Friday, April 30, 2004
April 30, time flies!!!!! this is NOT good! grabbing time now is like using the BEST of my ability to grip on to as much water as i can under a running tap. come to think of it, this semester has gone really fast! it was just not long ago when we first started the semester and now we are at the close of Week 8! in 4 weeks' time, i'll finish this sem!? just couldn't believe it!
i've been trying to catch hold of time to do my work lately. lotsa assignments to hand in, projects to do, meetings and discussions with my partner, presentations and getting into real work is sometimes time-consuming too~ never seem to have much time this semester. i sorta regretted a little to take on 2 history modules this semester. it has made my sem really hectic! simply no reprieve from assignments at all! library, library and more library is all i do this sem! i wish i could get over all these and done with....soon... the word is
'soon'. the question is, how soon? i just can't wait~ i'll be DONE with the sem by June and i'm looking forward to holidays....i just wana have a break! planning to go up to Brisbane/Sydney this June....! exciting...........good way to escape winter!!!
oh yar, just today, i had a history presentation. for the first time in my uni course did i have a chance to do a formal 20-minutes presentation of the findings i've found from my research over the past few weeks. i got really nervous while i was typing up the script cos' i was preparing a 20-minutes talk with powerpoint and stuffffffs. whoa! i'm impressed that i could do all that without any fear today....! phew~ it's now all over! well, i just hope it was alright.
the interesting part of this presentation was that my "audience", or my tut mates, were the scorers for my presentation. so it was really an incentive for all of us to make our presentations good, clear, short and sweet so that our audience would be impressed. after presentation and tut just now, David, my aussie tut mate, came up to me and told me that he enjoyed my presentation! i was thrilled! i hope he had given me a good score....!
haha, the most ironical bit of this was...it's ever the first time we gota chat and introduce ourselves when this is our very last tutorial together! and the most funniest thing that happened was, David got so engrossed in our conversation that he almost walked me home! haha, we were almost walking towards the exit gate when he stopped and realised he's gone the wrong way.
he asked me, "wait a minute! where are you heading?"
i replied, "yeah, i'm going home....this way!" and
he said~ "i'm supposed to go to the library and it's way back the other way!"
it was weird being caught that situation. he must have felt really embarassed about it. we said "see ya" and we proceeded on our own journeys in opposite directions. grinnnnn =) haha, perhaps there's something in me that *attracts* ppl into interesting conversations eh? *grin ;p*
oh well, i better get going and get started in my writing....i realised i've been really weak in my essay writing lately. perhaps i've grown too "potato-headed" about my first few HDs i got earlier this semester....."gracie, you gota buck up!!" yep!! i got my camp pictures up on webshots....!!! so if those who are interested, email me and i shall send you the link to get in there!
~gracie left a note at 11:42 am
Thursday, April 22, 2004
April 22, *
snap! snap!* *
smile, say cheeeeze!! *whoh! i looked at those graduants with envy! what a day to long for....a day when i'll put on that hat of honour and the black gown of success! The Graduation Day! all around campus, these people were gathering with friends and family members for pictures....there were smiles, smiles and more smiles.....hmm, i wonder how that day would be! i'm imagining it to be the
Best of the three years of uni life.....! that day will come soon...i just can't wait!
as i walked out of library (Yes! research in the Library again!!) just now, i just marvelled at these people....loved ones at their sides, smiling at the camera....! that's the end result of hardwork, tears and effort put through uni life! and now, i'm in the midst of stressssss....stresssss and more stressss. i think i'm managing it well still....have been keeping my work up to date and sleeping well still.....i must say i've been putting in much more effort, time and energies in my work this semester. no more KLKK-ing!!! (keke, chris, i'd imagine that u will laugh at this moment if u read this!) oh, for all those who are still guessing what KLKK stands for, it's Kia-Lai-Kia-Ke (Hokkien= walk here, walk there....or basically, wasting time!) well~ i'm sure all these hardwork will pay off on the Day of Graduation...
