读书心得

好有一段时间没有采用华文写文章了。为了避免我的华文写作能力发生'不用则亡'的可悲现象，我今天就下定决心，咬紧牙根用华语写ｂｌｏｇ。请大家多多指教！

在这短短的一星期小假，我读了一本很棒的爱情故事：「等一个人咖啡』。这小说好看得令我爱不释手，甚至干涉荒废学业的地步。读完了这小说后，我才领悟我喜欢上重暧昧轻爱情这一类的爱情故事。另一本同类同受我热烈欢喜的小说是「亦恕與珂雪』。两个故事都大同小亦，内容大刚为主角爱上了一个人，但最后还是喜欢上陪在他身旁一起哭笑玩乐，无事不谈的异性知心朋友。很单调无聊吧！但所谓路程比终点重要，我就偏偏喜欢读他们在友情未变成爱情当时所遭遇的种种有趣情况。真是多姿多彩，充满幽默。

我发现最近常在故事中活自己想拥有的梦。有时真的希望人生具体的爱情能如一篇小说，拥有一般甜蜜过程，一般美好结局。真的希望有一天找到和我心有灵犀一点同的贵人。。。但有个小问题：问题在于我真的很渴望被人追的感觉。我并没有想要主动追求人家的念头。真的不信天下没有女生会追我。现在不是男女平等吗？应有女生会主动的啦！不然我只好当和尚去了。。梦。人就因该有梦，不管那梦有多离谱，总算有一凡有机会成真的梦就行了，不然活着也没意义了。。人不是一生都在追梦吗？

哈哈，应该觉得我写得一章小学水准的文章吧。 坦白说，我在这两小时内已经废了不少功夫， 翻了字典上百次了。 真可悲！尽量笑吧！我自己都难相信我曾经在ＳＰＭ华文考获Ａ１。可能那是在梦中发生的吧。＝P

English Tea

On the way home from the tulip festival last Saturday, we stopped by a quaint English teahouse to have authentic English afternoon tea in the small shire of Sassafras, Melbourne.

The teahouse is named after the famous grandmother-age sleuth made famous in Agatha Christie novels: Miss Marple.


Miss Marple Teahouse

Obviously, the teahouse is very famous, as we had to wait for nearly an hour for tea. By the time we were sitted, it is nearly dinner time.

The interior of the teahouse is distinctively old traditional English, just like in the classical English novels I used to read. Around the teahouse are shelves laced with tea-pots of different shapes and sizes, old English black and white photographs, timber ceiling, wooden panelled walls, and flowery tableclothes. The atmosphere feels like 18th or 19th century British too, with the afternoon sunlight bathing the place with cosy heat and radiance.


The cosy interior of Miss Marple teahouse

We had traditional English scones for tea. This is my first ever taste of 'hot scones just out of the oven' which can always be found in Enid Blyton's storybook. The real life scones however are not what I anticipated or expected it to be like. In my imagination, it should taste more waffle pancakes but instead, it taste like half-baked cakes with a grainy texture. Nonetheless, it is a pleasant experience and the homemade jam and cream accompanying the scones are simply delicious.


Hot scones with strawberry jam and fresh cream

Of course we have some traditional Devonshire tea to go with the scones.. and to top it all off, we ordered a sundae that is at least 30cm tall. Yummy! Definitely an experience to remember. (Not to mention the exorbitant prices too! A piece of scones cost like RM10)


Tea


Sundae

Wish you were here! Haha.

Pic of the day: A really vain vanity carplate. Audacious! Who are you to call yourself Datin Victoria?

Say it with flowers

Yesterday I went to the Netherlands - the country known for its windmills, clogs and of course tulips. Here's some marvellous photos of tulips taken by yours truly for your enjoyment. Details of the trip will be out soon. Enjoy!

Welcome to the Tulip Festival!


Tulips as far as the eyes can see..

Lecturers' New Toy

Seems like lecturers now knew that their lectures are getting boring. At last they noticed all the blank stares and drooping heads in the lecture theatre...

So what do you think they do to spruce up their lectures? Like any TV stations wanting to increase their TV ratings, they turn the lecture theatre into an arena for Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. With some slight modifications though... Since they don't have the money, they changed the Millionaire to Pharmacist and the $ sign into mg. Like yeah, congrats, you won 1 million milligrams! (Of what? who cares..as long as it sounds Pharmacist) You are now a Pharmacist!


Welcome to Who wants to be a Pharmacist! Congrats to our contestant here for winning the Fastest Fingers challenge... Let the game begin!

And mind you, they are really serious about this idea of game show in lecture. They even invest some of our monies to buy some Keepads.


