in an effort to make progress with this dummy assignment

I get out of that claustrophobic room, intended to move to the library but get to depressed even before starting the assignment.. and for some reason I landed at the coffee shop instead..

You were born with wings, why prefer to crawl through life?

When I was in primary school, I was the best in Calligraphy. My calligraphy teacher love me because I did some amazing work (back then, not anymore), at the same time.. my religious teacher hate me because I asked too much irrelevant question and I told my mother that she's a liar. Because in front of my mother she's nice to me, but once my parents out of sight she start saying mean things to me, things like I can never be as good as my sister or I am stupid and all those.. Its almost like a typical soap opera.

oh well, I made my choices.

why crawl through life? I am sure my life has been so much better that what she can ever imagine for herself.

thanks teacher!

this tiny corner

Finally I managed to make this tiny corner a little more.. personal. Soon, the whole room will be re-defined and re-decorated. It seems like such a waste of time, given the number of month I might be spending living here, but I cant seems to bear the dull, plain, uninspiring white walls.

those three square board were meant to be one BIG whiteboard, but due to my self-inconsistency and personal attraction to colorful things, one BIG whiteboard were swapped with three colorful board, which serve the same function, for the same price.

and yes, the family potrait. of course. I am, a family person.. despite the dysfunctionality (typo) of some members of the family (uumm.. all of us, actually)

I put the quote from Rumi "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do" to remind me (on those extremely stressful day) that I love doing my thing, Its a choice. No one is forcing me to go on study, its my choice.

Those three little orange stars were written with the species name of three different type of jellyfish, Chinorex flecken, Aurelia aurita and Physalia physalis.

why?

Physalia physalis, also known as Portuguese Man of War was the first ever jellyfish who dare to sting me. It happened last weekend, when I went to surf in Gold Coast. It comes rather as a suprise, I was flat chested, paddling my board, waiting for the waves.. and suddenly I feel this painful stinging sensation on my wrist. I stop paddling and lift my arm above the water to see the long blue tentacles of this creature wrapped on my arm. bitch!

then all of a sudden I realize that there's so many of them in the water!!! lucky I was NOT naked.

Aurelia aurita is the species name of moon jellyfish, I come across this name some time when I was in high school. Back then, I had this little public diary, where everyone is free to read and write. Random jotter from the whole batch filled this book with stories and memories. uummm.. apart that. So, one day Mirna write a nursery rhyme Betty Botter Bought some Butter (which turn out bitter and make her batter bitter) on that book. Me, not understand that much english at that time, draw some silly jellyfish on the corner of that page, then Mirna write that word *we were in our biology class*: Aurelia aurita, and then take the whole 10 minutes to explain to my half-functioning brain *i dont function very well during lecture* what it is and what it mean. for some reason, that name stuck in my head. Now, nearly two years after graduating as a marine biologist from a crappy university in malaysia, thats one of the very very very few species name that I can manage to remember.

Chinorex flecken is the box jellyfish, I dont have special story with this particular one just yet, but its name hanging there because as long as I am still living in Australia, and still intended to swim in its blue ocean.. I got to be careful with that one creature..

and..

species names because I am trying to be a marine biologist geek, something that I should have done some five years ago, since now all those knowledge is evaporating and my brain is trying to make space for the new knowledge while obtaining the wisdom that suppose to come with age. supposedly.

The colorful marker have to be within reach just in case my creative bone get activated from some random reasons. It rarely happen though.

and did you notice I dont have cigarette on my desk anymore?

In this part of the world, mangosteen IS a luxury

I was in coles on the other day and I spotted mangosteen!! I was so so so so happy to find this tropical fruit. Was about to grab a bag until I spotted the price...

back home I could get 5 Kilo for the same amount of money of getting one, not that, ONE here.

librardy (pun intended)

could you possibly spend all day sitting in the library meddling with computer and lots and lots and lots of peer-reviewed papers feeling under constant pressure and chased around by your supervisors and achieve nothing at the end of the day? welcome to the grads life.

A day in brisbane (written on 19 Feb 2010)

The air is warm and humid, the typical tropical weather after heavy rain.. water particles suspended in the air, making it heavy and sticky.. it feel bizarre to adjust to this weather again, after three consecutive month of hot dry air of Canberra and icy cold rain, when it rains.

Breathing in.

Hmm.. Brisbane.. my first Australian city..

It doesnt feel the same anymore, the people seems less friendly than how it used to be..I noticed the smokers, they're eveywhere. In every street corner, nearly in every bench and coffee table.. there's someone blowing their smoke..

For some bizarre reason, walking doesnt feel great either.. as I feel this sudden urge of sadness as if I am surrounded by lugubrious mood and I am absorbing the ambience into my chest..Maybe its just me, maybe its just this little chaos I am in, maybe I was reluctant to leave Canberra as I start to find my niche in that concrete jungle..

Why am I not too excited about Tasmania? I've been waiting for this to happen all this while, yet when it finally arrives on my doorstep, I am panic more than anything. I feel I wasnt prepared enough, I feel there's too many outside influence that could screw things up. I hope I am wrong.

Too many accident happen today, the day started off with a minor bicycle accident. As I ride along the street and approaching a traffic light, a woman inside a car suddenly opening her car door without checking her mirror first. I slammed into the car door, but wasnt injured. that woman was too shock to apologize, I just shook my head when I ride away. The next thing that happen is being shouted "idiots" by a bus driver and missed a stairs on my way out of a camera shop, resulting in minor ankle twist. It hurts. I am worried, will it recover sufficiently before the walk??

Shopping for things that I need is not that easy either, I've run around like stupid for more than five hours now, trying to find the raincoat for my camera. Feel like being passed around like a ping-pong ball from one shop to another. The camera shop either have no-bloody-idea of what i I am talking about or told me to look at the outdoor shops. The outdoor shop insist that the camera shop should know better, or simply said we dont have such things. Until there's a slight, dim light at the end of the tunnel. Finally someone who doesnt think I am some sort of an idiot. A guy in outdoor shop is an avid landscape photographer and he understand my confusion. He direct me to a camera shop in Newfarm, and he was certain they got one. aha!

However, as my knowledge about brisbane street start to deteriorate after all this month in Canberra, its only predictable that I got lost trying to find this place. Having a less than accurate GPS on my mobile phone is not making things easier either. When I finally get there after an hour of meandering around the area (supposedly its 10 minutes away from the last shop), I was exhausted to find out that they just sold the last piece yesterday and the new stock will only come in three weeks time. ah, bugger. I am leaving tomorrow!!

My last hope lie on the shop at Mt. Gravatt, and the shop will close at 5.. it 4.13 now, I am so gonna miss my chance. panic panic panic. I run around to figure out which bus going to Mt. Gravatt and how can I get there ASAP.

persistence pays though, I did find the thing at that shop, but after paying at the cashier, I looked at my watch, its 5.30, why are they still wide open? and I look at the clock on the wall.. ah, bugger. I havent adjust my watch back to brisbane time!!

Mardi Gras Parade 2010

the crowd

the sexy bondi lifesaver, even better than baywatch

animals from taronga zoo. I want to visit that zoo if they present their "animals" this way. :D

one of the sun god