Friday, May 25, 2012
I don't really post here anymore, but since it's my birthday I'll just post something.
I've been surprised twice this week by friends celebrating my birthday, which I really appreciate. Labels: family, focus, friends, university
On Wednesday, I was in the law building on campus using the internet, when Wenyan called to ask if I was in my room, to get back a library book she borrowed for me. Then soon after, Ezekiel called to say that he had milk tea to pass to me, and I was to come down to collect it in 5 minutes. But when I went down I couldn't see him, anywhere in the building or outside, though there was this group of people standing a distance away to the left. Then Jay turned his head and I realised that was them, and for a moment I wondered if Ezekiel was just distributing milk tea like some vendor. So I walked to them and realised that they were there to celebrate my birthday in advance, at which point they sang to me.
Renu made an oreo cheesecake because she knows how much I love it! And I was really surprised to see them there: Renu, Ezekiel, Jay, Reuben, Rachel Chan, Wenyan, Mann Ying and Yi Chen. It was only when I saw Wenyan that I realised the earlier phone call had just been an excuse for her to find out if I was in IH or not! I was absolutely deceived! Retrospectively, I realise her questions didn't really make logical sense, but at that point I didn't think about it. It even occurred to me how odd it was to receive 2 phone calls from friends within like 15 minutes when I normally don't get calls, but I didn't suspect a thing.
Later on we went to the IH ground floor kitchen to eat the cake, and I spent the next couple hours or so chatting to them. It was especially nice because I'd met Renu on Monday night on my way to choir practice, and it just made me regretful that we don't get to see everyone every day like we used to in Phase 1. Apparently her questions about my choir practice time were also for the sake of the surprise! But yeah, it was great to get to hear from them about what their experiences this year have been like.
Then today was my birthday, but I spent the morning and early afternoon in hospital, where obviously only Josh would know my birthday, if at all. So it was actually just a normal hospital day. The exception is that Raja had these magnums, and then I got the last one for free though Jeremy actually paid $2 for one, haha. So it was like indirectly getting a present!
And the thing is that we had Dialogue Night this night, so there was a lot of preparation of food and questions and I thought if my Growth Group was going to celebrate my birthday, it would be during then. And Trish even baked a cheesecake, but it wasn't for me. Since people from Pete's group (whom we combined with) were either unaware of my birthday or knew via Facebook, I assumed that that might be kind of the case with our group. And anyway the dinner was good and the session went well, so I figured it didn't really matter. And my bro Cai got me Chatime milk tea!
Then Simon was in a hurry to get back to IH, so we went back and Ming Fei's and Mike's groups were still there at the ground floor kitchen after their Dialogue Night, so I went to talk to some of them. I met Evelyn on my way up to 1st floor, and then went to the kitchen to keep the food I'd brought back. And I heard her in the corridor saying something like "Sixuan's in the kitchen", but didn't know who she was talking to.
Then my group came in: Jordan, Josh, Trish, Sam and Simon with a cake in the box and a lit candle, singing Happy Birthday! I was surprised, because I genuinely didn't expect this at all! It was this rich chocolate cake that Josh got from Randwick, and he said that's why his first quiche (for dinner) got slightly burnt - made me feel bad! Apparently they thought I was still on the ground floor, went in singing Happy Birthday, only to realise I wasn't there, thereby confusing the people inside, haha!!
This whole surprising experience made me appreciate how the surprise is real and better when you're really not expecting anything. Of course it's not like I forgot my birthday - had to get the free Chatime milk tea, after all - but I don't like the waiting and expecting/hoping for people to remember my birthday. It just makes you more disappointed if they forget. And I wasn't sure if my group forgot, or if Josh (the other birthday IC with me) was simply too busy to do anything about it - it seemed like a real possibility. And it's just childish to be sad that no one celebrates your birthday with fanfare or anything.
