A nice song :)

i want to go to the conference in DC!! very very badly!!! AAAAHHHHHHHH

now it's end of jan 2010...
next thing to look fwd to is perhaps the Lorne conference in mid feb. but first i have to 'get through' the family matter... >.<

then it'll be mid june, a trip to brisbane maybe? :)

then mid july, Mary Poppins!

then that's it!!!!!
nothing else to look fwd to!! :(

hopefully there's a trip to the States in oct/nov for me XP


and i want to graduate quickly!!!!!!!!!!!
was talking on the phone with my wai po...
she asked me when i'm graduating T_T
and she wants to see all of us get married T_T

dad likes my driving license number! lol
quote from mum: 'dad said the number is beautiful!!... (after a few minutes)... can play TOTO also hah! ha!'

i still couldn't believe i passed my driving test

now i understand why kids get tired after they cried a lot
but i don't rmb kids get puffy eyes after they cried a lot
:S

what a start of 2010 for me...
from the first day of the year, an un-received 'sms delivered' status msg hinted the bad news abt my supervisor,
Denise, who was diagnosed with pancreatic and ovary cancer passed away on sunday.
she's always been in good spirit since the end of 08.
things started to worsen in nov/dec last year, and went down the slope very quickly since then.
she came back to the lab from 2 year potdoc-ing overseas in april when i was doing my hons, then became one of my supervisors since i started phd, which was less than a yr before the diagnosis.
our desks are just next to each other, we shared the same computer, she's always earlier than me, saw her at work every single day. would ask her to go for tea togther (and canny) especially when Erin's not working.
she's always been a cheerful person, always being supportive. even if she might not the best person to supervise this project, i did learn from her, she's the one to go to when i'm in doubt with anything, she's always been a good listener.
i will be ok...
the fact that i won't see someone ever again is not going to slip away from my mind easily...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

another farewell (but will definitely say hi again) happens 2 days after that (which is today)...
late 08, grace went back after she graduated,
then diana in early 09,
then maybelle,
then tzechien,
then yoketheng,
then antyboy,
today shiyang.
i'm only left with abt 2/3 of my close friends in melb.

Happy New Year!!
010110 today...
didn't rmb what i did last year over the new year countdown :S did i see fireworks? or i was at karaoke like this year? confused with my xmas eve. :S
anyways....
didn't see live fireworks this time.
hope to watch syd fireworks with my bare eyes one day.
hmm... sydney... hvn't been there since... at least 3 years back?
syd is somewhere i like to go for a holiday (dont think i'll prefer to live there vs melb), close to melb, but is different enough for me to have a break from melb.

2010... as for the past 2 years, i've listed out my 'new year resolution' here...
ppl always say new year resolutions are never real, but for me, usually they're pretty close lol. perhaps that's becoz i wasn't being too ambitious abt myself.

i'm foreseeing 2010 as a year busy with my phd, 2 conferences that i want to go, something POSITIVE in my phd project MUST happen this year!!! or else i'll be x_x
well 2 small positives (from a side project) had happened just before xmas, hope that's a good sign for more to come.
still don't hv a solid plan to visit home, but i think it's still quite possible to 'shun bian' do so if i get to go to the conference in nov.

and
i should learn to be more forgetful on things i shouldn't rmb;
i should learn to look at certain things with one eye closed;
i should learn to enjoy my life more coz it can be very short;
i should learn to be more talkative to 'strangers' (well not random ppl on the street lar, but more like ppl at work for example, ppl whom i'm not close friends with).
that's pretty much what i can think of now.

only had abt 6 hours sleep before my mum woke me up with a 'happy new year' greeting.

oh and...
hope my sibilings are doing well with what they're doing. i really really sincerely hope everything goes well for them, both of them.
hope us kids won't let our parents down.

Do you know that you can watch msian 8TV online??!!
well not all shows on air will be able to stream, but programmes like 8pm chinese news which will be useful when parents come over to visit, can let them watch msian news here since my dad likes to be updated with all that.

again... i'm taking things too seriously.
i remember things that ppl said when they don't mean it. (but i don't seem to rmb things that i should rmb)
or mayb they really forgot?
or it's just because i'm too 天真? :S

i'm actually excited abt xmas, boxing day, and that long wkend :)
but i'm nervous and scared abt the new year :Z
and i'm gg to be one year older soon!!! >.<
won't be in the 18-24 category for any longer!! :(

虎年要来了！

a 2008 CNY song by myFM (msia radio station) DJ and Astro新秀
still my fav

won't be home for cny 2010 :(


2010 Astro CNY songs are out:



looking at the names of ppl who appeared in the video... i don't know most of them anymore :(


I only know KK from this one!!!

