The Day of Reckoning

I never actually thought a day like this would ever come.

My parents had decided that now I was 18 and technically should learn to survive by myself, I should get a Medicare Card. Just in case I decided that crashing a car sounded like a good idea. Or that drugs would be the highlight of my life.
It’s a good idea though. Medicare provides a lot of assistance and a 0.01% chance of getting you into a hospital if you’re in an emergency.

Knowing the health system in Perth.

However, I also knew full well that because this was a government initiative, they would scrutinise my entire life and comparatively give me peanuts in return.

Although I didn’t quite realise how detailed Medicare wanted my life story to be as well!

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This, to me, is a pretty hefty price to pay for medical peanuts. Imagine the shock and horror on my face when I saw exactly what it was they wanted from me. I must’ve gone through at least four passports during my entire life. There was (and is) absolutely no way for me to remember the exact dates of when I left and entered each country, especially in my earlier years. It was quite a struggle for me to remember all the years we moved in, and to ensure that I got the spelling for the Phillipines ‘Philippines’ correct. [you’d be surprised how many times I’ve gotten it wrong] University assignments, move aside. I’ve found something better to challenge me.
And to add salt to the wound, I needed to add an extra piece of paper [not photographed here] because they hadn’t given me enough spaces to fill in all the places I’d lived in before.

This is quite an upsetting discovery.

Mishy <3

A Twitter Away

No, I don’t actually own an account from this much publicised networking website.

Or should I refer to it as a ‘stalker site’?

Twitter [for anyone living in the jungle, or stranded on a deserted island, or who has simply been left out of the loop] is a site where a person can update their ‘status’ by sending a text message to their site, and it will update itself automatically. Then whoever happens to be looking at your profile page at that moment will know exactly what you’re up to, where and why.
It is amazing that anyone would want to publicise what they were doing at any minute of the day from wherever they are.

Twitter would be perfect for the busy, headline hitting celebrity. Begin the day by proclaiming to the world that they are ‘Heading into the studio/film set’.
Later on in the day, they could hail Gaston, their hired French cook as the ‘most amazing chef in the world’.
Then give it that nice finish by letting the world know that they are well and truly on the way to ‘Producing the next biggest blockbuster/hit, by the grace of [insert name of god/goddess here]’.
Ironic, as to why these celebrities would want more publicity, considering the amount they complain about the already severe invasion of their privacy.
Nonetheless, celebrities and even politicians have a reason for the use of Twitter, if nothing else, then simply to build up their fan base.

But think about it. How many ordinary people, going about their daily lives, actually have something worthwhile to publish?

Picture this. Enter Mr/Miss/Mrs Ordinary. He/She would have a nine-to-five job. Most likely have ridiculous pay. And not very interesting work to do.
So presuming, that like most of the young generation today, Joe Sloe a 25 year old shmuck decides to procure a Twitter account for himself. What would he publish?

These are just some of the things one can imagine:
“Got out of bed. I hate 6am starts.”
“Heading to work.”
“Tomato and cheese sandwich for lunch. Not bad.”
“Need the bathroom real bad. Blame that T&C mush. Back soon.” [Like anyone would want to know this!] “10 minutes till work ends. W00t!!”
“Train is late. What a bore.”
“Cracked open a Guinness. Best in the world.”

Not very hard hitting headlines that make a person’s life.

So really, what use would Twitter have in Joe Sloe’s life? And what about all the Mr/Miss/Mrs Ordinary’s of the world? We have no fan bases to build. Nor do we lead amazing lifestyles that we must immediately let the world know about. If it were that amazing, the networks would report it for us.

Twitter is nothing more than a site that allows all of us to stalk one another, in a more intimate, effective way than Facebook apparently allows us to. It’s quite a detriment to person’s dignity when one realises that everyone within a 100 mile radius is being constantly updated on what updater is currrently doing or thinking of, every minute of the day!

So really, what IS the point of Twitter??

Mishy <3

Attack of the UWA Mascot

This got sent halfway through my second lecture today, and I found it rather hilarious when I read it:

oh my gosh i nearly died! went 2matilda bay n this gigantic (ok mayb nt bt it ws big) black swan bird thing tried 2eat my chips n ws followin me then it swam away. i'm gonna write a book followin my near bird-induced death called 'wen swans attack-by a survivor' k i'm done

*hee hee*

I reckon I may have passed out from lack of air directly after that. Not because it was such an exciting episode, but just because of the lack of punctuation and endless translations from sms english to normal english being done in my head.

I will now do a sequel to the book and call it ‘When Breathlessness Attacks – attempting to master the SMS’.

For non-UWA students: UWA is situated on a piece of land that has these massive black swans roaming around the campus, along with ducks and the one random peacock and the three peahens. The black swan, in fact, features on the emblem of UWA.

