I am currently sitting in the Bangkok Airport's First Class Lounge, using their superfastspeed internet service and waiting for my foot reflexology session. We flew on a 777 aeroplane and in First class. I felt so overwhelmed by their serious reclining chairs and what not.

Must go. My foot massage is NOW.

Bon voyage!

Here's a bit of a rambly/recounty post.

Monday was one of the longest days I have ever had to live through. It felt like it really wasn't going to end. First of all, I hadn't had enough sleep the night before and I played tennis from 8 to 10 in the morning. After that, I loaded myself up like a pig with a local breakfast, thosai and chapati with an assortment of curries, and a french toast brekkie at Marmalade after that. During these events, Carol, mum's friend hung out with us. Upon discussing what to do next at Marmalade, Carol decided to take Ri and I to get our haircuts at her salon and get them done by her stylist, Eugene at A Cut Above.

We went home for a while after that very long and filling breakfast. I had planned to fall asleep on my bed and then curl my doona around me as a result of being cold from the fan, when I realised Lost S02E22 was finally complete! Instead of taking the nap I needed very much, I watched the newly downloaded episode of Lost. Shortly after that, we went straight to A Cut Above. I had remembered mum saying, a very long time ago, that the hairdressers at this salon were amateurs who "were still learning how to cut hair". It's one of those memories you remember, no matter how irrelevant it actually is.


I trusted Eugene to do whatever he felt was best for me. I don't look much different if I haven't styled my hair up. I look different in actual fact. Or maybe that's just me. After our haircuts, we spent the rest of the afternoon, evening and night at Carol's place. We played endless games of pool, listened to the soulful music of Carlos Santana, ate Heavenly chocolate, drank an overdose of softdrinks and had a very, very healthy, cow-ish dinner. It was simply fun, yet very very tiring. Going to bed was like a dream in itself.

Oh, it didn't stop there though. I woke up at 9 in the morning to the call of my cousin, Ji-Shen, who was going to town with me. I didn't get out of bed till about 10. I have learnt from my cousin that it is simple to get around KL. I spent 200 ringgit at Low Yat Plaza, KL's IT hub. I bought myself a very handy and cheap 1GB flash drive, a 256MB CF Memory card (extra memory for my camera, which I will bring to Italy) and some DVDs. After Low Yat, we hopped on the KL Monorail (my first ever time!) and went to Petaling Street, the Thai's Chatuchak market of Malaysia. For what felt like a whole week, I searched for the perfect, bargained price and good quality Germany soccer jersey. Gegege I finally own a jersey of my own. I like bargaining. It's so much fun!

I spent the rest of the afternoon with friends from AISM. We watched a very frightening, yet stupid movie Stay Alive. I was really shitting in my pants. I swear I will never touch Fatal Frame, Resident Evil or Silent Hill EVER!!! Shaza practically teared! Anyway. Ahem. Came back home after that for dins.

On Sunday, we had lunch with dad's family, our cousins. My youngest cousin, Ji-Han is leaving home to study in Geelong Grammar with Ji-Shen. He's starting this following term. Oh, my little cousin is growing up *sob* ... I introduced him to Singstar and helped stretch his vocals to greater limits. Poor boy's voice is breaking broken!

After that, I went to meet up with some old primary school mates. It was some sort of small reunion, and it was great. It was fantastic to see the faces of my past classmates today. I did so much catching up with everyone.

I'm off to Italy in less than 24 hours now. Ohh how I can't wait! I'm impatiently waiting to go and I haven't even started packing my bag! Hell, I haven't even unpacked my suitcase from the flight from Sydney!! That's how not bothered I am when it comes to packing. I'll do it tomorrow. Sure.

If I don't update tomorrow (maybe because I'm too busy packing, or some lame excuse like that), then this will be goodbye for the next 10 days. Unless I find some internet access somewhere, where I can quickly update you on my trip.

Cheers.
PS. When you feel down, or as if you'd just fallen down, what do you do? ... I listen to J-rock music. God bless the pillows, ELLEGARDEN and AKFG ♥. Let's burn sad music together.

Ri and I arrived home in KL again last night. The flight was fine. Baggage claim was fine. Walking through the sea of taxi drivers, homewives, elders, maids and kids in pajamas was fine. Home-cooked chicken curry for supper was... excellent.

Eight weeks away from home has never felt so long - longer than the first term's 11 weeks. My well-deserved holiday has finally come, and the first day has already been fantastic. Boring, yet fantastic because I'm away from all troubles and stress. I'm in my own bed again - my own queen sized bed, where I can roll anywhere I desire. Space. I love space. And now I have it.

