Last day of the year

31 December. A year has come and gone. Is time to say good bye to 2008. Is the last day of the year. It symbolizes the ending of a life as a student. It marks the end of my 4 years stay in Australia. It is a whole brand new chapter waiting ahead next year. A chapter waiting to be written. To be filled with new stories and experiences, with hope to be better than previous ones. More challenges ahead, both new and old. I am not quite ready for it now, but when the time comes, I will. 2008. There have been many dissapointments and failures throughout the year particularly in academic, up to the end of it. Nevertheless, it did teach me some lesson of life. All the group discussions, assignments and presentations has been fun and memorable although it might not seem like it at that time. It has been an awesome year of travelling for me. The many road trips and vacations with many new experiences. New friends were made, old friends were reunited. The whole of New Zealand, Adelaide, outskirts of Queensland and Fiji. Adding to the list of other places I have been throughout my student life. Many more has happen and has its own significances. Hope that 2008 has been a good year for all and may 2009 be a better year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My 23rd

I am indeed getting older. 16th Oct was not any different from the previous days. Anyway, it is still a day that worth blogging about :P I slept even before it turned midnight. No more suprised party like we used to. The days back in Campus Lodge was actually fun, turning up at the door steps during midnight with a cake. Although eventually it was turning into a routine but it was still nice. We could afford to do that back then as everyone was just staying above/below one another. Now we are hills apart. Haha. On the day itself, I was stuck at uni the whole day, having an Intergrated Case Design to complete. My housemate, Amy decided to bring me out for late night shopping as part of celebrating my birthday. The whole house went for shopping and dinner. Thanks guys. On Friday, JZ treated me dinner as he was unable to attend my birthday dinner on Sat. Free, unexpected dinner. Haha. Thanks. We take-away our dinners and join the rest of the geng at Sailo/Huey Wen's house. Then, there was all the ninja turtles fighting. Sien :P On Saturday night, I have organised a dinner at Han-woo-ri, Korean restaurant. It was a simple but good dinner. Nice food, nice place, most importantly nice people. Haha. Thank you all. It was awesome!! Thanks for all the presents and cards. Emily couldn't resist but to give me Bodyshop products with mango flavour. Haha. Too much of mango for Honours already. Mango will remind people of me :P

Toowoomba Flowerfest

Trip to Toowoomba Flowerfest was a great way to end the week. Honours thesis was due on Monday, Intergrated Case Studies on Thurs and Fri and Multiprofessional (MPE) assignment due on Fri. The end of the horrible week, but also indicated the beggining on my one week semester break. So there were some flowers to brighten the week :P

Not the same

Certain situations just won't be the same. As much as I try to be understanding, it still won't feel the same. The impact of an situation, especially a bad luck affecting the person will not be the same as to others who are trying to help or understand. I can try my best to help, offer sympathy and feel sorry, but I can still move forward soon after. I will not be thinking and worrying about it all the time. Now I realize how naive I was last year. Trying to make my problems into other people problems too. The way I handled things were not something I am proud off. But I guess, you do have to make mistakes to learn from it. 2007 was a tough year but it did teach me well indeed. Learnt when to hold on and when to let go. Learnt what it worth all the trouble and what is not. Learnt what is more important and what is not. Not only myself. I think most of us have grown throughout the years. Especially when studying overseas. Be it in physically, mentally or emotionally, we have grown in one way or another without a doubt. It is good to be able to grow and share the experiences with the close ones p/s: hopefully things will work out well for you, my friend. just breathe for the time being.

Officially over

Is finally over. I am finally done with my honours... at least for the writing part. There is still the presentation next time... but now is considered done. Yahooo