I guess the only real expectation I have is of my family to remember. This is evidenced in how I purposely checked the mail pigeonholes to retrieve my birthday cards! I was happy when I got my parents' one on Wednesday - apparently mum sent it 2 weeks in advance so as not to have a repeat of last year when it was like a week late. But I didn't see my sister's one, and was kind of sad. So I decided to make sure, and ran down last night in the cold to check again, and it was there! The sad thing is that I failed to pick up their calls today, which is something I look forward to.
So even though the early part of the day was pretty uneventful - though not un-enjoyable since my hospital group is a fun bunch - I had a great night. I appreciate the Facebook messages, the texts, the face-to-face wishes, and the cards. I especially love reading what people have to say to me. And I'm thankful for the prayers!
Thank God for a lovely birthday :D
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
I was reminded by my sister that I haven't posted anything on my blog in forever. The thing is that besides the fact that I'm lazy, I didn't think anyone was still reading it. In fact, I think it's just my family. So I'll just put a post to let them know that, no, I didn't get a new blog, and yes, I'm still alive and well down under. Labels: choir, college, focus, university
The last time I posted was on my birthday, and if I have to recap I think it would be pretty hard, since my memory isn't good. I'll just put down what I remember.
*long pause*
Mid-Year Break
- Michelle came to visit from Melbourne to Sydney and stayed with me for about 10 days! It was nice catching up with her! Sorry for being such a lazy host :P
- I went for the Mid-Year Conference organised by Campus Bible Study, as we looked at the theme of humanity in the whole Bible. It was really cold (apparently was -2 deg at one night) and also really intense. I think one really interesting bit was reading through the whole 1 Peter as a small group without a leader and without paragraphing or verse numbering.
Teaching Period 3
- We started the term with a new half of my tutorial group - all 1st years, plus the 2nd years whom I've been with for a year already. It's a bit weird to be the older ones in class now.
- I started the course A Life Worth Living in FOCUS Team this session (was doing 2 Ways to Live in Session 1), and it's a really good course. It makes you think about fundamental aspects of the Christian life, such as why you believe, the importance of the Word, prayer, sin, and reaching out to others with the gospel.
- I joined the welcome team and music teams in church. It feels good to be actively serving in a defined role in church once again :)
- The New College Revue had a slot for a choir, which I participated in - we sang Somebody to Love by Queen in parts!
- Our Growth Group had a picnic social at Centennial Park, in which we ate pizza, played Taboo, and had lots of fun!
Teaching Period 4 - now
- I picked an assignment on euthanasia and ethics, and have managed to just about finish it, way before the deadline, yay.
- The women in church had an evangelistic event with baking, high tea and a panel of our own girls to answer questions that our friends had. I helped Jieyu to make quiche! My TEA group (me, Jo and Grace) was researching on the reliability of the Bible, focusing on the gospels. But since I was co-MC with Renette, Jo had to be on the panel :)
- My UNSW choir concert is coming up this Sunday, and I have bits and pieces of the songs stuck in my head!
That's all for now. I hope whoever may read this is satisfied.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
I turned 21 today! Labels: college, family, focus, friends, university
For a birthday, today wasn't really a day in which I could celebrate, because Wednesdays are my busiest days. It was marked by especially cold rainy weather with vicious winds that kind of spoilt my umbrella.
Special things:
- I received Jiejie's birthday card to me on Monday
- I went to my cousin's house yesterday, and she cooked chicken rice (yum!) for dinner and baked me a cake with chocolate icing and sugar roses that were speedily devoured by her children
- I got calls from my parents and my sister: literally held 2 phones with both parties on the line at one point! note: this made me a little late for my lecture.
- Audrey got me a slice of cake from 85 Degrees!
- Gilly got me a brownie!
- Renu wrote me a card!
- I got birthday wishes in person, via SMS and Facebook wall posts from more than 100 people! the ones in person are the best :)
I think a birthday is only as special as you make it out to be (Lin, 2011).
