Time

A short one this will be. The week is week 4 of the first semester of 2008. 8 more weeks till the semester is over, which means that if i don't get my ass in gear now I'm going to be in the shitters real soon. Gotta have to chuck away all the distractions and such and start getting busy, with work that is. This Thursday marks the beginning of our extremely short Easter break which lasts till next Thursday. Over the course of which i need to get some work done, can't afford to play catch-up game with my work anymore. Morgan should be arriving in Melbourne this Sunday for his 10 day vacation. Have seriously no idea what we're gonna do once he touches down anyway, after all there isn't much to do in Melbourne in the first place. And besides it won't be the same as his trip down last year as John and Xander are no longer staying in the city which means that our activities could be restricted by the train timetables. On another note i went down to give the place where they would be moving into a look over and am seriously not the least bit impressed by it. For one the place is ancient, with furniture dating back from the 1970's. And on another note the place looks a bit seedy to me too. Not to mention the inconvenience of there being only 1 toilet for all 5 tenants to use. Oh and the place is missing a dryer. True since the place is at Richmond it's only a short hop away from the city but it doesn't make sense to move into a place which is much worse than what I'm currently living in. Not to mention more expensive. Some might think I'm very picky with this housing business but trust me you'll be too when it's your turn to look for a new place. I mean if you're going to have to pay so much you might as well try for the best deal out there right? No sense in going for the first thing you see. So there you have it another bland and bleak post has been published and still the question of my housing has yet to be answered, and i dearly hope that it'll work itself out soon.

Oh what the hell.....

As usual Brendan has seen fit to drag my arse into some sort of nonsensical survey-esque kind of thing.

Instructions: Remove 1 question from below and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post.

1. At what age do you wish to marry?: Ideally by 25or 27? With kids by/before 30. Ideally. Hopefully. God willing.

2. If you can turn into anything, what do you wish you can turn into?: What kind of childish question is this?

3. If you were stranded on an desert island, who are the 3 blog buddies you would take with you? Why?: Morgan, Brendan(m'sia) and Brendan(s'pore). Because misery loves company.

4. Where is the place that you want to go most?: Japan. Hot springs, anime, food, chicks and most importantly the maid cafes.

5. If you have one dream to come true, what would it be?: To have all of my dreams to come true. If not then let me talk to her again.

6. DO you believe in seeing the rainbow after the rain?: Optimistically yes. But the the realist in me would always weigh up the good with the bad, and often a times the scales could be unbalanced.

7. what are you afraid to lose the most right now?: Myself.

8. Do you want your first born child to be a girl or boy? Why?: A boy i think, so that he can take care of his younger sister. Actually any one is alright as long as they're normal and healthy.

9. If you meet someone you love, would you confess to him/her?: When the time is right yes. Girls always like to be reassured (and they absolutely love this kind of mushy stuff). Anyway nothing makes a person happier than if the person they love tells them that.

10. List out three good things of the person who tagged you.: Rather creative. Absurdly responsible. Able optimist. (You'd better thank me for not cursing you here.....)

11. What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?: Simply that she never forgets about me and that she follows me to visit my grandparent's regularly. (it won't hurt if she's good at cooking and cleaning too, has long hair and preferably be younger or of same age.)

12. What type of person do you hate the most?: It'll really take too much time to answer this question. To summarise it up arrogance and dishonour.

13. What is your ambition?: Still looking for one. Tentatively i'd say to be the best teacher around (GTO BANZAI!) and to be able to give my family a VERY comfortable life.

14. If you have a flaw, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?: I'd probably know it already, although it won't hurt if they point it out in a politically correct manner.

15. What do you think is the most important thing in your life?: True happiness. (which i hope to find soon.)

16. What would you most want to achieve right now?: Get my double major bachelor of business course done and over with and graduate with first class honours (it won't hurt if somewhere along i get myself a girlfriend too.)

17. If you have a chance, which part of your character would you like to change?: Nothing i think. If i changed my character i wouldn't really be my true self now would i?

18. What would you wanna be after you're dead?: Like any reasonable Catholic, in Heaven. Of course what i'd really like to do is have a nice long chat with God about various matters over a bottle of Heavenly alcohol. (and hope that i don't get drunk and make a fool out of myself in front of him.)

19. If there’s one thing in your life you want to do but yet unable to, what would it be? To go back to 2004, and to muster up the courage to talk to her and work something out.

20. What happens if i refuse to tag 8 more people?: I save them the trouble of doing this of course.

Shit happens, Part 2

Took the trouble to wake up early for my 11am Corporate Accounting tutorial today. Reached the campus with time to spare so i went over to the library to get some notes printed out and promptly headed to the classroom for the tutorial. Upon reaching the classroom i saw the notice which stated that there would be no 11am tutorials today as the lecturer couldn't make it. I'm sure you can all imagine me standing there staring at the notice in utter disbelief with my mouth wide open and a torrent of expletives starting to form in my mind. And since this was the only class i had today i effectively wasted my time and train ticket coming to school. And to think that i felt like skipping class today too.....This makes it two for two now and i pray that there won't be a number three.

Shit happens, well maybe not this often.....

