First ever AFL match

Finally, I had managed to watch a Australian Football League or "footy" match today. Footy was proudly invented here in Victoria hence its status as the most popular sport around. Nearly half the sports coverage on newspaper everyday is on Footy. And thanks to Monash Uni for giving me the free ticket.

I went to the match with G and Kush, who are amongst my best frens in Uni. We're all very active volunteers in the Global Friendship Series (that's why we got the tickets).

The match was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground or known as the MCG. It has a maximum capacity of 100,000 and was the stadium used in the opening and closing ceremony of the 06 Commonwealth Games.

The match was between the Richmond Tigers

and Essendon Bombers

It's hard to explain a game of Footy. Basically there are 18 person per team on the field; it was played over four quarters of 20 minutes each; and there are four goal sticks on each end: kick the ball in between the centre sticks and you will score 6 points, if kick between the peripheral sticks, you will score one point.

There was a big crowd and the atmosphere was unbelievable. We got some good seats, just a few rows from the field and around 20 degrees from the centre goal post.

The Richmond team hurdle before the game. Richmond is the Home team.

The start of the game. The person in the green is the umpire. He was bent over because in Footy there have this unique way to start the game - the umpire threw the ball on the ground, it bounces up and the players fight for the ball.

If the ball goes out of bounds, the throw-in is also unique. That's what this umpire was doing - he was throwing the ball over his head with his back to the playing field.

This guy was trying to score a goal. He did score and earned his team 6 points. The match was very close - close to a classic. Richmond was streets ahead during half time, but Essendon hit back in the third quarter, scoring 6 straight goals to take a slim lead. The crowd was ecstatic, waving flags and pom-poms whenever their team scored.

The last quarter was end-to-end stuff, which both teams alternatively taking the lead. In the end, Richmond won by four points, beating Essendon 108 to 104. It was really much much closer, as Essendon missed the last four chances of the game to score.

A truly enjoyable and memorable match.

 

Basically, I guess what was missing to make it a perfect experience was for a streaker to run across the field. But there's this funny sight of a yellow taxi on the field just before the game started.

The driver was probably a part time Indian student with a mal-functioning GPS system installed.

Knowledge = power?

I guess I'm not much of an action man.

I am a voracious reader. I read a lot. I adhere and revere the maxim "Knowledge is power".

I have an interest for motivation books.

I just finished reading the Dale Carnegie's classic "How to win friends and influence people."

I had already read Stephen Covey's "The seven habit of highly effective people."

Likewise Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich dad poor dad."

Or Chris Howard's "Turning Passion into Profits".

And countless not-no-popular books harping on the relatively similar themes of effective public speaking, how to make money, how to make friends, how to be confident etc...

Hell, I even brought "The secret" and read "The game".

Anyway, you got the drift.

After turning the last page of Dale Carnegie's book a couple of hours ago, I suddenly felt very empty. It's like this sudden drop in endorphin level that left you mired in mild depression. I was wondering why then, had I not transformed into the person I want myself to be, even though I had these supposedly wealth of knowledge?

Then a light bulb moment. I realised that I'm not proactive enough.

I am a predominantly reactive person. I don't like to make decisions. I don't like choices. I prefer people to organise activities rather then I do it. Usually I only speak to someone if they initiate the conversation first. I let people add me on Facebook or Friendster rather then me adding them. Once I even wistfully hope that some girl will come chasing after me rather then the other way round. Sounds like a nice dinner joke now.

Thinking back, I guess I just don't like being responsible for the decisions I do. Or perhaps there is this inherent fear of rejection that is hard to unlearn. Or an ingrown what-ever attitude. Or a lack of confidence. Anyway, I guess I need a certain period of time to reflect on where it all goes wrong and rewire the circuit in me.

Someone once told me no so long ago that "Power is actually on the action you take based on the knowledge you have." I was skeptical at first. But now I guess I am converted.

Looking back, I started writing this blog "to chronicle my evolution to be a better person" (on my 2nd ever post in 2005). I guess I gonna keep my word and start being more proactive from today.

