skyblue Perspectives

Friday, February 23, 2007

When I arrived I had a load of things to say, cause so many things happened so fast. To those whose floodgates have been opened cause of me, all I can say is, Don't cry... I miss you people too. Let's all be brave yah? And I'll still be here to solve your dilemmas, just drop an email. Ok?

I tell you, all my equipment are on strike. My laptop crashed right? Motherboard spoilt. So I went to the Fujitsu company in aust, which is a dist from my place. When I reached there, they told me they are a corporate company that does not do repairs. But they were nice and helpful and gave me a number to contact. So we sat in their lobby and called. The repair person asked me about the com's probs and symptoms, because for different symptoms they'll direct us to different places. Wth. So I pressed the On button to see the symbols it flashes, while still on the phone with the repairman. And my bloody com worked perfectly fine and started up nicely. And the night before I checked it was not working lah! Rubbish. So I was like, "Erm SOMETIMES it doesn't boot up." And the repair man told me it's prob the extra 1GB ram that was installed in when I bought it. When the prob occurs again just remove it then see how. If still cannot then I have to go down to Port Melbourne which is damn far from the city, like industrial area. If my laptop had a neck, I would wring it. Pek chek. Ok lah, better than having to travel all the way down. Thank God. Literally.

Now my cam cant work. I think they take turns to be on strike. So had to exchange cam with my dad so he can repair it for me. Bleah. I tell you they are on strike. But I treat it well ok! Nvm I have a new phone that can take pics with 2Megapixels. hehe. It comes free with a 2year plan of $29 per month, up to $120 worth of calls and smses. 3G phone, Nokia 6388 I think. Good cam but not so user-friendly. Maybe tt's why it's free. It's an aussie phone so hopefully it doesn't learn from its Singaporean IT counterparts. Haha but for humans it's the other way round. Here in the uni there are Marxist groups, Free David Hicks groups (he's some aussie that was caught by America to be training terrorists), and other politcal groups. We thought of setting up a No PAP group here.. KIDDING! DON'T PUT ME IN JAIL!

And people please appreciate the speed at which things are done at home. All the admin stuff here is super slow. It took me a day's wait to get my flat, a week's wait for my internet and lots of redirecting to get things done in general. But people walk slowly too, which is nice.

It's nearing the end of summer now, but it's still damn hot. Temperatures go up to 33degrees and all the maple leaves are turning yellow. The nicest place with lots of greenery in this city is the uni. There are a few attractions here, like St. Kilda for the beach goers, Queen Victoria Market for grocery shopping, Philip Island for the penguins, and Crown Casino and Southbank for high-end shopping and leisure.

Jean you'll love St. Kilda's. Suntanning! It's dry and warm, but no sweat so you don't get tanned so fast. Lots of sand, sea, sky, jellyfish and sea shells. Eh but come winter in june I think we won't be able to go..

Queen Vic market got lots of fruits in this season. Lovely peaches, plums, nectarines, berries (gooseberries!!!) are cheap, especially at the end when the sellers wanna go home. Plums will go for like $1/kg, which is damn cheap. And they are sweet and fresh. These are local produce, so wine is cheap as well. You can get reasonably good wine for $8 per bottle. Haha but non-local produce are ex. Mangosteems (my spelling sucks) are $3 per fruit. And they are small.

On Philip Island, you have to wait for the sun to set before the penguins come out to play. No they come out of the ocean to go back to their burrows. What took my breath away was not the penguins, but the ocean view on the way there, and the stars at night! Beautiful. The ocean view is like what you see in the postcard. The colour of the water is as if an icerberg just melted there, deep blue green and chilling.

I went to the Crown Casino just last night for dinner. It's a casino but also a shopping mall with restaurants. Think the concept should be like our future IRs. There's this restaurant there called Waterfront, which is known for their seafood, but their steaks are good as well. We went there cause it's slightly cheaper and the food is good anw. While waiting for our table we were sitting at the bar, so I was watching them make drinks and all. Eh BBR is more organised lor. At least we have all the garnish all cut and the bottles all in place. But they have good service, like letting customers try something if they're curious. The barman was crushing mint leaves and brown sugar, and shaking it without ice. ??? After pouring into the glass then he took ice and used the pestel to crush it. Poor fellow has no blender to crush his ice. I couldn't quite tell if he was making mojito or caprinha. Heh. Anw, we got to our tables and were eating then the manager/captain came over to talk. He's from Sri Lanka and worked here for about 10years. Erm he reminds me of Sachi (pukes blood and dies). Then being typical Singaporeans my friends were commenting after that they weren't very comfortable when waiters get too friendly blah blah. I was pretty amused cause I was thinking how Indian managers should talk less and work more. =P

There's Asian food here, but not as much. The mainstream foods are American Western, Italian, Vietnamese and Chinese. The Chinese food is restaurant type, so can't really go there and eat. But I found an eatery near my place called Norsiah's Kitchen, that sells malay nasi padang that's quite good and not too ex. Heard there's a Singapore ChompChomp in Chinatown, but havent found it yet. Apparently on National Day you can flash your pink ic to get a free coke. Coke not cheap lor, abt $2+ a can. If you don't have yr ic with you, just say the pledge. Haha so cool right.

They are not as advanced in terms of technology, like for trams they still use tickets which are damn expensive, forcing me to take bus 11 most of the time. To stop the tram, pull the blue cord over your head, which will inform the driver i don't know how. The inspectors are scary. I heard they come undercover in plain clothes in groups of 4 or 5 to catch people without tickets. Extremely active during first month of school, to catch unknowing or unwilling students without tix. They will corner you and force you to pay $150 fine. What a way to earn money from us. Scary.

One good thing though, is that you can ask anybody anything you don't know, and they will tell you, without giving you a weird glance or feeling apprehensive. People here generally don't bother that much about what you wear or what crazy thing you do. The societal stare is not that strong here. People here wear about almost anything they like with anything they want. No colour coordination, no specific stereotype. In fact I noticed those that dress very nice and hip and cool and match all their clothes perfectly are the Singaporean/Malaysian Chinese girls. I think we're extremely critical of how we look and how other people look. And the fashion here now is exactly the same as in spore. Kimono style clothes blah blah. Sian.

And the worst thing is that there's no wireless. Damn. I have a broadband connection that has a 3GB cap every month for $50. Not worth it man. But what to do. So you wont see me online often. Drop an email if you wanna talk, so I can type lots of stuff offline.

Lessons start on mon. I'm taking trip sci and an elective called Ancient Rome: Myth and Legend. Sounds cool huh? Can drop and take something else if I don't like it. Anw, people studying for tests/exams/quizzes/lap reports/projects, jiayou! Don't eye red, my time will come. While YOU are slacking.

5.moon.sky
10:29 am