Thoughts from a soggy mind - best served Cold

Tuesday 27th February 2007 will be remembered as one of the weirdest tuesdays i ever had: The Residents’ Committee decided to have a Random Tuesday (basically it just means a trip to the bar) but things got much more random afterwards!

At about 10pm last night, i had just finished doing my laundry and was on the way to jason’s room when i heard the familiar sound of splitter-spatter associated with rain…but wait! It’s much louder! It’s….Hail!!

Haha…at this juncture you’d probably think I’m being a lil paranoid here..it’s just some ice rite? Yeah…it was SOME ice! it went on and on and on; about 30 minutes of icy cold missile attack before the ceiling(well, part of) in block B started leaking and that tripped the smoke detector. Yeah..ironic that it was water that set the fire alarm ringing.

So the SRs went into Emergency Mode and everyone was evacuated into the common room for 45 minutes while the fire brigade checked everything out. I finally got to bed at about 12.30am with my biol1003 pre-reading left untouched =( by then the leaky ceiling had already collapsed and the courtyard flooded with ice. not to mention that it was impossible to get to the laundry room without freezing your feet up to your ankles…what an escape for me!

Just to illustrate my point of how much ice there was, check these out (note: all pics courtesy of Yeam, who went out with other ursies at about 1am to take these exquisite pics =] ):

The rubbish dumpsite at the back of Ursula Hall

Union Court now looks more like a square in Russia!

This was how big the ice cubes(?) were…on average.

We ended up having no classes today….and maybe tomorrow as well! The damage was very bad, it seems…They announced via PA this morning that all classes are cancelled. And i got this from the anu website:

Campus Closure update Wednesday 28 February 2007
28 February, 2007

By Director, Marketing and Communications

The
storm on Tuesday night caused damage to some 70 buildings on the ANU
campus. Damage ranges from relatively minor to extensive.

Students

Owing
to the damage to our teaching spaces, the University will not conduct
lectures, tutorials or laboratory sessions on Wednesday 28 February,
Thursday 1 March or Friday 2 March.

A very limited set of education programs will run, and students should check this webpage from time to time for updates.

It is likely that on-campus access to limited information resources will be restored on Friday 2 March.

ANU
Medical School students: Please check up-to-date information re
teaching program arrangement on Medonline
https://medonline.anu.edu.au/login/login.a
sp

Omg…while on one hand it’s nice to have an unexpected break, i can’t imagine how it’s gonna be when i have to replace 6 hours worth of labs =(

Oh well…in the meantime, i’m just gonna take a short break before i resume my studies…All in all, this was a really RANDOM tuesday!

I was checking my pigeonhole on tuesday when i saw a weird-looking letter: When was the last time my name was addressed as Chan Kai Xun and not Kai Xun Chan (i know i’m here for just 2 weeks + but already I’m writing my own name in forms as the latter)?

What’s this?

Wait! Those stamps look familiar….aren’t they Malaysian stamps??

So i ripped open the envelope and guess wad i found?
Ta dah!!!

A Chinese New Year card from home! OMG…! I never expected my family to actually post a new year card to me by air mail =) It sort of makes up for the disappointment of not being able to celebrate CNY at home this year, a total surprise!

It’s now proudly pinned to my noticeboard in my room, a reminder of home

At last, term has started and so begins my life as a Uni student (officially). I’m quite lucky in the sense that my mondays don’t start till 10am so I can wake up abit late or dawdle a lil bit =p

Anyway, today’s lectures were..abit boring. Well, i guess that’s how introductory lectures go. They bore you wif stuff like course outline and stuff like that. But of course there were important things like assessment dates etc (the 1st one’s 29th March, just one month away!) and v had to do d standard stuff like sign up for labs etc..

I realised that life as an anu student requires devoted worship of your laptop / computer. Cos everything is online! From course notes to announcements to whatever, virtually everything is on a page called WebCT.

I havent got any of my books yet bcuz : 1. books are reali expensive here.  2. The co-op bookshop’s swarming wif ppl, i cant get in even if I actuali wanted to buy any books!  3. Hancock (the science library) is pretty near, I can drop in anytime and plant myself in d Reserve Collection room =)  Well, at least till my books finally arrive anyway. Cuz it closes at 5pm and that’s d time my classes r gona end when my labs start nex week…can oni go there on tuesdays, fridays n weekends when classes go into full swing.

I got abit dizzy looking at the chem textbook this afternoon in d library..i hope it’s d weather and not the long explanations about quantum theory that’s getting to me! Hurm… it looks set to be a tough semester but hey, there are no free lunches in life rite?

I saw dis nice quote in d National Museum of Australia the other day:

Hope
To hope is to dream. Of what might or will be.
Of the possible and the mere possible - hope against hope.
To hope is to strive for the best. To build on glimmers of new beginnings.
To hope is to never give up. To remain expectant,
against hopes dashed, disappointment, falsities.
To hope is to believe there is a way.

I just hope everything will turn out fine by the end of the day. In the meantime, gota check my student webmail and read my Biol1007 (Living Cells) notes for tomorrow..

