The Harmful Effects of UV Rays

Have you ever come across adds of sunscreen products telling you to slap on suncreen generously, before you go out to the beach or anywhere that might lead to overexposure in the sun, or else you'll die horribly and slowly of skin cancer?

I haven't..that's why i'm all red now... burnt to a crisp.. ok, maybe i was exaggerating... but it's still painful...my skin feels raw and stretchy.. give it a few days time and it'll start to peel.. then i'd look like some monster from Mercury ( it being the hottest planet cos it's the closest to the sun)... What a grand way to start my Uni life...

anyways.. what am i saying?? went ot this place called Taregal today.. i do'nt know how i'm supposed to spell it but i think this is fine... Taregal's about 1 hour's drive from Cherrybrook.. and it's a really nice place.. it's a beach-ey resort area (i think) and i thought it was pretty cool.. not too crowded like Bondi or Manly.. just nice.. it was too windy though.. didn't jump into the water.. the most that i did was wade in it.. oh yea.. about the only thing i did there was wade and explore at the many rockpools found along the coastline... didn't find anything interesting.. only dead crabs and more dead crabs...


Taregal Beach




Me and Tammy!


Cool eh? Doesn't the water look nice?

got myself burnt cos the sun wasn't too hot and i was like " oh heck, i do'nt need sunblock.. the sun's much hotter in m'sia" but boy was i wrong..


Me and David... acting stupid..


View from this hill that we were climbing..




people, do'nt forget your sunblock when you're in australia.. it's hot, the sun is harsh and you'll probably end up having a bad night's sleep cos you're back's all hot and itchy and feels like it's on fire..


Exploring the rock pools!


Flat ocean.. this is what i'll be studying.. yay!




Sea anemone.. nice? it's the red ones by the way..

Greetings from USYD!

hello everybody! i'm sorry..!! i haven't updated my pages for aeons and aeons!!! blame it on the lack of internet access... people! the internet is very important!!!

anyways.. i've been doing scores of stuff while i was here.. remember how i said that i was like a tourist before? well, i still am... hehehehe... i'll continue to be this way until my uni course starts, i guess...

well, some of the stuff that i did was to visit this place called Orange, 3 1/2 hours drive west of sydney city... it's where my cousin and my little nephew stays... hehehe... his name is Joshua and he's the cutest-darlingest-dearest-smartest-cheekiest-lovable-sweetest little 4-going-on-to-5 year old that i've ever met... he's just THE BEST! hahahaha... check out some pics of him...


Joshua and me!


He's a poser in the making.. with his new golf set..


With May..



although he might seem small for his age but he has an incredible vocab.. i was really impressed.. it wasn't as if i was talking to a little kid.. hahahahaha... can't wait to see him.. anyways, he's gonna have a little baby brother soon! his name's Benjamin... can't wait for THAT little fella to pop out too...


A view of the Blue Mountains... on the way to Orange


Majestic Hotel


Church in Bathurst.. on the way to Orange



'sides Orange... i've been visiting places like the Rocks.. it's this really old colonial building.. i think it was formerly a place to house convicts, those that came from England... some claim that it's haunted.. well, i don't know if it's haunted... but it certainly is old.. and it's definitely one of my fave places in sydney... there's this really cool market there.. i bought a lot of stuff... hehehe.. well! shoot me but it was really cheap...












hmm... oh yea.. i've been going to uni too.. actually, today was my orientation.. had to drag myself up at 6 am.. and reached the uni at about 8... haihs.. well.. orientation went really well though... i met this girl from college.. didin't know that any Taylorians were actually coming to Sydney Uni but it was really great to see a familiar face.. her name's Ju Xing and she's Daniel and Qing Feng's friend.. isn't it funny how you never talk to people whom you see in college because then you had a group of friends but once you get to a foreign place you cling to the first familiar face you see? and form bonds! isn't it strange? i'm still pondering over it...


The Main Quadrangle of USYD.. 100% Hogwarts eh?


Inside the Great Hall


View of some building..


Still the Main Quad.. can't get enough of it


Yet again..


anyways.. that's about it... went for a lot of lectures.. erm.. stuff like.. "sydney buses! how to get a round.." and "Information about the Library" and "student union: what it can do for you..!"

besides that.. erm... nothing else..
hahahah.. there's loads of pics though so i'm not sure if all will come out... but i think it's time for me to change my skin.. i'm getting bored of it. and no.. i don't mean my epidermis skin... i mean my blog skin..

nites!

tip of the century : MAKE FRIENDS! As many as possible..!

Sydney!!!

hey everyone!! i'm in sydney already.. the whole flight was fine... except for the landing bit.. that was horrible.. the pilot gave such a loud bump when he landed that i thought the wings would fall off...

anyways.. acted like a perfect tourist these few days... went for a huge aussie breakfast when we landed then went grocery shopping.. at night, we had harry's pie!! and a whole mountain of ice-cream that was meant to be shared by 2-3 people but the 6 of us couldn't even finish it... embarassing...

then today we went to hunter's valley to go for wine-tasting.. it was beautiful...

here are some pictures... i miss you guys!!!














