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.

The Grand Decision

Well, the decision has been made, and will be completely and utterly finalised by next week.
I'm currently kicking myself mentally for making this decision...by those words alone those who've followed me on my university agonisings will know where I've chosen to go.

Yup, I'm sticking with the University of Western Australia.

So I got the offer, and I'm off to do a double degree at UWA, BArts[Communication Studies]/BCommerce.
I'm still kicking myself, wondering what life I've just missed out on, by deciding to stay with UWA.
It just means I need to earn more money and get myself outta here as soon as I can.

Orientation Week starts on the 16th of February and ends on the 20th of February. University then starts on the 23rd of February. Which I'm not really looking forward to, due to the hour long bus ride that I will eventually have to take.
I really should move closer to university. Eventually.

My fingers are severly crossed for *Monzi to come down soon, cuz I need my African influence back. =) You know I miss all you lovely Saints ladies, but after the drought one of you coming to see me suddenly seems like a flood, if you know what I mean.
I have also unexpectedly found a new recruit to UWA from Malaysia...one whom I believed would end up going to Melbourne, but in an unexpected turn of events decided to stay here.

Nice to see I've got some friends coming along for the game. =) After heading for the pre-enrolment sessions, I was greeted with the sudden realisation that all my Perth friends had ended up in ECU, or were going to take a gap year. There were a few [okay, understatement - a LOT of] Asians at the sessions, but I didn't know or didn't quite mix with any of them. And then I met *Leow at the campus during the BCommerce pre-enrolment session and got the shock of my life. So yes, nice to see that I will have some kind of company at uni.

To anyone starting uni this year, good luck...I have a feeling it's going to be one hell of a ride.
Mishy <3>

* nicknames used to allow for anonimity.

The Beginning of the End...

It's hard to believe.

It's hard to believe that this is where 12 years of studying leads up to.
It's the first of October today. This...this is practically the last month that I will ever be a student in an actual school. [save my flunking out of Year 12 completely and ending up having to repeat it] Sure, there's November still, but I'll be exams, not studying.

My Graduation Night is on the 27th of October, and I'm finding it surreal. I'm still in denial over it, somehow. As if after these exams, I'll go back to school again. This is just another year, and we're drawing towards the end of it. These exams haven't marked the end of anything. And in a few years time, I'll move to a different country again. Maybe Antarctica. XD But still, Graduation Night...it IS coming. My parents seem keen on attending and everything. I on the other hand haven't really given it any thought.

These exams mean everything it seems. It'll be the deciding factor in where I go for the next three years. Absolutely mental, when I think about it.
I've also decided that the rental fees for apartments in Melbourne is absolutely mental, I mean sheesh, how much more expensive could a one room condo get?

St. Stithian's College graduate in approximately a week, if my calculations are correct. I know exactly how they're feeling...I just regret that I'm not there with them to celebrate this graduation. I should be there, invading the Boys' College common room. I should be there, rallying the girls for the last warcry. I should be having that farewell chapel. I should be there, driving off with the girls who CAN drive. XD
I guess every school's different. But I looked forward to this particular one too much. Now having a different one feels like it's still not the end. But maybe things will change as time moves on.

I wonder what I'll miss about school, if I do, indeed, even miss anything at all. There'll be no more bells. No more permanant classes. No more rigid timetables. No more headmistress/headmaster or teacher to report to. No more worrying about who got the top mark in class. No more range of subjects to take.
Hmmm...in essence...no more school.
I'm moving again. But not physically. [or well, the physical part of moving might be a part of it] Rather mentally. Maybe even emotionally. It shouldn't be too different from what I've experienced already...in fact it should be exactly the same.
Just...on my own.

I'm seeing this as a whole new adventure already...=)

Mishy <3

The Different Cities

Me and my tute friends [not that many mind you, lol] were discussing Australia and it's history, and it pretty much went something like this:

Stella: You know when I was in Canberra, all the car plates said "Australia's Capital City" at the bottom.
Cynthia: And in Sydney, they'll all go "Australia's FIRST Capital City". XD
*laughs*
Cynthia: And then in Melbourne it'll go "SHOULD-Have-Been Australia's First Capital City"
Me: And Perth, not wanting to be left out, will say: "Australia's Capitally Dull City".

In case you were wondering, in tute, yes we are normally bored, and no, this is not the most outrageous topic that we've ever discussed. :P
Also, no, we haven't thought of one for Queensland, Adelaide, Darwin and Tasmania.

I shouldn't be surprised we discussed this though. Our tute room is the history classroom and there's this massive board on the wall with all sorts of pictures of Australia's history.

Mishy <3

Fueling Outrage

It's the sensation that's been gripping the world. We hang on to our seats every night, gazing at the news, hoping - praying, that the change isn't too great. It affects us all. It affects the economy. It affects every bit of our lives. Will it go up? Will it go down? Not likely, but is there even the slightest chance that it will at least stay the way it has been for the past week?

I am, of course, refering to the fuel prices of today. And it is, yes people, an outrage. The only word I can actually come up with for prices like these.
In Malaysia, the fuel has increased drastically by 70sen. 78 sen, as I am told by a source who was actually there at the time to read the newspapers. I am only a spectator, suffering very much the same fate in a different country. Malaysia's petrol prices normally stay quite low- when the price increases do happen, they normally happen every month or so, and usually only in about 1-2sen increases. Unfortunately, the government can no longer afford to keep the price so low, and as a result, a backlash has occured. I can already forsee the end of many governments at the end of their terms, and all because of these fuel prices.

In Australia, the price isn't as low as it is in Malaysia. The government doesn't really try to keep things to the absolute minimum, as in a country like this where Australia can't naturally produce it's own fuel, it would be economical (and political) suicide to keep it so low and then have it spring up on us like a rebellious kangaroo. I think both the government and the opposition can agree on this much. What does happen though, is that prices fluctuate everyday, depending on the index figures at the end of the day. This then gets posted up on the internet, proclaimed over the nightly news and printed in every newspaper possibly found to inform as many people as possible. My mom keeps one ferocious eye on all of these [while using the other on us unruly ones], and as soon as she loses faith in the price ever going down and finally decides to go and refuel the car- the next day it goes down. XD I find this a little funny the way it happens week after week, but these savings of about 20 cents a litre every week really can accumulate. Especially for someone whose life savings all happen to unfortunately be in RM.

Personally, I believe that there's just not enough fuel and too many people. In a world like this, we're becoming too dependent on cars. Nobody walks anymore. And who can blame us? We are [naturally] a lazy civilisation. We try to find a gazillion other ways of doing things. It's both a curse and a blessing. The world is more efficient, and it's more expensive. It's becoming smaller- an 'easier' place to live in, and infinitely more crowded and dirty.

You know, I haven't really been thinking about driving too much. In fact, if I had started earlier, and not been lazy during the holidays, I could have been half-way through finishing my practice hours for my L plates. But after this- do I really still want to go driving? People are buying smaller engined cars, or are just not driving at all. [well, in Australia anyway, in Malaysia, I can hardly blame anyone for wanting to drive] Still, this is something to be thinking about. It'll affect us - and the generations to come - for a long, long time.

Mishy <3