rest of that tale yeh" I thought to myself as I made my way back to the main area of the shop.

"Nothing catch your eye my boy?" The owner enquired while he leaned ever so slightly back and tilted his head towards my direction.

"Nothing that I can afford nor anything I feel worthy to own." I pinched back letting a bit of my enthusiasm loose. "But thanks, this has given me the inspiration to strive hard at playing it well to do some of these guitars justice" I grinned as I made my way to the exit.

"Soon son, soon. Cheers mate!"

"I'll be seeing you! Have a good day" and I walked back into reality. Elgin looked so new, so advanced and yet so dead to me now that I had breathed a bit of the world, a bit of the time that I never was born into. I then understood what the rusty wrought iron gate was there for. It wasn't to keep people out from the shop nor was it to protect the exterior of the shop. No, it was there to keep the stories in, to keep the heritage alive inside, it was protecting the instruments inside from being tainted by the world outside.

It worked and nothing could steal that small back room experience from me. It was my little Antique Music Shop.

4 Beef Steaks!

Today marked the first time in history that I cooked 4 beef steaks. :) I started with 2 for matt and myself.. then another week i cooked for davin, mel and i... then today, i cooked 4 steaks. wow... haha

and they were all pretty good so i'm really happy. tee hee. so yeh, jus wanted to blog.

Conviction of Sin, God's way of slapping you

Had OCF bible study today and despite the dodgily unsettling and so-so sermon, the bible study was once again, ocf's saving grace for me. i personally felt [matt agreed] that today's ocf felt a bit wishy washy... like not much structure and all... but we were both hoping our bible study session at the end of the sermon would be good... and mine was.. as always, bible study here at ocf has been the best i've found in melb so far... very engaging and willing to talk bout good points... i guess it comes with how they're all kind of willing to talk bout stuff... like all group bible studies, getting the first answers out are the hardest but once the gears start moving and the engine runs out of cold start, the discussion is pretty ok after that. :)

Yup, today during bible study, i shared with them about the imagery of us christians being magnifying glasses... that when someone uses a magnifying glass, they dun focus or see the glass, they see what it is magnifying... likewise, when we live our lives as christians, people see God through us and they shouldn't pay attention to us but what we're magnifying, which is God...
That was a reminder to never get proud or try to claim the credit that rightfully belongs to God. we also talked about how we should be accountable to each other, to uphold each other in prayer and to be always reminded that we are sinners in need of God's grace and saving power.

But what hits me hardest today wasn't from bible study or sermon but from life experience. I think God puts u thru a lot of things to not only mould and shape u but to also test you. and tonite, i felt tested. between doing what's right and what's safe... i felt like the prophet nathan who convicted david of his sin... how nathan spoke with words so boldly to king david about his sin i will not be able to fathom but when nathan talked to david about david's sin, God opened david's heart and he confessed, repented and asked for forgiveness... and tonite, i felt like i was put in a spot to tell someone something they didn't want to hear and something i didn't want to say... but i guess God made me say it and i still aren't very settled at how i feel i needed to say it but i'm sure after it's all said and done, the other party would agree...

I just pray that it's not for personal intentions or even that i would stop the work of God and the Holy Spirit. i pray that i'll be a brother rather than a scared fren.
I wish there was an easier way. And i'm sorry.

Wait, Christian Poem

Wait

Desparately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."

"Wait? You say, wait!" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.

My future and all to which I can relate
hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me to WAIT?
I'm needing a 'yes', go-ahead and sign,
or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

And Lord, You promised that if we believe
we need but to ask, and we shall recieve.
And Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master repied once again, "You must wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taught
and grumbling to God, "So, I'm waiting... for what?"

He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And he tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.

All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want--But, you wouldn't know Me.

You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there;

You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence were all you could see.

You'd never experience that fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit decends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save... (for a start),
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

The glow of My comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
Of the infinte God, who makes what you have LAST.

You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that "My grace is sufficient for Thee."
Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true,
But, Oh, the Loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!

So, be silent, My Child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me.
And though oft' My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer is still, "WAIT."