A series of misfortune and a good luck

Things were not going well for me for the past few weeks. It started off during the mid-year break where I had to repeat my experiment AGAIN and found out a month later that the results were not any better. It was such a waste of time and effort. Then, I fall sick during my last week of QUM where a report and presentation was due by the end of the week. So, there was no rest for me despite being sick. In addition, my preceptor was expecting much out of my project. Extra stress. And when I thought I was done with it, I found out that I was in the wrong track the day before it was due. I practically rewrite half of it and managed to finish on time. Phew When the schedule of our presentation was out, I just had to be the last person of my tutorial group to present. How much I yearn to get over and done with it asap. It just had to be my luck to be the last person this year when for honours' presentation, I was schedule to be last as well. My honours thesis was due in one month and I still haven't gotten my results. A week later, there it was, not any better, just making it more complicating to analyse. What frustrated me the most was how unhelpful my supervisor was. All she could think of was her future plans for the project. I didn't give a damn about the project. I was more concern on how to write my report. She was of no help when I faced difficulties nor offering to find a solution. I was left hanging, feeling lost. Two more weeks to go, I still do not have my main results. No results = no discussion. So the major part of my report is still yet to be done. Feeling stress but can't do anything because I am still stuck. It took 2 supervisors and 1 lecturer to figure out the many sets of data that I had. But a conclusion is still yet to be made. Seriously, hopefully they will come out with something soon. I need to write my discussion. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, my eye swell. 'Sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga'. I have a recurring meibomian cyst on my eyelid. The doctor gave me a referral letter to RBH (Royal Brisbane Hospital) for a minor surgery to remove it. The cyst is not life-threatening but just annoying. Til now, I am considering when to go to the hospital. I have another assignment 3000 words assignment due 4 days after I have to hand in my honours thesis. But I have only 2 days to do that assignment as I have another group assessment in the other 2 days. I thought it would be the end of the world for me that week. However, behind every cloud, there is a silver lining. Having 30 different topics assigned to the students, it was like a jackpot if you could find someone with the same topic. Things couldn't get any better when I got a copy of a senior's report of the same topic. I was soooo happy. It was awesome. It just took a large burden of my shoulder. I couldn't stop smiling. There is still some light in life when everything else seems so dark. My luck had just got better. I also found out that recently, 2 of my friends got engaged; Abby and Nadia. Congrats girls. So happy for you guys. Hopefully, I can attend the weddings. Hehe. And another close friend got attached. Good on ya. Though there is no good news from my side of story, I am happy with the way I am right now =P. Life is just like a rollercoster. Once you are down there, you can't go any lower. It is time to climb back up to the peak. So all the best to all the final year students. Hanging in there. We are almost reaching the end and we will survive!! Haha

Irony

It is irony how things turns out to be. It happen when you least expect it and does not happen when there is a possiblility. It is bizzare how some people who are not supposed to help me, willingly spend some of their time helping me and praised me for the effort I put in. Otherwise, another person who is involved from the beginning to the end, not only isn't very helpful but is more self-centered. Should you be grateful to those who helped you unexpectedly more or to those who are there to help every now and then along the whole way?? Whatever that is going on, no one else can help you more than yourself. Sometimes you do wish that other people give a helping hand to make life easier. But it does not happen all the time. If you are lucky, you will get help and be grateful for it. Otherwise, just help yourself.

Riverfire

Would not want to miss the last chance to watch the Riverfire. It was the time of the year where 30 minutes of fireworks were launched from Brisbane river and the building in CBD and the best of the year. Have been to every Riverfest throughout my stay in Brissy and this last one was different. We did not need to cramp with the rest at Southbank. We had own private location. And for the first time, I was looking downwards for the fireworks. All thanks to Pauline's office on the 31st floor of E&Y building. Looking at the Story Bridge instead of South Bank

A nice day

When in mood is right, everything seems good. Even the bad things doesn't seem so bad after all. We tend to look at the bright side of things and sees the shining light. Little things tend to make us happy. Gently lay down the troubles aside, not wanting it to destroy this moments. We can deal with it later. The once upon a time anger, frustration, dissapointment towards a person was gone when I finally get a chance to meet her. Thought that a defensive battle of words was needed to protect myself. But it seemed to be a calm and peaceful discussion. A little useful, a lot more could be given. But it has always been this way, work hard on my own. Nothing more I could asked for. A short phone conversation but was enough to carve a smile. Additional conversation was not expected but ever more glad to have it. The excitement on the other side made me have something to look forward to. It felt so welcoming yet formal. Looking back at the problems that I faced for the past few months, it amazed me. Never realised I have gone through so much. Yet there will be more to come. I survived and I will continue to survive. Whether the following days will be easy or tough to face, that's to find out. No point worrying about the future when there are heaps to do at the present. Cheers and have a nice day!!