Kee-pad. Made in Korea.

What is the Keepads used for? To choose the fastest contestant of course! The question will go on the screen, and all the students will press the answers. Just to render an air of authencity to the game which is made fake by the fact that nobody will win any money. Impressive right?


Press quick! The fastest guy will stand a chance to win 1000000 mg!

Everyone say VCP is one of the best Pharmacy school in the world. Now I know why. They are even serious and provide the best when it comes to playing games. Did I see any of you turn green with envy?

P/s: Great news! JPA said I will receive a pay rise..yeah! My salary will raised by around 100% from RM1760 to RM3315 per month! Woo-hoo! Even higher than being a school teacher or even a pharmacist in Malaysia. Studying is really one of the best paid job... =) Next time the After Form 5 Careers RoadShow should have one new potential career path: "Professional Student".

Lessons from a Lion

In Malaysia, the Lion seen in Chinese New Year Lion Dances is a beautiful, magnificient creature. However, I had never seen this creature before in Melbourne until Malaysia's National Day last week. One look at the animal and the truth hits me square in the face. No wonder I had never seen one here! After a few generations undergoing the entire gamut of evolution and genetic material changes, it seems that the Lion here had metamorposize into this hideous looking creature.

-Before migration to Melbourne-

-After migration-

Oh my! If not for the accompanying 'dong-dong chiang' music I might never had realised that this was indeed a Lion.

This caused me to wonder what conditions here had such an adverse effect that so severly stunted the Lion's growth and disfigured its appearance. The cold and dry weather? The 'eat red meat' and BBQ culture? The 'drink till you drop' mantra? Or the Lion had a footy game too many? Australia do have a footy team consisting entirely of lions.



Since I can't pinpoint the actual cause for the Lion's disfigurement, I will call it Melbourne Induced Ugliness Factor-X or (MIUF-X) for the time being.

Anyhow, the moral of the story is, parents, don't try to send your children to study here. Because if you do, it will set up a cascade of events that eventually ended up in you have great-great-great grandchildren that suffer the same fate as the once-magnificient looking Lion. What cascade of events? Okay, first they study here. Then they love the culture here so much. Third they wanna migrate here as PR. Fourth they meet a nice girl/guy here and wanna marry. Then they give birth to your grandchild. And another. And another. Soon the family too big and they wouldn't have money to return home to their country of origin. So Melbourne became their adopted home. The Melbourne culture will then assimilate into their lifestyle. They will be exposed to the Melbourne weather and of course one of these contain the MIUF-X. Then they will go forth and multiply when they grow up. In the process, their genes evolved. The MIUF-X will ugly-fy them generation by generation..

So Moms, if you wanna your great-great-great granddaughter to have the Michelle Yeoh or Amber Chia look that you preceived you have now, don't ever send them to Melbourne.. Likewise for Dads who think they are Brad Pitt lookalikes...

Quotes

I love quotes.. coz if you put some quotes in your essays it gives the impression that you are indeed a well-read person. Hence I always start my essays with a quote.

While attending a seminar by the 2005 Nobel Prize winner for Physiology/Medicine Barry Marshall, he captivated my attention coz he started with a very good quote:

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance - it is the illusion of knowledge."

How true. Perhaps it's this quote that inspire him to challenge the widely-accepted and deeply-rooted notion that peptic ulcers are stress related and not caused by bacteria. Perhaps it's this insight - on the illusion on knowledge - that spur him on to find out the truth behind the cause of peptic ulcer.

Quotes are powerful. They make you think. They make you reflect. The right quotes can inspire you to think outside the box and give you deep insights. The best quotes are usually the deviously simple ones, which alwaz gives you the illusion that 'hey, I can write a quote like that too!'. It's on things that we know in the deep recesses our of brain but which we aren't consciously aware of. The quoters are those who make the connection. And that had made the difference. They got remembered, attaining immortality in the process. Juz by a simple quote. A good example: Murphy's Law.

By the way, the quote quoted by Barry Marshall was by Daniel J Boorstein (1914-2004), who was one the librarian of the US congress. Out of curiousity, I googled this guy and found out that he had other inspiring quotes too. Three others quotes by him that I felt are powerful:

'There was a time when the reader of an unexciting newspaper would remark, 'How dull is the world today!' Nowadays he says, 'What a dull newspaper!' '

'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some hire public relations officers.'

'We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in their place.'

This guy seems to have a sense of humour too:

'Reading is like the sex act-done privately, and often in bed.'

Utterly profound.

For more of his quotes visit the link here.