[ Author Unknown ]

First ever results in Uni

I got back my journal results. I've got to follow a case study for 7 weeks and write journals for 3 of the 7 weeks about my observations on the company and my recommendations. Last week was my first submission... i got back my results today and wasn't too happy with it. i'm glad that i'm doing ok, but i thot i would do better on this submission... maybe i just gotta work really much harder to achieve that H1 grade.

Tutorial teacher told us that the journals were graded and upon 10, the lowest she gave was a 6 and the highest was 8... so i thot maybe i could clinch that 8. she did go thru wad the journal was marked against and what to try to do for the next few journals. So today i got my results back and as i clicked on the webpage, i was praying hard... turns out, i got a 7... that's 70%... so means it's a H2 grade... well of course it's jus a small part but i thot maybe if i could clinch H1s here, it'll make getting an overall H1 easier... yeh, Davin got 7 too... so yeh, i'm pretty satisfied with it but i would have preferred an assurance that i'm doing WELL, not OK. :)

Nonetheless, Praise God for grades and still doing alrite. :) I'm glad that i didn't fumble up this journal entry and I'm really thankful to God that i'm still surviving and doing my essays and stuff ahead of time. :) compared to singapore, there's not much i can do here so that's good too i guess. :) Yup, from here on out, i jus gotta work harder and plod on to get those grades and not those passes.

:)

One Month has passed

So today marks the first day of month TWO in Melbourne. :) it's already been a month here and i can't believe i've only got 23 more left before i have to leave. :( but i guess when the time comes, we'll see how it goes.

Things have changed in the past month. My social circle has expanded from 5 singaporeans to so many here. My interaction with people have changed too. I find myself saying 'yup' or 'yep' a lot more these days. :) oh heck, even my blogging has changed. I'm sitting in bed blogging with my nokia E63 for goodness sake. Lol. But yeh, with all these changes, i guess i'm jus really thankful to my Lord God Almighty who has provided me with so many things. He's really given me so much more than i deserve or have asked for.

So yup, i hope everything with you is fine and well. Thanks for bothering to stay updated with my blog and as i close this first month in melbourne, i pray that you will find peace and joy as well.

Take care!

Studying Session at Home

1st Service at Richmond AOG

Today I got the chance to go visit Meliza's church, Richmond Assembly of God... that was quite interesting coz it's the first charismatic church in melbourne. Met some of the Richmond pple yesterday at Mel's cell group welcome lunch so that was nice, knowing people before going to the service. So today was quite fun in the sense that we got to have a look see on how richmond conducts their service and all.

The worship was solid... very well done. Singers, Instruments, Choice of songs... quite good and engaging... the mood was obviously quite good too... but I felt the sermon lacked... relevance to Scripture and substance. It also had a pretty... me myself and I twang... i really really did go there today with no prejudices and i told myself to jus have an open mind to accept and hear everything out before i started have pre-conceived ideas... :) but still some things were hard to ignore.

Ultimately, i asked myself the qn after the whole church service... Was God glorified? What was the motivation towards a lot of things said, sermon or not... and how close did I feel to God as a result of the service. Yup, after looking thru those factors, I made my decision on Richmond.

But here are the photos we took today with my lousy camera handphone so please ignore the quality. We had a welcome lunch after church where we could fellowship over food and some simple table games. :)

From left... Hannah, Nastacha, Duane, Davin, Meliza, Joel, Matthew, Michael
Apart from Nastacha, the whole table was Singaporeans with one fake sporean... [mel]

Green drink!!! woah!
Spoon and Knife.. what an odd combi. haha.
The hall that we all had the welcome lunch in.

Oh btw, Richmond was smaller than i expected. well... compared to other charismatic churches la. :)

Church Updates and Pizza Thursday!