My new fav :)

this is how my beloved camera looks like at the moment :(
'critically injured'
can still take photos (lens is fine) but the LED screen is gone

my friend dropped it at the airport :(
and i don't know why i didn't insist on him replacing me one, or at least pay for the repair. so stupid of me!
was sorting out the photos i took with it during my trip last nite, the more i look at the photos, the more i'm angry and sad.

went to a few shops today after work,
a comparable Sony nowadays at Ted's is selling at 248 i think i saw at the shop just now but i'm not sure coz online it says 299, need to go back to the shop again. otherwise, another shop is selling at 278 (their online catalogue)
and it (W230) only has 4X zoom (vs 5X in my W150) and has no view-finder (that little hole that you can use to take photos instead of using the screen) eventhough it has a bigger LED screen (3' vs 2.7') and higher mpxl (12 vs 8)
there're cheaper Sonys around, $188 but the lens is not as good, and it does make a difference. if buy, will buy sony so that i can still use my leather case, spare battery and memory stick.

repairing takes effort
unless i'm willing to wait for weeks to get the shop to send for repair (from my previous experience) plus it's xmas/new year soon so it'll take longer than usual (i think?)
it's still under 2 year warranty (yes it's still quite new!) but it's not manufacturing fault, don't think it's covered.
and don't know how much it'll cost.

should i still bring it to the shop and ask properly?
or just get a new one???

Peanuts

this is the first time i've watched animated Peanuts 'commic'
i used to like snoopy when i was in high school
yea.. used to... not so much anymore, well i don't hate it, just that i don't love it as much anymore.
brought me to this youtube video when i was looking for 'Vince Guaraldi', a jazz musician, "an American jazz musician and pianist best known for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip" quote from wiki



like the ice-skating scene of this video
i grew up with a set of jigsaw puzzle (still have the vague picture in my head) of Peanuts characters on an iced lake, very similar to that in the video, which i've completed piece by piece over and over again :)

looking fwd to the one i'm not looking fwd to so that i can get to the one i'm looking fwd to next. lol!

just talked to dad.
i really wish i'm working now
so that i can earn money.

what's the best job for me?
i remember what i need to do (non-work-related things mostly),
by when i need to get them done,
and will be very happy and satisfied when i manage to get them all done on time.
i plan things ahead, (sometimes i think it's too much, should let go a bit) that's why don't like ppl make last minute changes or being late when i'm doing many other things to make sure i'm able to make it on time.
thinks i'm a control freak
able to tell unimportant things aren't done properly, eg powerpoint slides, font size, alignments
check most things carefully with my most observant eyes before i pay
...

Really looking fwd to my trip home... but not the goodbyes at the airport :( (not australian airports of course)

'it takes more muscles to frown than to smile'
but it takes no muscle to put up zero expression

Was touched by this (coz of my 'ppl-together-effort-weekness'):
Flash mob, Central Station Antwerp
and then the similar idea in KL (coz it happened in KL/msia!!)

there's one happened at Bondi early today



________________________

my project sucks!
felt shit this whole week. not the first time.
and was glad that my 15mins presentation in a 3.5 hr joint meeting yday got cancelled abt an hr before when i'm suppose to speak. was cancelled coz not enough time to fit me and another person's talk in, other speakers gone over-time, plus my stuff is still 'work-in-progress' aka 'no results yet'.
anyway i don't feel like talking abt my project at all (i'm usually happy to gv presentation) even thought of lying abt not bringing my slides with me :S
when ppl asked how's work/phd going... i don't say much coz i dont know what to say and i don't have anything to say!
*shouldn't have cont on this proj,
*shouldn't have doing phd
*should have also taken maths2 or even physics in trinity then get into dent if my parents are rich

hopefully you won't see me writing 'my supervisor sucks' here one day.
at the moment they are the only person who can help me with this.
will have a serious talk with them on wed, hope i won't cry in front of them T_T shit

_____________________________

stupid moth-season is here again :S

few weeks ago, while waiting for my tram in front of a Volks Wagen used-car dealer, looking at the beetles, i 'realised' that they actually look nice. Before that when i look at a beetle, it's just a normal car to me, normal as in i won't want one, just like a holden car :P
and on friday, i actually started to think mini coopers look nice too. and i wouldn't mind having one. compare to before that, i actually hate mini cooper and didn't understand why ppl would want such an ugly looking car.

taste changes.
but so far, my preference on food didn't change much. food i hated when i was little, i still hate it eventhough i gave it a try when i 'grew older'.

so i wonder... friends 'preference', belongs to which? cars or food?