Sickness

Sickness is when:

• your body is telling you that you need to slow down after rushing all day long
• you need to get some rest and sleep
• you get some time off to love yourself
• you have to take good care of yourself because others can't help much

But sickness is also when:

• you realize who will actually look after you
• you find out to what extend others care about you
• you see how insensitive some people can be
• you find out how dissapointing the way some people act

No matter how much care you have given out, at the end of the day you can only count on yourself. Nevertheless, there are still some beautiful people to prove that there is still love around sickness.

A weekend

HyeRim, a friend from Korea came to Brisbane for a holiday before heading off to Spain. She stayed at my place for the weekend. First, we had Fish 'n' Chips for dinner. One of the western food that she wanted to try. Haha. Then, we headed off to Milton for coffee. It was nice to be able to catch up after not seeing each other for a long time. The next day, they headed to Sunshine Coast. A trip to Queensland or Brisbane is not complete without a visit to the coast. Unfortunately, I did not follow them due to job obligation. Nonetheless, we all got ready and headed out for the night. It was only because she was there visiting that we agreed to go out. Kate, one of my housemate was so happy when we decided to go out as she has always wanted to but no one wanted to accompany her. Good for you gal.

The following day, we just had picnic at UQ lake. It was peaceful and quiet. It was simply relaxing and refreshing.

Last destination was Pancake house. Another thing to try while in Australia. It was a good gathering and meet up. It was indeed a holiday for the rest of us too =P

An Update

Oh boy... it has been busy busy. It is the last semester before graduation. Everyone is getting busy, busy with final year project, busy enjoying the last few months of being a uni student, busy earning money as a casual worker etc etc. I have been busy with my supposedly-done-with honours project. Having to repeat the whole lab work again at this time of the year wasn't expected at all and frustrating like-hell. All my attempts to avoid repeating my lab work failed. It was just too much to swallow, that I surrendered. I just do what I had to and what I could do. Really much thanks to those that supported me and gave me advice, my mum and my dear friends. I wasn't ready to give up my casual work at the same time. Call me crazy or greedy. I wanted to have both and I did it. I woke up as early as 6am to reach my lab by 7am. And by noon, I would be done with my lab work n started working at my sandwich shop. A few days of that routine was enough to drain all my energy. Then, it was QUM (Quality Use of Medicine) placement time. It was a full-time placement from 8am to 430pm. There was a project to be done and it is still on its way. It has been an overwhelming experience to date and it was getting more comfortable at the same time. Unfortunately, it did not get any easier. There were other incidences happening at the same time. It is during these rough time that we will find out who their true friends are. It is kinda obvious. Who is sincere and who is not. It makes me wonder what happen to all those friends that we have when we are all healthy and happy. It is also at this time that people's real personality shines. How helpful or how selfish can one person be? How much does a person willing to sacrifice for others (in terms of time, money and effort)? How two-sided a person is? How impressive people can be with their actions and thoughts? And how much is too much? I am fine. I am well. I am just breathing. Nonetheless, there are people out there to make my day. There are people for me to vent my anger and listen to me whine. There are people to transform frustration into laughter. There are people to share the love with. Love you guys!!

Stanthorpe

Initially, I was planning to blog about this trip after I have gotten all the photos. But it seems pretty hard to find a time to go and collect them. So, I better write something before I don't have the mood for it =P

Just a couple of days back from my New Zealand trip, there was another roadtrip awaiting for me. This time the destination was Stanthorpe, inland of Queensland.

It was really an absolute 'road' trip. We were on the road for 24 hours. It started at 1am midnight, 5th July, picking people up from their respective houses and headed straight to the destination. A couple of hours in the dark, equipped with pillows and blankets, most of us slept most of the time except for two in front =P. Oh yeah, it was an 8 seater vehicle.

The town was absolute still when we arrived. Of course as all other resident were still soundly asleep. Trying to catch sun rise but it was cloudy. No luck. After breakkie, we started driving around the town.

There was the Big Apple.

