Wa it's really good that i have a tv in my room. Everyday, i will be loaded with information about the amazing world out there. The news here are quite exciting! Yesterday, the motorcycle gang of canberra had a slow procession along some roads in canberra as one of their gang member was shot dead and it was his funeral. This news has been going on and on. And police say that they will keep track of their movement etc.

I just had breakfast and watched the news as usual. Today, they are talking about the controversial madonna malawi adoption incident again. haha. They keep emphasizing that Madonna is using her celebrity status to bend the adoption rule in Malawi. I don't see the issue here. Rules are set by man. Anyone will know that the girl, if adopted, will lead a more enriching life. She will be given more opportunities in life. They interviewed locals who said that they are happy with what Madonna is doing. Previously, Madonna adopted a boy from Malawi and he can now eat Macdonalds cause Madonna adopted him. The point is that he is having a much better life, with opportunities to better education etc.

So now they are battling in court. So strange. I don't mind being adopted by madonna and hopefully, she can groom me into a superstar. Although my music is not the same style as her music.

I just finished eating the steak that i cooked. They are really tasty!! i realised that there is a secret to cooking all these dishes. just add wine to them!! i cooked carbonara the other day and it was not very nice. However, after adding wine, it tasted really different. The wine can bring out the ham, garlic, bacon in the carbonara. So nowadays, when i cooked something that doesn't turn out too well, i will just add wine. it's good to have bottles of wine around. haha. btw, i am not an alcoholic huh. Don't get the wrong idea. haha.

I just went for a run and it is 16 degrees outside. Whew feels quite good that I ran. Actually, I ran to this liquor superstore that claims that it has the cheapest wine in the whole of Canberra. It claims that if we can find a cheaper wine elsewhere, it will beat them. Hm I decided to explain the following as I don’t want my blog to be some trashy blog with s.h.i.t.t.y content.

Economics students will know that such claim on beating other people’s prices is not good. You may think that wa, so good! cheapest in the region and will cut their price if you can find somewhere that has a lower price. Hm actually the store is quite jian4. In a sense, by saying that they are going to undercut their competitors, they are actually sending a signal to their competitors that they should not sell wine cheaply. A store may benefit from selling cheaply if it manages to attract all the customers. However, if the store retaliates by undercutting, both will make losses. Put it simple, the store is saying, “ you think you can win me by undercutting?? Let’s die together by selling cheaply”. Hahahaha.Hence, no store will sell cheaply and customers suffer. So you all should boycott these stores. But I bought a bottle of wine from them anyway.

To date, I have quite a few bottles of wine in my room. I have Shiraz, white viognier, jacobbs creek rise, chardonnay. I don’t think you all can recognize any of these. Don’t pretend to be high class and say that you can ok. Today I bought pinot grigio at $4.99. Here’s the description on the label.

“Pears lighter than air, buoyed aloft by pineapple, peaches and a zephyr of citrus fruit. A flavorsome ride with soft landings in honeysuckle meadows. Crisps and light.

Sounds so poetic and nice. The wine taste good but I can’t taste any pear, pineapple, honey suckle etc. It just taste like wine. I wonder if they wrote the description for you to imagine while drinking. Anyway, I still read the label to decide which one to buy. Haha.

Hm I have not blogged for some time. This post contains explicit content and please do not read on if you feel you may be offended. Some knowledge of basic mathematics is also required for you to understand my analysis. So if you are intending to do some brainless reading, do not read on.

My floor is a big rectangle, with rooms lined along its length. We have 3 toilets here, 1 for male on the extreme left, 1 for female in the centre, and a unisex one which is on the right. I am staying on the right side. I need to provide this crucial information before I can start on my case. I frequent the unisex toilet because I stay on the extreme right. I hope you are following. Recently, I am quite troubled by this toilet. I often witness shit stain on the toilet bowl. The shit stain is disturbing as it is really black, sticky and can withstand multiple flushing. You can imagine it as the sticky chewy chocolate ice cream from swensens that i like. Moreover, the shit stains are often found on unexpected and unconventional places. If you can visualize the toilet seat as a horizontal plane, the stains are found on the part of the toilet seat that is perpendicular to the plane. Confused? Ok the stain is at the edge of the seat but not on the seat. Understand? Ok the stains also spread across the toilet bowl from the top of toilet bowl all the way till the water area. It will be helpful if you imagine that it is the work of a spraying device. This whole scene has become so common that it raises quite a bit of concern. I am really keen to find out who is the culprit.