A very old friend of mine contact me at the beginning of the month. She sent an email to my old email address, which I so happened to feel like checking only two days after she had sent it. She called for a reunion for all the we could gather from Year 6/2000 of SKBD our primary school. So we organised to meet tomorrow, Sunday. I'm so curious as to how everyone looks like now, and whether they've changed in personalities. So I'm going. Gives me a chance to get out of the house.

I want to have a Disney Classics movie marathon!! I've been so obsessed with Disney classics ever since last night's flight home. I watched Lion King and Aladdin. Ohh happy childhood memories! Now, I need to get my hands on some Disney DVDs...

Four days to Italy.

Cheers.

I've got sooooo many things to do. So many things on my mind right now. Too many. Too many for the last week at school! Let's see, tomorrow and Thursday evening is dedicated to Secondary School Music Evening which won't finish till 9.30pm. Hmm, I haven't started packing up my room before Friday (need to pack everything up because we change rooms again next term). I need to go shopping for chocolates to bring home. I need to practice my guitar part (especially that House Of The Rising Sun solo!) for the Jazz Band's performance for Wed and Thurs night. Ahh, I need to go to Bondi Junction Westfield to freeze my gym account before I leave Sydney. Gahhh I haven't even started that stream of consciousness that Ms Knorr is dying to mark. OhdearGod I have a Biology field trip report due this Thursday and I'm barely close to the "suggested" length of 20 pages!

I shouldn't even be here blogging about what's going on. I haven't had the time to call mum to talk to her about my week or, just talk to her. I haven't had any time to sit and really just relax.

End of terms are always bad. End of semesters, I have concluded, are worse.

Cheers.

There's something strange about the numbers 12:51. Other than being the title of one of the Strokes' songs, it seems to hold some kind of significance to me. Isn't it strange when you look at the clock and that's the time you see, not just once but many many times? I think it is. It's not like looking at the clock, waiting for 4 'o clock to happen every day. It's more like, randomly looking at your watch when you're wondering what time it happened to be at the moment, and seeing the exact same numbers on the face more than once.

I'm so goddamn excited! Term 2 is finally ending! Short, sure. But very very long in terms of school work and school activities. I'm just exhausted from everything, and I think this break will be a well deserved one. More, dad and stepmum is taking Ri and I to Italy for a week. We're staying in Rome for six days, and Venice for four. My artistic spark is impatiently waiting for the 28th of June. *cleans camera lens*


I got my Semester 1 report back on Friday at the Stage 6 meeting. Oh horror! I thought, when actually it wasn't too bad. The thing I hate about reports is the new ranking system that the NSW Board Of Studies has implemented. Our report cards will have our ranks in class for a particular assessment task. I hate looking at my ranks. I'd hate to see myself near last. I'd prefer not to know where I am placed in class.

And the results (Erm, sharing is caring?)...

Modern History 15/20
Biology 24/37
English - Advanced 29/74 (Total number of students in English Standard and Advanced)
Japanese Beginners 2/9
Mathematics 16/50

I'm most happy with my Maths and English results, considering I never wanted to do Maths in the first place for the HSC and I used to seriously fail the subject in Year 9 and 10; and English, well, I'm still afraid of my teacher and I'm struggling to write decent responses in class. My creative writings skills are great, but when it comes to something like comprehension and essay writing, I reaaaaally suck. Not completely happy with my Modern Hist and Bio, but I learn to live with it. I know I'm not good at the subjects anyway, so nothing really brings me down.

My list of Co-curricular activities make me so proud of myself. There are eight listed on my report summary, which is a huge difference to last year's reports (where there were only two or maybe even one). There are representative sports, heaps of bands and some House activities. Excellent! I thought. My collection of activities and others involving school will grow and grow into something very impressive! Bwahahaha... *fades*

This morning's soccer match was our final match of the season. We didn't make it to the semi-finals, and this match was for placements of 5th and 6th place. We versed the same team that we defeated (2-1) before. They were the only team we defeated in the entire season. It was freezing this morning, and Rodney Reserve was looking drier than usual. It hadn't been raining, so I suppose that's why. We didn't really "warm up" much before our match. It was like, Yeah, this is our last match, let's just make it a fun one because I'm not really bothered anymore. I was goalkeeper, for the second time, after being a "miracle" for the last game we played against the super, strong Year 12 girls of Abbotsleigh (which by the way, is one of the supreme schools of the state).

In the end it was a tie, 0-0. We had two very very close shots, which was such a pity. I liked this match the most. It was fun, to me. I didn't feel as pressured as usual, which is quite ironic, I'd think, for a goalkeeper. I like being goalkeeper too, because I feel so loved all the time. I received so much praise for doing such a great job at goalie. There was one particular save that I made, which was simply b-e-a-utiful! during the second half. The ball was flying high, and I reached up to catch it. You should have seen it. Hell, I should've seen it! When I caught the ball, I just went up to the bigger box to kick it up while everyone around me was commending me on my great save. I didn't think it was that great.

