Gossip, gossip, gossip

So fun! I'm researching on the role of informal communication network (a.k.a Gossips) for one of my research papers.

Now girls, there IS a difference between rumours, gossips and grapevines. Don't ask me what yet...I haven't done my readings. Heee....

And...I pon ten class today! Haha...what's a student life without skipping one or two classes? But I stayed up late to do my research last night lah...so actually was tired and couldn't wake up this morning. (Lame excuse huh...)

But I did go to school for my afternoon class. Favourite class mah...so sure attend one. Anyway, I dropped by the library before class to get one article I found online last night. %&^&%$&$%#&*$*&...the article I wanted was in Volume 43, Issue 4. Issue 1,2, 3, and 5 were all there...except the one I wanted!! And the library record showed that it was available. Some inconsiderate person must have read it and dumped it somewhere...now it's lost and I can't use it. Frustrating.

My mood went back up again during class. The presentation group today shared on corporate identity and image. They had a little exercise on Cadbury...and gave us chocos to eat while we did our work. Yummy!!!!

Me watching Australian Idol now. Gosh...they can sing real well! Got a few cute guys..but I think the girls sing better. But it's so reality TV (as always)...everyone who got through to the next round cried and seemed ultra guilty for getting through. Is it really so difficult to just shout "YEAH! I made it! Thank you!"! So hypocritical...come on lah..it's a competition. May the best man/woman wins!

My Kids Meal toy

We went Indooroopilly Mall for lunch and some shopping today. Had Hungry Jacks (aka Burger King) for lunch....and here's my kids meal toy! Not my favourite though...I wanted Yoshi the dinosaur...but this is cute enuff. He is currently at my window sill absorbing solar energy.....

Rabbit Soup?

We went Davis Market today. Saw this sign:

Eeeks! Rabbit & Mushroom soup? How can anyone eat a cute rabbit?? Somemore describe the soup as "yum". Faintz.......

More photos of my grocery shopping here.

Electric Bill

We got our first electric bill last night. Not bad - average about $1 per day only. And Hubby was earlier restricting my use of the heater during the coldest winter nights. Hahaha....I'll use the heater with a revenge next winter!

Anyway, apart from the electricity, we noticed an additional $14 bucks for "Community Ambulance Cover". I just went to the website to read more on this item. Everyone in Queensland have to contribute to this fund...to maintain the Queensland Ambulance Service. So funny....ambulance usage in SG is on a per use basis. You call for ambulance, then it's charged to you. Here, no matter you use it or not (choy....will not want to call an ambulance anyway!)...you have to pay. Hmm...........

So no choice...have to pay lor.....$26 cents per day.

The Battle Starts!

Hubby works with loud music - the black eye peas type (gives me headache after listening to it for 30 mins)

I work with nil or soft music - the worship type.

The battle starts when both of us are now working at the same table, doing our assignments.

The battle will intensify in the coming weeks! Keep reading in the coming weeks to see who emerges victorious.

P.S.: For those not reading my tags, I got back my first test results. 14 out of 15 marks. Yes, believe it. I still can study. Hahaha....
But seriously, lecturer gave us many hints before the test. Will not be so for future assignments. THAT's WHY I need peace to complete them!! No loud music pleaseeeeeee.....

I am Gucci!

SC was very sweet...she knew that I missed Gucci alot so she took a video of the little rascal. He's still as round as 2 months back. So I know he is in good hands indeed.....

For those of you who do not know Gucci, read this. You need to scroll down for entry on "Memoirs of Gucci"

EKKA 2006

Hubby and I went EKKA yesterday.

What is EKKA? It's the annual show in Queensland. Formal title is the Royal Queensland Show and originally called the Brisbane Exhibition. The Ekka was first held in 1876.

EKKA is for ten days each August. This year, it's from 10-19 Aug. It's like one mega carnival...let's see what they have:
- Animal Judging (cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry, dogs....many more)
- Vegetable Judging (who grows the biggest pumpkin, cabbage, cucumber....)
- Animal Enclosures (like a zoo)
- Carnival rides (exactly like River Ang Pao)
- Game stalls (exactly like River Ang Pao)
- Food stalls
- Exhibitions & Shopping
- Concerts and Performances

Entrance tickets cost $15 bucks each and train tickets cost another $3 bucks each. So a total of $36 bucks for our 3-hour rendevous at the EKKA. It was an eye-opener, well, the animal competitions and exhibitions were interesting. But the carnival itself - the games, the mechandise etc, were quite disappointing. Because, these are things that we get for free back in SG. Haha....now we can tell people that we have been to EKKA! And probably the last time in the next few years.

1 thing that interests me was the way the kids and parents went "crazy" at the showbag pavilion. Almost everyone was holding at least 1 bag of stuff that either contains sweets, chips or toys. We saw people who bought trolleys, literally, of showbags. These are things that you can get at supermarkets for half the price! Why pay so much just to buy something at the EKKA? Well, we reckoned that if there was only 1 big carnival a year, people sure let loose on their purse strings. Unlike in SG, where the pasar malams pop up at heartlands every weekend. You just need to hunt for their roaming locations.