Sorry i've been quite slack on blogging. But you guys please, dun stop the comments or tags coming. My tagboard very boring liao. :(
Well it's not really coz i'm slack but more of the opposite. School has kicked in and the assessments have started getting more and more real... today i submitted a 600 word journal based on a case study that i'll have to do one every fortnight. So yeh, it's not that fun anymore. haha... no more time to go shopping or touring this and that. :)

But i'm still having a fun time, learning new things about people, places and things around me. Still juggling between a few christian organizations. There's CGF [City Gospel Fellowship] on tues nights. They hail from Ebenezer BP Church which was started by Rev. Timothy Tan from Life BP. They started a city fellowship for those who live in the city [students] and it's mostly asians here... singaporeans, malaysians, china, hong kong and one or two locals. Yup, they're a fun bunch, nice warm group of people. I'd say i'm prob the closest to them.
Then there's OCF [overseas christian fellowship] which is on fri night. Haven't had a proper BS with them [tml night would be the first] but so far fellowshippin with them, i've felt like they're a bit closed up. Like they welcome new comers and all but it's hard to break in. On sunday, i had lunch with them and basketball... and on monday night, went down for their jamming/training session... managed to drum quite a bit so that was fun but still feel like it's hard to get in the close circle.
And there's church on sunday. So far i've only gone to Lygon Street Christian Chapel which is where matt's from. They're also the home church of OCF so it's the OCF people again. Pastor's quite fun, nice and relatively young [30+]... he joins the OCFers for friday night stuff too. Had a Aussie speaker speaking these few weeks and he's pretty entertaining and insightful too. So that's quite good.
This sat, going to meliza's cell group for a pic nic thing for new comers and on sunday going to her church, Richmond Assembly of God... so yeh, going for a look see but dun think i'll settle down there. it's quite... noisy i'm sure.
And one more week, i'm going to go look see Cross Culture coz lots of people have spoken much bout it. so must at least go once. :)

Yup, that's the religious and studies points all done and cleared. :) Other than that, i've been cooking and sustaining self with whatever i can cook/buy. Pasta, Chicken Soup, Beef Steak, Instant Mee, Pizza, Sushi, Sandwiches... that's kinda like what i've been eating since i came to melbourne... yup... it's good i guess.. sorry haven't been posting much photos on the blog. they're in my facebook la. :) but yeh, i'll show ya some pics of tonite. it's thurs... which means it's PIZZA THURSDAY!!! coz pizza is half price here on thurs... so pizza dinner is a weekly affair for us. Enjoy! :)

Home Brand

I know this is a totally random post but hey, that's what blogs are for.

First of all, dance wasn't fun. imagine a studio [not that big] packed with i dunno, 70 plus people? it was a mad sardine thing going on. they say it's always like that for the first few lessons then people stop coming or get filtered into other classes. haha so i couldn't really dance properly... was surrounded by the opposite gender and flailing my arms might have been very detrimental for my personal character and reputation if i had made contact with any part of the body that i should not even be near. :S

and the dance steps had slides and spins. aiyoh. not very wise. :S haha.. but pretty basic so i'm jus gonna head to the routine classes and learn routines.

yup anyways, home brand... has anyone of you heard what homebrand it? well it's basically like the no-frills version of stuff in aussie. in melbourne, they have this thing called Safeway which is like our NTUC.. and within safeway, there's homebrand EVERYTHING... u name it, they have that product in homebrand... tissue, cereal, olive oil, biscuits, bread, beef... the list is tremendously long.. and the best part, home brand stuff are always dirt cheap compared to the normal products. :) to me, i dunno whether it's reall homebrand or whether they jus repack stuff and sell it as home brand to attract people to buy it instead of the normal one. that means cheaper items but more items sold. hmm dunno. they even have home brand coke and ice cream soda and juice and everything la. :) Every time i go safeway, i try to find sumthing new that homebrand has homebranded but i haven't found out yet. :) and right as i type this, i'm eating homebrand honey teddy biscuits. so nice. :)

home brand. gotta love it.

Free Handphone? WTH

Please stop reading now if u have this pristine image of your dear fren joel/rui and dun want that image to be spoilt... stop reading if u're not interested in hearing a 22 year old guy rant and curse the decision he made... stop reading. :)







So here it is... i came to melbourne and my handphone crashed on me. this is despite it 'crashing' on me in spore. I sent it to the care centre before i left and thot that would suffice and last me another few months to a year.... then i get here and a few days after i reach [within the week] it crashes on me big time... screen blanked out and i couldn't text at all. So i had to choose between a few options but i finally settled on getting a phone with a plan here in aussieland... which meant that everytime i flew back to spore, i'd still be paying monthly for it. then the decision on what phone to get.

