and so it begins.

Last post for awhile I suppose...I didn't want to neglect my blog completely thought. So a quick update before going back to my panicked studying.

Last sunday my family and I went to J's Surf and Turf, a little shop near Brighton beach. It's basically and all you can eat err...not really a restaurant. Picture two fish and chip shops side by side, and get rid of the wall between them. So it's not the prettiest place to eat, but boy is there a lot of food. It's $28 bucks per person, so make sure you go with people who can really eat (dave, janice, looking at you two)

Like I said, toooons of food. We didn't know what to order, so we got the waitress to rattle off good things to try. And cause it's all you can eat, we just ordered everything she said. So we ended up with a ton of food on our table. I especially liked the fried chicken (KFC, you should do it like they do!) and the tempura stuff.

Anyway, more importantly we had some rare family time. We went to Brighton beach afterwards, where we mucked around and took photos. The sut setting was very nice and it was a fun outing all around, especially before exams.

First exam tomorrow! I'm feeling a bit calmer about it after studying a bit. Hopefully it goes ok. Today marks 21 days until exams finish. 3 weeks seem like aaaaages. I'll post again before it's over..it's simply too long just to study full pelt. I'm pretty sure I'm going to burn out before then.

good luck once again, especially to my civil buddies tomorrow.

teoh,

just the way things go

exams are nearing!

pretty close actually, just a bit over two weeks for me. exam timetable: 29th concrete, 10th traffic, 11th computing, 18th geo. Pretty nice spread, but at the same time it's going to make me study for week!? (the question mark is disbelieving)

I'm pretty flustered at the moment, so I'm taking the time to write a blog post to iron it all out. Breathing in...breathing out...

Uni assignments are still going on =_= most of them will be finished this friday, but still have TWO presentations next week. Crazy lecturers! Give us a break, need time to study. Hopefully I've still retained some oral skills from the past (haven't done a presentation in ages), so I won't put too much prep into it.

I've got two birthday things coming up, one of them a 21st. Probably can only afford part attendance in them, which sucks, but that's how it is during exams I guess. They're right after each other too, so I'll feel way to guilty if I go to both for long.

Also have my ISV trip to finish planning. Got the final invoice, total'd up to a whopping 4k, from the initial 3k estimate. But it should be worth it hopefully. Still need to get my passport, some paperwork and insurance to finish though, ugh.

Just gotta balance in studying with all this and work as well. I hate exam time, you just feel like anything you do, you could be studying (even if you really wouldn't). the 18th can't come fast enough!

You'll see I'm keeping a holiday list on the side. Funny how you always think of things to do at the peak time you shouldn't be. =]

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE. See you on the other side.

teoh,

the korean phase.

I've resisted this post for awhile, but I think it must come out.

So I don't know when exactly this whole korean phase started..I know it probably started from timothy, but he's not by far the worst at the moment (more to that later (you know who I'm talking about)). Anyway, I got exposed to it first up in Queensland, on our lazy day we were just showing each other youtube clips; one of them was SNSD genie.

And now, to my shame, I have become a fan. Even as I write this, I have dedicated my first GB of internet usage downloading away cute dances, and pretty faces. (I just saw Yuri moonwalk :O)

Let me just justify myself here a bit. I haven't gotten into korean music. Nor am I a perve! I only like SNSD because the girls are pretty. They aren't slutty (although they show off their legs a lot, BUT I know plenty of girls who would say, if I had them so would I!). And somehow I find myself hitting replay on youtube and catching myself shuffling towards the kitchen in a terrible replica of their dance moves.

For the record, this is all jason's fault. But, if I ever get as sad as him (as seen on his blog and facebook):
please shoot me.

teoh,

out of the way!

ah the mad scramble for the ultimate move...how I miss brawl.

(picture as seen on deviantart/ry spirit: link)

teoh,

skittles awaaaay

just wanted to see what blogging at 2 am turn out to be. (edit: added some amusing pictures of myself...i don't know what happened in the first one but its hilarious LOL)




just got back from celebrating loretta's 21st, from my baker's delight group. I can't believe I half didn't want to go, and couldn't be bothered wanting to catch trains in and out. It was SO WORTH IT. I think I've gotten laziness syndrome.

we went to Precinct in richmond, cause lor's new living town house is there. Half way there, I remembered that I had to wear 'dressy' shoes, else they wouldn't let me in..and of course I was wearing my chucks. So I got my dad to swap shoes with me LOL and hey, it worked out okay except a few blisters.

it's actually a nice place, separate areas for bar, lounge and dance floor. We hung out in all three, it was awesome. DRINK COUNT: 3 skittlebombs (SO GOOD), 1 light beer (disgusting) 1 vodka shot (fire in my mouth again!) 2 and a bit of Smirnoffs. I got the heavy head again, but I thought I did pretty well tonight! Getting better hopefully.

I don't know what's so different about going out with my baker crew...I should feel more comfortable letting go with my usual group, but somehow I don't. I can dance and look like a complete fool and not care with the baker group, and they make me feel OK! I love hanging out with them, all the girls are beautiful and all the guys are awesome (not to say my usual group isn't ;D) Can't wait til the next time we go out!

crash burn and die time. I will update this posts when pictures go up on facebook. There are some embarrassing ones I think.

teoh,

leadership

I just finished watching/skipping through Defiance again.

I really love movies that are about rebel groups, fighting against the bigger aggressor. Even better when it's about real survival stories, like this one was; World War II, the hero of the movie Tuvia Bielski is Jew, who helped saved over 1200 Jews by hiding out in the forests against the Germans. The movie depicted the constant dangers and hardships the group had to fight through; the winter cold, constantly being hunted, food, internal conflicts etc. and how Tuvia was shaped into a awesome leader. It's quite a good movie, I recommend it when you're bored in the holidays.

Anyway, I wanted to focus on theme leadership in this movie. Being a leader is something I always both aspired to and at the same time, did not want to become. It's defined as the ability in a person to lead, guide or/and direct, but it can be so much more depending on the situation.

Once in a movie, there was a few select men felt that they deserved more food because they were the ones that risked their lives to gather it. They forcefully took more food, despite resistance from others. Tuvia had to somehow defuse it, and punished them by giving them half rations. The issue rose again, but this time the men went a step further by using force to subdue a few loyal followers. Tuvia simply shot the leader of the group.

Now my thought at the moment is whether or not at this point, did Tuvia become a tyrant? True, the men were wrong to use force, but they weren't particularly in the wrong to request more food. But if Tuvia allowed them more food, would some other of the camp request more food, leading into a food crisis. Morale would drop with less food, and people would be forced to desert the camp.

I'm very keen to keep in mind that this perspective was shown from a movie point of view, so it might've not kept all the realism in the situation. Tuvia was probably not the awesome leader he was in the movie, but no doubt he did perform some great acts to save those lives.

might come back to this later,

teoh

surprise! wotcha

happy birthday dave!

do I spy amanda doing a korean pose? sigh. what a lunatic (hats joke :D)

it is now thursday, and I have hardly made a dent in my assignments. hope everyone is having a fun holiday.

teoh,