Last time i was on a ferry was Tasmania and strong winds those were... The other time before that was... tekong! :s
Heh. Enjoyin the ride and free wifi onboard... A very rare thing with aussie stuff... Even our hotel didn't have free wifi. Must pay for internet. :s haha
~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---
So as most of you know, and if u already didn't... this semester is my last semester in university pending me passing all my subjects this year. If so, i would graduate on the 15th of December and will officially be no longer a student... However, this semester, i faced one of the hardest subjects of my uni life mainly becoz i hate math and as an Information Systems undergraduate, a math subject was a core and compulsory subject... therefore, i was 'forced' to take Quantitative Methods 1, a year 1 commerce subject that was said to be easy and simple....
TOTALLY not easy and simple for a guy who never ever did well in A math in sec school and excelled in computing math only to stop needing to do math in poly year 2... so effectively, i have not been doing math for easily 3-4 years... and here i am, jumping straight into stats with people who have just come out of aussie high school fresh with the knowledge and formulae of math...
i struggled SO hard and really got thru the subject coz of friends in my class whom i made during the course of the semester and obviously God's grace... yesterday, my results came out and i managed to get a 65 for it... trust me, 65 is MORE than I deserve for it... and I thank God coz it's one of those, u know it's God coz it's impossible without Him, kinda things... and yeh, THANK THE LORD ALMIGHTY... i'm clear to graduate now... the only thing standing between me and my graduation are the days that lie in the middle. :)
Yayyyy! As for now, i'm leaving for Sydney with mum for a week's worth of holidaying. :) excited.... but also my heart is burdened by the things Hannah is going thru in singapore... she's real busy and feeling the strain of it... so i'm praying hard for her too. :) stay strong dear, know that your heavenly Father is the unlimited source of strength and you can always find comfort in His loving arms.... keep up the great work and work for God... in whatever you do, give thanks always.
See you guys soon!
I know this should be a blog post about my recent roadtrip to Ballarat with Calvin, Lynette and Phyllis which was... AWESOME. :) but i'm waiting for work now and i dunno whether i'm in the mood to blog about that.. but it was a great experience and place to visit... that said, i'll post up an update later on today about it maybe... or tomorrow. :)
Right now, i'm honestly dreading work and the day in general... why? maybe becoz it's a full day of work and that means the chance to get scolded by my boss or for me to do sumthing wrong, to not close a deal or to mess up someone's screen protector or sumthing. so many factors that can go wrong... i'm jus praying for a few factors... for instance thanking God that it's raining so hopefully there'll be a drastic drop in the number of customers coming in today. that would be fabulous if there are less people coz that means less serving and more housekeeping like pricing and sorting out the wall of products. :) i dun mind doing that, i just hate that my boss pressures us to make sales and makes a fuss when they walk out of the shop without buying anything.
Praying also that Nat would be around coz that means that it's not just my boss and i but also my 2nd level boss and he's not too concerned with selling... i think it's the pressure that i really dun like... but i'll take it all in my stride and strive to be a better christian worker. :)
Also, i feel quite down now coz Hannah's in Vietnam with her family.. she's on a holiday and that means i can't see her online or stuff. i'm hoping coz she has internet there that she can still email back coz i miss her quite a bit and i am REALLY REALLY trying so hard not to think about 20th Jan coz that's just to far to think about. i gotta take each day slowly and if i dun watch the dates, it'll be 20th jan so quickly.. i pray... then at least i'll be on my way back to spore and then i can see her and hug her again. :( yeh, i'm needy like that... hannah left on the 19th, that's only been 6days [not even a week] and i'm already pinning for going back. :( lolz... will try my best to just keep praying for her safety and our relationship in general whenever i miss her, i bet i'll be a very prayerful man these 2 months. haha.
Yep, so chowing down on my custard almond dessert/breakfast thing now. :) bought from ballarat from 'the best bakery in australia' apparently. hahaha hmm :) but yeh, pics of the trip are on fb... go see. :)
Coz i haven't written poetry in the longest time, let's jus try to whack out one now... just for kicks.
Into God's arms i'll run to,
Because He's the only one that holds true.
The Lord's love wipes away,
All the pain and longing so i can face my day.
God, watch over her and keep her well,
from dangers, hurt and pain none can tell.
Help her to have a good holiday,
So that she can return home safe and okay.
lolz... oki that's enuf. i can't do this with my 'tenth avenue north' playing in the background.
So I prepared as best I can and went to take my QM paper today... real bad experience coz i didn't know how to do quite a few... it was harder than the sample papers but sum were quite ok... so i jus did what i could and prayed for grace for the ones i guess/tried and sobbed for the ones i didn't know how to do at all. hahaha.