After doing much researched, i made a very informed decision to get the E63... the reviews were smashing and it was everything i was looking for... the cheaper version of the e71, the e63 gave me all the functionalities of the e71 that i loved and even a 3.5mm audio jack which meant i could use my own earphone with this phone. Wifi for surfing and also a full fledged qwerty keypad for messaging fast and jotting down notes.

So i went and got it ont he 1st of march for $10 per month. that works out to $10 x 24months... total cost we're lookin at is $240... So i got my phone... real happy and pleased that all my problems were done... then i opened the box and realized they didn't have the data cable that is normally included in electronics... davin bought a printer at another time and the usb cable likewise wasn't included... looks like it's an aussie thing.. anyways...hunted around a lot for it and no one except NOKIA sells it... haiz.

So i bought it... for $50... like WHAT?!?! that means the phone has already set me back $290... and then i was happy and pleased coz i could sync and do all the things this great business phone could do... emailing, skyping [yup, it's got VoIP], msn, surfing the web, messaging fast and all that pajazz... yayz. happy person.

Then... then... then a few minutes ago i went onto the website of my mobile phone carrier [it's called "3"] and i got the shock of my week... they jus launched new mobiles with the Cap plans... now they offer my e63 FREE on the plan instead of $10 per month... oh oh oh.. that was enuf to send me soaring thru the roof in frustration.. but no... i scrolled down and they're selling the e71 on my plan for $10 a month.

what does this mean? well it meant that if i had signed my plan 4-5 days later than i did.. i'd have this phone for free.. yes, i'd still buy the cable for $50.. but that would be a total cost savings of $240... so yeh, u can imagine how pissed i was... i was literally cursing and banging tables... i know this isn't a very good image of me... shouldn't be cursing and all but i was THIS close to going ballistic at how shit i felt...

This is already a watered down version of the frustration i felt jus now. :) blog must still uphold a sense of civilized writing... SO... that's my summary of what a crap feeling i had jus now... and i'm still pissed off bout it... but i guess we can't always assume and think what ifs... we jus go with the best informed decision and the best option and dun regret...

but yeh, i'm still trying not to regret... i was telling my mum that if they changed their plans and offered my phone free like a month or two months after i got my plan... ok la. angry la... but no.. this one is 4-5days after i signed my plan. i'd have saved $240 if i had signed it later... haiz. :)

what's done is done. i guess spending money on a phone like this also helps me to treasure it more and treat it well [though i always treat my phones well.. until they screw up on me]...

yup. another rant is that universities are SUCKING students of cash. i'm looking at having no option but to spend $106 on a friggin textbook when i dun even think it's worth $106... haiz. we'll see what happens. them and their shit 'revised editions'.... lucky i didn't buy the older version THEN they said, "oh there's a new revised version which is 25% diff and all the tutorials are taken from the new edition"

haiz. this is how i feel now...



:) haiz... what to do, that's life. take it... shit happens. haha
on a brighter note [if there is one]... i made lunch again today. turned out well... i aimed to make chicken soup to eat with my rice... ended up getting really nice and tasty chicken soup with porridge. HAHAH.. dammit. i did the middle finger water mark thing!!! maybe my middle finger section is too long. :) shall do less water next time. heh. pics are on facebook. :)

new phone! E63

heh so yeh. If u haven't figured it out yet, i went to get a new phone. Signed the contract and stuff and now, I am the proud owner of a Nokia E63... It's a real business phone and i should stop blogging soon. I'm using the phone to shoot out a post. So that's pretty cool, heh.

Melbourne Museum and OCF

Today was a good day... relatively. tiring but good. It started out with going to sch to do this survey for a PhD student. We sat there for bout half an hour or an hour [i lost count] and we did this questionnaire... then we got paid $10 for our time. After that we went to the lawn to get more free BBQ stuff... the patties are so nice and juicy... :) ANYWAY... after that, we went to settle some timetable stuff and then headed down to Melbourne Museum. The walk was quite jialat coz of the heat... today was supposed to go up to 38degrees.. crazy. anyways...

