Li is Doing…

Okay I know I know I know. I haven’t updated in like forever. No excuses. Loads of things happened but I was just being ” too lazy” to blog. =p First it was my assignments and exam preparations. Then it was my holidays.. Now I’m already in my 3rd week of trimester 2. Another 5 freaking units.

1. Introduction to programming concepts (JAVA)

2. Network Communications ( I hate hardware )

3. Intercultural Business Communications (Interesting but I lack time to put in effort)

4. Maths for Information Technology (Whole bunch of weird stuff/calculations =p)

5. Introduction to Marketing ( My elective; I regret choosing it)

Another busy trimester up ahead for me. Last trimester didn’t go as bad as I expected. My results : 4 high distinctions and 1 distinction. Stupid distinction was a 79%. One mark more… oh well, I’m not complaining. The subject I thought I’ll do the worst in turned out to be my best subject. And the subject I thought I’ll do great in turn out to be the subject I got 79% for. Topsy-turvy.

End of financial year sale was awesome. I had the best time spending my holidays shopping away. I bought heaps of stuff and wasted loads of money. Yadda… Someone has to spend less in the coming months as payback. *Tsk.

All my assignments have piled in again. Not to mention the studying I need to do. Oh misery. My timetable is awful. But a plus side to it is I have only 24 hours this trimester as compared to my original 25 hours! Oh and I don’t like the lecturers I got for this trimester. They… shhhh. =]

I’m coming back to Penang in October for about 2 weeks! Bought my ticket and all. So not worth it (The price I mean). But then I miss my family and my friends. And of course food. Hehe. Not that I’m starving myself here or anything. I live a comfortable life full of junk food here. Ahh, heaven.

Okay now I’m gonna go do something else like eat again. =p And it’s winter here. Thank god for my heater, if not I think I’ll just die. And the wind is absolutely terrible. It gets worse since I live on the 12th floor and the wind just blows really hard and you can hear the glass shaking. So noisy. Hmmph!

Here’s a few older photos of me taken some time ago. Maybe 2 months ago. Haha. I didn’t make much use of my camera lately.

=]

My darling baby laptop just crashed.

Luckily I transfered my laptop warranty to Australia. So I called Dell up. But it’s Anzac day tomorrow which is a public holiday and it took me like forever to connect to an operator. & he said the best he can do for me is arrange an on-site service for Tuesday. It’s Thursday today! That’s almost one week. I’m in IT course man, I need my laptop! Luckily I have 2 thumb drives which I saved most of my stuff in. The guy from Dell guessed that it might be my graphic card died on me. My Nvidea graphic card. & I thought it was a good one. Must be faulty or something. Stupid thing! You(graphic card) killed my precious baby laptop!

This really sucks man. I got a long weekend but stuck without a computer. I’m now in Howitt Hall’s computer lab. Luckily it’s a 24/7  lab but they only have like 5 computers here. =.= I have to come here when there’s like really few people until my baby is alive again.

Can I have any worst luck?

The past few weeks were a horror. I had to survive on caffeine from coffee, pepsi and coca cola just to keep me awake to finish off my assignments and study for my maths test. I had like 3 major ones that I had to finish including programming(Visual Basics.Net). I finished all within my deadline  of course but really unsatisfactory. I never want to leave anything to the last minute again! It was awful! Seriously. This course is way too fast. I have to put in so much time to understand and study on my own.

Now you can understand why I have no time to blog too. Luckily this is the end of the 8th week of this trimester. My trimester is only 12 weeks long and then I have my final exams which will determine if I fail anything and need to retake any subjects. I hope not of course, it will totally slow me down by one trimester if that happens.

Talk about really really bad luck! I didn’t know I could be soooo unlucky. =.=

My RM1900 Sony Ericsson  P1i smartphone got stolen when I was in class on April 1. That’s in class! And on April’s fool. Just left it on my table with my bags and books. Went up to the front to talk to the lecturer. When I got back. Poof! It’s gone. & the basically have no security cameras in the computer labs where I was having my class. Thieving incidence occur there often enough, shouldn’t they install security cameras or something?