~gracie left a note at 4:51 pm
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Still April 21, whoh! seems like whenever i walk out of my lecturer's office, i'll feel a sense of confidence surging inside me for my essays....and whenever i feel that i'm lost in my research, somehow going to see her makes a difference in me! sucha therapeutic session! oh well, now that she has given an extension, i don't feel so pressed down for time.....but STILL, gota meet datelines in any case!
oh! i checked out Straits Times news this morning....heard about the tragedy last night over a MSN-conversation with sean. haha, it's just so amusing now that i thought about it. the conversation went something like this:
s: yoyo! hey, nicoll highway collapse just then at 4pm! might be a terrorist attack!
me: oh!! hey, tell me if i'm wrong...laugh at me if you want...i'm gona ask you a stupid question...
s: what?
me: is nicoll highway the one in singapore...?
s: hehe, no! it's in India.
me: oh, whoh! terrorism in India? hmm, sounds reallllly scarry....
s: hahaha...no!!! it's in singapore la!!!!!
oh man! could you imagine how embarrassed i was? good thing it was over MSN man! sean must have laughed his head off when he saw that i believed his crap! guess i have lost touch with singapore's geog, places and roads for a long while...but that doesn't give me an excuse not to be sure! oh well, this really tells you how much i know about singapore huh?
well, i'm glad that i was able to get a click into the ST news webbie this morning at uni and gota view the pictures taken of the event. it has surely left an impact! well, you guys in singapore....
please take care! don't wana get news of anyone of you hurt. *choy! choy! touchwood first!!!* =)
~gracie left a note at 4:00 pm
April 21, stressssss....Stresssss...STRESS!! Assignments, Tutorials, Projects!!! Argggghhh...! i'm beginning to hate these things! or rather, i should qualify my statement: i hate meeting datelines! well, this i guess is part and parcel of life; simply can't escape it even after uni life is finished!!!!!
how sad! i seriously don't mind studying and spending all the time i can to read up these interesting materials....but i guess, the reality is: time is precious!
i've grown to realise this especially this week cos' time just keep slipping away! i spent hours in the library and these hours seemed just minutes! and at the end of it all, i'd walk out of the library thinking: 'i have seriously wasted worthless studying time in there'! i've been working on a research of the coming of Islam into Southeast Asia since the 13th century and whoh!!! i got to read heaps of stuffs regarding Islam....Islamic doctrines and almost anything and everything that has been researched about it in the library. have i become more enlightened?? hehe, i sure did! gota really compare the Quran and the Bible...and practically the entire Old Testament of the Bible is found in the Quran! so i hadn't got much problems understanding it...but i have yet to find the relevant information for my research! how frustrating! seems like i've gota spend more time in the State Library down at the City instead of this library at uni. sigh~~~ lotsa reading to do and i've not gotten the right information yet!!! well, i'm going to consult my tutor about these things....
seems like my time this week has been spent in the library, meetings, meetings and more meetings plus consultations.....! a never ending process until semester is over!!! i'm now waiting for June to come.....enjoy a gooooooood winter break! i just can't wait man!~
~gracie left a note at 7:04 am
Sunday, April 18, 2004
April 18, the weather is turning colder.....yikes! winter is coming! i hate it!!! currently, i'm wearing one..two..three..four layers of clothes...chamzzz!! how am i gona survive winter!! diezxxx!
last night was fun! we were all gathered at church for a post-camp reunion dinner. it was great meeting friends from camp once again! yeah!~ while we enjoyed the sumptuous dinner prepared by the aunties and uncles from church, we watched a slide show of camp photos on powerpoint done by Thad. the pictures brought back memories. the great fun we have had last weekend at camp was just depicted on the smiles in the pictures. oh man!~ many candit shots too!! those guys were just teasing me with YS cos' there was one shot taken of me and him in the cruise chatting! so embarassing!!~ and Gary whispered across: does chris know about this??? haha~ and i jokingly replied: "no he doesn't. ssssssssshhhh, that's our secret eh!" =p yeah, there was another candit shot of me with Darrell + Del...and i was like~ "what duh!!?" those guys again teased me cos' the picture was just so misleading! but well....these are just created rumours by those crazy guys....! and yeah, those guys had fun teasing few others too cos' they were "caught" sitting with someone close! quite childish eh? haha, annie commented: "it seemed like we have gone on a "xiang-qin" camp!!!" haha...it's just hilarious to think of it this way!
