我以为。。。

我以为跟新加坡人住，就会有更接近的生活习惯。

我以为跟多几个人住，就可以一起分担家务。

我以为跟多几个人住，就会比较开心一点。

我以为继续帮助朋友，就可以得到他们的报答。

我以为我可以放弃他们，但是我还是守着“兄弟”的执着。

我以为。。。

改变

“是不是我的要求太高了？还是人们已经改变了？与其改变人们，或许我应该尝试改变自己。”

我的要求，真的那么高吗？我只希望每件事情都能有秩序，都能依安排地去进行，去完成。这有很难吗？

人们已有了他们的心态与想法。或许他们觉得他们不许要对周遭的事情有所责任。或许他们觉得他们自己的娱乐，活动比较重要。有很多很多的或许。我已没有那个力气与精神去推测他们的想法。与其改变几个人，我不如去改变自己。那样，我可能会觉得好过一点。就像他们一样，只在乎自己想做，自己享受的事。那样一来，我就可以享受一番，也可以不看见他们做的一切。

祝我接下来的八个月，能开心一点，能看开一点。加油！

Update on my room for 2010

As promised, here are the pictures of my room for the remaining of 2010.

Panorama view of my room.

No longer a beggar...

It took me a month just to find a place to settle down for the next 9 months. It is not that I am lazy to go look for a place. It is just that the housing market is Melbourne is too competitive. ZQ, YY and I have been diligently going for numerous inspections of properties and sending in stacks of application forms to get a place. None of our applications was successful. It was until YY asked an agent about how to increase our chances for application, then we knew the trick to it. Yasmin told me that she had to quote a higher rent than what was published in order to out-bid the rest of the applicants. The agent told us that we could include a cover letter and also offer to pay an upfront if 3 months' rent.

So we did that and VOILA~ We got a place! 5/3 Mary Street, North Melbourne 3051. And the place look like this!

These are the pictures taken from the website. I will take some pictures myself once I have finished unpacking and tidying everything up. The third picture above is my room, without a toilet since the en suite room has been given to Saskia for her privacy. Saskia is a Dutch PhD student in my laboratory and she was looking for a place as well. She doesn't mind staying with 3 guys, so here we are, in this luxurious looking apartment! 3 levels, 2 bedrooms on the 2nd level, 2 toilets, 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 1 study room on the ground floor and a garage!

Never in my life had I imagined that I can stay in such a luxurious apartment. This is totally like a dream to me! It was definitely worth the wait. Wish me luck for the rest of my 9 months of stay in Melbourne! Can't wait to go back home!

Send me to the Olympics!

I want one of this! Send me to the Olympics!

One Week Down...

Time seems to pass by fast when you are busy. The first week of Honours life was pretty contradicting. Either I am reading scientific papers in the office all day, or I am in the laboratory doing tons of stuff. Had a talk with Danny (my Honours project supervisor) this morning. Still very vague about what I am doing for my project, as he wanted me to find out for myself from Maya's project (previous Honours student with Danny). So I am back to square one. Hope to be able to digest Maya's thesis and absorb the essence of it. I really need a lot of concentration and focus to dig out the important information.

On a lighter note, there are 253 more days to the end of my Honours life! I will be giving my oral examination for my project on 9/10 November 2010! Graduation should occur somewhere around mid-December. So I have about one month to pack up and await my loved ones to come over to attend my graduation. Can't wait to be back for good!

Final Stretch, Final Nightmare...

Back to Melbourne on a cold Tuesday morning. 12˚ Celsius. What is even more difficult to bear is to leave my family and darling back home. I'm not someone who is easily homesick. But the life in Melbourne is not my kind of life. And having to leave my mum alone back home, makes me worried. My dad works on a shift basis. My younger sister is constantly working overtime. My youngest sister is constantly flying to Malaysia for work. My mum is all alone at home, having to care for Reanne and also to maintain the house. It must be tough on her. Hope I can spend more time with my mum when I'm back.

Another worry is my darling. I know it's not easy for her to accept this relationship. Having to be without her boyfriend for 2 years is definitely tough on her. Moreover, we started our relationship about 2 months before I depart for Melbourne in 2009, so I really appreciate her for everything she's done for me. When I am finally done with my studies and back in Singapore for good, I will definitely make it up to her! So my darling, wait for me!

Right now, I'm bunking in at Nicholas' place since he is back in Singapore until late March. So ZQ, Yiu Yiu and I are sharing his room for the period. Hopefully we can secure the available unit at Villiers Street, which is just a few units away from Nicholas. This way, we can move our things more easily. Still suffering from a lack of sleep. This morning, hitched a ride from Zi Xin's boyfriend to Bio21 to take the key from Yiu Yiu. I went back to leave my luggage at Nicholas' place before heading back to Bio21 to meet up with Dr Danny Hatters. And so, I began a day of being in a lab and also settling my enrollment application at Unimelb. Long day... Hopefully tomorrow will be better...