Sat there the whole duration and was still trying till they said pens down... so i'm glad i didn't waste any effort... of course, not saying that the effort i put in at the end would do any good coz it was jus desperate writings of stuff i knew was already wrong but hoping they'd give pity-marks for workings... or sumthing. hahaha.
But yeh, that concludes my exams. now to party!!!! and settle a TON of other things... syd trip, next year's accommodation and loads of other things. :( lolz.. but first... OCF!
oh.. and thank God hannah arrived home safely. :) always feel it's so cool that people can leave here and arrive in a totally diff country in a few hours time. :)
Jus glad that i'm 2 exams down and 1 more to go... 1more exam till i end uni life.. Weird though but great feeling when it's all done i'm sure. Worried bout the last one though... QM. :( i hate it with a vengence. :)
Ah! The sun is so hot. :( come out nowwww fasterrr. Haha. Should be anytime soon la...4.15 already. :)
Also, been studying with hannah around and jus spending time with her before she flies back to Spore tml... The next time we're going to meet again is 2 months from today so that's a bummer. Jus thank God for the ability to be with her now . :) she's such a blessing from God I thank Him for. :)
~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---
Woo! the first exam paper is done and done... it was real easy... thank God for that and I think i hit the nail on the head on a lot of things... that's Asian memorizing for you aussies!!! :) esp the definitions, i dun see why she won't give me full marks for quite a number of them considering how it's literally word-for-word according to the lecture slides... awesome possum. i'm real glad the studying paid off...
Now, 1 more paper tomorrow [my open book one] and finally the dreaded Quantitative Methods [math] paper on friday then i'll be DONE WITH UNIVERSITY!!! :) awesome... can't frigging wait. :)
Really just want to thank God so much for helping me do this paper with confidence and ease... i'm glad everything i studied came out and for the things i didn't study coz i must have missed it, God helped me recall stuff from during the semester. :) coolio.
If this works, i'm gonna sleep now. Gotta prep for tml's exam. Night people!
~ Joel Tan ~
--- Sent from my E63 ---
It's finally here... the night before my first paper... i have been dreading the exams and at the same time looking forward to getting it done. It's weird coz these 4 days and 3 papers will mark the last few moments of my life as a Uni student and as much as i want the exams to come and go and let me have my fun holidays, i can't believe that at 4.30pm on friday, i would have finished my last official act as a uni student [minus me collecting my results online and graduating in dec]...
But i'm glad i guess that it's gonna be done... at least the exams... i have been studying and studying and i jus want it to get over and done with. esp QM on friday coz that's the last paper... and the paper i'm most worried about... haiz. only God can bring me thru that one. hahaha
Also, helped hannah pack just a bit today... she basically packed while i studied on her bed and then i'd help when i wanted a break from studies.. and she's gonna move tomorrow [thanks to our dear fren calvin who's mel's bf]... he offered to drive her things to and fro from hannah's old place to mel's house [hannah's new place] thank God for friends like him who really go out of their way to help... but yeh... hannah's leaving on thurs back to spore. :( one day before my last paper... TOTAL bummer.. but i'm glad she can go back and spend solid time in singapore with family and friends. :)
Alrite, time to go to sleep. got a paper tomorrow!
I think i'm gonna try to name all my blog posts from now on jus like how they name friend's episodes. haha so funky. helps me keep track too...
Yesterday i had pancakes for breakfast and i think i've mastered the art of making golden brown pancakes. Used to always worry when i flip them over whether they'll be nice and brown or yellow or even worse, blackish... but so far, i've done 8 or so and they've all been beautiful. :P i'd say the key to that is timing [duh], BUTTER not oil.. and low heat... problem is mine isn't fire... so it's a bit hard to figure out what's low heat for an electrica l stove... but i've got it!
thus, i'm making pancakes again this morning coz the pancake mix still haven't finished yet. haha prepping to go to church. it'll be the last sunday hannah and i will worship together in church before she flies back to singapore... that lucky girl. hahaha :)
oops, better go make sure it's ready to flip!
A few of us [Davin, Phyllis, Selena, Jillian and I] went to watch Hannah's end-of-year dance performance last nite and it was so good. :) I'm really just glad that God is giving Hannah talents in not just ballet but in other forms of dance as well. Dance styles such as Contemp and all, she's pulling the moves off really well and i'm really proud of her. She danced so well last nite. There was one part where she had to run 3/4 of the stage to match up with a girl who was running only 1/2 the stage and hannah jus BOLTED to her mark and executed the moves in-sync with the other girl. SO AMAZING... she did so well for that and for so many other things as well. :)
Also, i recognized the part where they danced in 2 diagonal lines. They practiced it during Open Day in Aug... and i remember sitting there in the dance studio watching them rehearse that.. so it was pretty neat. haha... but i was really impressed... the dance was 19mins long... and they were so good. :)
Today's Friday... and in a week's time... i'll be taking my LAST exam paper of my uni life [hopefully]... it's weird to think that 2 years have flown by and what awaits me is work till i die or retire... whichever one comes first. :S and on to study now! gotta claim the day and get as much studying done... :) see ya!