P/s: geez reading my previous posts make me suddenly realise that my English is tumbling downhill. Better brush it up too...

A day in the life of a pharmacy student

A new innovation of the campus is to have students write up their life as a pharmacy student in a blog form and let prospective students read about them (So that they will fall in love with the Uni and pledge their future here).  Wondered what's so interesting in the life of a pharmacy student. Decided to chronicle my life today as a dry run.

7.45a.m. Woke up by the mellifluous (I wish) chime of my handphone alarm. Brushed time. Dressed up. Breakfast with a cup of must-have cappuccino.

8.30a.m. Started the half and hour walk to Uni in the cold weather. you know here in Melbourne, poor International students don't have concession for public transport.

9.00a.m. Reached Uni. Worked as a Disability Liaison Unit notes-taker for one hour. Basically I sat through a lecture with 'a person with a  disability' (politically correct way to say it) and helped him jot down whatever the lecturer had said.

10.00a.m. Went to the miniscule library to use the Internet. As usual, too many people and not enough computers. Ended up chatting with friends and reading the Australian Medicines Handbook.

10.30a.m. A double lecture (2 hours long). Had fun observing people nodding off.

12.30p.m. Lunch break! Had an apple and a banana for lunch (being healthy). Crowded cafeteria. Saw some first years playing Uno. Seemed so fun. Wondered why I didn't do that during my time.

1.00p.m. Participated in the preliminary round of a counselling competition. No chance of winning - just went there for experience as gonna have an oral exam soon too. Didn't do too bad. In fact I think I did better then I had expected. At least my brain didn't go on freeze mode.

1.30p.m. Three lectures on the trot. On things such as what G-protein coupled receptors and homeopathic medication. Pure torture. Luckily the last one finished half and hour earlier.

4.00p.m. Sneaked to the common room for some ping-pong. Felt so good to send the ball spinning and smashing around.

4.30p.m. It's Global Friendship Series time! Its a free event for students to have fun and make friends. Today's theme is Japanese. So we had sushi and karaoke. Imagine singing karaoke in the Uni.

6.30p.m. Walked home. It was already dark... and cold. And going to start at 9a.m. again tomorrow.

Hence a typical life of a pharmacy student.

The beginning of the end

Uni restarts tomorrow.. for one last semester.

One last chance to reach the Uni's entrance, take a deep breath and say "ah.. another new semester!"

One last chance to go into the lecture hall and promise myself "I'm going to do my best this semester."

One last chance to meet friends and ask "How's your hols?"

One last chance to feel the freshness of a new semester, to taste something that promises so much.

One last chance to think of what I had not done in my Uni life and try to do it before it is too late.

Perhaps I should not be so melancholic but instead happy because after this coming 12 weeks, I will be at the end of an arduous 4 year course. Graduating. Ready for the real world.

             Monash Uni Parkville Campus

It seemed not too long ago when I first laid my eyes on the campus. That slightly windy February day in 2005, with a smidgen of cloud and clear blue sky. I was wearing my orange T-shirt, dark blue jeans and a dark blue windbreaker. Walked along Princes Park, not sure where the Uni was until I saw the big blue signboard. Monash University. 381 Royal Parade. The surging feeling of pride of being able to make it to Uni at last. The promises of an exciting dawn. The beginning of a journey.

 

Once upon a time in 2005...

Each 12 weeks block passed by one by one. Each started with a feeling of excitement and hope. Of new things to look forward to. New challenges. New adventure. And tomorrow, I will walk the same way,  see the same scenery, a bigger signboard. However, the feeling will be different. This time, it will be the beginning of the end. Whether to feel sad or excited, I have no idea.

Postcards from Sydney Part 4

It's Day 4 in Sydney! Gosh. Time really flies. We have nearly reached the end of our short trip. Its gonna be an early start for us today, as we are making the 2 hour journey for the Blue Mountains!

It's a day for the greens and blues - green forests and blue mountains that is.