Mrs Stone, our school's headmistress was, to all of our surprise, at the field watching the soccer matches. She was watching the Senior 1 team play before us. After the match, she said to me, "That was a great save, Rae! You played really well!" ... What's this? She called me by my first name. No, actually, my nickname! It was so surprising to know that your headmistress knows your name (nickname, in my case). I suppose this proves the rumour that I'd heard before: Mrs Stone reads the profiles of each student everyday. Not all in a day, but maybe a few! How strange...

I went to the apartment today. I wasn't planning on spending money on anything other than bus fare today, and guess how much I ended up spending anyway? 13 dollars on bus fares!! Ridiculous, is it not? The bus drivers and the shopkeeper (who I wanted to buy a TravelTen Student Bus Pass from, but refused!) didn't believe that I was a school student. I don't suppose I look that old. I was wearing shorts for crying out loud! I played We ♥ Katamari all afternoon while I was there till all I was doing was replaying all the old games and making new records.

I feel like working now. I have a huge Biology Field Trip Report due on Thursday. I heard a rumour that last year, one student handed in a 50 page report on the same thing.

Holy shit.

Cheers.

My stay at Canberra was made all too fun with the company and help of Nurieeee. Staying at her place for the weekend was great, although I did feel rather scared on the first night in that huge guest room and king size bed all by myself. I had the best Malaysian home-cooked food outside of Malaysia (Mum's is awesome too, but she's not here this term). I also met all of Nurie's very fun friends during her sixteenth birthday celebration on Saturday (it was a very cold night, too!). Nurie got me to buy Singstar Rocks!, which herself, her brother Ikmal and myself put to good use on Sunday night for five hours straight. Nurie and I also discovered the happiness one will definately find in bubbles. Who needs DRUGS when you can have BUBBLES??! Right?!

Another thing I did in Canberra was prove the point that the city is very very boring. It's quiet, desolate and empty. There was a city, where you'd expect to see the very hustle and bustle of Canberra. Tall buildings, all compacted into a small area. Cars and buses zooming, here and there. People on the street brushing shoulders against shoulders...


Nope.


I learned that the people are all in the shopping centres. We went to Canberra Centre in the city. I found masses of people!

The scenary in Canberra was awesome. I loved it. The clear blue skies, beautiful mountains surrounding the city - it was all so countryside-like. Ah, I also learned that too. Canberra is simply a huge country town.


Another Canberra feature are the trees. They're everywhere! Heaps of them just lined up in bunches alongside roads, highways, pathways - they're everywhere, I say! Ah, and not only are they just trees - they are DEAD trees! Kind of adds to the winter effect.


Another thing I have learned from this trip was flying a domestic flight interstate in Australia. Funny. The plane could only seat 52 passengers. It was that small! It even had the propellor thingamabobs! Qantas was the only airlines that had direct flights from Sydney to Canberra, and vice versa. All the other cheaper airlines made stops at Melbourne, then flew up to Canberra. Does that sound ridiculous to you as it does to me? The light meal on the plane was awesome! It totally beats the light meal the Malaysian Airlines serve! International and domestic! Oh yeah, my flight to Canberra was weird. I was placed in Row 10, which was where the emergency exits were. They made me read a letter acknowledging the task I might have to perform if in an event of an emergency - I would have had to help the cabin crew open a door weighing 13kg. And I wondered, me? Open a 13 kilo door to save 52 lives? !!!

All in all, I had a fun weekend. I got to spend heaps of time with Nurie, my friend from them AISM days, and I got an extra day off school. I experienced a different side to Canberra. You know, those dead trees and deserted trees, they kind of add effect to the fact that it's winter.

Seven days of school left, hip-hip-hurray!

Cheers.
PS. Caught a minor cold again. Oh, bugger it.
PPS. GERMANY, FRANCE AND SOUTH KOREA ALL THE WAY, BABY!
PPPS. You haven't done my Johari Window, have you? DO IT NOW GODDAMNIT (Click here!!!)

My weekend has been full of fun - anime, great home-cooked Malaysian food, Singstar ROCKS! and a huge party. Nurie has shown me that Canberra can be fun, despite the extremely cold weather, desolate city and quiet suburban streets. I've learnt alot about Canberra during this trip.

