Tuesday, July 15, 2008;

Alright, alright... i know, there are wayyy tooo many cobwebs on the blog... but pls forgive me.. it's been abit of a rollercoaster ride in the last 2 months... lots have happened and there's been more low points than high points....but I am still standing strong... I have not given up and am still running, albeit injuries and tears...

Highlight of the 2 months is the road trip I took with Alan, Kevin (Alan's youngest brother) and Patrick... Both Alan and Patrick are Uni classmates that I have grown to be quite close with in the last few months... We made an impromptu decision to drive down to Victoria, stayed 3 nights on the Great Ocean Road, and another 3 nights in Melbourne city, and spent at least a good 38hours of driving. We covered a total of 3154.5km in a rented toyota camry. It was a budget holiday and I'm proud to say with the adequate amount of planning, we made it under budget, spending no more than $700 per person for a 7 day holiday in Victoria, inclusive of all petrol, car hire, accomodation, food, tourist attractions and extra spending money... Alan and I cooked most meals and had lots of fun guessing recipes and cooking off the top of our heads... The road trip was filled with lots of bonding and relaxing time.. we spent the nights playing card games, watching dvds and chatting.... sleeping and the days shopping, nature watching, lots of photo taking, walking and driving...

Basic breakfast consists of Scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, American biscuits (Australians and English call them Scones) lots of juice, water and mugs of coffee and chai teas...

There are 3 photo albums and to view them, click on

Album 1
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47266&l=f4863&id=628420933

Album 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48965&l=12954&id=628420933

Album 3
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48966&l=da1b2&id=628420933


The last week has been particular difficult, having found out 2 deaths of a close friend and a close friend's family member, 1 funeral to attend, 1 memorial video to create, 1 car accident in which I have been physically injured (whiplash, bruised collarbone and ribs and a torn ligament in my ankle), and the car disfigured... and Alan left Sydney for good on Friday.... He's flown to Africa to shoot a documentary for 2 wks before returning to Alabama, USA. On Tuesday, we took his youngest brother Kevin, who is only 16 and has spent the last month in sydney, to the airport and saw him off too...
Albeit the sadness, we still had nice times... had dinner at the Sydney Towers, spent alot of time packing, drinking chais and lots of laughter in the middle...

Work is about to get a lot more busy... with conferences around the corner... so we'll see how I go...

I'm on a uni break for another week... and then it's round 3 of 4... but this time it will be weird because I'll have to work with a whole new group of people... Familiar faces that I have gotten used to in the last year will be no longer... It sux being the only Part time student in the cohort... and according to a lecturer who is more like a friend than a lecturer, she is glad I am not having to do my major project this semester as she thinks that this new cohort isn't as good... I'm only going to be doing the electives and classes will be in the evenings...

Speaking of Uni, results are out today, and I am slightly disappointed... all 4 subjects i have done are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo freaking close to a Distinction... but no.... they aren't kind enough to just give me 2 miserable points... ARGH........ :( Never mind... i have 4 more subjects to take... and this time round, hopefully, i can put in more focus...

Not an issue of effort... but focus.... I guess its the price of trying to squeeze too much into this life, working full time in different positions and studying a post grad degree part time.. plus trying to have a little bit of a life... I feel this year that maybe I have spread myself a little too thin... But I have stepped into this choice... and there isn't any room to turn back...
so maybe I'll just have to ride it out.... but then again, who knows, there could be a miracle in the next 2 semesters... although, looking at the way the guys had to work in the last semester, it's going to be tough... and I'll need all the strength I have.... and support is always appreciated... (And no I'm not saying I don't have that now)....



Alright, enough of my ranting.... There's a 8am meeting... and I am teaching 2 classes tomorrow, taking on 1 extra class for this term... Wait a minute... what did I say about spreading myself a little too thin????????? hmmmmmmmmm Let's see how I go...




rambled at 10:03 PMY

Tuesday, May 06, 2008;

why is it always upsetting to know that a close friend is about to leave the country...FOREVER :(




rambled at 11:10 PMY

Friday, April 11, 2008;

Simple Pleasure #3:
Trying a new flavoured gelato for the first time ever - LAVENDER, and not regretting it!

Simple Pleasure #4:
being thanked for mustering the courage to send a message and being told that the message is very much appreciated...

Dr Bruce Isaacs said this to me today -
Let me say that it’s natural to feel intimated by the prospect of completing a thesis....

Orson Welles created a masterpiece at age 25... I have 2 years and 4 months to go and alot to catch up on!!!!!




rambled at 10:56 PMY

Friday, March 28, 2008;

Been sick and busy with Uni... but here's another simple pleasure in life:

being told that you rock someone's world...








Sigh... its times like this I wished I could leisurely watch a dvd or movie.... not having to look at it academically...
No critical analysis... no reviews......




rambled at 11:35 PMY

Thursday, March 13, 2008;

I've decided to bring some life back into this blog... or at least I'm going to try......
So here's my strategy.... everyday, I will try n remember a simple pleasure from the same day and post it... in the hope that maybe, it could help me appreciate life more...


