Of assignments and more assignments.

I just realised that i'll only be having 3 hours of classes this coming week! And 6 hours the following weeks till the end of semester. Which is in stark contrast to the 24 contact hours i had in first year. =)

Though the lack of proper uni contact hours doesn't mitigate the amount of work i'm currently facing. A 10,000 word final year report due on Wednesday, and a Strategic Marketing Plan that might just reach up to 100 pages long. Finding information about a company isn't an easy task. And having to explain how economics indicators like the GDP, forex rate, interest rate, etc. affects the industry is totally alien to a non-commerce student like me. I'll be working from sunrise to sunset, and burning the midnight oil this week, that's for sure... =(

And then there's a final year project exhibition the following week, some tedious programming assignment sometime later, and an Optimisation project on the last day of semester. The life of an engineering student. It's always been like that. Free the entire semester, watching with amusement whilst others have their midsems, but then suffering during the last few weeks when all our assignements contrive to end up being due around the same time.

Wilsons Promontory

Just got back from Wilsons Prom. And for ppl like Michelle who hadn't previously heard of this place, Wilsons Prom is the southernmost point of the mainland Australia, a national park with beautiful walks and spectacular beaches. And Kee Win, just to clarify things, a promontory is defined as "a rocky elevation that juts out into the sea", not the nonsense that you made it up to be.. =P hahaha.

Anyway, 10 of us journeyed down to the Prom in 2 cars. Me, Sheanee, Kee Hong, 24, Kee Win, CK, Veron, Jason, CC, and Ken. Having to wake up at 7+am in the morning for the past 3 days is definitely not something my body is used to.

Anyway, some highlights of the trip... [warning: lots of photos, and that's already the pick from the many hundred photos we all took]

Our car

By the time we arrived at Wilsons Prom is was already late afternoon, due to the many stops and "detours" along the way. First stop was Whisky Bay to watch the sunset.

Artistic photo - walking into the sunset, literally

Dinner the first night consisted of our homemade concoction of drumsticks marinated in soya sauce. Turned out not too bad, probably coz we were famished by then.

Cooked rice in this water. That, is tank water. I have no idea what tank water is, but that's what comes out from the tap. It's so white it's tantamount to getting barley water from the tap. But it's probably all just gas bubbles in the water (i hope), as after a while the water settles and becomes quite clear. I've drank that water, and i'm still alive and breathing.. =)

An early morning start again the next day brought us to Tidal River, which if you look at the following photos has awesomely clear, blue, azure waters. The stuff you normally only see in postcards..

After crossing the river, the trail then led to a vantage point overlooking Normal Bay. Scenic views.

After lunch, our next challenge was to climb to the summit of Mt. Oberon. The Mt. Oberon nature walk is one of the highlights of The Prom. It is a challenging 3.4km relatively steep uphill climb. Halfway up, i was already contemplating giving up and taking a rest, be it not for Sheanee who was marching onward and setting the pace. Not wanting to let her walk up alone, we soldiered on, disregarding my complaining body. Fortunately, our arduous climb was rewarded by a spectacular 360 degree view from the summit, and all tiredness and lethargy was immediately forgotten as we savoured the panaromic views and took countless photos.

Quickly made our way downhill and drove to nearby Squeaky Beach. And the name of the beach is not just some random name. Squeaky Beach is so named because it is literally that - it squeaks! If im not mistaken, the grains of sand on this beach are all of the same size, which somehow creates a squeaking sound when one walks on the sand. Quite a cool and amazing effect... =) The sea though is super cold at this time of the year, and even a quick dip in the sea is enough to numb your feet, and it's even bordering on the painful..

Our attempt at building a sandcastle , complete with moat and bridge

Which came to ruin when the sea came and washed it all away

Btw, what happens when you're in the bush and you have a sudden urge to relief yourself? The only option is to use the dunny. What's a dunny? Look at the picture below. That is a dunny. Innocuous and innocent looking enough. What it is however, is a toilet whereby there's no need for flushing or a sewerage line to carry waste away. Everything just drops straight through the hole in the toilet bowl and remains there... forever.

Left the next mornign to Mornington Peninsula to drop Kee Win off, and all the places we wanted to visit such as the chocolate and cheese factory, or strawberry picking, all weren't in seaason.

So next best attraction was the Cape Schanck lighthouse...

Could almost have been a scene from The OC

Journey home, stopped by this Korean BBQ place in Box Hill, Seoulia. All-you-can-eat buffet meant me ending up totally bloated. A good end to a trip that yielded picturesque scenery, a chance to catch up with friends, and an awesome time. =) =)


Here's a few more beautiful panaromic shots stitched together in Photoshop...

Holidays

It's been exactly one week since the holidays have commenced. And what have i done thus far?? Basically, spent like the entire weekend working on my Computational Mechanics assignment. Spent at least 30 hours over the weekend rushing the assignment which was due Monday. Anyway, i put the final full stop to my assignment at 9.45am on Monday morning, printed it, and went to uni at 10am to play badminton, all without sleep the previous night. =)

Holidays so far has been all about sleeping and waking up late, playing poker, playing soccer, celebrating birthdays, watching movies, and going out a lot (which means spending a lot of money). Basically nothing very eventful. But somehow, i find that i'm always a lot busier during the holidays then during the semester. Also went rock climbing yesterday with MoMU ppl, and my upper body is all aching now. Rock climbing's fun, but can be difficult. When you're halfway up the wall, and your muscles are burning and they feel like giving way, and the next handhold is just beyond your fingertips, it takes some mental strength to actually decide to push on instead of just letting go. My lovely housemate Jo, surprised everyone by being capable of climbing to the top of all the walls she attempted. Mel also managed to climb well. I guess for once, being small, lightweight and lithe has its advantages.

