Thoughts from a soggy mind - best served Cold

Yes, what a night! Tonight I watched Man Utd live on TV for the first time since I came to Australia and it’s a match that’ll remain in my memory for a long time.

Milan told me the match’s starting at 9.40pm but I only went down to the common room at 9.50 and I had barely warmed my seat when Everton scored! And for the rest of the half Milan, Barney, Don and I watched with ever increasing depression…It wasn’t the slick (or at least efficient) United performance we had hoped for.

So we went into the 2nd half still 1-0 down amidst ongoing argument with the aussies why we should watch soccer over cricket…Don and I got really annoyed at one particular fella who just can’t seem to stop finding reasons to launch personal attacks and then going along the lines of "oh one of my best friends is this and this, so that’s not what I meant when I said that"…how more hypocritical can you get?

Anyway, back to the game. 5 minutes into the 2nd half and I was really wondering what I was doing in the common room. The scoreline read Everton 2-0 Man Utd. Given the way Utd were playing, there didn’t seem much hope. AND chelsea were leading against bolton!

What happened over the next 30 minutes was magical, the reason why so many of us fall in love with the Red Devils. First O’Shea scored from a corner scramble, then Phil Neville did his old club a favour by turning Ronaldo’s header into his own net. 2-2! Dare we hope for a miraculous win?

For the next 10 minutes or so the Everton ‘keeper seemed to have evolved superhuman powers as he kept out shot after shot (one-on-one, mind you). But just when that feeling of hope started deflating a little, Rooney scored! Omg…you’ll never see a mere 5 guys (Daryl had joined at half time) making more noise  in the common room. The elation could have  set us  afloat, if only we tried. 

After that it was nail-biting once more as United seemed content to protect a one-goal lead and sat back…Ronaldo failed to score on the break and you just wonder if there’s going to be a sting in the tail especially with 4 minutes of stoppage time….

Well, Chris Eagles came to the rescue. Deep into injury time he scored a beauty to calm our nerves and seal a magnificent win. 4-2 the final score and we’re keeping our noses ahead of Chelsea. And when I came back to my room, the scoreboard on Soccernet made some nice reading: Chelsea 2-2 Bolton (Final). We’re 5 points clear with 3 games to go!! Let’s hope we do our jobs against City and Chelsea and the title’s back to the northwest, where it should be =)

Lol…this is certainly one hell of a night. The ups and downs of emotion has left me exhausted. Gotta go sleep

Yes, it’s probably a lil silly that I’m blogging about this but having the heater turned on in freaking cold canberra is big news especially in Ursula Hall! I have a nagging suspicion that it’s the bricks they use to make the walls that make Ursies so cold..i mean, it’s never that cold in other parts of ANU. Or maybe it’s because it’s much colder at night and we’re in our rooms?

Still, it’s nice of them to actually authorise turning on the heater this early. It’s only mid-autumn anyway (though it did drop to 9 degrees this morning when I woke up) so I thought they would turn it on in mid-May at the earliest.

I just went through "How to Use the Heater" pamphlet in our Welcome Pack and it says " Once the heating is turned on it usually takes a couple of days to heat up the complete building, so be patient and don’t expect to feel the full benefit immediately". Ahh…there’s a catch, apparently.

Anyways, it’s still great to have the heater turned on a month ahead of schedule. Now perhaps we can tuck away those bulky sweaters, longs and what-nots for another month or so at least…In the meantime, gotta put my feet on the heater vents (it’s just warm, not hot) while I go through lecture notes…Heavenly

It’s been a rollercoaster week, that’s for sure. It’s been a week since I came back from my holiday in Sydney and it’s been rather eventful in many small ways.

Well, first off you can’t expect me to start work immediately upon my return from Sydney can you? So i just lazed around for the weekend; sleeping, eating, watching anime (Bleach), surfing the Net, blogging (took me 4 hours!!) and cleaning my less-than-neat room. On Monday I finally started doing some work…i printed out my BIOL1003 assignment, lol. Tuesday was quite productive ’cause i actually finished the assignment and on Wednesday I started working on my CHEM1101 Practical Formal Report. The report took up most of my Thursday and Friday…finally, i finished everything last night =) now for some finishing touches..

The week’s rather eventful in many small ways..i rediscovered the joys of multitasking:  typing chem report + msn-ing + sms-ing + talking on the phone (room landline) all at the same time was fun. Listening to Shimokawa Mikuni’s Alone (Gensomaden Saiyuki ending) and Yui’s Rolling Days (Bleach Opening) helped me de-stress. It’s actually the first time i’ve listened to Alone in more than a year. Hurm…Oh yeah, i went to Questacon as well.  It’s not bad though  10.50aud (concession price) for mostly kiddo-type exhibits isn’t my idea of money well spent. Oh well, i had to go; it’s my physics assignment. But if there’s anything nice about the whole trip, it was the autumn scenery!! Will post them up when i gather more pics

So what’s up next? Well…term 2 of semester 1 starts next monday =( oh well, you can’t have holidays that go on forever. Gotta get back to studies.

All the best folks, enjoy the remainder of your hols and for those who’re already in term 2, enjoy your weekend. Take care!

