Turning 20 in Canberra

24th June 2007 (Sun)
A brief entry before departing to Central Australia.

Two Ausmatians celebrated their birthday in Canberra today!

Lynda and myself. She came all the way from the west (Perth). Just reached here today and will stay for a week. Another Ausmatian is also celebrating her birthday not far away from Canberra. Haha..it was Nooi Hoay in Macquarie. Happy Birthday!! Haha..Had a nice conversation with you!

Lynda and her superman, Faris. Look how nice her cake is! Thanks to Erizianna, Puteri, Wahida, and Aina for the Nasi Ayam =)

The celebration was in Faris's unit.

As for my birthday, I was tricked to leave my room at about 3.30pm (thanks to Wei Min), giving my friends the opportunity to enter my room, lock and decorate it. In other words, I was locked out of my own room (thanks to Kai Xun). How cool is that? And in order to retrieve back my key I have to go treasure hunting and retrieve all the clues. I even have to run backwards (thanks to Jared) !!But it was fun and as a result of my effort, my room was unlocked and I was cordially invited to my own birthday party at 10.30pm tonight. I was amazed by the early-planning of this treasure hunt and how well it was carried out.

This was the decoration in Wei Min's room.

This was the decoration in my wardrobe.

Cutting the cake during my party in Ursula Hall. Thinking that there was nothing to be surprised about since it wasn't a surprise party, I was shocked to see so many Unilodge friends in the party (even Lynda was there). Didn't expect them to turn out as well especially since we've just celebrated Lynda's birthday in Unilodge. But it was nonetheless, very nice of them to walk all the way to Ursula.

My sincere appreciation to mastermind Kai Xun, the ones involved in the treasure hunt (Wei Min, Daryl, Jared, Jason), and the ones who turned up to the party.

Alright, gotta finish packing for my Central Australia trip (25th-6th July). Will see you all when I come back in 12 days time. Thanks for reading!

Living a Dream

Warning: These are my thoughts and may not be the most interesting entry you’ve read!

24^th May 2007

Isn’t it fantastic, when you’re actually doing those things that you could only dream of doing when you were young?

I can still remember my US uncle inviting me to study in US and also how I admire my cousins who are studying overseas. I could only imagine being overseas while watching those western shows, picturing myself living in a housing area without fencing, enjoying the cold whether, and mixing with the locals. At that time, going overseas was a dream that seemed so unlikely to be fulfilled. I was only a little kid when my mum told me just before I slept, “We’re going to America tonight!” I think she said that because I asked her when we would ever go to US. Upon getting her reply, I was elated and seriously believed we were going to fly of that night itself. But then, I soon realized she was just joking. What she meant was for me to go to America in my dream. To be honest, I’ve never dreamt of being in America until now but would certainly love to be there.

Now that I’m actually in Australia, I will once in a while, reminisce about me being myself back then, thinking that going to overseas is never possible. I realized how lucky I am to be paid to study here, having such opportunity to see the world beyond my own country. Being in Australia for a few years differs vastly from being there just for a holiday tour. I am now exposed to international community every single day, which reminds me how excited I used to me, talking to a Caucasian back in Malaysia. Experiencing their way of living, food, culture, and not forgetting, weather, is simply fulfilling. And because of this, I’m glad to ease my parent’s financial burden and hope that the savings can at least provide me sister a chance to be here, to see what I see and to experience what I’ve been through. A few months of accounting in Australia or UK maybe, sis?

I’m pretty sure there are more of these Déjà Vu feelings to come as I accomplish more and more in life. Perhaps it’s a part of growing up. Being kids, having no say in the family, whatever we do were subjected to our parents’ approval. Hence, we feel that dreams are unlikely to come true (especially the crazy ones). But things are different now. Being an almost-turning-20 kind of teenager, I have more say in what I do, fulfilling what I can only dream of at a very young age as long as I know where to draw the line. And say, inevitably comes with responsibility - a double edge sword. Take it well and you gain your parents’ trust. Handle it badly; you can kiss your family’s trust goodbye. We teens tend to try a bit of everything, don’t we? But doing so I reckon, take us a step further in life, towards the right path hopefully and avoiding the mistakes we’ve made.

I’ve started this entry on 24^th of May (which explains the date above) but only took the trouble to complete it today, 2 days after my last paper. In a way, it’s a good thing cause I found this meaningful paragraph to end my entry with, thanks to Kuok Hau’s email, about a 87-year-old undergraduate giving her speech during the football banquet.

"We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it! There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are 19 yrs. old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn 20 yrs. old. If I am 87 yrs. Old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn 88. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

Hope you can connect with the paragraph and what I’ve penned. I predict that there’ll be some who’ll go, “Uh, boring,” by now. Still, thanks for staying all the way! =)

Being Sick Makes Me Homesick =(

4th June 2007 (Mon)

I'm well recuperating now.. but being sick for the pass few days made me super homesick; whole day kept reminiscing the days when I could skip school, stay at home and watch tv, sleep till noon, excuse myself from studying, and also when my mum cook porridge specially for me. Not that I like to be sick but now that I am, the memories just came back.

It's time to time-travel =)