Australia's full of flowers!!

On the big Bird...

I’m on the plane now… there’s still about a bit more than an hour till we land at Sydney airport…

Anyway, there’s this incredible view from the window of the plane… the morning atmosphere looks completely different in the sky compared to the ones we see on land… The air seems divided by an invisible line; the top bit orangey and aflame whilst the bottom bit is dark… really impressive..awe-inspiring..etc..

Anyway, my parting at KLIA quite astonished me… for a thing, I didn’t cry… I wonder why.. I always thought that when I left for studies I’d be so overwhelmed with emotion… but it just wasn’t that… I was so busy taking photos with my friends who came.. (Richard, Andy, Abby, Elaine, Claudia, Eevonne and Seh Wen…thanks for coming!!) Even my cousins from Banting turned out to send me off… but… nothing… no feelings of sadness… OK, maybe I did feel a bit sad but not as sad a degree as the situation called for… understand? Maybe I was right… I think my brain is a bit slow in registering the fact that I won’t be seeing another Malaysian sky until at least 9 months later… my brain still thinks that it’s going on a holiday… Amazing, huh? Give me a few more weeks and maybe the full realization will dawn on me…


us in the car on our way to the airport...


elaine and the rest playin around with us..

Was looking at all my things this.. or actually, yesterday morning.. when I woke up, I kept repeating the phrase “the last time I’ll ever…” over and over again… in the toilet, in my room, everywhere… sounds morbid… it even scared myself…it’s not like I’m not ever gonna be going home right? I mean, I’ll still be going home in November… won’t i? Yes, definitely.. I’ll be going home… hmmm… reassuring myself… that’s not a good sign…

It’s really dawn now and the whole sky is aflamed… seriously.. it’s so bright outside.. Finally a good sign, perhaps?


beautiful, huh?

Oh yea. Back to my friends… it was really nice of them to send me off.. all 7 of them… Abby was telling me to drink like a whore on the plane.. yes.. those were her exact words.. we are given a choice of wines, aperitifs, cocktails, liqueurs etc… bourbon, campari, drambuei, screwdrivers, bloody marys… I never knew MAS served such beverages… anyway, back to the question at hand… I was about to get myself a taste of ‘plane wine’ but put off the idea.. I didn’t want to seem like an alcoholic, portraying a bad image to the twomen sitting beside me… an Aussie and a Chinese… no, I’m not about to send a bad image of myself even before I step into a new country… so sorry Abby… I did NOT drink… not even close to a whore… hehehehe…


All of them coming to say goodbye!

I mean, HOW COULD I NOT HAVE CRIED!!?? Crying was totally called for but I didn’t do it… does this mean that I have no feelings? That’s what my mom always tells me.. that I have less feeling than everyone else compared… I don’t want to be indifferent… I’d prefer to feel like I cared whether I’m going…

Drat..and I left my jacket at home.. it’s lying on my bed… thank god I hugged all my pillows before I left… I’m gonna miss my room the most… the smells…warmth, comfort.. everything…

We’re nearing Orange now.. that’s where my cousin lives.. with Joshua and her new about-to-come baby… hehehehe.. that’s where I’ll be going in a few days… living in the country on a ranch… Yeah!! Outback Jane!! Catch myself a few kangaroos and emus… I don’t want be changed when I come back… My friends were telling me that they want the same Melanie that came from E112 Lorong Jati Perak 1… the same Melanie they knew since they were wee little kids in school.. the Melanie without any other accent except the ‘Malaysia-la’ accent… I sincerely hope so too.. I don’t want to come back changed.. I want to be just as I am now…but I know that’s gonna be tough…since I’m surrounded all over by Aussies… I don’t want an Aussie accent!!!

Till November then, I guess.. ciaos!

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!!

Yesterday (eve of CNY) was the first time in my life that i've ever had to attend 2 reunion dinners.. and also the first time in 19 years that i had to pig myself out silly.. imagine.. 2 8-course meals in less than 3 hours..

The traditional one that takes place every CNY at seremban started at 5pm .. that's right... in the evening.. i think it was more of a reunion tea-time than a reunion dinner... however there's a sad part... my relatives seem to be shrinking.. i can still remember when i was a child.. reunion at seremban was a huge thing.. the kids would be playing with the pop-pop mini firecrackers (if you can call them firecrackers) while the adults cook.. then everyone would sit down for dinner and there would usually be 2 shifts because of the amount of people... nowadays however.. there's only about a little more than 10 of us.. and we just sit down, eat and then pack off home.. no one talks.. there's no gambling, no reminiscing over the old times.. no nothing. i was telling that to my dad today and asking him why the 'dinner' seemed to be getting earlier and earlier.. he made a joke about it saying that it's on account of us being able to go home faster... har har.. how typical.

anyway, when i came home, there was a second reunion dinner waiting for me compliments to you my mom.. see, my uncle is back here from australia so we decided to have reunion dinner for my grandmother.. i think she hasn't had one since my uncles packed up and migrated to Oz, which was about 18 years ago.. imagine.. an old lady at home on CNY eve alone...
food was abundant though.. i think my mom really outdid herself this year.. there were about 8 dishes...plus some horrible yucky smelling pork belly soup... erk...