Okay, i'm off to Wilsons Prom for the next 3 days. I have to wake up in 3 hours time, and i still haven't packed. =(

On another note, Melissa Yow, the obsessive online shopper pointed me to this website www.dealextreme.com. I'm really amazed by how cheap some of the things are, and for a short while they're offering free shipping. Try not to want to buy seemingly everything listed there!!

Stuck in a lift...

My first experience being stuck in a lift, and no unfortunately, it wasn't with a hot girl... =(

Here's the story. Kai and Chong Shen were at my place, working on an assignment due Monday, when Sabrina texted me asking if i could bring over my Taboo set to Heidi's place in QV 1 for their entertainment as they were leaving for their MLT (i.e. Melbourne Leadership Team) getaway holiday in Torquay tmrw morning.. So i happily obliged, and asked if Kai wanted to tag along just for fun. Big mistake!

On the way back from her place, we were marveling at how fast the elevator was traveling. So Kai being Kai, naturally had to start jumping up and down in the lift. Next thing i knew, the lift shuddered to a halt. After a brief moment of uncertainty, and frantic pressing at the buttons, we realised that we were indeed stuck!! Rang the emergency button, provided our name, location and lift number, and was assured that there would be a technician over in 20 mins. Fortunately, this is Australia and I shudder to think the outcome of this had happened back home. In Malaysia, at 2am in the morning, you can be assured that there'll be next to zero chance of being rescued expeditely.

Spent about 45 mins in the lift, as the technician took quite a while to figure out what was wrong (or maybe he was just punishing us for spoiling the lift). So what did we do to while away the time? I had a few rounds of Taboo with Sabrina over the phone, albeit over a bad line (though i'm surprised i managed to actually get reception in the lift), and Kai and I played Mini Golf on our phones using Bluetooth.

Anyway, moral of the story?? Never, never enter the same lift with Kai - unless of course you enjoy the novelty of being stuck in a lift. And this is not the first time either. Last year, somehow, even though he wasn't staying in IH, on one of his visits back he contrived to place balloons between the closing doors, hence entrapping himself. One of the most destructive boys i know, well, maybe apart from Kenny! haha.

I have fans..?

Recent MSN chat with a friend...
Made my day. Apparently, there are perks that come with the job... =) =)

I should learn Mandarin...

Kevin Rudd addressing the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, during the recently concluded APEC conference. His mastery of the Mandarin language and virtuosity impressing the large Chinise delegation present in the audience. It can only bode well for Kevin Rudd, who's widely tipped to become the next Prime Minister of Australia.

Now, if only i could speak Mandarin that well. At least, more than my basic repertoire of 1-10. =(

MoMU Merdeka Kenduri

My emceeing experience - mispronouncing lots of words, talking too fast, and saying the wrong things. I even managed to blurt out things like "we're going to draw the lucky prizes!" Imagine that, the prize can actually be lucky?? haha. There were a few other bloopers that i've already forgotten. Fortunately, ppl seemed to miss my blunders, and i think i improved as the night went on. In hindsight, maybe i should have prepared more since almost everything i said was unscripted. Credit though to my fellow emcee, Michelle, who naturally has the gift of talking.. =P

I think overall, the night went well. Considering we had only sold like 40 tickets with less than a week to go, and we were afraid we couldn't get the numbers. But trust Malaysians to be last minute as usual, and we ended up having to expand the capacity just the day before to accommodate 170 ppl. Good food, good entertainment, and a nice last event for the outgoing committee. Anyway, here's deluge of photos of from the night as well as photos of all of us posing and cam-whoring. =P

[P.s. Check out my new eye-candy. Allow the page to finish loading, click any photo, and an overlay of a higher resolution photo will appear. Mouse over at the top left/right and click to go to the previous/next photo. Alternatively, press the left/right keyboard buttons =)]

For those who missed out (due to it being too expensive amongst the many excuses!), here are some of the performances during the night:

Skit: "Malaysian History as MoMU Sees It"

The girls' tealight dance to "Belaian Jiwa". During one of the practice sessions, as we didn't get any actual footage on that night. Pardon Roz's screaming at the end when hot wax fell on her.. =P

Melissa Seow's rendition of "Bukan Cinta Biasa" by Siti Nurhaliza.

Athina singing "It's Alright" by Penny Tai.

Our much vaunted and talked about boyband dance. I think almost everyone has by now heard about it or even seen the video. Considering most of us can't dance for nuts, i guess it turned out quite well. And if the peals of laughter and requests for an encore are any indication, it might even have been better than we thought it would be when we grudgingly went about the task of figuring out a dance a couple of weeks ago. If anything, at least it managed to brighten up Heidi's day, so much so that you've been posting it all over the place eh?? =P. Anyway, here it is again...

For those wanting a closer view and a different angle,

Sheryl lending her lovely vocals to the song "Fly Away" by Fish Leong.

Closing act: Michael Jackson's "Thriller"