Take care everyone!

Happy Chinese New Year! Today’s the first day of the Year of the Pig (Boar? Whatever.) and it’s also the first time that I’m spending CNY away from home =( I’m used to having many family members around me come reunion dinner; that’s how I spent my last nineteen years. This time around, there’s no one except a few friends in a foreign land…it makes even the lamb chops on offer last nite appear unappetising enough for me to go for pasta…Yeah. It makes ur brain go all woolly.

But it wasn’t that bad after all I mean, yeah..there wasnt any sort of grand dinner but we had it all planned : a small party involving ursie malaysians & singaporeans at ronnie’s room. The only twist was that, there was no party at ronnie’s room but we headed for a reunion dinner! All thanks to wei min and her parents who were visiting =) They cooked for us and boy, have chicken curry, mixed veg, roast duck etc tasted better! Even the indomie was great, hehe.

We had chips, wine, malaysian dinner, chatting, laughter. What else could one ask for? We talked so much we actually forgot the countdown and only starting wishing each other at 12.03…Lol.

And when I came back, talked on msn wif parents and family for 1hour+. All thanks to the great Internet =) oh well…even if I wasnt there physically, thanks to video call I could see them and they me. Nice.

And today there was a picnic at Lake Burley Griffin for Malaysian scholars..I cant remember who came up wif d idea but it turned out great anyway..the view was gorgeous! And there were big black swans….scary…

I wish I can put up some pics for cny celebrations but they’re all in someone else’s camera…oh well, i’ll put them up nex time i guess. In the meantime, I’ve gotta get out of celebration mode cuz term starts TOMORROW..arghh! havent even found out where to get College Physics by Wilson Buffa & Lou (apart fr d darn expensive Co-op Bookshop)…apparently it’s nt available in hancock =(

That’s all for now, gona put up more pics when i’ve finally got more time ( i wish).

Happy Chinese New Year Folks, have a Great and Prosperous Year ahead!

I’m finally in Australia! It feels weird to say the least but yeah…it’s lotsa fun so far =) Lotsa stuff have been happening these past few days it’s almost unreal…

Sunday 4th February 2007
It’s one day to departure and my family held a farewell party for me many uncles n aunts plus cousins came n it was kinda packed..lotsa great food of course, n there was even a farewell cake! felt like my birthday even. of course, i wont b celebrating my birthday at home for d nex 4 years so yeah, it was…wonderful.

Monday 5th February 2007
Woke up earlier than usual. Somehow I just couldnt sleep even though i stayed up watching ManUtd’s trashing of Spurs. It’s like the few hours before exams, the only difference was that the feeling of doom(?) and sadness was far greater..the clock seemed to tick faster and i passed the day in a blur. All of a sudden i’m all suited up n heading to the airport. Next i knew, I was saying my goodbyes. Then…i took off!

Tuesday 6th February 2007
The night view of Klia was spectacular but apart fr tht, d flight sucked. I got a seat near the wing so the roar of the engine was horrendous. and i’d rather forget the supper..it’s supposed 2b fish with pasta…it was more like shit with hardened flour. barely got 3 hours’ sleep all night..by the time I landed in Sydney I was reali worn out.
But the view was gorgeous And the airport’s just fantastic..there’s a whole air of professionalism about the place. Pity i just stayed 2hours there; had a connecting flight to catch. That was like…12.55pm canberra time. Everyone’s deadbeat by then but we just struggled on. And at long last, I’m here at anu!
My initial impression was…canberra’s pretty spread out and there’s lotsa earth crust around, wif shrubs and grass and trees lining the roads. And anu’s like…a place suspended in time. haha. My accom’s simply fantastic, by the way. The room’s big, the food’s tasty, the people are friendly, the list goes on….but yeah. There are no fans. And it’s HOT right now!!
At night, the senior residents brought us to a bar called Mooseheads. Everyone had a good time and we got to know lots of ppl..Great start to life in Ursula Hall, i’d say!

Wednesday 7th February 2007
This is my first full day at ANU…woke up pretty early (breakfast is at 7.45) and after breakfast, went to settle stuff like enrolment etc…went shopping for a fan and also other stuff 2day at a store called Big W in Canberra Mall. Well, the mall’s small but Canberra isn’t! Omg…ANU’s ady big enuf; it takes 15 mins 2travel a quarter of its diameter. V walked like 30mins 2actuali reach d mall! Try carrying a fan plus 5kg of detergent among other things under the hot sun for tht long n u’ll understand how tired i am now…
Oh well…i can finally go online so that’s nice. Even nicer is d fact that I can use wireless which is free simply because my room’s near the pc lab, lols.
Tomorrow’s international orientation day followed by Canberra Bus Tour on Saturday..Lotsa stuff coming up, i can barely wait!

Well, i know many ppl would think Canberra’s a dead place.
But it’s not. I’m just glad that i’m enjoying life here so far, glad that I chose the right hall to stay in. Let’s hope everything else goes as smoothly come start of term =)