Melbourne Museum Album

Yup. then after that, went to OCF Carlton for their welcome BBQ. :) that was just GREAT coz i got to meet a lot of new comers and just extend my frenship to many strangers... I know it's kinda wrong but i'm really taking a lot of these things to be a social networking thing... really getting to know more people and trying to expand my social circle here. Get to know others, network and share with them about who u are... that's the only way you'll get to know people, if u extend your hand out first. :) that's what i think la. If my frens think i'm deserting them for these strangers then i think my frens should really think again. it bugged me to think that the jokes were getting a bit over the line but i refused to let it spoil my day. :) After all, I'm not only here to Glorify God, study and live but also to make frens.

Yup. that's bout it. then we came back home and now i'm real tired. Tomolo's a whole day of shopping. woohoo! haha

Clubs and Society Day + Dinner @ Malini's

Today we went to school to go for the clubs and societies day thing. :) it was quite alrite... managed to see the groups that i was interested in and some that were not really in my radar. Went to the FLARE booth. Flare is melbourne uni's dance group and they basically take in anyone who wants to join. Considering how they were taking in people who never danced before, i was a bit concerned about what their focus was... techniques or routines. so i managed to speak to their president and a dancer at different times and they both assured me that the first part of the year/sem will be more technique which would then focus on routine... so yeh, not bad. i surely will join i guess... or at least try try to see if what they dance is what i like.

Also visited the Singapore Society booth. haha made a fren there who showed me directions to a handphone selling shop in chinatown. After walking around summore and getting free BBQ meat, we sat at a grassy patch and jus chilled out. Lo and Behold, an orientation group was walking by and their group leader had this huge inflated balloon ummm 'male anatomy'... it was quite hilarious coz it was SO visible from so far away and it was a girl carrying it. haha. Then they were like walking thru south lawn jus showcasing what a huge 'male anatomy' they had. haha yeh, they did some stuff with it that i can't post it up here la. but if u want, i have a picture of it. snapped it when they walked past us. HAHA... weird fun people. lolz.

Then after, we crashed at lois' house before heading to malini's place for her mum's homecooked food. it was nice to eat such good food at the hands of her mum and we managed to chill out and have a good chat with them too. :) Trammed home and now i'm here online, trying to find cheap good handphones. sigh. what a headache. :)

oh. i decorated my room walls today. so happy... with cards from loved ones and two boards to post stuff when school starts.. like post it notes and all that jazz. :) it'll be great. ahhah




Tml's gonna be fun. we'll be going to the museum... so i promise to snap pictures... if they allow. :)

p.s. see... for the reader who complains my entries are too long, here's a short one for you to speed read thru. :)

Orientation Week + Suzuki Night Market

Today was fun fun. We went to sch for more orientation talks today and there were free lunches [well hotdogs]... so we took the opportunity and had some hotdogs... niceeee. :)

Some random Aussie chick asked if she could join in.

Then we went to the Night market at Queen Vic market. Apparently, every wed night of summer, they'll have a night market where there's loads of stuff to buy like clothes, knick knacks and food. Pasar Malam, Aussie style. :) Anyways, we went and had quite a bit of fun walking thru. :) I bought churrios to eat [so good] and also this thing called Window Wonders. They're gel like 'stickers' that u can stick to glass, window... stuff like that. i've been dying to make my room more personal so i bought some... $15 worth, not cheap but i had to la. they were cute. haha


Ants... 5 ants for $10. :) hahaha... shuddup, my mum likes them. :)


And a cute owl to make it all look different. :)

Orientation HOST Day!

PICTURES UPLOADED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS ENTRY!!!

