Melbourne

Ok...i think i'd like to stay in Melbourne. =)

emptiness

The house has been rather quiet past couple of days. My flatmates are going home one by one. Admittedly I'd always have one of them around so I am never completely alone. But there were long hours where i'd have the whole place to myself before the other gets back. And it's just so...lonely.

Everyone I know has someone with them. Everyone I know has either flown home to their families, has their family over or has a boyfriend/girlfriend around. I really am glad I chose to go to Aussie in the end. I think I would've seriously died of homesickness-slash-loneliness if i had chosen to stay back and work.

But even in Aussie, everyone's got someone. Kenneth's going home shortly after I arrive. Siew Wan stays with her boyfriend. Everyone in Melbourne has someone with them. In Sydney, Mel's mom is around. Anne and Pei Jien are with their respective boyfriends.

And then it's back to Auckland, to an empty house again. This sucks. Winter is officially my most hated season. I hate winter with a passion so strong now. Which further affirms my decision to stay in a non-seasonal country. Gee, Malaysia doesn't have seasons. There we go. No need to think anymore. *hmmph*

I think I'd be extremely glad once semester starts. Because although I am getting used to the place, it really sucks to have no loved one nearby. It really does.

When semester 2 starts, it's only 14 weeks till the end of it.

Now if you'll allow me, I'll go sleep off my blues, thank you. See u in the morning, hopefully on the right side of the bed.

8 hours

People often say a healthy person needs 7-8 hours of sleep per night. "Some scientists have suggested that sleeping less than eight hours per night is a significant risk factor for increased sickness, and even death." That was from an article. Then some other articles say that anything more than 8 hours or less than 4 hours increases death rates. Anyway, i'm not gonna make this into a lit review, although I think that might be quite interesting.

I have always liked to have 8 hours of sleep a night. Ever since I got to Auckland anyway. Back at home I'd be quite proud if i didn't get 8 hours, which meant I could have my afternoon nap. I'd stay up late and sleep well into the day. But here in Auckland I seem to crawl into bed at 12 midnight latest. When i had classes I'd be up at 6.30 am. But I get afternoon naps. When I don't have classes I get up at 8. ish.

I was so tired I slept last night at 10.30 pm. By the 8 hour rule, I should've been up by 6.30 am. And believe it or not I actually was. But I decided to go back to sleep for a bit and woke up again at 7.30. that makes it 9 hours of sleep. And I am now worried that I may be dying a couple of minutes younger now.

***

Boring nana-ish stuff aside, I am done with my exams, and the reason why i haven't been blogging about it was coz this dude was over in Auckland and I was trying to be a nice host. I think I didn't do too bad. =)

navin, me, qing xiang

It's always nice to have friends from home around. So when's the next one coming? =)

Man in the Mirror

I just watched the top 40 countdown of MJ's hits. And I must say that watching 20+ songs (i started at about 22) by the same artiste back to back, we're bound to come to a point where u get so sick of the same moves and vocals and rhythm and style.

But not with MJ. Every video was unique and intriguing. Every dance move, albeit really similar and overused by so many others, was still as entertaining to watch as ever. My favourite is still Black or White, btw.

Perhaps it's compassion and emotion speaking. I feel sad. I guess I just never thought he'd die! haha to put it simply. I just never thought people like Michael Jackson died. And i guess that deep down I was harbouring the hope that I could perhaps go for one of his concert sometime. Can't realise that now. I miss him. =(

***
On another note, I have plans for the September break! The flatmates and I were chilling out watching Michael Jackson when the idea sprung up to do the Tongariro Crossing in September! And I get to do my Taupo Off Road Half Marathon! And then there is that road trip at the end of semester up North. Ah life is sweet. =)

I just love having plans. It just gives my life here in Auckland a bit more meaning.

=)

The Orca

It was funny because I was reading an article on Yahoo News this morning contemplating whether or not I should run. I found out "Orcas" were actually killer whales and that they were really picky eaters. So I remember thinking to myself 'No wonder the Orca tri suit was black and white'. And after bidding the boyfriend adieu on msn, I headed out for a run.

It was a cold day. And I was running really fast to try to get warm. On the way I met another runner and she said "Did you go down to St Helier's? There are whales just by the bay!" I got really excited, thanked her for the info and sped off!

There was a crowd already at the beach and I couldn't wait to get closer. And when I did, it was amazing. I saw about 4 triangular fins just about 30m from the shore bobbing up and down in the sea! And then I saw another pair of fins on the other side. It was awesome! But I wasn't sure what exactly they were, so I asked a lady and she said "They're orcas!" =) And apparently they were tossing stingrays up into the air before I came.

I've never seen wild whales before. And I considered myself really lucky to have witnessed some this morning. I suddenly felt very blessed because I had initially wanted to run yesterday morning, but because of my cramps, I had to move it to today. The weather this morning didn't look too sunny so I was really trying to come up with excuses not to go out. But I went anyway and my only regret was not having ym phone with me at that time.

It was amazing. I guess the whole studying overseas experience finally made itself seem a little more worth it.

21

I have had this movie in my pc for a while now. I had planned to watch it with D because I thought we could have some intellectual conversation about the movie. Haha...but then we kinda forgot or didn't have time or simply never got around to watching it together last summer when I went back home.

Today, I woke up with the mother of all menstrual cramps and so my plans to run were foiled. I was in utter reluctance to move. So I decided to watch a movie. It was between 21 and Saving Private Ryan. I didn't really want to watch a war movie, so gorgeous card counter it was.

In my humble opinion, it was a pretty good movie. It exceeded my expectations. I had expected it to be a little more complicated, i was set on prying my ears, listening intently to manipulative mathematical equations, unraveling some twisted plot...but no, it was relatively straight forward. And the motive of entering Med School at Harvard. That kept everything grounded.

I like the narratives. And I loveee Jim Sturgess. I think he can take Patrick Dempsey's place in my "other" category of gorgeous actors. "Other" being the category where they just have gorgeous faces, but can't say the same for their bods. Hugh Jackman rocks my "hot" list. =)

p/s. Auckland's freezing.