the highlight of the whole night was the camp video show done by BP and James. it looked really professional with all the multimedia stuffffffsss....yep! we laughed hard through the entire 50minutes.....!!! it was just unforgetable! especially those silly moments when we played the silly games on sat night and the acting skits by different groups
(in "gao-xiao versions in musical, Lord of the Rings, Shakespearen, maffiah, Bruce Lee styles!!) of Little Red Riding Hood, 3 Little Pigs, Jack and the Bean Stalk, Snow White and Cinderella. we laughed, laughed and laughed hard till we teared! the camp was about having fun together....but also to learn more about God together as well.
it was a very good camp indeed!!! sometimes i could just sit down there and just reminisce over camp that i'll forget that i've loads of work to do! hehe....but well, i must say: it's been a good break for me! and it's sad to know that time flies when we are enjoying ourselves. i'd really miss all these when i get back to singapore. no more camp fires...no more cruising to beeeeaaUUtiful beaches and nice sand...no more starry night gazing with Milky Way...!!! hmmm~
throughout this camp, many aunties and uncles have been asking me about my plans for the future....to think of this camp as my final one before i leave to singapore is something i don't want to. it's sad now to leave this place where i've made good friends and really settle in. melbourne has become a really enjoyable place...where good memories stay! the church aunties have been encouraging me to stay in melbourne....a very tempting thought indeed. i have been considering it and well, not until end of this year, things will never be confirmed or decided. i'm kinda sitting on the fence now; while i really love melbourne and hate to leave my friends here, singapore is still where my loved ones are. a tough choice!
~gracie left a note at 9:08 am
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
April 14, awww~ it was so hard to pull myself out from my comfy bed today!~ sucha good weather to sleep in! gota go caulfield to hand in my assignment!!!!! arrghhhh! still coughing quite abit today but i think i should be alright. my flu is gone and i'm on my way to recovery, *i hope!* well, it's a good thing annie was going to caulfield too.....so it wasn't that long a journey to walk over to the bus loop just now! i thought i had to spend money again on the bus + train ride down to caulfield cos' the shuttle bus usually doesn't operate during semester breaks. to my delight, i found the shuttle bus at the bus stop today!! yeh!!! no more hassel!!! i need not take a bus and then change train!! and now, i'm back at the matheson library doing my other assignments...! oh man, i thought Easter break is a good time to rest and relax........nah, gota work hard....work hard.
as i walked towards the library just now, i was just envisioning the day when i get the results for this sem!! 4 HDs?? (HD= High Distinction- >80 marks) at the thought of this, i'm reminded of the challenge that chris gave me at the start of this year. he would always remind me that he got 3 HDs last semester! hmm, i'm really jealousssssss.....hey, i'm working towards it and i can see myself getting it this sem! i want it and i will get it! i just need a little more motivation to finish my projects and assignments....work extremely hard for the next 6 weeks and i'll be DONE!!!!!! just before my Easter break last week, i got back my HSY assignment from my tutor....and i got a HD!!!!!! that really encouraged me a great deal to put in more effort into my work and......
HD will be at hand!
oh well~ i need to go and start doing my project now.....work hard!! work hard!!
~gracie left a note at 10:07 am
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
April 13, i just came back from Easter Camp yesterday! woah! it was fun man! even though loads of assignments piled up, i'm glad that i made the choice to go for the camp last weekend. No regrets!!!