I’m back from Sydney! Back from a memorable trip full of all that’s sugar and spice After much planning via msn and sms, on monday we finally made our way to Sydney.
Before I go into a detailed account of what happened during the trip, here’s some useful info:

The tourists : Jason, Daryl, Jared, Su Yin, Yuet Ling, Wan Phei and Myself.
The tour guides and/or hosts : Shir Lynn,  Li Cheng, Sze Rhui, Xin Yin, Victor, Chen Ching and Yuen Chiw.

Monday 9th April 2007
Woke up at  5.30am  and left Ursula Hall (Jason, Daryl, Jared and Myself)  at 6.15am for Unilodge to pick up Su Yin, Yuet Ling and Wan Phei before heading off to Jollymont Centre to board our bus to Sydney. We were running a lil late so i was a wee bit worried  about missing the bus (or maybe i’m just a stickler for punctuality) but we made it in time =) The bus trip was rather uneventful cuz only jared, su yin and myself stayed awake throughout…and bless Murrays’ buses for having toilets though i did bang my head in there..the price of being too tall, hehe.

And at 10am…we reached Central Railway Station, we’re in Sydney! Met up with Shirlynn and then we headed for Macquarie University Village which was to be our home for the next 5 days...the first thing i noticed was that Sydney’s hotter than Canberra! Ahh… one of the things i missed the most while in Sydney was the coolness of Canberra but back to the story…

After a 45-minute journey by bus we reached MUV and met our hosts for the first time: Victor, Chen Ching and Yuen Chiw were gracious enough to offer us guys a place to stay…thanks guys! The girls stayed wif Szerhui.

Macquarie University Village

After unpacking and a short rest we headed to Macquarie Centre for lunch. It was already 3pm by the time we reached and being Ursies people who were used to big lunches at 12.30, there were four Very hungry guys searching for lunch! lol. After lunch we headed back to the city for sightseeing. First stop, Queen Victoria Building or in short, QVB. It’s a pretty grand old building with many shops owned by Malaysians and the interior is just amazing.

Queen Victoria Building…looks quite imposing doesn’t it?

The ceiling of QVB…impressive

And then we headed to Chinatown. Very pretty at night..i guess the Asians really have a trick or two when it comes to lighting up their shops. And we met up with the Melbourne people. It was fantastic seeing them again after so long (2 months is quite long to me)! Lots of crapping and how-are-you-now conversations ensued..not to mention posing for pics as well =)

ANU people in Chinatown.. L-R: Me, Daryl, Jason, Su Yin, Wan Phei, Jared, Yuet Ling

What are Melbournians and Canberrans doing at Darling Harbour in Sydney?

Of course, the most important thing on the agenda was to see Opera House and Harbour Bridge! Why else would anyone come to Sydney? So we got the view and the pics too Simply breathtaking!

Harbour Bridge at night

Sydney Opera House…awesome

Then we went to Pancake on the Rocks for some good pancakes (better than Canberra’s, and cheaper too). Had Devils’ Delight (chocolate and strawberries) and Bananarama (the name explains itself right?) .And after that we headed back to MUV while the Melbourne people went back to UNSW (they stayed with Jubee).. Had supper, crapped a lil bit more and then slept…end of a very memorable Day One.

Tuesday 10th April 2007
Day Two was Zoo Day =p We headed to Taronga Zoo by ferry..took some pics along the way of course, but let’s focus on the zoo. From the zoo you can actually get a very good view of the Sydney coastline. The zoo itself is pretty nice though i expected it to be much bigger. Lots of animals to view : Australian wildlife, Asian animals, reptiles, birds, you name it. And i saw a koala, wallaby and platypus in real life for the first time!!!

Mr/Ms Koala just woke up from sleep…how sweet!

You can get Meerkat Manor in Taronga Zoo as well, not just Discovery Channel ;p

Wallabies @ Taronga

In the evening we went to a housewarming party in MUV where we spent time eating to our hearts’ content and chit-chatting with new people we’ve just met. Bedtime followed after that…a long tiring day it was but Day Two was just as Fun.

Wednesday 11th April 2007
Our third day in Sydney had a specific theme to it too: Beaches! Just as well cuz you’d be freaking mad not to go to any beaches when you’re in Sydney.  And yes, I said beachES..we went to two : Bondi Beach and Manly Beach. First up was Bondi Beach by bus. The day was unusually hot and the bus trip was long so almost all of us slept on the way. But it was well worth the journey - Bondi’s gorgeous! The lack of trees to shield us from UV bombardment aside, it’s faultless. Then we had fried Mars Bars for lunch before heading to Manly by ferry. Manly’s different in the sense that it’s a quaint town with a beach; but it’s the ideal place if a quiet getaway is what you’re looking for (the sort of holiday i like ;] ) And depending on how you look at it, there’s loads of seagulls around! I certainly would feel guilty playing beach soccer at Manly…breaking birds’ skulls with a rubber ball isn’t my idea of fun.

Gorgeous Bondi Beach

Posing at Bondi :p

I left my mark at Bondi…i wonder how long it lasted?