Here’s my analysis. Based on the logic that you will go to the toilet that is nearer, I have narrowed down possible suspects to the people living on the right side of the rectangle. Another point to note is that girls normally won’t use the unisex toilet to shit. So it will basically be the guys living on the right. On my side of the rectangle, there is another guy and he is my senior resident. I ruled him out as he went home yesterday but I saw the stain again yesterday night. Moreover, he is quite a nice guy and he eats a fair bit of fruits. Hence, he probably cannot produce such sticky product. A point to note is that I suspect he wiped off a shit stain on the toilet seat as the stain was gone after I saw him use the cubicle. He’s a really nice guy I have to say. So it will be down to the few guys living opposite us. Just when I felt that I almost narrowed down to the culprit, I saw guys living in the middle of the rectangle using the toilet. Hm my analysis is getting more complicated as one of my assumption does not hold now.

I wonder who the culprit is. But even if I find out, what am I suppose to tell him?? Hai I better stop analyzing rubbish. And sleep now.

Well, i was blog surfing and i saw this on agnes' blog:

5)To Aloy and Royston, have fun on your exchange.. Though it's lonely to spend CNY overseas, do remember what we say... be friendly and approach the neighbours. Be hospitable to them - the Singapore way! Of course, do update your blogs to update us on your lifes over there. =)

I seldom blog surf but i think i should do it more often to pick up well wishes from friends whom i had not seen for a long time. Agnes!! thank you so much. FYI, i spent my chinese new year in singapore. Anyway agnes, i don't think you wil be reading this cause you said you come online like once in a blue moon. haha.

I saw Li min's punky korean guy hairdo on her blog. I think it's hilarious!! you all should check it out. but that's a really old entry. guess i need to check out more frequently. haha.

i transported my rice cooker into my room. i am cooking chicken rice!! hope that it turns out fine. While waiting, i decided that i should blog. Although the nice garlic smell from my rice cooker is distracting me, i can still blog!

ok i mentioned that i like this particular lecturer. I realised she is like JIAN WEI! my NUS glc friend. I find a few similarities:

1. they like to wear jeans with T-shirt.
2. they are not too hiao
3. they fall more under the geeky side, in a good and popular way though
4. they seem really sincere when they are talking/lecturing
5. they are friendly

However, they are not exactly the same too. Differences:

1. my lecturer has 5 times as much brains as jian wei. OH DON'T GET IT WRONG!! jian wei is not stupid. it's just that my lecturer is really smart. She became a prof at ard 28/29?? she looks around that age. And she has been teaching for a few years.

2. So i don't think she will believe that there's a eighth book for harry potter. FYI, jianwei believed that.

3. Oh, and my lecturer wears underwear( i believe so) , unlike jian wei.

Still, they gave me the same feeling.

Some random thoughts. My lecturer should be quite rich. Given the industry, i guess she should be earning at least 15K a month. so where does she spend her money?? her cute T-shirts look like the ones i bought in bangkok for a few dollars. hm i noticed her jeans today. There are small crystals on her jeans like the levis ladies style. Given her earning power, i suspect that the crystals i saw just now may be diamonds.

Well, just crapping. haha.