A winery

Maze and miniature golf

A rockie pyramid

As it was winter, we only got to see dead lavender farm and rotten apple on the ground. As for animals, there were wild kangaroos and glow worm.

By the time we got back home it was midnight the next day. Truely 24 hours on the road. Short but enjoyable.

i

i wanted to cry

i smiled

i was going to break down

i stood up

i wondered what's my luck

i moved on

Results of 6 hours in uni

What do I get from wandering around uni aimlessly for 6 freaking hours?? 1 - waited for my main supervisor who did not show up to work (and no one knows about it) and had to call her home phone 2 - emailed my co-supervisor and waited for a reply; found out that she was in uni but nowhere to be seen and did not reply my email yet 3 - managed to make an appointment with my head supervisor (which my main supervisor could not get a hold of him) but now I don't know what I am going to say during the meeting 4 - seeked advice from a course co-ordinator; received good and bad news, making it harder to make a decision 5 - emailed another lecturer to ask for help (whom is known to be moody) and regret about it now as there might be more stats than what I have right now 6 - messed up with my work schedule and hopefully my boss is not mad at me 7 - called my preceptor regarding my one month placement in a hospital and found out that I start at 800 am 8 - managed to run some errands - bank, photocopy shop, news agency, post-office In conclusion, I was more confused, screwed more things up and more stressed up by the end of the day. More and more things to be taken into consideration to make a DECISION. Just making things more complicating.

New Zealand

And I went back in New Zealand again, for the second time this year. This time around was to travel around the South Island. This trip was a house trip as I went with two of my housemates, Hong and Amy. Too bad the other two housemates gotta work :P. So, we did a loop around the island (represented by the yellow line).

DAY 1

As soon as we touch down at Christchurch airport, we picked up the car and started heading south. The first destination was Lake Tekapo. By the time we reached, it was already dark. Couldn't see anything and there wasn't much to do. Had a taste of a proper winter :P

DAY 2

We woke up early with hope to watch sunrise. But to our dissapointment, it was cloudy. Nonetheless, the scenery was still amazing. The photos say it all.

As we were about to leave Lake Tekapo, it snowed!! Never have I seen snow, what more experiencing snow falling. The timing was just right.

We then continued our journey down south, driving cautionly. After all, it was first time driving in the snow :P. On the way to Dunedin, we stopped by Moeraki Boulders.

We reached Dunedin by midday and decided to visit the Cadbury factory. Each of us came out of the factory with a bag of chocolate :P

On the way to Otago Peninsula for our accomodation, we detoured to the Larnach Castle. It was snowing again!! We took pictures until it was too dark for anymore activities.

We stayed at a Lodge that night. It was one of the best budget accomodation I have ever stayed in. It was a complete house, just too bad we didn't have much food to have a feast. We had the whole place to ourselves :P

DAY 3

After a good night rest, we went to the tip of Otago Peninsula.

We headed back to Dunedin and walk around. We visited University of Otago as well. Amy and I were supposed to study there initially but we went to UQ instead. Haha.

It took us a while to find Baldwin Street. It is certified as the world's steepest street. Quite cool.

Done with Dunedin, it was a long drive to Te Anau. Nonetheless, the scenery wasn't dissapointing. A lot of 'wowness' and 'omg-ness' along the way. Haha. Everything was just simply amazing. We detoured to Lake Waihola. It was pretty.

We stopped for a night at Te Anau. The weather wasn't very good. The road to Milford Sound was closed due to bad weather and snowing. We were quite worried but nothing could be done as we would only find out about the road condition the next day. Just hope for good weather tomorrow.

DAY 4

The weather improved the next day. The road was scheduled to be open at noon. We got onto a tour as we did not want to take the risk of getting stuck there if the weather turned bad. So while waiting, more pictures of Lake Te Anau.

On the way to Milford Sound. The journey was splendid. Beautiful scenery.

Mirror Lake

The cruise

Milford Sound cruise. One magnificient view.

Due to heavy snowing the night before, the snow was one of the thickest in recent years. It has never been so white. I was lucky as our timing was just in time for the best condition. We took the opportunity of play with the snow.