The next day, I went to get a new phone. Signed up with 3 (that’s the network provider’s name). Took the $49 cap. Cap is like the Malaysian post-paid. So I get a free phone but I have to sign a contract with them. Which means, I pay AUD $49 per month for 24months. Chose the Sony Ericsson W910i in black. I wanted to take the red but I don’t know why I thought my friend bought the red one so I chose the black one instead. Turns out I thought wrongly and my friend doesn’t even have that phone, let alone the colour. =.=

When I got out of class and wanted to go home, I found myself caught in a dust storm. It’s like the desert you watch in the movies where there is the sand storm? LOL. It was awful, you can see sand/dust flying everywhere and the wind was practically blowing me away. I put up my hood and took the bus home. Power failure occurred throughout Victoria where the wind disrupted powerlines. One of the buildings on campus (Menzies) was also evacuated. False alarm though.

Howitt Hall (my residential hall) had a dine in at 6pm (FREE FOOD). The theme was American Gangster but me & my friends pretty much dressed casually. Alas, I got stuck in the lift along with 2 of my friends. for TWO bloody hours. It took the technician over an hour to get here.

I was already on the ground floor going to attend the dine in when my friends said they wanna go back up to get something. So I was like okay, accompany you guys! Then, we stepped into the lift. It sorta shook a bit but it moved to the 1st floor. There’s where it got stuck. None of the buttons worked. Then we tried and remain calm and pressed the bell in the lift.

I felt like I was in a cage or rather my coffin. Luckily we were just on the 1st floor. If the cable snaps, we’ll just fall down to the basement. (Think about if we had been on the 11th floor instead) I was kinda worried we were stuck between floors. Like between the first and second floor or something like that.

When we finally got out of the lift, our other friends were outside waiting and watching. LOL. We who got stuck were totally dehydrated and starving! It was cold in the lift by the way, but I got to wear Amy’s jacket. Thanks!

After getting out, my friends refused to take the lift to go up to our floor (11th floor + one flight of stairs). So we all walked up 11 flight of stairs to reach our 12th floor. Phew! I was exhausted when we reached the top. It’s not nice at all to be stuck in a lift for 2 freaking hours man. We had nothing to do and just sat down on the floor.

But we also took photos. Haha. Too bored the lift! Gonna post them up sometime later when I get some of them from my friend.

Tell me it’s all just a coincidence and that I don’t have any bad luck!

 Check out my colourful socks. This was taken in Naas’s room. From top, Amanda, Me, Dee.

Classes have kept me really busy. All the assignments pouring in as well as the studying I have to do on my own. I still go for the occasional shopping though which is almost every week. Haha. I still have to buy groceries and cook on my own. I think I’m adapting quite well to that.

I still hate cleaning and washing dishes of course. As expected!  Some classes are really boring. Why does IT have to be related to business?! My assignments… the reports many of them I have to relate them to business. *Sigh. I don’t like business/commerce!

The weather is really getting cooler. Temperature drops more and more. Autumn has really set in now. I bought my quilt, bed sheet, quilt cover, pillow cases the other day all in preparation for winter. Winter quilts are expensive!

Today it was really cold with the rain. & there was hail too. Small ice cubes were like falling down. Luckily I didn’t go out today. Hehe. But I got the privilege of watching the hail hit my bedroom window. Pretty cool when you’re indoors and watching that. But 10 °C really is cold! For me that is, since I’m really more used to Malaysia’s hot weather!

Life does get interesting sometimes. Especially when it comes to shopping. Gonna go on a shopping spree tomorrow.

A friend told me something that upset me tonight. But I think she probably feels worse. I hope she feels better soon & I’m sorry although we both know it’s not really my fault. Thing will get better for you, don’t worry. Shit happens sometimes. Won’t go into too much detail here. Privacy respected.