Ignore the 3 psychos pointing at empty space…just admire the beautiful sea and sand of Manly Beach in the background.

At night we went to the Macquarie lake to look at stars but unfortunately a great cloud in the sky blotted out everything. Still, it was fun chatting at the lake. We then had instant noodles for supper (again) and slept a bit late cuz the agenda for the next day wouldn’t start till 10.30am..
-End of Day Three-

Thursday 12th April 2007
We woke up quite late on this day (9am+, to be exact) as our destination, Fish Market, wouldn’t be open so early anyway. So again we took a bus ride to the city..A brief walk ensued where I saw people actually cycling in Sydney! It’s very common in Canberra of course but it’s the first time i’ve seen it in the 3 days i’ve been in Sydney. As usual the view was gorgeous; you see yachts and boats bobbing up and down in the clear blue sea with seagulls flying around without a care in the world..get the picture? :) 

We reached the Fish Market at 12-ish, just the right time for lunch. Hehe. And what a lunch we had! Seafood platters don’t even come close to this good back in Malaysia..the fish, squid, oysters, crabsticks, prawns and scallops are simply heavenly. And we actually had to fight and jostle for tables cuz it’s just that good that so many people want to eat there.

The throng of people at the Fish Market is testament to how good the food is

Seafood Platter!!!!

After stuffing ourselves silly at the Fish Market we headed to the National Maritime Museum for a quick tour while we waited for the Melbourne people who were at the Aquarium World. Well..the museum was okay. Haha. Anyways, after that we met up with the Melbournians for the final time before they flew back at 9.30pm that night. So we stood under the sun for nearly an hour, just talking and laughing and taking photos

One final gathering outside the Aquarium World…see you guys in July!

So after all the take-care-yeahs, don’t-be-naughtys and goodbyes we headed to Luna Park by ferry. It was already 6.15pm when we boarded so the sunset was really beautiful…what more when you’re seeing it on the ferry deck and the breeze is blowing against your face. Aww… anyway, when we reached  we realized that Luna Park closes at 6pm! Lols.  BUT it was still unlocked so we went in for a look anyway. And it’s pretty!!

Luna Park

The funny mirror at Luna Park turned us into hobbits =_= 

When we got back the activity for the day still wasn’t finished yet. Met up with Azuan and Hadi who had just came back from Brisbane and then we caught the highlights of Man Utd’s 7-1 demolition of Roma..awesome! At 11.30 it was gathering at Szerhui’s house for some wine, chips, chatting and old TV shows (hehe). And we rounded off a great Day Four with more crapping with Yeam who had got back from Wollongong till 2.45am before tiredness finally took over.

Friday 13th April 2007
The final day of an incredible trip. We shifted our luggage to Shirlynn’s house because Victor’s house was getting inspected that day (yes, we were illegal immigrants for five days). Then it was off to Macquarie Centre for some shopping… Bought tokens for our kind hosts and tour guides and also Shirlynn’s birthday present. And here’s where I failed for the first time. Well, we had nowhere to write the birthday cards etc so we had to make do with the food court..and we got caught by Szerhui, Licheng and Shirlynn! OMG!! Luckily I had already told Szerhui the plan earlier; it’s just that she didn’t expect us to be at the food court, of all places. So she quickly ushered her group away while Licheng cooked up a story about the birthday card and present being my sister’s..Lol.

And our hosts treated us to Krispy Kreme’s Many many thanks gals!

After that we finally said goodbye to MUV, our home for five great days. Took the bus to the city for one final time where we had Korean food for lunch at Seoul-Ria.  The  food was good  but  it wasn’t…well, exquisite. Not the type that’ll  make me go back to  Sydney  just to taste it again, unlike Fish Market’s seafood. But still, it was fun.

Lunch @ Seoul-Ria

The next thing that happened was a funny one. Daryl shaved off his hair! He said his hair was getting long and hard to manage so he decided to shave it all off. So he was alone in the barber shop while 13 of us stood outside and watched =p

Finally, we headed to Central Railway Station where we were to board our bus back to Canberra. Cue for one last round of photo takings, chatting and take-care-all-the-best conversations.

-Farewell Photo-

At last it’s time to board the bus and finally leave Sydney. The trip back to Canberra was uneventful. Most of us slept all the way through while Daryl and I both slept for just the 1st hour. But we were seated separately and outside the windows it was all dark so it was pretty boring. At 9.30pm we reached Jollymont Centre and by 9.50pm, we were back in Ursula Hall.

Thus ended Day Five of our trip.

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This trip to Sydney’s an experience that will last long in my memory. Not only did I see and taste many new things, I also met both old and new friends. If it wasn’t for them this trip wouldn’t be half as fun. I took back many everlasting memories of magical moments that I’ll cherish for many years to come.

I’ll go back to Sydney one day. Definitely. In the mean time, I’ll just bask in all the superb memories of the five great days =)

Many many many thanks to our Great hosts and tour guides : Shirlynn, Licheng, Szerhui, Xinyin, Victor, Chenching and Yuenchiw! Really appreciate your warm hospitality; thanks for making this such a wonderful holiday. We’re looking forward to your visit to Canberra in spring