People in Australia seem to make a big thing of turning 21, which is bizarre considering they can do most things when they turn 18. For me, it means I can vote, but I wasn't 21 early enough to vote this month anyway. I don't like the idea of being old - 21 really means that you're an adult, apparently.
I'll be sort of celebrating with my Bible Study group on Friday with another guy's birthday, and then with the Singaporeans in my year with another 2 people's birthdays next week. It begs the question of how important the actual day is. And yet whenever I see the date 25th May pop up anywhere, it makes me feel like it is my special day!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
So tonight is the night that people around the world commemorate Earth Hour by turning off all electrical appliances, including lights, for one hour. Of course, in college, there are some lights that have to stay on, such as the EXIT lights, in case of an emergency. But most of the people were downstairs in the dark dining hall playing cards or singing along to the guitars. Labels: university
I'm doing the Communication Assignment this term, which means I have to interview someone, make a transcript, and then evaluate my communication skills. At first I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to find anyone to interview who had some meaningful experience of anything related to this term's course themes, e.g. respiratory illness, HIV, infectious diseases.
But I didn't even have to look, and managed to interview a friend of a friend who had swine flu! Better than that, I managed to find two other people for two of my friends to interview as well.
Transcribing was slow and painstaking as usual. I like to think that it's because of my little experience in transcribing for the research I did in NIE that I managed to transcribe at a faster rate than other people - 2h 15min for 16 minutes of audio.
All the 2nd year students just got the postings for Year 3, and I'm posted to do Clinical Coursework, as was my preference on the form. I don't know what I'd do if I had to do the research project, so that can wait until Year 4.
That's the important updates for now. I will next post...well, whenever it strikes my fancy. Back to my assignment!!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
I can't believe I'll be flying home to Singapore today! It feels like I've been in Sydney for forever already. Labels: college, focus, friends, university
The last few weeks had been mostly about studying for the AEB theory exam, and after that, for the progressive prac exam. I think I'd gotten so used to only having 1 exam every 8 weeks that having to study for another exam after the first one felt very strange and tiresome.
But I must say that because this time round I studied with friends like Rachel and Suyi (law library gang!) it was a lot more interesting and helped me remember things better.
We all went to eat ba chor mee at ASEANA after the exam on 9/9/10, and I've decided that when I go back to Singapore I need to eat it again - as some others have agreed, it's pretty sad that my first experience eating ba chor me is in a foreign country.
The prac exam wasn't exactly as horrific as I thought it would be. I think it's a matter of how well you know your pracs and histology slides, and the main factor is that you're given very little time to write stuff down.
I followed some of the others after the prac exam on 15/9/10 to this Thai place, and got this green curry that was nice but spicy! Thanks to Mann Ying's recommendation! Then went to Coles with Renu and Wenyan for some random last minute shopping for things to bring back - didn't end up with much, really.
In our One Wei Bible study group, Christie organised this mass card-signing thing where we each write a short note to each person in our group on these pretty cards that she made. And I love doing this kind of thing - it's a priceless memento. But I realise some people like Kwong haven't written on my card yet, so I'll go chase them in Singapore.
The last few days have been spent packing up my room in college for good - since I won't be getting the same room next year, so it's a different feeling from when I had to pack it end of last session. And I've rediscovered how much I dislike packing. I wish Jiejie was here to do it for me. (Plus I had Wella and Christabel to help me last time!)
But many thanks to Dan Foong for the use of his weighing scale, Gizmo for the use of his printer, and Rachel for the use of her room, haha! Without these people I would have been in big trouble by now.
I've made so many new friends over this year in college, classes and church that I'm kind of afraid that I'll go home having forgotten a lot of friends in Singapore. I'm not sure what the brain's capacity for remembering people (faces+names) is. If I appear to have 848 friends on Facebook, how many will I actually be able to recognise, put a name to, and tag on my memories of that person's character to?
Anyway, I've got to go do some really last minute tidying up. Looking forward to going home!