Sigh, i am trying to find joy and enthusiasm about working on thursdays... i guess it's not so much about work but more like how long the work day is and how tiring it'll be.. and possibly also how there'll obviously be chances for the boss to scold me for doing something not to his favour [notice i didn't say doing something wrong but doing something that's not like what HE does... all of us who work with him know that about him, it may not be the right way but if it's not HIS way, it's wrong... and we just gotta work with that]... but yeh, i'm going to face this day as how i always face this day... with prayer for my boss, co-workers, customers and basically anyone I will be meeting on this day... and then CHOOSING to stay positive, not to take things personally and to learn. sigh.
Yesterday was Hannah's first performance for the her end-of-year production and I heard that it was really good... thank God that Auntie Rina's flowers got to her too... was stressed that the delivery man wouldn't be able to find her and stuff. :) haha.. but it's all good. And I'm looking forward to going tonight to see my gf dance her heart out. :)
Yeh, but studying is going too slowly and a part of me is getting stressed that my exams are fast approaching [next tues - fri] but i'm also looking forward to getting them done and done with. :) yep...
Today's wednesday, i better make the best of it and study hard coz tml i know i'll be too tired after work to put in real good study... so today's kinda a full day of study i don't wanna be wasting away. :) can't wait till next friday though. this semester's exams are so fast i'm so glad. like no exams till 16th then WHAM BAM and i'm done on the 19th... eeps! :)
Taken from http://www.smh.com.au/ffxImage/urlpicture_id_1061663787330_2003/08/26/pieface.jpgWith a free coffee and free mini pie, i begin week 7 of the last semester of schooling [of possibly my life]... it's weird to think that in a few months time, i'd have graduated [hopefully] and entering the workforce. :( i'm not looking forward to ending my schooling life i'll be dead honest with u and i'm more looking forward to a new change in life but not looking forward to the need to self sustain myself. :(
Talking about self sustaining, this marks my 3rd week working at Vict Market Comm. I'm glad that i've got a good patient boss and i've been working enuf hours to pay for expenditure and even rental if i wanted to... i got $275 last week and will prob be averaging $260 a week with taxes and all. that still leaves me bout $80 per week extra after paying rent for expenditure and that's more than enuf. :) so right now, i technically can afford to stay in melbourne.
which brings me to my next point. I am considering the idea of getting a PR here. i know i've been throwing the idea back and forth but i suppose there IS an option of working part time while i wait for my PR and seek full time employment. considering how i'm only working 3 weekdays a week now and i have enuf to survive, i could work a 2nd job and have MORE than enuf to survive... so that's a real possibility now... and that's considering rental in the city itself where rent is about $200/wk. :) so it's not a closed door to stay here.
I just want to take this time once again to thank God for the blessings He's given me the past few weeks... with this job and all... i really am glad for it coz it's weekdays and it's mornings. so that still gives me time at night to do work and spend time at home... and the weekends to go to church and spend time with friends and hannah. I think it's just awesome how God has blessed me with this 'relatively' easy job and yet allow me the foresight to consider this option for my future plans... and of course for a good boss that is willing to employ me now and after dec.
School work has been good too. with the added time i have on the weekends [coz i try to go church on sat evenings so i have the whole of sunday to do work] i've been keeping up on the workload and making sure i complete weekly assignments and deliverables earlier than necessary so i have more time to do anything i might have forgotten or came up last minute. :)
Had a moment yesterday that I really did miss the YF and the youth... i went thru some photos on FB and it made my heart long to fellowship with everyone again. It pained me and disappointed me a bit too about how my future plans might no longer include ministry in Singapore [at least for the near future] and that kinda made me re-think whether i wanna be here or back in Singapore where i can continue the ministry for the shalom youth who always have a HUGE place in my heart and mind... but i guess i'm glad that the YF is currently in good hands and God is always providing for them. :) sets my heart at ease.
Also, lastly, thank God for 29 solid years of ministry that Shalom has enjoyed. they celebrated their 29th anniversary yesterday and i was just glad to see how God is continually giving them/us blessings and providence. :) i miss my church. :( haha.
with that, i should stop coz i dun normally like to think too much about singapore lest i start missing everyone. :)
Take care peeps.