Despite these, I still enjoyed the outing. Especially looking at all the animals! Click HERE to see the photos.

Supper

It's 11.30pm. Hubby and I just ate our supper - 3 delicious homemade apple pies.

Instant pastry sheets, 2 apples, a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, some flour and lemon, and lastly, a generous serving of sugar, pop it into oven for 25 mins and wah la! Great tasting apple pies are done. Moving on to curry puffs next time. Hee....

We went EKKA today. Lazy to load the photos now...will blog tomolo.
One conclusion - the people here are deprived of pasar malams. The things that we have almost every weekend at the various heartlands, they have it only once a year. No wonder they go crazy....no impact on us though....

Are we serious about 2nd chances??

Read from the news that a deliveryman was banned from delivering seafood to a 5-star++ hotel during the IMF world bank period..for security reasons...despite the fact that he has been doing this for the past 4 years.

Why???

Because he was an ex-convict, who served 4 years in jail and suffered 24 strokes of the rattan in the 1970s for killing another person during a gang fight. He has been out since the 80s and has a clean record since then. For the past 6 years that he has been with his current company, he is seen as a model worker by his boss.

Why are we drumming up the hype about the yellow ribbon project, asking the society to give ex-convicts a second chance when in reality, we don't really mean it? Is it all talk only? It disgusts me.

I acknowledge the fact that the IMF event is a mega event for SG and alot of work is out in the ensure that absolutely nothing goes wrong during the event. That is reasonable....although it includes collecting 4 million smiles, re-decorating the convention centre, taking hundreds of civil servants away from their work and be trained intensively just to be liaison officers for the delegates and their spouses and now, security-screening everyone that will be in the teeniest contact with the delegates or the places where they will set foot in - and woe to those who cannot clear the screening. Out you go - disappear from the face of SG for that period so that it will not stain the goody image of the beautiful island city with perfect people.

Read the article yourself and draw your own conclusions.

Nasi Lemak!!

SG Craving 101 at work again. The result? Nasi Lemak!!

The rice is green because we added pandan essence. There's no pandan leaves here. But well, it does look and taste like the nasi lemak rice back home. I'm getting good at the chicken wings..and the chilli was to hubby's taste - not too hot. We even had fried anchovies and nuts.

A nice & complete meal indeed!

2 happy (and very hungry) ones....

First Exam

"Try to finish all the questions. Don't be too distressed if you can't"

This was part of the instructions on my test paper today. Haha...you will never see this on any exam or test paper in SG...or anywhere else.

Haven't been blogging coz was mugging for the test. Lecturer was too kind to us. Of the 30 questions, 5 were multiple choice. Most were fill in the blanks (with helping words). How I wish all exams were like this. Hee.....

Tomolo is public holiday. There is this huge festival now called the EKKA. It's a big carnival thingy where farmers showcase their goods(ie: their fruits, vegetables, cows, sheep etc), and many game stalls, food stalls, shows, and rides. Like a mega pasar malam back home. Just that this last for 1 week, with fireworks every night, and there is a public holiday for people to go to this carnival. Cool huh??

I'll likely go on Thurs. Dun want to get caught in the packs of people who will be going tomolo. Will update with more photos and commentaries then. I've planned the itinerary already. Go see horse and dog judging in the morning, then sheep shearing demostrations, go round the stalls, then end of with buffolo show and fire works at night. Boy...am I excited.

Post NDP Party

Hooray for the NDP organisers. The webcast actually worked. We were able to see delayed images here and there, of the entire parade. Well, guess our internet speed wasn't that fast, but was good enough. But it was funny that we had to repeat the lyrics so many times when we were singing the anthem and the songs because the images kept on "buffering". Hee....

NDP parades seemed like part of our lives....we take them for granted and we complain that it's almost the same every year. But to our surprise (and delight), our OZ fren found it cool. Yup, that was the word she used. She found it interesting that so many people will gather in 1 place to celebrate national day, wear the red and white attire, spend months to rehearse for the massive displays and formations.

And for us, we were the mini SG-historians last night. We took turns to tell the stories of how SG became independent, how MM cried on TV when we were separated from malaysia, what our national flag symbolised (haha...we had to recite the pledge to make out what the 5 stars meant)...and proudly sang to the tunes of "count on me singapore", "stand up for singapore", we are singapore" and 'home".....

After our friends left, hubby asked me what was different about watching the parade at home in SG and watching the parade on internet in OZ. I couldn't tell him the difference then. But now I know. It's the extra sense of belonging and pride. Knowing that no matter where I am, this little dot on the earth which has just celebrated her 41st birthday, is where I will always call, home.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Today is 9th of August - Singapore's 41st Birthday.

This is the first time I'm spending national day away from SG. While it's public holiday back home, I had lessons in the morning. Hee....

A few FG frens will be coming over later and we will attempt to watch the live feed of the parade from internet. But the internet connection here is pathetic lor. We're on cable (already considered more advanced than the predominantly dialled-up services here), but when we tried to watch a video from CNA just now, still very laggy. Sigh....hope the telecast later will be better. Or else we will just be fellowshipping over dessert. Hee....