I guess i haven't been blogging in a while. Sorry bout that. Been really bummed out recently coz my handphone crashed on me. everytime i slide the phone up, the screen blanks out. it still works and all just that i can't see anything on the screen. which is a major bummer. sigh. so yeh, i've been going thru a lot of possible solutions here...
1. buying a plan here and getting a free phone [but being stuck to a plan for the next 2 years including the months i fly back to spore]
2. buy a phone here without contract [pricey]
3. ship my phone back to spore, get it fixed and ship it back [postage not fun and still can screw up on me after it comes back]
4. buy a 2nd hand phone in spore and ship it up here [postage and price of phone]

Sigh. yeh so i've been real muddled up with all the options and i've jus been weighing and weighing the pros and cons of each and trying to make sure i make the decision that saves the most money. :S

Anyhoo... whatever it is, that's just one problem on my hands. :) i got my timetable recently and have been trying to add/drop subjects so that i can take an arts elective this semester. it's kinda hard coz they keep shifting u from this department to that department and all. :S but shifting within timetable is ok.. like shift my lecture to this timeslot instead of that timeslot... that's pretty idiot proof. :) jus need to co-ordinate as much as possible with Davin.

Yup, so far life has been great here. the weather has been as challenging as most people have warned me about. The mornings and evenings are naturally and usually chilly while the day fluctuates... Yesterday, it was blazing... like i actually broke perspiration... first time in melbourne... and then today was real cold.. so it's real weird. haha and within the day too, it can jus shift from COLD to HOT to COLD... :) but it's kinda nice i guess... having the super duper chill when the wind blows hard... :) sumthing i gotta get used to soon before winter comes. :) then i'd die.

Yup, today was orientation and it was HOST group where we just meet those in our same faculty... it was quite cool coz it was the first proper time where i was forced to interact with Caucasians and it was quite fun to jus have a talk with them. the best part of the orientation today [i felt] was the 'speed dating' game where we lined up in 2 lines facing each other and were given like a minute or two to jus intro yourself and create conversation with the person opposite. Once that was done, one line would move and you'd get a new partner.. so i cleared half of my whole group and got to know some interesting facts about everyone. :) Seems like they're mostly all 17 or 18... which is scary coz i'm 23 and they're like... bigger than me... :S hahah.. but it's fun la. and caucasian girls are SO pretty.. like their features are so sharp, defined and attractive.. it really sucks. hahah but it's nice to know la.. not like i'm going to go chase one, jus... generally most of them are appealing if not attractive. :)

Yeh.. oh oh, church on sunday was good. went to matt's church [Lygon Street Christian Chapel]... the worship and message was pretty safe and good... quite similar to Shalom... save for the fact that they have drums and guitar and piano.. but the drums were really not distracting at all. the beat he was playing was jus normal beats with small riffs to join verses.. so that was quite good... made me think of the possibility of getting an electronic drum set and learning here then if i join this church, maybe go under tutilage of the drummer there and learn how to play for service. :) see how la. :) yup, met a fellow singaporean at church too... met him in suntec last time... and yeh, it was all in all pretty good. Very asian congregation and yeh, quite a small quaint church. :)

In a short while [yes i might be late if i dun finish this soon] i'm going down to City Gospel Fellowship of Ebenezer BP church.. it's a BP church started by a pastor from New Life BP back in spore. they have a city fellowship [like yaf] that happens in the city on tues nights 7pm. :) so i promised to join them coz it's like bible study and all. which is also what i'm looking for... wanna be grounded in the Word while i'm here. :) See how it goes la. I was able to meet william from there that night. he stays at my place so i popped him a buzz and we met in the lobby for a short chat. :) Also today during orientation, this group of asians came up to me and i was like, oh.. u guys are the ebenezer people? and they were so shocked coz i told them i'm coming tonite. and they were like!!! how did u know? then one girl was like... oh you're the one that stays at Lygon rite! william told me a joel was coming tonite [yeh, i was wearing a nametag] hahaha... so yeh, i managed to meet quite a few of them before i actually go down tonite which is kinda fun. okok i'm late. gtg! :)

Take care peeps. thanks for all the prayers.. keep yourselves in prayer too k! :) God Bless.

City Gospel Fellowship [CGF] Thursday Bible Studies

Information Systems student proud he's from this Uni.

Food board. This was a post it note board divided into International and Aussie students. We each recommend food. So aussies would stick stuff that are good to eat around melbourne while international students would share what's good from their country.

We stuck 'Katong Laksa' 'Loy Kee Chicken Rice' and 'Bedok Block 85 Bak Chor Mee' :)

Happy Davin with my free Coke Zero. Look at how packed Orientation was!