One cheap thing in Australia is their gourmet coffee. In Singapore, starbucks, Gloria jeans will cost more than 6. Down here, coffee is generally around 3. And most of the coffee here are quite nice, even if I buy them from ulu café round the corner. They are cheaper than the spinellie in NUS. Being a heavy coffee drinker who looks professional while drinking, I really appreciate the cheaper coffee here. It allows me to drink coffee when I feel like it and don’t feel so bad about it. FYI, coke here are around 3 too if you buy from outside. Oh, Gloria jeans here are cheaper than Singapore. Around 3-4. I always assumed that prices are fixed around the world, just like mac is about the same price everywhere.

Ai so random. Haha.

I realized that I did not put up anything about my friends here. No photos, no stories. random people reading this blog may think that i am friendless, geeky, uncool, emo, loner, strange etc. But you all should know it is completely untrue. I am kind of cool, ok i am really cool. I am not friendless ok!! These few ulu looking people are my friends!! They are a bunch of really nice people. I mix with them in school during classes etc. We took the first photo while waiting for bus at a bus stop outside DFO. In case you are wondering why people are sitting down on the floor? The reason is that the bus stop does not have seats. Basically, it does not have anything. I can’t even recognize that as a bus stop. There was just a small board out of nowhere. And we waited for 45 minutes. Well, kind of fun and interesting in an optimistic way.

We took the second photo today! We made burrito for dinner. It was quite fun. From the photo, you probably can't tell that they are a bunch of really short people, but still really nice. I have to emphasize. Wait they don't chope seat fro me in lecture. They are a constant pleasant reminder that i am tall. Given that i have to face unusually tall people around everyday and it makes me feel short. I saw a guy whose waist was at my chest. I swear his legs alone are taller than nadya, yating. you get what i mean.

I mentioned that I went for a hall commencement dinner in my previous post. My senior resident told me that the dress code is formal. I bought a pair of shoes to go with my business wear as he told me I need it. I was a little reluctant but bought it anyway. I have a tie so I guess that’s quite formal. In Singapore, business wear is considered really formal. Remember during O week, we went for something which requires formal wear and I don’t see anybody wearing tie. So I was contemplating whether to wear tie . Cause it’s kind of paiseh to over dress. I got a shocked when I went down thinking I look smart and tidy and cool. Almost all the guys were in suits! Their suits came in various designs. I lost! I should have known that was coming. I should have prepared my james bond suit for Australia. I felt cheated. I decided not to wear a tie to make it seemed that I was not competing with them. So guess I was the most casual smart guy during the dinner. Oh, the girls were mostly in gowns and high heels. It was quite oscar-like.

This was the entrance to the dinner venue. Oh, it was at the national museum of Australia and hyatt was the caterer. So can imagine it's quite high class right! Free flow beer and wine. Oh, the whole thing was free btw.

Here are photos of my hall friends. They stay near my room. Oh the Australian guy in suit is my senior resident. Something like ogl . He stays 2 doors down and he’s a really nice guy.

So I am not friendless ok. Don’t get the wrong idea. I am still as popular as usual. yaY.

I really like my lecturer. She’s petite and cute. She wears her jeans really high and she ties her curly hair into a small ball at the end. She is not particularly humorous, or entertaining. But, you can feel that she’s a really nice person and a good lecturer. She was wearing this T-shirt that says DOCTOR in bold in front. I was wondering if that was a class T-shirt in her doctorate class or something but when she turned, I saw cute cartoons at the back of the shirt and “of philosophy”. So that T-shirt is one of those funny T-shirts around. I don’t have a picture of her to show you. But the nearest mental image that you should conjure will be professor Trelawny from harry potter.

Cause she will go on and on about life and death. I feel that I am attending a divination class. She will say stuff like “the probability that you will survive for 2 years and die 1 year after that…” and “ the probability that you will die this instant is given by the force of mortality”. I feel she is immortal.

yay tagboard so fun so interactive.. like interacting with my fans.. oh i am in lecture now. shall not talk crap.

In case you are wondering what I did on last weekend, this post will fill you in. I went to DFO!!! I don’t think you all will understand what does it mean given that you all are too used to singlish. It stands for DIRECT FACTORY OUTLET!!!! You should see for yourself!!
We took a public bus with frequency of 1 per hour. So think again if you are complaining about bus frequencies in Singapore. The bus is quite normal nothing special, not like SBS etc which are like so uniquely Singapore. It is not crowded at all in the buses here and the driver even gave us change.