My wishes for Singapore:

1. More abled leaders in the gahmen. No matter they are from PAP or any other party, they just need to serve the people from their hearts

2. Keep those transport fares low please. Don't keep adjusting the fares every other year. And, it will be a good thing to have more concession for the students and senior citizens. Like half price??

3. Have fair competition for places in schools. Can we forget about "priority placing" from affliations, parents' voluntary work, CCAs? And more uni. places for poly graduates who really want to study in SG?

4. More interesting TV programmes. Maybe draw some inspirations from the stoopid Japanese variety shows....very entertaining indeed. Stop re-running the movies for at least 5 times. It's irritating.

5. More Mr Browns and Mr Miyagis. Don't stop the views on SG. It's a way we show that we care.

The list can go on and on...but if these 5 wishes were fulfilled, I guess it's already a great leap forward. =)

Those of you back home - enjoy the fireworks!

"picnic" in park

Hubby "delivered" my lunch to school today.
And we found a cosy spot at the lake and enjoyed our lunch.

A simple thing that we both have been looking forward to for a long time.

A group of ducks actually waddled their way to our side while we were eating. Maybe the noodles attracted them. Too late to grab the camera...we just enjoyed their presence while protecting our noodles. They got the hint and waddled off......

"Picnic" at park

Nature vs Nuture

Just watched a documentary. The featured story was about a little girl who was abandoned by her parents at the age of 3 and she sought refuge in a kennel - with the dogs. She found warmth with the dogs on the cold night when she was left alone.

From the next 6 years, she lived with and lived like the dogs. When she was found by social workers, she crawled on fours and could only bark. Every action, apart from the physical look, depict her as a dog.

The documentary also showed other "cases", where children were severely neglected during their early years and resulted in permanent mental trauma. When these children's brains were examined, the x-rays showed significant differences with that of "normal" children. These children's brains were smaller, and parts of the brain died because they were not stimulated.

I'm greatly saddened.....I can't understand why parents can subject their children to such cruelty. All these --> does it really mean that the forces of nuture is stronger than the forces of nature? It reinforces the theories that I've been reading these few weeks. We view and shape our world as how we understand and make sense of it, through social interaction. No interaction means no "world".

But, I still feel nature is the predominant force. Whatever nuture has made wrong, nature can make it right. Because we are made in God's image. How wrong can that be? Of course, I'm not denying that there are those who were born with disabilities - but that's part of Papa's plans for them. For those who were born "normal", but were made "abnormal" through other circumstances, we need to persevere and help them, and not think that they are beyond hope and recovery.

Census Time!

Last night a lady came to our doorstep and delivered a census form for us to complete. Compulsory.


Ironic. All my life I've been living in Singapore..but don't recall I've participated in any census survey before. Less than 2 months in OZ, we're asked to give our views on the life here, so that voices of all people living here will be heard by the gahmen. and we're only students here!

Is there some secret census that's going on back home too? Or else, how do the gahmen actually know that their policies represent the views of singaporeans? Hmm...looks like I don't really know the workings of policy formulation back home. Assumed that everything has been put in place for our own good. But from whose perspectives??

National Day coming...Singapore turning 41 years old. Hubby and I intend to take some photos at Story Bridge over the weekend and send in our greetings to wish her happy birthday. We love Singapore, but there are just things that we don't understand (yet?). When will we be enlightened and truly be a part of home???

Think I'm OK

Just came back from Julia's place. Had discussion on our presentation next Tue. Well, we did the usual girls' things lah..gossip, do abit of work, gossip more, do abit of work, and gossip some more. We took nearly 3 hours for a 1 hour-worth of work.

But 3 minds is better than 1. Guess we're all blur about the great big theories. So we will just blur our way through, consoling ourselves that it's only 10% oof the total marks. Coincidently, our case study is on "Donald Burr". Hahaha...

Think I'll do some reading later..then take my afternoon nap. Hubby's classmate coming over for discussion tonight. So will be cooking fried rice...didn't get to cook my nasi lemak yesterday. Too tired after class.

I realised this today - I actually like studying, and the freedom of controlling your own time is liberating. I think I'll be ok. =)

Lost

Help! I'm totally lost in the sea of meta-theories.

Ontology, epistemology, ethonomethodology, symbolic interactism, social constructionism, schema theory, relevance theory, attribution theory, elaboration likelihood model, discourse theory, social identity theory....and the list goes on and on. Even the usual word "TEXT" got 3 other different meanings lor!!!

Why do these academics got so MUCH time in the world to think and re-think of deep theories and use them to traumatise poor students???? Not that the work they are doing is not good. Of course they are good, help us understand humans and our world better. I'm just ranting lah....and maybe lecturers can be merciful on the poor students and give us less complex theories...at least not all at 1 go...sigh........this is tougher than I imagine.

I'll just have to work extra hard lor. If others can do it, so can I! Kampateh! (haha....dunno how to spell the jap version lah)

PS - Me cooking nasi lemak tomolo. Hehe...comfort food to comfort me.