First on the itinerary was the search for wild kangaroos. Not that interesting. Even the kangas don't look interested.

Then its time to see some waterfalls.

And the mountains.

The famous three sisters are a bit shy to see us - hiding mysteriously under a shroud of mist and fog.

For a bit of jungle adventure, went to sit on the steepest incline railway in the world. Actually not that scary. Just like a short roller coaster.

Ended the day with some nice food (again!) This time went for some hot Japanese ramen;

and cold Lindt chocolate.

 

That nicely conclude my Sydney trip. Day 5 was uneventful - just breakfast at a random food court and then transit to the airport for the flight home.

As noticed, didn't include pics of any of my travel mates coz didn't have their permission to do so (dun wanna get sued). Besides, this blog is about me. =P

P/S:

New fact of the day: Gloria Jean in Sydney opened for service at 7a.m. Never knew they open so early. And yeah you can't buy alcohol in Sydney after 12a.m.

Interesting fact of the day: I never had ramen. First impression - a more sophisticated version of Maggi Mee. 

Postcards from Sydney Part 3

Day three! Another happy sunny day. What's a better way to start the day other than having some delightful breakfast? So off we go to Zilver for Yum-cha!

The dim-sum there super yummy. Especially the cha-siew.

Then went shopping. Spent >$100. Enough said.  Also to Paddy's Market - which is like Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne but with a Chinese tinge.

Keeping to the Chinese theme, went to Chinatown afterwards. Things real cheap here compared to Chinatown Melbourne.

Then its to the Chinese friendship garden - which was really like a secret paradise hidden right in the city.

 

After that its time to visit the most famous beach in Australia - the Bondi Beach. Too bad its winter - no bikini gals. And its size failed to impress too. Just slightly bigger then Damai Lagoon in Kuching.

Anyway, around there was a store selling Deep Fried Mars Bars. Yeah its chocolate deep fried. Triple cholesterol but worth the risk.

Better things to follow - went to Hurricane Grill for dinner. Had huge pork ribs and lamb ribs for dinner (so big that it cannot fit into the pic). Still salivating while looking at this pic.

End the day with more shopping at Bondi Junction. Great leisurely day. Especially for the tummy.

P/S:

New fact of the day: The Mars Bars in the fried Mars Bars was melted after being deep fried. I thought it will be intact like fried ice-cream.

Interesting fact of the day: I spent more money while shopping for clothes compared to the gals. How can this be?

Postcards from Sydney Part 2

Day two in Sydney also very sunny - which is good compared to the cold and windy Melbourne weather. A good day for the zoo! ~

First stop today to the Fish Market for some fuel before the zoo trip. Tucked into fresh and yummy-licious oysters and lobsters and sashimi.

Then hopped on a cruise to the zoo - passing by the harbour bridge and opera house along the way.

Taronga Zoo very nice coz its on a island. Giraffe here want escape to Harbour bridge also cannot coz it can't swim. Too bad a few exhibitions closed due to renovations. Not to mention all the hibernating animals. Its like one sleeping wombat. Two sleeping wombat. Three sleeping wombat...

After that went to Pancake on the Rocks for pancake. Tasted as good as it looks.

Night time trip to Sydney Uni. Loved their campus. Really like scenery from 'Love in Harvard'. Quaint old-fashioned pharmacy building too.

Went for ice-cream afterwards. Don't think I will describe how it taste like. Don't wanna you all be Incredible Hulk.

P/S:

New fact of the day: Didn't know gals can devour pancakes so quickly. Dinner finished in less than 15 minutes.

Interesting fact of the day: Forgot to mentioned that we took the train - the train here are double deckers and the seats are reversible!

Postcards from Sydney Part 1

At last can finally go online after almost a week of non-existent Internet connection. Highlight of the hols this time round is of course the trip to Sydney. Since still in holiday mode, I'll let the pictures do the talking. As you may have noticed, these posts are back-dated to the day of visit.

Reached Sydney on 1.7.08 - flight delayed one hour. First stop was backpackers, then walked to Darling Harbour. Nice scenery.