Matilda Bay is one of the cleanest bodies of water I’ve ever seen [I come from Malaysia – expect nothing less] and is a really great place to just sit and relax and study is you really need a quiet moment. Because of this, people like to go sit there and eat. Hence it attracts all kinds of crazy birds who are just about as well fed as the pigeons at St Stithians College.

So *Monzi getting attacked by one of these swans was probably no big surprise. HIs over dramatisation of her encounter with one of these increasingly violent err…highly ferocious animals however, is. ;D

On a less dramatic note – HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEE DAWG!

Mishy <3

* UPDATE* - 25 March 2009
I was sitting outside Matilda Bay [without food] and a dolphin leapt out of the water. I only regret not doing my usual happy snaps at that time, because the picnic-ers would've looked at me really weirdly. But it is officially my favourite haunt in all of Perth. :P Need to find me? Most likely in class, on the bus or sitting at Matilda Bay...just watching. =)

New Discoveries

I have news. And it is amazing.

I finally, FINALLY have my laptop, right here with me now.

And in doing so, I’ve discovered this nifty little software called ‘Windows Live Writer’ where I can simply type my blog posts from my computer desktop and I won’t even have to log onto my page anymore. Or well, I will, but I won't be doing it as often as I normally do. Hence, this will allow me to stop having to go to my blog page first and lying to all my readers whenever they see my Traffic Jam meter. :D

So no, guys, I do not in fact have that many readers from Perth. I’m sorry for having misled you all this time, but it for the good of the blog.

I've just realised how jakun I sounded typing that out. Software engineers and computer fanatics everywhere must be shaking their heads at me, even as I type.

Meanwhile, I’m currently going through all the programmes that are on my little miracle and praising the high heavens that after all the panic the stupid company gave us when they informed us of a late delivery, it finally came earlier than the expected date. =)

I’m still looking for a laptop sleeve/glove for it though, as well as hopefully a skin so that the rather ultra shiny surface of the laptop won’t get scratched. And come to think of it, it is pretty shiny compared to other laptops. Or maybe I’m just comparing it to the Lenovo Thinkpad. Which is a rather dull, heavy ass laptop mind you.

I’ve just realised I haven’t mentioned what it is – it’s a Dell 1310. I actually really wanted the Studio 15 laptop (*sigh*)and was pretty persistent about it despite Dad trying to hammer in the fact that I would have to carry it with me.
Then I did some research and had a good think about it. And I realised that carrying 2kgs worth of electronic device for 8 hours around a campus about as big as KL city itself wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do.
So in spite of the overbearing weight of the Studio 15, I ended up chosing the somewhat lighter Inspiron 1310. I have some regrets about choosing this one because it's not the one I had my heart and mind stubbornly set on. But I think that'll be the only regret I have because I think I still want my spine upright, and in it's usual curved S-shape by the time I hit 30.

Anywho, back to playing around with my New Discovery…

Mishy <3

Following the Trend

Nowadays, it's not uncommon to see crowds buzzing around the streets, shopping, working, generally going about their daily activities. Once apon a time, that used to be enough. Once upon time, we were satisfied to concentrate on our lives and to leave it at that.

Not any more.

Now, the milling, buzzing crowds remain the same. Mix that with the newfound inventions of the ipod, the mp3, mp4 or walkman and voila - you have the Y2K crowd. Suddenly, the new generation is not satisfied to simply get on with life on a daily basis, but must now add these confounding distractions in order to get through the tough 24 hours, seven days a week.

We've been told that we will be the deaf generation [along with being the pampered generation, the rich generation, the technological generation...] at the rate that we listen to all our music devices.

How can we help it though? In todays world of instant gratification and impatience, we cannot simply wait for things to happen, or wait for life to pass by as it happens anymore. While we obviously have no control over how fast our world spins on it's axis, the least we are able to do, is distract ourselves from daily life, and to pretend that life is not really as humdrum as it seems.

Whilst I was still in secondary school, I regularly forgot that I owned an ipod as life was about as crazily busy as you could want it to be. Not to mention, I was also getting picked up from school by a parent.
Sad to say, once I got into university and started taking the bus as my mode of transport, the reasons for regularly sticking two earbuds into my ears have rung true [pun not intended] and I have now become a follower of the trend.

Speak to me in another 5 years and you may find that I am unable to hear you. :P

Dear God, please give me patience to get through the day. And please give it to me now.

Mishy <3

Global Recession

I am markedly afraid.

=(

Kevin Rudd just went up on TV and more or less said nothing about how we're going to get out of a global recession, or how we're going to fight our way through it. Instead, we got lots of other people coming up to talk about it and to give suggestions. We even had some funky commercial with little kids singing 'It's a hard knock life for you' and an advertising about a Lentil Restaurant in Melbourne [why do they do this is us poor freaks in Perth] where you have a choice on whether to pay or not. And Kochie from Channel 7 going on about housing mortages and saving money by bringing your lunch. Yet Kevin Rudd was supposed to be the highlight of this interview.