1. The streets are quiet only because the people are all bunking up in shopping centres, where it is warm! Oh, you will also find large numbers in cafes with nice fireplaces or heaters.
2. EyeToy's Singstar Rocks! is one bloody fun game. Of course, it's not just found in Canberra. We played this game for five hours. I have learnt that I am a very very bad singer. I will stop singing Beyond The Sea and Mr Bojangles in the shower.
3. Little young Australian boys, especially those who aimlessly walk around shopping centres are very weird kids.
   
4. Pods are very very cool.
5. Nurie loves cherries. And fruits. Red fruits.
6. Lots of people in Canberra ride bicycles.
7. When going interstate to visit a friend for a weekend, and having an assessment task on the day after you return, make sure you pack one day before your departure and make sure you pack your workbooks with you. Do not forget.
8. Domestic flights don't require passports...
9. Canberra is very very cold in winter. You can see snow on some mountains surrounding Canberra!

Right. I find that I'm now trying to make up more points to add to this list. Nine is fine.

I'm back in Sydney tomorrow evening. Probably without dinner. Most probably without dinner. I need to figure out what I am going to do with that... I've got a Maths test on Tuesday on Plane Geometry and Trig, which I will now FAIL because I didn't bring ANY WORK to study with me to Canberra. ALSO, I have an English creative writing stream of consciousness piece due on the same day. Oh, and some Japanese homework due on Wednesday too. How screwed am I?

I want to cry :(

"Awwwwwwwwwwwwwww don't cry!" says Nurie, in a consoling tone.

Hmm. I won't, really. (OMGGGGG SO SCREWED :((((( ... )

Two weeks to go! Ooooh am I excited!


I'm in desperate need of a holiday right now. I'm so sick of Sydney already. Strangely enough, despite the very short term, so much has happened and I've never been so busy this year. Year 11 has never felt this difficult (Give me another term, and I'll start crying as I type another whinge).

Today, I completed a Modern History source analysis task. Lucky for my class, we were able to bring in notes. Next Tuesday, I have a Maths assessment task on Trigonometry and Plane Geometry worth 20% of this semesters work. There is still so much to learn and I don't feel confident enough for the assessment task.

More, I have an English creative writing task due on the same day. I have to properly plan and write a stream of consciousness reflecting Modernist values and attitudes.

Sure. Sitting myself down at a desk and getting it all done is easy. However, sitting myself down at a desk and getting it all done during my three night stay in Canberra with Nurie is somethi

Finally. The weekend I've been dying for. My break from school and boarding house life. I can't wait to go. It will cost me a large sum of money, but mm anything to get myself out of here!

It's been raining like mad for the past few days (although, today was much better!). I was able to put my rather expensive, mini umbrella to good use. I suppose all the change in weather is the mark of winter. Oh, and the bloody pigeons. God forbid them to terrorise our school grounds.

I'm in no good mood to blog right now. This'll be a sufficient update for now. Should last a few days. Maybe even squeeze in week. Hah.

Cheers.
PS. Got myself a Johari window thing. Go and do it. I want to see what kind of person you think I am.

After just returning to my bedroom from our Saturday Soccer match, I scanned the surface of my legs, wondering if there were any souvenirs of our last game (which we lost, 4-0). I found two cuts. One longer than the other. I've never seen a cut so swollen before. I found one bruise, but that's no big deal. I still don't understand how I could cut myself on the field, when our soccer boots have no sharp edges or corners. Oh well. No blood - no worries.

I might have come down with a very mild cold. Who wouldn't anyway? It's so cold and us students keep moving from sauna-like classrooms into the cold, and vice versa. The boarding house is a sauna. A hot bed for germs alike. Cold germs. I show the first signs of a cold - a sorethroat and blocked nose. It's such a terrible feeling. I hate being sick. I take back all thoughts of being sick for the sake of staying in the boarding house on a school day.

The whole school photograph was possibly the highlight of the week.


It took the whole school, appoximately 1000 students from Kindy right up to Year 12, one good hour to get set up onto the podium and to take the photographs (eight of them, to be exact). I don't know where people had got the rumour that it would take three hours to get done, but it was all quick.


I sat on the third row from the back. It was so high up, I could see everything from up there. It was just out of this world. I figured we should make the school photograph an annual event. It's so good in making everyone bond with people we hardly talk to. Well, I did.

Here's a video I quickly captured with my handy mobile phone. Thank goodness for technology! And thank goodness for being up on the 3rd row from the back, unreachable for Mrs Powell!

[ To Be Added! ]

I've got so much work to do before next weekend's boarders weekend. I don't want to bring my Maths work to study in Canberra. I need a break, and doing Maths homework is certainly not that. I've got so many big assessment tasks towards the end of the term. It's so hard on the head.

Cannot. Deal with this.
Must. Go. HOME!

Cheeeeeeers.