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
So it's supposedly spring, but it's still kind of cold, and the weather just changes from day to day. Labels: friends, university
Today's Brother-in-law's birthday! I Skyped with them earlier on in the afternoon, to see the baby and say hi to Jiejie and wish BiL happy birthday. He received my card even though I thought I mailed it late, according to the post office lady.
I'm so glad my exam is over today! There is a sense of freedom in the air!
I guess the only other interesting thing is that Prashanth came to Sydney, so we had tea together in the Chinatown part of the city. It was really great being able to talk about all the choir stuff I've been missing out on, especially the concert.
And just now, we celebrated Bryan and Yi Chen's combined birthdays, which are actually tomorrow. We had dinner at Aseana, which I enjoyed, even though it was kind of funny because it was like one long table, and I could only talk to the people around my end.
Now I just need to find out what I'm going to be doing in my break until next Sunday. I love how I don't have anything to do at the moment!
Monday, August 30, 2010
So, it's been quite a nice month, to my recollection. For one, we celebrated several birthdays. Labels: college, focus, friends, university
There was Simon's birthday for our Bible Study group, as well as going out for karaoke with most of the 1st year med people. There was also cheesecake, which is always good. Even though it was practically chosen by him, despite it being a 'surprise' cake.
Then the week after was Rachel's birthday, and while our surprise didn't really surprise her, it was quite a fun attempt at sneaking around and organising things. It was more complicated because we were planning to surprise Andrew as well, and he was definitely surprised! The kidnapping thing was kind of fail, but it all worked out ok in the end :)
We celebrated Justin's birthday in an elaborate set up with 2 surprise groups, one at the movie and the other in the quad. I was in the quad group, and my only regret is that they didn't walk a bit faster, so that by the time they reached back, all the sparklers burned out!
And in NC, we celebrated Ice and Wallet's birthdays one after the other, with cake, chocolate, balloons, poppers, music and pass the parcel!
Both my individual assignment and group assignment have been submitted, so I only have the exam left, which happens to fall on a certain Brother-in-Law's birthday. Coincidence!
NC put on their annual Revue, for which I was in Tech, which was a new experience for me! I might have stuffed it up on the first night, but I hope not many people noticed! Revue was really funny, especially all the fillers!
We recently had our 2nd Dialogue Night together with The Min(g) Dynasty, and I'm thankful for all the invited friends who came to listen to the Word, and watched the Christ Files video, which was excellent.
I've had too much cheesecake recently as well. Once at formal dinner last Wednesday, then at Dialoge Night on Friday, then today at SG, courtesy of Renu's great baking skills. And then all the cake at all those birthdays!
And most exciting of all, there was a fire yesterday! Flick and I were returning from Randwick Coles at around 12:15? We first noticed a police car stop at the junction of Botany St and High St, and the policeman got out, and we were wondering what was happening.
Then as we were reaching Uniwalk, we saw the smoke in the distance, and decided to check it out. We didn't know which building was actually burning, though I think later someone said it belongs to UNSW. There were many fire engines, ambulance cars, a couple of helicopters, and film cameras.
Seeing the flames was really exciting, and I have great respect for the firefighters. They even got out this pipe from the ground at the road and connected a hose to it. They also stopped all the traffic between the Barker St traffic light and the High St one, I think.
At first there were only about 4 of us from NC watching the fire, but then more and more people came out to watch. Lots of them were taking photos, and some too advantage of the emptied road to skateboard. I think a few of them brought out their lunch on a table and sat eating while watching the fire.
Disrespectful, or funny? Not too sure myself.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Unfortunately, my holiday is over as of today, and I have to start school tomorrow. What a depressing thought. Labels: family, new zealand, university
I spent the last 3 weeks in NZ at my sister's house. It was really great to have both my parents, my brother, my sister and brother-in-law. And of course the latest addition to the family - baby Caleb!
