Trinity has ended and the hols have started.

Hello. Trinity is over and the valedictory was an anticlimax, as expected. But the valedictory was not sad--it seemed to hold much promise in the atmosphere: that we all will somehow meet again. Now it is the hols and things seem to go at a slow pace where the hour, day and date are no matter.



However, the holiday, moving at this petty pace, is fun only when filled with hours of PS 2 gaming and partying with friends. ^^ I am not ready to let go of this holiday just yet, but I do wonder what will be in store for me, my brother and everyone else from Trinity. Will we all end up at the same university? Or will we not?



In addition, I might see much of Beatrice next year. I've met a great deal of wonderful people and am proud to be friends with them; some I have known and parted with and some I will love to keep forever and ever.



Having not written for a long time, my blog will feel like a diary with a large chunk torn out of its pages. For this, I sincerely beg pardon--I admit, I am terrible at updating my blog (ごめんなさい。。。) Special thanks(grudgingly... ;-) ) to my sister, Natalie, and my friends for reminding me about the existance of my blog. Despite my apology, I dread that I will have to make many of it in future; so I apologise for all the abandonment I will make in advance. (Probably the strangest way handling with this but wraps it up nicely). :-)



I will be travelling to Singapore tomorrow(the trip was supposed to be in early January but my father suddenly, on a whim--again--wanted to go this Sunday). I do not have enough clean clothes and I'v been trying to get them washed and dried before tomorrow.

I also went out with Beatrice, Koh Wen Theng and Ee Kim Hwe to celebrate Tan Jing Fong's birthday! Everyone has changed in a special way and it's good to see them again. Jing Fong is as prim and cheerful as always. Beatrice is as hyper and fun as always and Kim Hwe and Wen Theng are still as amusing as ever. The change is that they've become more mature in thinking and somehow, all of their antics have a more "grown up" touch.

Anyway, I'm so excited to be back cos I'm seeing all the people from highschool again! Although today is the first day I'm seeing anyone because Beatrice has just returned from her trip in Vietnam. She will be off to Miri, Sarawak soon! T.T

I'd better get packing.

Holy Smokes!

Melbourne has the highest density of observable smokers than any other city I have stayed in before. Today, my brother and I walked to the city to buy Japanese rice and yaki nori. Along the way, we saw smokers everywhere. The air is constantly filled with fresh tar and nicotine filled fumes.

Most smokers are university students and some are middle aged people. In addition, there appear to be an equal number of men and women who smoke.

It is a disgusting habit and the fumes make the streets smell bad. The city already reeks of sulphur compounds from exhaust pipes--cigarette fumes are NOT welcome additions. It is difficult to stroll around Melbourne constantly fanning the smell away. Furthermore, the bad smell ruins the otherwise sweet-smelling Australian air. There are many times when I walk along Lincoln square when it is tranquil and take a deep breath only to choke halfway because a smoker suddenly appears out of nowhere puffing like a chimney.

The Australian government should campaign against smoking and educate the public about it's debilitating effects. Most people are aware of the dangers, i.e. LUNG CANCER, HEART ATTACK, ETC. However, many do not grasp their severity. There is great effort to warn Australians against sunbathing or general over-exposure to the sun due to pernicious ultra violet rays but nothing against smoking!

Must the Australian government have an outstanding death toll for smoking just like there is one for melanoma before any action is taken?

Perhaps the government could argue that smoking is only an indirect cause of such diseases and other factors such as lifestyle also play their parts. Certainly. However, I doubt this habit is overlooked when a smoker is admitted to a hospital for any of the diseases caused, however indirectly, by smoking.

Sushi time

I was pretty excited about making sushi for the first time. I have never done it on my own before and so started out by buying the necessary things; bamboo mat, sushi seasoning, Japanese rice, Continental cucumbers, tuna and salmon.

Then contemplating, I realised that it was not much fun doing it by myself and so I asked Mun Yen to join me since she cooks regularly and loves Japanese culture too. She was really enthusiastic and even said that she would prepare the meso soup. Then, I knew Lee Kai (a fellow CMC inmate) would be bored with nothing to do, so I said that he could come watch us, since he was not interested in making it.

Luckily it is the holidays so no one was around to use the kitchen while we occupied practically the whole preparation table. We put our things everywhere and you can see the salmon and tuna on separate places. The salmon is the lighter coloured fish on the white plate and the tuna is the darker coloured one on the chopping board.

That blur in the corner is me cutting up the rolled sushi. The rice was the tricky part, as according to Lee Kai, was the most difficult part as it had to be of the right stickiness and texture. So, not wanting to cause a disaster, I followed the proportions written on the back of the packet of Japanese rice I bought, then seasoned the cooked rice with sushi seasoning. I also fanned the rice vigorously while seasoning it to cool it rapidly. The rice was a success!

This is the thinly sliced salmon thanks to Mun Yen. She is really good at handling the salmon and slicing it thinly enough. I, however, sliced rather thick pieces of tuna thinking it would be the same since I like eating the fish so much. However, as my brother ate it, he said that the tuna flavour was too strong! Oh, well, at least you guys in Penang don't have to worry about eating that!