The start of the meal.. check out the 8-course dinner.. largest dinner my mom has ever cooked


30 minutes later.. still so much food on the table + a bottle of lambrusco courtesy from yours truly

it was a nice change however.. for the first time ever.. i had what seems like a real proper CNY reunion dinner.. where everyone say down and talked about old times and new times and everything in between... *bliss*

may it be like this next year and for the years to come...

Cheerios, Malaysia

Farewell's always one of the hardest words to say… be it in any situations… it always leaves a lump in your throat right after it has been uttered… most of the times people tend to put on a cheerful face…a façade to hide behind…

In a few days time, I’ll be leaving Kajang for Sydney… on the 11th of February to be exact…Then, it’ll be good bye friends… hello new world.

Forgive my nonsensical-over-emotional-blabbering-grandmother’s-stories talk…What the last few lines have been leading to the fact that I had a ‘last-meet’ with my friends today…A lot of them too…mostly made up of my OBS kaki…

Well…my itinerary started today started at 12 noon.. I met up with my OBS CA (a whole lot of abbreviations, huh??) friends from last year… Sookie, Raymond, Kimberly, Eugene, Karen, Zhao Phin and Kevin (the last two was only for maybe a few minutes…) The rest couldn’t make it… most of them stayed out of KL that’s why… anyways… it was 7 hours of fun.. meaning we arrived, or actually, I arrived there at 12 whereas the rest came at 1 (yes, except you SOokie and Poh Leng..)


Us at Kim Gary's..

To make a long and boring story short… let’s just say that my itenarary of the day consisted of condensed milk and peanut butter toast (once again) for lunch, endless rounds of power-walking in MV, an exasperating time in Brewsters where our plans for foosball and pool was thwarted again and again by the stupid and dumb Counter-girl because she just doesn’t have a sense for business (the word revenue and customer does not exist in her limited vocab), winning 1st place in Daytona against the likes of the others *joy* and last but not least, bowling..! not one of my best days, I admit…(read: no strikes) … but all in all.. It was a good day spent…


Them..


Eugene and Tpl being wacky at the bowling alley


Us at the bowling alley..


4 pretty girls in a row... kekekeke..


Posers #1


Posers yet again

When it was time for us to part… I guess I felt a bit sad… I mean, when would the next time be when we are able to meet up with each other again like today?

Later, I had a rendezvous my other OB friends for dinner at Coliseum… there were supposed to be 6 of us initially but the final count was 3. Sad huh? And the final 3 were yours truly, Cheng and Chee Wah aka Wawa… it was still fun though despite there being so little of us… mostly it was just insults being traded between me and Wawa… I mean, I’ll be leaving for 9 months…gotta insult all I can… in a good way mind you! Hahahaha… After dinner we headed to Breakers.. yay! cos the pool fever was still in me… playing with Wawa was… how do I put it?? A bit humiliating. Hahahaha…meaning that I lost to him 4 out of the 5 games that we played together… and the last one itself was a fluke… thanks for bringing me out guys!!


Wawa and his fillet steak... which was really bloody!! EEeeww... >(


Cheng with his not-so-bloody sizzling lamb


Me and Wawa...satisfied after the meal..


I was getting bored.. cheng knows why...

Before I forget… I had my first ever car accident adventure ever! Hahahaha… we were on our way to Breakers when Wawa’s car got whammed… everyone was ok but boy was Wawa angry… it was the fault of the freshie-just-got-his-licence boy… turned without looking.. anyway…it was all settled pretty well and fast… poor Wawa… to have his car rammed just before the Chinese New Year…

Ah well.. these are some of the friends that I’ll never forget… I’ll miss you guys… thanks for everything! Karen… It’s a pity it took us so long to meet when we were studying in the same course… hehehehe… life’s twisted in a way… Eugene.. should have gotten to know you when we were coursemates in OB and SAM… great guy with a dry sense of humour… Raymond… sorry for ever thinking that you were a stuck-up gangster wannabe… you’re a really great guy…hehehehe… thanks for letting me bully you… Sookie… thanks for your screams and ham-sap (sorta) sense of humour… why didn’t we meet during YAC 16?? Wawa… even though you always bully me and sometimes gang-up with that Fatty Wun to tease me… I’ll still forgive you =)

Moral of the story: Prepare enough tokens to satisfy irate customers.