I’ll just put up photos from the night friends & I hit the city for the Moomba Festival. Photos may be too big cause I can’t remember the exact size it should be. Don’t mind me.

This is when I was getting ready to go the Moomba Festival.

 We all went to the Moomba Festival together on 8th of March 2008. Was really fun wasn’t it? Damn hot too at that time. Not like the weather now eh? The fireworks were great. I’ll probably put up the video of the fireworks soon. Stay tuned.

OH MY…! =.= I didn’t expect my results to be this bad. Only 6A1’s. I have no A2’s at all. Below is my results:

English - A1

Physic- A1

1119- A1

Add maths- A1

Modern Maths- A1

EST- A1

Malay- B3

Bio- B3

Chem- B3

Mandarin- C5

History- C6

Moral- C6

Moral & history i expected to fail since I didn’t study and I didn’t answer many questions in the exam. But my Chem & Bio I expected at least an A2 for it! This is so unfair! If only my B3’s became A2’s then I will have 9A’s. Then I won’t have to say I got 6A1’s. =.= What the heck happened to my bio and chem?? I did study & I did well in the trial SPM…

Oh man, I wanna send my bio & chem papers back for rechecking! But my mum dun want to…

Why did I get B3…

How was YOUR SPM results?

Classes started on the 25th of January & I’ve had 1 & a half week of classes. I’m taking 5 compulsory units this trimester :

1. Learning Studies

2. Problem Solving for IT

3. Introductory Mathematics for Commerce & IT

4. Introduction to Computing Application

5. Context for IT

I really wanna pass all units so that I won’t have to retake any next trimester. Oh please!

I think my toughest subject will be No.2 Problem Solving for IT. It sorta introduces the concept of programming & the method too. Confuses me terribly as I have no background in programming.

Malaysia education system is mostly just memorize,memorize,memorize & you’ll do well in exams. This is different. No matter how much you memorize, you won’t be able to write programs. I have no logical thinking & no patience. Instead of going through it step by step, I’ll probably skip a few steps here & there. That’s so me. So, now I gotta rewire my brain!

The textbooks here cost a bomb. Damn expensive. & I have to change textbooks every 4 months. Currently using 4 textbooks for this trimester.

Here’s my timetable by the way. Monday & Tuesday are the worse! Friday is badly arranged. Nothing I can do now. Note that I have 25 hours of classes a week! That’s even double the hours of some of my university friends. Then again, they are taking only 4 units.

	Description			Day	Dates	Start Time	Hours	Staff
	Learning Studies			Mon	25Feb-19May	09:00 AM	2.5	Thakur, Neeru
	Problem Solving for Information Technology			Mon	25Feb-19May	12:00 PM	2	Muradoglu, Murat
	Introductory Mathematics for Commerce and IT			Mon	25Feb-19May	03:00 PM	2.5	Moore, Richard
	Introductory Mathematics for Commerce and IT			Tue	26Feb-20May	09:00 AM	2.5	Moore, Richard
	Problem Solving for Information Technology			Tue	26Feb-20May	12:00 PM	3	Muradoglu, Murat
	Introduction to Computing Applications			Tue	26Feb-20May	03:30 PM	2	Nair, Resmi
	Contexts for IT			Wed	27Feb-21May	12:30 PM	2	Fajerman, Ian
	Contexts for IT			Thu	28Feb-22May	02:00 PM	3	Fajerman, Ian
	Introduction to Computing Applications			Fri	29Feb-23May	09:00 AM	3	Simon, Darren
	Learning Studies			Fri	29Feb-23May	03:30 PM	2.5	Thakur, Neeru

This is a map of the Monash Clayton campus. The red circle is the building in which I live in. The yellow circle is the college building. Can you see how far I have to walk there & back each day? Takes me between 20 minutes - 30 minutes depending on how fast/slow I walk.