Having a baby isn't all it's cracked up to be. Sure, he's adorable and has big eyes and smells nice, but he cries a lot, and has to be carried around, and strapped in the car seat, and there's a whole bag dedicated to him: milk, pacifier, warmer, cloth, diapers, changing mat, rattle etc.
I spent most of my time waking up later than everyone else, reading my sister's books, watching Yang Jia Jiang (while not understanding it), and eating out with everyone.
Parents, Brother and I went on a 3 day trip; first to Mt Ruapehu in an attempt to take a beginner's lesson at snowboarding, but the winds were too strong and the slopes were temporarily closed, so we didn't do it in the end. Then we moved on to Lake Taupo and spent most of the time watching the free DVDs provided by the motel. On the way back to Auckland, we visited Hamilton Gardens.
I'm really glad I got to eat lots of Chinese food, whether cooked or bought. I'm especially thankful to my uncle for cooking carrot cake for our breakfast, and my aunt for making chicken rice TWICE!
Among other things, we went to Mt Victoria, visited Queen street, did two jigsaw puzzles, had fish and chips by the sea, bought oysters from Clevedon, and saw lots of sheep, cows, horses and alpacas!
Parents left on Friday, and I left NZ this morning. We had to wake up really early just to get there by 6:15, only for me to find out that my flight had been delayed by 1 hour 15 min! I spent a lot of time just sitting around waiting for the gate number to be shown.
Spending these three weeks with my family makes me miss them all the more now that I'm back in Sydney. Four months to go!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Today we had our end of course BGDA exam - and I was just really thankful that it's over! We found the shorter way to walk to the racecourse, and I feel like a dummy for walking the long way round the last time, haha. I just feel sorry for the 2nd years who have to study for tomorrow's prac exam. Labels: friends, university
I don't remember studying so hard before. But it's kind of annoying that all the microbiology, anatomy and embryology didn't come out! After I went through all that effort too!
Christabel and Kailun are leaving UNSW, so we had dinner together with most of the 1st year med people, at Old Tote at the Village. We couldn't really find a big enough place for all of us, so we all brought our own food there to eat. I had a really fun time just talking to all of them, and I feel that I've gotten to know some of them better.
I'm really sad that the two of them will be leaving, but I'm sure that they'll do well in their respective universities. And after all, if we're all studying the same thing, chances are we'll get to meet again!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
So today's my 20th birthday. My age now begins with a 2 instead of a 1, signalling that I'm no longer as young as I'd like to be. I got pretty depressed on my 19th birthday, because you're still a teenager up to 18, I think? I guess I just have to accept it...and then dread turning 21! Labels: college, family, friends, university
So, I had a pretty great day today. I received a birthday sms from Jiejie at about 8am, and then Mummy called about 10 minutes later to wish me as well! Not to belittle all the other wishes, but these were the ones that mattered the most to me.
Subsequently, I got a lot of wishes from my fellow med students, college people etc. It did kind of make me feel a bit special!
Another good thing is that I only had 3 hours of class today! If my birthday had been yesterday - 7 hours of class - it would have been kind of sad. As it is, I went to have a Chinese lunch with Christabel and Audrey, which was fun. And they bought me a slice of cheesecake - so sweet of them!
Afterwards I went to Sze Hui's house to kind of celebrate, and even though she didn't have time to make a cake (not that I expected her to!), she managed to whip out 12 tiny cupcakes and put them together with a candle! And I've been invited to her daughter's birthday party too!
Then I returned to find my room decorated prettily by 2AB group members, after which they had a cake that Stanley baked, and two birthday cards!
I'm currently trying to respond to the mass of Facebook birthday wishes that people have posted on my wall. I suppose it won't be finished by tonight, though.
Even though I'd have loved to spend my birthday with my family, I guess living here and having so many new friends just multiplied all the well-wishes that I received, and it really made me happy!