Simple Pleasure #1:
Slurping hot instant noodles reallly realllyyyy loudly when there is no one else at home.... when you havent had a chance to have instant noodles for a long time...




rambled at 10:23 PMY

Monday, January 21, 2008;

hmmm the past few days have gone fast... I am clearly still on the Australian Time zone... woke up this morning at 5am Singapore time... and drove Mindy to School. Dad's gone to Thailand for 14days so I have the car. So far, all i've done is eat LOTs of food, did a lil' shopping yesterday... and also tried for the first time Fish Spa... it was really wierd, letting fishes exfoliate your skin by nibbling your dead skin. Aparantly its really popular.. Not cheap i have to say. My aunt took me so that I could have an experience....

Anyhow, I will let the pictures do the talking as i'm feeling a lil' lazy...
Oh n please excuse some of the photos... they were taken with the lil' camera that seems to be finding it hard to focus at the moment.


On Board the A380 AirBus, where I got really air sick.








The new airport Terminal in Singapore...


we have trees in the terminal???





Singapore's various transport options *snicker*





Double Deck Bus


View of the inside of a bus... see the little tv screen on the left? Its Mobile TV



Food Glorious Food....

Black Pepper Venison Meat


Spicy Baby Squid


Spicy "Kang Kong", some sort of veg


Asian Salad... hehe


Gran bought this for breakfast one morning?! Stewed Potato and Stir fry lady's fingers


Real Mayo from Maccas, as opposed to Fake??? What THe?!


Prawn Noodles


Another from of Salad


Jen, thought of u when I had this because this is the form of Jelly that I grew up eating... :)


Steamed Chicken


Broc with Scallops n Carrots


Special Chicken Wings


Assam Fish....


Spicy Noodles from my heritage, also known as Nonya Mee Siam


Pancakes


Fried Beancurd


Century Egg & Pork Rice Congee


Spicy "kang kong" again - me dad's fav.


U wan flied lice or flied noodol??? How bout Spling loll? hehehe


Spicy Tapioca Leaves


Stir fry venison meat


Steamed Fush


Salad Prawns?


Family & Friends

Philomena and I


Gran n I


Bridget n I


Gran having dinner


Michelle Lim - one of my business partners


Fish Spa -_-





View from my place





View of the 24 hr Coffee shop one street away from my apartment block


View From my Living Room 1


View From my Living Room 2


Jenny n Claudia, I thought of the dogs when I saw this in Ikea... its soooo cuteeee



And Last but not least... a 'wierd' toilet in Singapore





rambled at 11:04 AMY

Friday, January 18, 2008;

Yes... its times like that that I love having wireless internet connection and a laptop.I'm sitting at gate 57 of Sydney's international terminal and I should be boarding the plane in 30mins....Its a little nerve wrecking being on the A380 for the first time, but at the same time, exciting.
Oh and as I type this line, the plane is pulling into the bay.... and its a big momah... a car or person next to the plane is like a big dog and an ant...
anyhow I'll post a picture of it when I get back,... I've been sitting here for the last 2hrs, and got a little startled when I was stopped by a lady doing surveys... Only reason being that I have been rudely reminded that I've been in Australia for almost 6yrs.... Kinda scary really....

Kinda surreal... being on holiday and all, I havent even left the airport but already I am missing people from here....
The people and the dogs.. It'll be wierd being back in Sunny *i hope* Singapore...

They didnt allow me to bring up my heat pack 'cos it was more than 100ml of gel... so I really am not looking forward to this 8hr flight... but I've had breakfast.... Soy Chai n Banana Bread from GJs..... so I can load up the pain killers and hope for the best... I have 2 mags to keep me occupied... the laptop if I want to do some "work"... and hopefully I get to sit next to someone who doesnt need a whole lot of arm space.... or smells... better still, have a spare seat next to me!!!!

I had less than 2 hrs of sleep last night and hte past few nights have been similar... so I'm a little dazy at the moment... so maybe the pain killers might knock me out cold.... which might be a good thing....
I will update again when I touch down...
But till then, over and OUT....

PS Those who matter, you know who u are, take care and see u in cyberspace... :) xx




rambled at 7:14 AMY

profile;

Michelle Tan
2nd August 1985
Workaholic
Random



wishes;

WISHLIST WORLD DOMINATION
A brand spankin new VW GOLF
A home theatre system with da whole she-bang
A HVR Z1U
A mac mini for show
An iPod photo
A 17inch 1.5GHz Powerbook G4
A Dual 2.5GHz Power Mac G5
2x 23inch Cinema HD
Canon EOS 1Ds MarkII
Canon Pixma iP8500
Wacom Intuos.3



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links;

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Lek Koon
Mavis




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Aussie home church
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My primary school
Singapore's Straits Times
Australian Film Commission
Arts Law Centre of Australia
Australian Writer's Guild
Internet Filmmaker's FAQ
Metro Screen
Internet Movie Database
Christianity Today
Currently my fav. site... GADGETS...
Stock Images

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