Anyway, I’ve got to head to class soon. Lucky for me Wednesday’s & Thursday’s are way more relaxing. But I rather they just put the classes on Wednesday & Thursday together!

Just got my internet connection back & up running. Due to my being underage (still 17 ++), Monash cut off my internet connection as I didn’t have consent from my parents.

Actually I did send in the consent form to them long ago, but I guess maybe they misplaced it again. Luckily, I got a back up copy of my consent form so I took it to them today.  Phew!

I definitely cannot survive without internet!

I miss home a lot kay. Everything here is so different I feel so weird out by it all. Just not used to it yet. But people keep telling me it’ll get better. I do hope so.

It’s making me lose interest in stuff I once used to love doing such as reading story books and blogging. Now, I just mope about.

Not to mention I dunno why I feel stressed out & pressured. I keep imagining that I will fail my units. Yeah, I’m taking 5 units this trimester.  All 5 to be completed in 4 months time. Now tell me, do you feel pressured just by knowing that? I dun wanna fail any unit cause I dun wanna repeat it again next trimester! Life is so unfair. College life is tougher than I expected it to be.

I am so homesick I don’t know what to do…

I wanna go home…

I sleep like a baby now every night. I got my night light with me so I don’t have to stumble about in the middle of the night if I want to get something or go to the toilet. My light switch is next to my door & my bed is at the opposite end. So imagine walking to my bed in the dark…AAAAHHH! Finally, the room is growing on me & I’m getting more used to it. It’s like my second bedroom (first one is back in Penang, Malaysia).

Anyway, everyday is so tiring! & hot. Last week it was cold & now it’s hot again. I sleep with my mini fan on without blankets. Yeah, so not used to an un-air-coned room. Got another busy day ahead + have to do my laundry when I get back. I have a week’s clothes to wash!

Will update maybe later on tonight but no promises. O-week at Howitt Hall is real busy. You get free breakfast & dinner for almost a whole week. Which I totally try to attend all of them. After all, all we new residents paid the Aus $100 for the O-week so it’s good to get our money’s worth.

& I probably ate beef by mistake. Awww, but it was an honest mistake. I forgot to ask what was in it & I straightaway start eating adee. I just know it’s Halal, so no pork. That leaves beef or chicken. & I do think it is beef cause it doesn’t taste like chicken. Oh well, I can’t survive on veges all day can I? & when I do know it’s beef, I don’t eat it.

Tomorrow is my enrollment day at the Monash College. & for the rest of the week, my college orientation & my Howitt Hall O-Week is totally gonna clash. So I gotta pick those I must attend which is of course the college ones. I’ll try & fit in my O-week activities around my college orientation.

Okay, I’m gonna skip updating the past few days stuff. Will do that some other time when I’m free. Gonna update about 13/02/08 & 14/02/08.

Just so you guys know, the reason I started taking sleeping pills was because I couldn’t adapt to the environment here. Hell, even my room differs so much from what I’m used to. I have to take lifts & stairs to get to my room. Share the bathroom & kitchen with 5 others, share the laundry room with 14 others I think. But it’s working out lah!

I had a chat with a doctor which was covered under my health cover insurance. Thank god for that. But for the medicine such as the pills I had to buy ‘em on my own. One box of 25 tablets cost me Aus $12. All the medicine here are way more expensive than in Malaysia & you have to have a prescription before you can buy one. Back in Malaysia, you can like walk into a shop & ask for this & that & they will sell it to you. Here practically nothing is off the counter.

So I took as the doctor recommended, 2 tablets before I go to sleep. Took them for 2 nights in a row & then I went back to see the doctor again. Kinda scared I get addicted but she said it’s usually people’s body become more tolerant of it & then they need an increase dosage. Then I told her I think my body has started becoming tolerant of it cause the 2nd night’s sleep wasn’t as good as the first one. First night I had no dreams & a 11 hour sleep which was bloody brilliant since I could only manage like 3 hours of sleep before that. Second night I had dreams & I kept waking up now & then. Tsk.