Then went to see their casino - the casino in Melbourne is still way better.

Dinner at Seoul-Ria. From name should figure out its Korean. Food not bad. Warm and hearty.

After that walked to see what I actually went to Sydney for - the Opera house!! Really magnificent work of art.

Of course also need see the harbour bridge. Then strolled around city also.

P/S:

New fact of the day: Darling harbour not same place as harbour bridge. I always thought otherwise.

Interesting fact of the day: Walked a total of 8km+ today. Fascinating.

Holiday!

And to acknowledge the fact, the Internet connection decided to go on strike.

So cool. It cuts me off the cheapest way I can find friends to do things and plan stuffs. When I finally got the time to do them.

Now the telcos can smile all the way to the bank after ripping me off my SMS fees. Mind you, its not one cent here as in M'sia.

Nevertheless it was a fun day today as a few of us managed to get together and play a game of Frisbee. Albeit the wind is not really helping at all, making the Frisbee turns and twists at awkward angles.

But I find this game very special as I guess it is the first time we had pharmacy students from three different year levels (plus a PhD student) having fun together.

It something I guess I will cherish a lot, because I never got to do this with my seniors and in fact only knew a few of them. I guess one of the reasons I took such an initiative to know the juniors and help them whenever possible is because I wanted them to have a richer Uni life, to make sure they have what I don't have when I'm still in the first year.

Later in the evening, some of us had a meeting with the Senior Principal Assistant Director of pharmacy in Malaysia. After me complaining of the don't-care-much attitude of JPA, it is good to know that at least the Pharmacy department cared about us. She gave us quite a good picture of what to expect in Malaysia and some of the options we can take. She told us how the training will be like, what exams we had to take and how much our salary will be (We will be really earning RM3800 per month).

It was quite enlightening to find out that the pharmacy profession in M'sia is not as 'backwater' as first thought. That they really do more stuffs then just counting and dispensing pills. That they are here to learn more about stuffs like Home Management Review.

The future is not as dark as it seems.

3 course meal

Saturday special column on food:

A food critic sampled and weld his mighty pen on the flavours of the current exams.

 

Starter:

A nice mix of fresh taste and tried and tested flavours. Too bad the waiter was too hasty to clear the plate before the last morsel was eaten. Or else it would be near perfect. 

Main:

The portion served was fit for a hungry family of four. However, rather ruefully it was not matched by the freshness of the produce. It also suffered from a lack in imagination and not worthy of its exorbitant price. Nevertheless a satisfying feed.

Dessert:

Hmm.. still waiting for it. Seems like a long wait already. Hopefully it will be something to be fondly remembered...

That's what a food critique will say. In layman's term, there was not enough time to finish the starter, which consisted of a combination of fresh questions and past years.

The main was an insult to intelligence because the bulk was rehashed past years. To think I had studied for it till the material crept into my dreams and gave my a sore back for sitting on the chair for too long. Even though I think I can do the questions well, it was just not challenging enough nor worth the effort.

The dessert had not yet been served. But really hoped that they waiter bring it out now and cut this painful waiting. I want my holiday! It had been such a long semester..

Mumblings

I am sinking amongst tons of notes, which packets of chips and tubes of ice cream to get me going. It's a monstrous subject, 53 lectures and all, and it seemed that I can't finish them all. I should be scared and running hard, but yet there is this calm in me - a defying move to show the exams who's the boss - that it can't rule my life; a stubborn streak to prove that studying is only a part of life. As important as spending my time cooking a slow dinner. Or watch a movie. Or have a meandering walk around. Or a ten hour sleep. Or play badminton. Or waking up in the dead of the night to watch Euro 2008.

Is it an act of short-term satisfaction for long-term gain? That will be lived to be regretted? If study for one more extra hour might get one more mark. Who knows.

Just hope that I wouldn't crash and burn.

Oh yeah, actually just wanna write something to wish my Dad "Happy Father's Day". Time to live a life like this. I just don't really like sending e-cards, Mum.