Ok boring part is over!! Next comes the exciting part. I did not have high hopes when I went down to DFO as everything here is like so ex and I don’t expect to find cheap stuff. It’s like a shopping centre in the middle of nowhere. Here’s a picture of the area outside the expo-like shopping centre.


You really should not judge a book by its cover cause when I walked in, I saw signs like this everywhere.


It’s a crazy sale!! I walked around they have like aussie style T-shirts selling quite cheaply. They have scarves at the price of scarves I bought in china road stall. They even have signs that say 90% off!! I will not be surprised to see a sign that goes “100% off”. If you are atas and go for high end brands, I saw tommy Hilfiger shoes going at 50% off etc. Oh, I was shocked to see Timberland stuff going at 50% and above there. Their belts cost $39. In Singapore, each cost 100 ok. And the shirts are all at half price. I wonder why did I shop in Singapore so as to prepare my wardrobe here. Ai, in conclusion, it was quite a nice place to shop. Oh, in case I didn’t mention, one thing good about shopping centres here is that they have comfy sofas around for shoppers to sit. And they are generally not occupied. It’s not like in taka where you have to sit on steps (near fountain) and get chased away. Or waiting to sit on permanently occupied benches outside zara.

I mentioned in my previous post that I made hostel-life changing decision. I bought a rice cooker from DFO! I had to struggle with myself internally to buy it. I had so many concerns but I bought it anyway. One of my concerns being I don’t know how to cook rice. I miss eating rice!!! I know I will figure it out.

I got the rice cooker, bought some ingredient and went back. I decide to cook herbal chicken and people were looking at me and wondering what I was doing. I really don’t know how to cook but i figured that I should just put everything into the pot and let it boil. When I first drank the soup, I felt stupid. I always thought herbal chicken is really difficult to cook. No it’s really easy!! It tasted really good!! It tasted really similar to the one I ate outside!! On the other hand, I had this sense of satisfaction that prompted me to run up to my room to get a camera. I reconfirmed again that I have more than just looks.


I am starting to make myself really at home here! Today I even got a bike to get to school!! I will probably cycle around Canberra given that the public bus system is too complicated. I will take pictures and post it here. So you all can check Canberra out from your laptop. Oh I am having wine now and watching tv. Enjoying the fruit of my labour yay!

I AM SO DYING TO BLOG NOW!!! Hahaha. Super excited!!! I just got a TV!!! It is sitting right there and working fine!! My room feels like a lounge now. I bought it for 20 dollars and I saw it on ANU’s classified. In case that u cant see why it is cheap, I bought a sandwich from school at $9.60. It's half a TV. I bought it from a fellow Singaporean. He’s so nice! He gave me a lift to my hall which is 30 min away from school by the way.

To celebrate, I bought wine!!! I didn’t intend to buy wine but I guess when price of orange juice or coke or wine is about the same in the convenience store near my hall, it makes more sense to buy wine. It’s a ripe peach and melon flavored wine. I bought it at $6 and it’s not the cheapest one ok. I must agree with Yuen She who told me that wine is cheap here. It’s true!! They are produced locally, hence, the cheap price. Alcoholic content is about 13%. After drinking, my body feels kind of hot. It’s not that type of hot that I always remind you all about. It’s like my body warms up. Guess during winter I will adopt a wine drinking culture!! Anyway I did so much stuff over the weekend!!! I made hostel- life changing decisions! I bought a rice cooker!!!! So now I can cook various stuff!! I went for this oscar-like thing here too. It's my hall's commencement dinner!! But I am kind of busy to blog but I will post everything soon.

oh can someone teach me how to add a tagboard to my blog??

I feel like playing the song that goes “it’s getting hot in here, so take off all your clothes”. But guess I better settle down and start doing my tutorial.