Well, after my forced stay in this rather backwater country (now you know why they call it "down under") where the train system is as reliable as a car with a leaking fuel tank or an alcoholic without his alcohol you'd think that i would have been accustomed to this sort of delays by now. Well wrong. So there i was at the train station feeling all pleased with myself after making the effort to wake up early with the intention of going to class with time to spare until i saw the information board, and the thought "Oh Shat" formed in my mind. It seems that some luckless individual got into an accident involving a train a few stations up (we can all imagine what happened.....) which caused the whole Lilydale and Belgrave line to be disrupted while the railway staff cleared the mess. So to cut an extremely tedious and infuriatingly long story short we had to take a connecting bus to Ringwood and from there take the train to Lilydale, where the damn uni is located. Simple enough? Not quite. The connecting bus took the better part of 2 hours to arrive and by the time i got on the train and made my way to the uni proper there was only 1/2 an hour left to what was supposed to be a 2 hour law lecture. It had taken me a shitty 2 and a 1/2 hours to get somewhere which would normally only take 1/2 an hour! Only in this crap hole does dumb shit like this happened on such a regular basis. Melbourne has quite possibly the worst public transport system out of any of the so-called self proclaimed "first world" nations. Heck this kind of infrastructure doesn't even belong in Africa. And this isn't the first time this has happened, in fact it's the 5th time it's happened since i got back! Truly appalling. In fact i have come up with a theory, trains in Melbourne either arrive late or they do not arrive at all.

(Note: John and Xander have gotten a replacement housemate (with indecent haste if i might add) after i expressed reservations at their dream rental. My suggestion that they wait 1 more week to view 2 more apartments which i have scouted out went unheard so it seems that i won't be moving into the city after all. I won't comment on anything as it's been a rather shit day already and if i linger on this too much my blood pressure would, like an old friend of mine used to say, sky rocket. It's at times like these when you realise how alone you are in a foreign country and that the only people you can trust are your brothers back home with whom you've been to hell and back with, no offense to my Australian acquaintances of course but I'm sure this feeling is mutual.)

Walking Away

I'm not sure if it's certain yet but it seems that talks with John and Xander regarding my moving in with them to a new apartment have fallen through due to a difference in preferences which means that my ticket to a residence in the city has effectively dissolved. The both of them promptly fell in love with an apartment/maisonette which we went to view the day before at Wellington Crescent, around the Docklands region. It was a rather decent place with more than ample space but it was lacking furnishings and most importantly a washing machine and dryer. I on the other hand had my reservations about it. For one it was not what i had in mind of an apartment in the city, i expected a place which is within walking distance of either Flinders St, Melbourne Central or Flagstaff Station. This place was not close to any of them and the closest you could get was by tram to Flinders St. It is within a 10-15 minutes walk to Jollimont Station but that place is as good as redundant. And since the Swinburne campus i go to is in Lilydale it would be an extreme pain in the arse to travel there from that place. Secondly was the cost, which is estimated at around $1150 a month per person. Where the hell am i going to get that kind of money? My fethin' arse? And this doesn't even include the utilities, food, transport and miscellaneous costs yet. Heck i won't even be able to afford instant noodles, I'd have to eat sand! I don't know why but people always seem to have this misconception that I'm rich and loaded, heck the only thing I'm rich and loaded in is frustrations. True most of the places which i have scouted out have amounted to nothing but there are still two potentials which I'm betting on. Anyway i have a sneaking suspicion that the both of them do not want to stay in the city anymore because for some reason they seem to be looking at all these obscure places. Well i for one will not compromise and if i don't manage to persuade them to give these last two places a look i guess I'll be staying put in Box Hill till i find a studio apartment in the city. Anyhow you get used to staying alone after a while, i know i have.

The State of Mind of Uncertainty.

For those who are in no mood for some well-worn bitching about the trials and tribulations of a life flip-turned-upside down i suggest you skip this post and head over to more optimistic pastures. This reflection has been a long time coming, so here it goes. The year is 2008, I am already halfway through this rather turbulent chapter of my existence. It seems like there's not a long way more to go before it ends, but it might just be enough for me to pack up and leave. I wake up every morning of my dreary existence, cursing and swearing in a multitude of different languages and dialects at a world which irritates me so. I do not look forward to the day, in fact I await the night where one might find solace in his sleep. But even this little luxury is beyond me for my sleep is constantly plagued with dreams, the like of which I do not welcome for their content can be rather disturbing at times, of a grim path ahead. I have tried very hard to adapt and could in all honesty say that once upon a time i did. But as all my efforts are for not, I have decided to become oblivious to it all, just trying my best to get by with my mission. Nothing was ever easy, except giving up, but it seems even that is hard for me to do. Led on by my foolish pride I continue on this miserable path in the hope that somewhere ahead there will indeed be light at the end of this tunnel. This path was not mine to choose, but a decision made by others, and day by day I curse this decision reasoning that the things which I left behind were more important than anything which ever happened here and that I could never go back to them. At first the alcohol served as a barrier but as time went by even that was ineffective. I have never tasted failure of such a magnitude since I arrived here and I'm afraid it has stayed in my mind ever since, like some haunting memory and I have never fully recovered from the setback. I don't remember being ever so weak, maybe it's the alcohol, maybe it's the fatigue which never seems to go away but where once stood an iron will and determination is now just an exhausted mind. Every year we grow more distant, every year there is one less person in the picture, last year it was Morgan, this year it's James, maybe it's time I made my leave too. Maybe it's time for my curtain call. And for what it's worth I doubt my presence would be missed.

GLOOMY BEAR!!

GLOOMY BEAR!!

Just wanted to say that i'm (most reluctantly) back "Down Under" and as usual can't wait to haul ass back to Singapore. See you chaps in a couple of months time and till then try to stay sober (we all know we won't, well i might.....) and keep playing good soccer!