I've begun to rethink my opinions on people who head the country, and that the position of Prime Minister is not quite as intelligent and demanding as I once thought it would be.
If anything, all Mr. Rudd did was to blast away at the opposition and beat about the bush on the topic of global recession, as though this were merely another session of Parliament and not an interview in which he was supposed to give information, assurance and comfort to the people who had lost their jobs at Bond's factory.

Whom in my opinion should be rioting in front of the factory and beating on the door of the owner of Bonds right now demanding a fat paycheck as retribution for their troubles. Same goes for any others who've lost their jobs.

Save money save money save money.

Why is is so hard to save up once you get to student level?

But, point of the fact was - it's here, in my face, and it won't go away. There's so much I want to do, want to spend on, so much I have to save up for etc etc.
Suddenly, Singapore looks like very much the ideal place to live.

I have a clear memory of my New Years Resolutions, and that one of them was to stop spending so much money this year. I am not sure how succesful I've been with that recently. =/ But I'm starting to think that it may not be as easy as I hoped it would be.

Mishy <3

PS. On the topic of spending - I've just realised that my calendar is full of people with birthdays in March. And due to migration patterns of people coming to study in Perth, it appears as though I will be very broke this month.

A Crap Week

I have a confession to make.

When I enrolled for uni, I knew it would be a lot freer. And that there would probably be a lot of work to do. And that travelling time would tire me out even before enduring a series of 45 minute classes would.



But I wasn't ready, nor was I informed of the crazy amount of reading I would have to do!!



I just went in for my english tutorial today, and before that, I had to read 18 pages for text. Eighteen pages. And the writing wasn't set at a nice humane font either. It was inhumanely small and all 'times new romans-y'. With lots of words I'd never even heard of before, and an unhealthy amount of pre-1950s movies that I'd never even heard of before, being used as examples. All of that put together just made english class suddenly seem worse than usual.

I already miss Mr. McInerny's teaching. And it's only been two weeks of uni. How will I survive like this??

So majorly uberly jealous of MSHS kids who're hogging Mr. Mc's amazing talent all to their greedy, underserving, unappreciative little selves right now.

I was also completely unprepared for the way I would have to go after my own assignments rather than letting the assignments come to me. I've never had to rely on a computer so much in my life for my work. To the point where I would rather be away from the computer than near it. This is quite a difference from what I was doing in high school!



Then, I tried to change my service provider. I was previously on Telstra which was alright all through high school because I barely messaged or called anyone, and could therefore survive on AUD20 a month. [And when you're working and paying for your own credit - suddenly 20 bucks a month is actually a lot...] Then, in February, I somehow managed to use up AUD50 of credit in about 4 weeks.

50. 50. FIFTY!!

I'm still trying to figure out how I even reached that amount. But I decided that if that was how much I was going to spend at uni from now one [and hey, March hasn't ended yet, but it's very likely], I needed a better service provider.
I bought and attempted to install an Optus sim card three days ago. I still haven't been activated under Optus yet.

I'm ready to kill both service providers.

I was told I'd be able to use it by 10am tomorrow. If not, I will go to someone, complain and most likely abuse whoever is in charge of Optus for such crappy horrendous service. I've been wandering around Perth without a way to contact anyone for 3 days. This should be illegal!

On the plus side - I found the most amazing spot to sit, relax and even study *sigh* if need be.

Better start hoping my friends will always be available to enjoy it with me then. =)

Mishy <3

PS. Refering to my last post - I've just realised how many people at uni are old friends.

I'm afraid. This is quite a number. =/

Reason

BECAUSE THE AUSSIE GOVERNMENT FINALLY SAW IT!!!

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Doesn't exactly take Einstein to see I'm utterly, mentally and definitely excited and estatic all at the same time.
I reckon I may have just said the same thing in about two or three different ways, but who cares.

I'm happy!

My Zimbo friend has finally been given a student visa to come here. And after so many trials, so much tribulation, and definitely more trouble than it's worth, she's FINALLY reached the shores of WA.
Dancing, singing and general festivity, here I come!
I've been praying for this for a long time now, and so for that, I give all praise to God for helping her and for giving a friend back to me. Amen.

I've actually just realised that I know a lot of people at my university. People I met back when I was born. People I met in Malaysia. People I met in South Africa. Even people I met in Australia. And suddenly, they're all being forced into one concentrated space that is university. And it's scary.
I am aware, however subtly, that some part of me changes everytime I move to a different place. I am strongly influenced by the country, it's history and it's culture.
I feel a need to go back to the way things were with people, which is fine if they all stay in their separate places. But when they come together in one space...suddenly I feel a little more than a fake. Because I've changed.

And something about them has not.

I don't know how to act, how to feel...I don't even know what accent to use! And it's weird. People want to know where my loyalties lie, which country I now belong to. How does 'new me', react to what should have been the past? Deciding whether or not I am even the same person my friends once knew so long ago is difficult enough.

Like all my worlds are colliding into one big heap that is my life.

Help!

Mishy <3