This is the meso soup that Mun Yen prepared. Since we don't know how to make the meso paste we got the readily made one and she just added the tofu to give it extra taste. I think one of the best dishes was the meso soup. It tasted just like the ones I had in Japan! Some pictures here are by Mun Yen and this is one of them.






This is a close up of one of our nigiri. Another one by Mun Yen. She is really interested in photography and can take quick pictures and make them turn out really spectacular.

This is one dish of our nigiri and sushi.

This dish contains most of our sushi.

This is Mun Yen. She was delighted to eat the products and drink the soup that smelled really good. She filled the bowls with soup and served them out while I took the dishes with the food over to the table.

This is also by Mun Yen. This is what the whole ensemble looks like. Both of us have never made sushi before, and it turned out well. It was a good thing it did because we had to eat the whole lot! Mun Yen also threw in some rock melon for cleansing our mouths after eating the sushi. It tasted really juicy, firm and sweet--very unlike the rock melons I buy that I let ripen close to rotting before cutting to eat.

This is another by Mun Yen. The packet of Japanese rice is at the end of the table. It is a good thing I bought that rice because it has a resealable packet; although it doesn't mean much, but it makes it slightly more convenient to store.





Lee Kai was very doubtful about eating the "raw fish" because he said they contained bacteria that were possibly dangerous to eat.

Another of Mun Yen's! Despite his initial reluctance, he became eager to eat some of the sushi. He could not taste the fish, however, as he does not know how to appreciate the sushi, poor fella.

My discovery of Visual-K bands.

I just absolutely love anything to do with Japanese pop culture and am ecstatic to discover, from a friend of mine named Mun Yen, that there is a band genre called Visual-K. Bands classified under this genre are flamboyant in their dress. Their music is very much like that of rock bands with a Japanese twist, which is unique.

These are the Alice Nines. They look really cool with their hair and style. At one point, Japanese traditional culture influenced their anime and manga. However, as anime, manga and games progressed, they took on a life of their own and developed styles and dresses that (at the time) only existed in their particular genre of entertainment. Of course, Japanese youth(and sometimes the elderly) copied the characters in manga, games and anime.

However, it was not long before the animated world influenced the real world. Hence the emergence of Visual-K bands who dress and pose like Japanese animated characters.

In their pictures, they adopt poses very similar to how anime and game characters would be drawn to pose in posters and wallpapers.

These are nice ones with light and fresh colours.

However, most of these guys have a punk-ish look. Ah!! I so miss my PS 2 back at home and my unwatched anime shows too!! These guys remind me so much of my anime and game characters back at home.

The thing about Visual-K is that some guys are given rather effeminate looks.

My Trip to Adelaide

I visited Adelaide on the 27th of June with my brother. It is much warmer than Melbourne so I could walk around without my jacket and scarf. The flight took only one hour and when we arrived, had to turn our clocks back by half an hour.

Adelaide also has the all faithful Subway. We did not eat there because it was pretty far from our Youth Hostel Association(YHA) and we also wanted to try something else apart from commercial fastfood.




On our way to the YHA, we had to cross a park known as Light Square. The walkway was fantastic and the trees were special. I have never seen such trees and I wonder what they are called.
In the park, there is also a monument with an astronomical telescope on top.
This is a road in Adelaide. The architecture here is different from that of Melbourne in subtle ways. It is rather a medley of styles all crammed together. I saw Victorian style buildings next to modern office buildings. There are also Disney-like buildings with striking colours next to one another. This does not destroy the beauty of the city but rather enhances it. The best part about the YHA is the bathroom. It is absolutely pristine! Even better than some homes can be.

Later my brother and I went to China town to get our dinner. We could not take anymore pictures because our camera died just as we finished taking photos of the YHA.

End of Term 2

YES!!! Term 2 exams are over. Unfortunately, I am not going home like the rest of my friends are. So, I am going to start planning what to do for the holidays.

Recently, I have been eating out rather than cooking and because of that, my funds are seriously low for this month. Thank goodness June is ending in 4 days.

We left the exam hall in high spirits. Wei Tong had spent most of the night, and the morning trying to catch up on some Chemical Theories and so slept straight after lunch.

This is him, just woken up and going to meet his aunt for dinner.

I am going to do my laundry in a moment and then ready myself for my two day trip to Adelaide.

While I have been busy with my work, Xin Yin has also been completing her assignments. This is her study area. She has been facing the computer for ages to come up with an idea for her poster. She is going through RMIT foundation, aiming for a course in architecture. Hence, most of her work is to do with art.

And here she is!

Jass, all the best for tomorrow!

The mother of messes

Since the holidays have begun until only two days ago, my room looked like the catastrophes that hit New Orleans and Acheh. Pa, I think this would be to your horror. Not to worry, though, things have been sorted out(somewhat) and the mother of messes has been reduced.


This is the state of my bed. I just could not bother to tidy it up after sleeping because I am going to sleep in it again every night, anyway. Ha, ha!

This looks like a replica of my table back at home. A kind of nostalgia there where my table takes a life of its own. It even seems to come at me when I sit down at it. Thank goodness I cleared it yesterday. It looks better now.

This is probably the saddest part of the whole room and perfects the garbage dump ambiance.