Its all about the exams

I'm sitting right here in front of the laptop, thinking of something to write while enjoying a delicious piece of lemon cheese cake (still eating it, sis - nearly half gone). Seems that my whole head is preoccupied with the oncoming exams. So might as well rant something about it.

My exams start on Monday, so there's still a few more nights to go and try cram it all in. I'm always interest in how to study and get really high marks in exams - something that I had failed to do consistently. It is better by just to understand the concept behind the text? Or just try to memorise everything? Or is it that my exams answering technique are not up to scratch?

Alarmingly, I discovered that my memorising skills are deteriorating by the year. Once I can memorise all the key points and have some photo memory of the lecture notes. Nowadays I am lucky to get 75% of them in. Must be due to my advancing years.  Now that's a good excuse for getting low marks.

Since I got a good measurable diagnosis criteria of my problem and had diagnosed it, I decided to subject my brain to some treatment. As my brain doesn't believe in the first line therapy taking health supplements,  I decided to try some unconventional non-pharmacological treatment: web-sudoku tds; adding up numbers on cards bd and using my non-dominant hand to move the mouse. All these have anecdotal evidence in  promoting better brain function. However, the duration needed for this therapy to work is not documented. Hopefully its not too late.

Perhaps the best thing to do now is constant remind myself that marks are not important at all in life. It's meaningless once you start working. It's not that you will get a higher salary and faster promotion if you get high marks. High marks are just for personal satisfaction.

Moving on... just wondered why we often wish each other "Good luck" before exams. Now in what way does a person need luck in the exams? Luck that what he studied will be on the paper and what he didn't does not? Luck that his shooting accuracy will be spot on in multiple choice question? Luck that whatever he do, he will get high marks? Where does luck comes in?? I only ever got lucky once in exams, and that's real luck because one of the essay I memorised was on the exam paper. That's 1 in a million chance it will happen again.

Okay enough ramble. Next post should be between my first and second exam. I had 9 days break between them. Very considerate of the lecturers because the second subject had 53 lectures (others around 20).  One last thing: Wikipedia is getting indispensable for studies.

The Birthday Chronicles

Birthdays are the time when your friends and you come together to say "hey, glad that you were born!" (I hope).

This year's birthday was very special to me, partly because it is likely to be my last b'day celebrated with this current bunch of people, partly because I have more then one celebration for the first time, partly because my sis got to celebrate it with me here.

The first celebration was a real surprise. I have no idea it is a birthday celebration - thought it was a routine post placement catch up dinner with my pharmacy friends. Some people just have the ingenuity to have my birthday celebrated exactly 13 days before the actual date because I like the number 13.

And someone had the gall to put "uncle" on my cake. Thank you for reminding that I'm getting chronologically advanced.

One day before my real birthday, when out to celebrate with my sis. Went to this place called Laksa King where we need to wait nearly 1/2 hour to get a seat. The laksa was okay, but the ingredients were quite fresh. Then we had a drink at Starbucks and she presented me with a self-made birthday cake. This was the very first time I knew she can make a cake. It was a real yummy lemon cheesecake.

 

Then on the actual day itself, I went to celebrate with my JPA friends and associate in Hallah, which is a Korean restaurant I liked a lot. Nice change of scenery after having the last two birthdays celebration in Thai restaurant. It was quite bittersweet, as it is likely to be the last year we came out eat as a group. Next year everyone will be everywhere pursuing their dreams. Time really flies.

 

Blowing my 23 candles on the cake.

A birthday post wouldn't be complete without some spiel about presents. Someone actually read my blog and brought me an ipod this year..wee~ next time better draw up a wish list.

I received four bottles of wine this year. Okay I got the hint. I am somewhat an alcoholic already? Didn't realise. Better change my image. Thanks for the chocolates, perfume, books and Lego figure too.

I would also like to thank all the people who sent in their greetings via card, sms, facebook, ecard, friendster, msn etc. I felt so touched. You always need friends and family to make your birthday special. Thanks for just doing that. =)