I'm really thankful to God for the past 20 years of my life, in which He has given me so many things that I don't deserve, and always protected me and loved me. I hope that I can become more mature and wise as I continue to grow wholly as a Christian.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
I kept meaning to blog, but always forgot when I actually had time to do so. Labels: college, university
I had an exam on Tuesday, signalling the end of the Foundations course I've been in for the past 8 weeks, i.e. Teaching Period 1. It was harder than everyone thought it would be. And to think the lecturers made it seem like it was going to be so easy, suggesting that we might finish it in 2/3 the allocated time, and, I quote, that "it takes real talent to fail".
The exam was at the racecourse next to the school, and the day before the exam I dragged Christabel with me to see how long it would take us to walk there, and which of 2 routes was faster. The walk itself was very pleasant, due to the weather, which is gradually getting colder.
I went out with some of the Singaporeans after our exam (coincidentally turning out to be all Christians, lol) for a dim sum lunch, and promptly felt guilty for spending so much money.
On Wednesday, we all had our first visit to our assigned hospitals, which was more of an orientation than anything. And mine was at Bankstown, even though my actual venue in the coming weeks will be Liverpool. I'm glad I had quite a few friends going with me! We even played cards on the train, and only saw that we'd reached our station just as the train pulled up into it!
After a 40 minute introduction by a doctor, we were taken around in small groups by older medical students to see certain wards and such. Apparently people in other hospitals didn't get to do that!
But it kind of felt like a waste of time, because it took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to get there, but we only spent about 1 & 1/2 hours there, before taking the same amount of time to get back.
Then on Thursday we had our last SG session as SG-A4, because for the next term we'll be split half-half according to our hospital allocations and mixing with the 2nd year students. It's pretty sad because I do like our SG (we even have a Facebook group), and don't know if we'll be put together again. We went through exam answers without our papers, and ate lots of yummy food.
On Friday, we had practice at NCV for our Dialogue Night for three songs, after which I went to the library to use the Internet, but got evacuated due to goodness knows what, then went to the Motor Registry to get a NSW Photo Card. My cousin kindly invited me to her house for dinner again. I think I made her baby cry - he doesn't like me!
I went to Bondi Junction with Cub today to help someone get art stuff, as well as to see to a little shopping, because she didn't really know how to get there. It was fun, but we both agreed that the shopping loses its excitement after spending too long doing it.
I just spent some time watching The Prestige with two of my groupmates, and I must say that the plot is pretty cool!
Our College has been busy preparing for the play that is being performed next week. I've helped out a bit with painting the set and doing backstage stuff - it's really fun! It's a play about a play, and after watching the first five minutes of their rehearsal I got pretty confused.
That's pretty much it for this week. I will try to update more often, I guess. If anyone's reading this at all.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Everytime I mean to blog about my day's events (and during O'Week there were PLENTY of events) I get lazy and end up not doing it. Labels: college, university
The rest of O'Week was pretty fun.
Thursday: PT Rally where we went around to various places including UniSyd; Trivia which really had all sorts of information and challenges unheard of.
Friday: Harbour cruise, where the theme was A Fresher In Uniform, so every group had their own type of uniform, and we made a pretty gay sight on the way to the harbour. The cruise sights were really pretty, including the Opera House and Harbour Bridge!
Saturday: Jet-boating, which is always a thrill, and too short a trip, followed by lunch at Manly Beach; Schoolies Night, which I couldn't go for because I couldn't prove my age, so we got free gelato and watched Valentine's Day at a theatre instead!
This week: I've had some scenario group sessions, practicals and a lot of lectures (got 4 more tomorrow), and it's been a good opportunity to get to know people! I was surprised at the number of Asians (whether Asian-raised or Australian-raised) in the faculty - much more than I'd expected. Of course, about a quarter are international, half of those coming from Singapore!
Thanks to all the blogs i referred to (countless) for html code help :) (esp. cyn' and sixseven)
Adobe Photoshop Elements for supernatural abilities