Mind you, I only feel depressed & can’t sleep only when I’m in my room no matter how tired & sleepy I am. I think it was the room plus the room was really messy as I didn’t unpack a thing yet. You could hardly walk without tripping over something. So last night, my neighbor (Maria), came over to my room to help me clean it up. Thanks! Lucky I have her. She’s been teaching me some really neat tricks.

Anyway, when I wanted to go & sleep, I did Sudoku puzzles to relax my mind & bore myself to sleep like the doctor suggested which actually worked! I went to sleep without the pills last night! Ps. I didn’t even finish the Sudoku puzzle. Fell asleep first. Hehe.

13/02/08

At around 11am I went down to the operation office to wait. There is this campus tour thingy that I wanted to attend so I did. But only one other guy (Sanjay) & I turned up for it. LOL. Diane (the mentor for the program) took us & showed us around. Man, the Aussies do walk fast. What takes me 20 minutes to walk alone, they accomplished in 10 minutes. I had to make sure my legs were keeping up.

At 12am, Diane & Effie ( 2 mentors for the program) took Alvin, Sanjay & I to Brandon Park for shopping. We took the bus there. Cost me $2.70 there & back. A 2-hour Metlink ticket. I think you could probably walk there if you wanted to but I wouldn’t cause if you did your shopping you’ll have to lug it all back like a mule.

It was kinda cold so I put on a jacket to go there. The weather here is unpredictable. This is called Summer! The coldest it got while I was here was 14 degrees I think. It always reaches 13-14 degrees at night.

I went around shopping & I bought loads of stuff. From eggs, electrical jug, cream, pot, watermelon…etc. Diane & Effie had to help me carry my stuff back onto the bus & back to my hall where I carried everything back to my room.

I saw this inside Priceline Pharmacy.

At night, from 6pm-9pm, we caught the bus to Huntingdale train station & took the train to the city where we went to Victoria Market. It was really great there. I was so caught up in the ambiance. Loads of people & loads of stalls. Food was everywhere! But the prices to me are expensive. Cause I keep x3-ing everything!

I went to find Zhao Wei & Nicholas to get my jackets back from him. No he didn’t borrow mine to wear them, he just help me bring them into Melbourne cause my luggage was already overweight. It was really, really cold that night. In addition to my jacket, I put on another waterproof wind cheater jacket. So the wind doesn’t cut through.

Shen & I went to have gelato after that. It was really good. $4 bucks per scoop.

There were so many nice things I wanna buy, but I wanted to save my money cause I spend probably almost $1000 bucks adee. Including my some of my text books lah! Computer books aren’t cheap & hard to find second hand ones. 3 of my books cost me almost $300 bucks adee kay!

14.02.08

From 6pm, there was this BBQ sizzle thingy on the Howitt/Farrer lawn. I live in Howitt Hall by the way. Right on the 12th floor which is the highest!

I went & dressed up for it. I didn’t think it would be that cold but don’t let the sun fool you. It was cold! Luckily I brought my jacket down with me.

They had either beef sausages or vegetarian ones. I took the vegetarian ones but they dun taste good!

On the lawn,

I learned stuff & gained experience I think! Haha. I learned that if someone approaches you & says you’re really pretty, you’re suppose to say thanks & just let it go. I did the total opposite. In fact I stared in horror. LOL. My friends were laughing at the expression on my face. =.= Ahh well, if there is ever a next time, then I know what to do.

I guess people here are just more straight-forward than back home. In Malaysia, I’m sure total strangers don’t suddenly come up to you & say stuff like that. Never happened to me before so this was entirely new & unexpected. =.=

Today, I’ll be seeing my Kye Bei! Haha. Time to go, Ciao!