Crowds at Orientation

Phyllis grocery shopping at Queen Victoria Market while Davin watches on!

Self check out. This is at the supermarket where we actually scan the items and ourselves and pay. It's fully automated! super cool. Spore should have this.

Davin, Joel and Jacque enjoying Milk Tea.

Modules and Ikea

Today i viewed my timetable and basically just checked out what my next semester would be like. not easy. i'm looking at 16 hours a week of studying.. that's maxing out the full load... and i suppose it's gonna be like this for the next 4 semesters till i'm done. sigh... stress la...



i've got a relatively packed schedule and i'm praying hard that I'll have enough time and energy to study and do well. sad to know that i might not be able to be in the same timeslots as Davin... but i'm trying to shift stuff around and get my subject changed so that maybe can have the same timeslots as him as best i can la. :)



We went for more ikea shopping today and i'm quite happy coz i've mostly got the map of melbourne city area quite familiar in my head. i know where the roads are and how to get to some areas... i guess it's coz i've forced myself to walk down the roads and look around to visually and mentally take snapshots so i'm quite versed in the transport system too. Just now, i was able to direct and show my frens how to get home from my place. and i mentally did it without a map. so that's really an achievement. :) yayz rui! :)

Yup, anyways, matthew's laid the bomb on me today... seems like i'm gonna have to start cooking soon. helped out for tonite's dinner so that was kinda fun. peeled potatoes while the girls mashed them. davin washed up after and matthew did steak... which i tried to watch and learn. i must try to cook steak for jus him and me soon... jus to see if i got it remembered. :S scary too coz it DOES splatter oil.. sigh.

Yup... oh yeh, i've noticed i've been saying 'right' and 'yup' alot recently... but it's so natural here coz it's like what they say all the time too... and although i'm taking a while to be comfortable with calling people 'mate'... i think i'm pretty ok with the whole culture here. most drivers are real nice, u wave a thanks and they smile and wave back... on the streets, people mostly get out of your way and not try to ram themselves into your collarbone by trudging straight on... like orchard. And the service staff are all very good. they great u with so much more than a "huh? this one ah? $1.50 la. the sign there so big also cannot see ah?" noooo here they're like "G'day mate, how you going?" and it's so natural to spark off a conversation with them. just quick ones like "hows work treating ya? surviving? aww that's great to hear at least it's doing ya well yeh? Thanks anyways, take care of yourself and have a good day yeh mate?" that's mostly what i'd say when i transact with people here... it's very friendly [mostly] and it's interactive which is what i love. :)

Other than that, i'm jus real glad to have frens here who are willing to chill out, hang out and explore the place together... it makes a lot of things MUCH better and fun to do. :) today we went ikea and dinner.. gosh, i haven't laughed so hard about a lot of things since today... today was a holler... with Phy and her S-hooks, Davin with his 'What talking you' and Lois and her 'cork-board'... guess we're all getting used to each other and really having a load of fun. :) matthew's been a real blessing honestly. thank God for him... i'd die if i were thrown into the deep end without his help.

Yup, so we're going to visit matthew's church tml [davin was gonna come too but his parents wanted him to go somewhere] so it's jus phy, lois, matt and i.. then we're meeting up with davin [hopefully] to go down to st.Kilga's art market.. promises [by matt] to be a sight and experience u'd die for... so yayz! i'm gonna bring some cash and my camera. :) eheh expect photos... trust me, facebook is THE SHIZZ. :) i love it. and skype too la. haha.

phone's been giving me some problems. i need a replacement 3G phone coz mine keeps having a blank screen when u slide up or down... so that's messed up... still can live with not sliding it up or sliding and waiting for the screen to come back on [1 minute]... but it's irritating me to no end. :S sigh. haha almost bought a new phone today. but i'm gonna weigh the options out and see which is the best deal and best thing to do. sigh. :)

Oki. time to shower. take care peeps. i miss u guys here.. esp since today was YF and tomolo's church. sigh. nvm... must think happy thots of orientation next week and school soon. :) take care and God bless!!! :) hugz.

My Room in Melbourne

So i finally was able to upload the video. :) Enjoy a virtual tour of my room. Push up the volume so u can hear the running commentary. :)