DAY 5

Queenstown. As all 3 of us have different interest, we split up and spend money on different activities. Haha. Hong decided to walk around Queenstown and snap more photos. He also took the gondola up to get a better view of Queenstown. Amy decided to go for horse-riding to Glenorchy, which was the site of Isengard for Lord of the Rings.

And I went for Canyon Swing. Initially I wanted to go for the Nevis Highwire Bungy. But after much contemplation, I decided to try something different. As I have tried bungy at Lake Taupo, the swing would be something different. I just love adrenaline rush. I actually didnt feel scare. Maybe I have done too much jumping :P. I did two swings; one with a hand stand and another on a chair. Cool.

One night in Queenstown and another night at Frankton. More lakes to witness. This time was Lake Wakatipu.

Once again our timing was perfect. That night was the official opening of the Queenstown Winter Festival. We joined the crowd to celebrate and watched fireworks. New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark was there to officiate the festival. So unexpected.

DAY 6

We visited Deer Park Heights as recommended by Joo Ann. It was much more fun than I expected. There were many spots for us to take more beautiful pictures. We spend more time there then planned as everyone was enjoying themselves. And there was the feeding animal part. I was pretty afraid of the alpaca. As they were almost my height and they came close for food, I felt like they were gonna kiss me anytime. Haha.

Next destination was Wanaka Puzzling World. I was left in the maze all by myself as both of them took the shortcut out. Boohoho :P

And there was Lake Wanaka. We had lunch by the lake.

A random pitstop along the way. Waterfall...

Finally, we got to witness sunset. The weather was much better in the westcoast. It was gloomy during the first few days of our trip and have not seen much of the sun. It was the perfect sunset. Another good timing.

However, two unfortunate incident happen after that. First, we ran over a rabbit. It came out from nowhere. And as we were speeding and it was dark, it was pretty difficult to avoid it. Luckily rabbit is a pest in New Zealand. Then, somehow we punctured our fuel tank. It was leaking all the way but luckily we were not far from our destination. By the time we reached Fox Glacier for accomodation, it was already late. Our car could only be repaired the next day. There were some tension in the air.

DAY 7

The car was send for fixing first thing in the morning. Luckily we bought insurance when renting the car, so it was fully covered. While waiting for the car to be fix, we went to Fox Glacier. I would love to do the glacier walk next time.

By noon, everything was settled and we could continue on with our journey. Thank god. We drove to Hokitika and Greymouth. As it was a Sunday, not much shop was open and there were nothing much to do in those town. So we decided to continue driving to Punakaiki.

Punakaiki was beautiful. I reckon it was much better than the 12 Apostles in Melbourne and Moeraki Boulders. I think many of the New Zealanders did not even know about it or have visited it because it was out of the way. But I would strongly recommend visiting it. The waves were strong and could even feel splashes of drops of water. I could stand there for ages looking at the waves and waiting for it to splash :). Furthermore, the combination with sunset at the background was just perfect. My favourite!!

DAY 8

After a night at Punakaiki, we stopped by Greymouth for branch. We then drove through Arthurs Pass back to Christchurch, completing our loop. Stopped by Castle Hill. My second time there. Haha.

We arrived Christchurch earlier than expected. I managed to find our way to Raymond's place. Could still remember. I was back to a familiar place once again. Haha. He showed us around Christchurch city. It felt nice to be back in Christchurch experiencing a different season. The lookout of Christchurch city, a place I did not visit during my first time there.

DAY 9

On our way to Arthurs Pass, we stopped by for some pie. Yum yum. We went to the Devil's Punchbowl. It was magnificient. The waterfall wasnt frozen much but that would do.

On the way back, Ray made a pitstop for us to play with more snow as we dont get this kinda chances in Australia, Brissy especially. Haha.

Then we headed to Taylor's Mistake. This time around, I walked further ahead than the last time. Haha. It was then followed by dinner at Q-Pot and witnessing Ray's practice dance. You guys were great! Casino was the last place we went to for this trip before heading home early next morning.

Thanks a lot to Ray for being a great host, sparing time to bring us around and not to forget sending me to the airport in the wee hours of the morning again. Waiting for you to come over to Brissy (if you ever planned to).

And with that, I have completed the whole New Zealand; both north and south island. Yahoo!!