yeh! it was absolutely fun, enjoyable and memorable! i've gota practice my cantonese throughout this camp...haha! many of them are from HK and it was just interesting how i tried to communicate with them in my inadequate and limited cantonese vocabulary! oh yeah~ i met my good buddy again, YS! it was another time when i gota catch up with him. as usual, he disturbed me during the camp...he pulled my hair!!!! *complaint, keke* gota talk to him quite abit this camp, especially on sunday. there was once when everyone were having their turns in playing archery, i had jo-jo (a 5-years old little boy) on my lap. while i carried jo-jo in my arms, YS came over and asked me: "when will you have your own baby??" haha, well, hmm~ sorta grinned and told him, i seriously won't mind playing with kids...especially when they are cute and cuddly! (jo-jo is so cute! just can't resist not carrying him and playing with that little boy! he's a very cheeky fellow, who plants kisses on your cheek when u are unaware of it! hehe...so cute!) but guess taking care of kids is a totally different story altogether. then he told me something that striked me quite a bit, "well~ i guess if it's your own, it will be different"! yeah, guess i won't mind taking care of my own kids, when i have them!! =) *grin*
not only was i able to meet new people and make more friends, it was a great weekend in Nature! i gota go for hiking and also cruise to an island with a nice beach! the sand on that beach was so soft that i just simply took off my sandles! i left my footprints in the sand and they were washed away by the shoreline waves. my girlfriends and i started having fun in the waters...all of us locked our arms in a single file as we marched towards the oncoming wave tide. it was too late for us to run when the final huge wave came and we were buried under it! we got ourselves all wet from head to toe!~ simply embarassing but fun tho'! it's been a long while since i let my hair down and really enjoyed myself.
oh yar, i had a chance to go for star gazing that night.....the sky was absolutely marvelloussss!! it was a cloudless night with dozens of twinkling stars hanging in the absolute dark sky! tell you something!!! i caught the Milky Way!!!!!! WOHHHH~ my dream was finally fulfilled that night!!!!! i had always wanted to catch it and i caught this rare opportunity! the stars in the sky just looked like milk pouring out from a milkjar....it's just beyond description..!!!!!! it was however too cold that night and so, i didn't stay out there in the open to catch shooting stars...many of those guys brought their sleeping bags along and hugged close to one another as they counted their shooting stars one by one!!!! the silent night burst out with screams of cheers whenever a shooting star flew across the sky! what a good experience eh? yeah, this is ever the first camp i took so many pictures with so many people in so many different digital cams! hey! i shall send some to you guys if you are interested in seeing them! i feel that this camp has been really great! even on our way back from Lakewood Park, i gota catch the beautiful sunset with a rainbow! simply Beeeeeauuuuuutiful!
after spending a weekend over here in the wilderness, i just feel that Australia isn't that bad afterall! the 'moo-moo cow' lifestyle--this rural life is something that i've been searching for. now, if you were to ask me once more, i'd tell you that i won't mind staying here in melbourne! life is good over here! 4 seasons, nice Nature, good friends and a lifestyle in which i have grown to love! i'm beginning to feel that the city life back home is too hectic....too tiring and too noisy for me....if i had a chance to settle down in one place, that would be australia. i want my house to be built on a hill overlooking the sea.....with a nice beach and a cruise......whoa~
dream dream dream.....=) what would be really good is my loved ones are with me in that dream too.....that will be really really
Puuuur-Fect!!!
~gracie left a note at 9:10 pm
Thursday, April 01, 2004
It's April Fool's Day! Life has never been a joke but a surprise for me! so many upteen things happened and i was too busy to come in here to start typing them down. yeah~ very interesting and sometimes, quite memorable too! just last week, i received a surprise sms from Fun! i thought i've lost this friendship of mine cos' stupid me!~~ left her number back in singapore and just couldn't contact her! just when i gave up, she sms me!!! wow! it's a great feeling to catch up with this girl....and whoh!! never knew that she stay so close to me back home in singapore! haha!!!~ and the GREAT thing is, we will be graduating at the same time end of this year before flying back home. isn't this great? i think it is....when all seemed gloomy, there came sunshine!!! and yeah, caught up with her...and gota find out how our semester has been! and yeah, one thing i remembered her commenting when she first saw me: did you lose weight, my girl?? yeah, i did!! very much indeed!!! hmm....i hope i've been eating right....*grin* it's good to chat about sociology together, about friends, holidays and plans for the year~ i guess we girls can really open our hearts out and share when we come together for
pao pao cha i guess...hehe. it was good! really really good! in the midst of assignment stress, we could still enjoy little moments of laughter and sharing together....what a time~
i've just completed one history assignment last night...handed up this morning...and now, i'm off to start another one, which is due next week!! arrgggghhh~ plus i've got an interview to be handed in before Easter. well, i'm seriously looking forward to my Easter break next week!!! i wana BREAK..timeout pleasssse........? =p
~gracie left a note at 2:11 pm