P/s: I didn't know that Steve Irwin aka the Crocodile Hunter was so popular. The newspapers was full of his news. Children cried for him. He was offered a state funeral. There's a special tribute show just for him. A guy who criticised him before got hundreds of hate mails. People put him on the same plane as Princess Di and Mother Teresa. Described as 'larger than life'. And yet he was just a simple, humble guy doing something he like whole-heartedly. Interesting. What make him popular?

Of Death and Friendship

A new dawn

September = Spring. Spring always have a positive connotation to it, bringing to mind a new beginning, a new dawn, of love, of joy and laughter, of fun and gaiety. Spring is of beautiful flowers, warm sunlight, singing birds and bumbling bees. In short, spring is the best season of all. For me the smell that encapsulate spring is the essence of newly cut grass. I think it is one of the nicest smell in the world. The aroma of grass is so refreshing and morale uplifting. It clears the mind and fills the brain with joy.

Death and dying

My mind seems detached from my body for the last few days. I can't think, I can't concentrate and I can just sit there with nothing on my mind. The creative juices start drying up and my brain lost the ability to think too. Suddenly became aware that my brain is getting lazy day by day. That day did an IQ test. The score: 126. Damn! Once upon a time its around 150. Help! is my brain atrophy-ing?!? How to repair a slowly malfunctioning brain? Or izzit that I been reflecting a lot about life lately?

Seems this week is filled with the death of prominent people. Today its Steve Irwin aka the Crocodile Hunter. Death by Stingray (suprisingly not Crocodile). Can't really relate to his death like Kim did coz didn't watch his show, only felt sorry for his children. They are still so young... However, one death that I felt real sadness about is the passing away of the Chief Monk of M'sia and Singapore, Reverend Dhammananda. He was indeed a person filled with humility and benovelence, kindness and wisdom. I will always remember his deep, resonant voice, and his kind smile. Last time I saw him was 2 years ago in Shah Alam. May he rest in peace.

Death seems to fill my mind for the last few days. Partly thanks to the book "Tuesdays with Morrie" by Mitch Albom. Was wondering which kind of death do I prefer (eventhough I know I couldn't choose) - slow death brought about by cancer or a rapid death like in a plane crash. In the end, I think I prefer a slow death, not because I want my family and friends to suffer watching me die, but I want some time to reflect my time spent of earth and maybe have some time to do what I always wanted to do but didn't do. I want to celebrate my life. Anyway, back to the book- it was a heart-warming book. Highly recommended by me. The part I like best is that it makes me aware how a simple human touch, such as a hug can means so much to someone.

The prefect Sunday

Always felt that the prefect weekend is one that is spent curled in bed reading a novel. Did that last Sunday. Read the book from the moment I woke up to late afternoon. The feeling is just so nice.

Back to life.. now knew time flies so quicky for me - it is because I always yearned for the weekends from Monday onwards. It was like Monday morning - five more days to Saturday... Tuesday, four more days to Saturday... didn't really cherish everyday. Now I have the ability to slow time down.

Touched

I was very touched by one of my friends on Saturday. He invited me to play badminton with him and even go all the way from his place to my place bring me there. It turned out that the badminton complex is only a stone throw away from his house.. and he spent 1 and a half hour going to my place and bring me back there. Wow.. I was left speechless. Juz like being touched by an angel. One of the little things in life...

And thanks to my friends in second year who always ask me to play basketball with them too..even though you know and I know that I'm not very good in the game.. and thanks for your support. Another one of the little things in life...

Left me wonder had I done anything for anyone lately? Had I brighten up the day of anyone out there? Had I make anyone feel good or feel better? Make me feel guilty, taking and not giving.. I am not a guy who express my feelings.. the typical chinese consevative breed with the stoic unfeeling outlook.. sometimes I envy those caucasians, who hug freely and kissed freely. I can't do that. It felt unnatural, not sincere. I want to change, but can't. Its too deeply rooted in me. However, I vowed to teach my children to be freely expressive. I can't change myself, but I sure can use my experience to teach someone to do it. But now, I need to learn to care more about others. I'm going to try to make someone out there happier this month.

Birthday dedication

Sept 5 is the 21th Birthday of my oldest friend, dear old Vincent Chong. Known him since Primary One (gosh thats 14 years ago? oh my..). Always the optimistic, vibrant and ambitious guy, hope being an adult drives you to more successes in whatever you do! Happy birthday!

Belated birthday dedication... yeah before I forgot, a happy belated birthday to my housemates in Cemara too... Chin Fei and Esjay. Will never forget you both hamka-chan(s)!! ^_^

Geez long post.. can't believe I started without any specific idea on what to write 2 hours ago..