October 2002 Archives

They fight! They bite!

They fight and bite and fight!

Bite! Bite! Bite!

Fight! Fight! Fight!

The Itchy and Scratchy Show!

oh, and Happy Halloween. Can't wait for the new season of The Simpsons premiering on the 3rd of November.

Finals week is here and my first paper is on Friday, so that leaves me a couple of days to study. It's my final year, so that means there must be no failures this time. Okay, back to studying. =D

Herald Sun [hotornot.com]

I'm too sleepy to write, so here's a picture of an old shriveled plum seed from God knows when. Oh wait...I do know. The seed is from the bag of salted plums I got from the Asian grocery in the campus center about one month ago. Hmm...

Daylight savings has just started in Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania. Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia do not participate in daylight savings. I thought it will start on the 28th this year, but it turned out to be the 27th. Bummer, I just lost an hour. I suspected it when my computer clock showed 5:40 am but it was still dark outside. Dawn usually comes at 5 am in spring. Oh well, the start of daylight savings mean we turn our clocks forward 1 hour at 2 am to make it read 3 am. I always forget daylight savings time though. I remember going to class one hour early when I was in Christchurch, NZ. I woke up and got ready for school and wondered why my sister and my other housemates were still in bed. Only realized what had happened when I went to my high school and found it all deserted and shit. It happened to me the first time I came to Melbourne too...ended up going to class one hour late. Heh.

Anyway, I saw this interesting thing happen in the Ampol gas station at the corner of Blackburn Road and Ferntree Gully Road today. I was going to get some Chinese food from Yun Yun when I saw three fire trucks pulled up at the gas station opposite with their lights flashing. At first I thought it was a strike or something coz the trucks all had "Melbourne Fire Brigade Cost Cutting Will Cost Lives" stickers all over the trucks. I went there to get some Diet Coke and saw four firemen crowded around this big ass gas tank. The gas station attendant was very agitated and was walking here and there, making phone calls and pulling up the chain to stop cars from driving in. Turns out the the gas tank was leaking. I wish I had brought my camera along. It would be quite a sight to see a gas station with the gas prices removed and the entrance and exits all chain up, three fire trucks with the lights flashing and firemen crowded around the gas tank. I even thought up a caption for it - "I don't know what's going on here...but I don't want to be a part of it". Heh.

Link of the day: Boy band, but great music [quantumlynx.com]

You've got to check this out. I don't usually listen to music like this, but this one is pretty good. Insightful lyrics too, especially the middle part.

The semester has ended. I've handed in my last assignment today and I have one more week till my first exam on the 1/11. In light of that, I've decided to celebrate (legally) by having a couple of beers. I leave the illegal stuff for Mr. Foaf, my uhm...friend. No, I wasn't going to say alter ego, dammit. I'm not that far gone. =D Anyway, as I was walking to uni today, I saw a lot of men in suits with ear pieces at the research department car park. Found out later from the radio in the shuttle bus that Premier Steve Bracks was present at the Ceremony of Reflection and Respect of the Monash shooting victims. I also heard that the shooting victims have been awarded honors degree posthumously. A nice touch, that.

Anyway, I've finally been reviewed at The Weblog Review. Wendy [twodolla.org], the reviewer, gave me a 2.5/5.0. It's not a high score, but she's honest in her review and she said some positive things too, so I can't help but feel pleased. Here's the review in it's entirety:

Huai's a student in Melbourne who started up his weblog in April of 2002. Since then, sixthseal.com has been very consistently updated with the happenings of Huai.

The site's design is very basic. There's a light blue table on the left with the naviagation portion of the menu, which is very simple to use. And to the right is the weblog. The main page features a photo of the day (POTD) at the top of the page. It's not exactly a photo of the day, however, but more like a photo of the week. That's not really a major concern of mine, but I could certainly see how readers could get disappointed with the photo not being updated daily like one would assume.

The majority of the entries are simple to read updates of what's going on in Huai's life - dorm life, his social life, how his classes are going, etc. It's fun to read through the progress of the school year and the entertaining mishaps that get written about.

A nice touch to this weblog was the introduction of posting pictures from time to time. While the POTD might not be updated on a regular basis, Huai does a good job of peppering in pictures that he's taken with his digital camera throughout a good portion of his entries. Doing that breaks up the constant text and gives the readers something more than just words.

Is this a site I'd visit again? Personally, no. Is it one I'd suggest to those in college perhaps experiencing the same thing that Huai is going through? Certainly. And I'd even go as far as saying you should at least check it out once - perhaps you'll find the connection that makes you want to keep coming back.

This site was reviewed on 2002-10-20 by Wendy.
They felt this site belonged in the Personal category.
Wendy felt that sixthseal.com deserved a rating of 2.5.

Or you can check it out here [theweblogreview.com]. Oh, and my name is Huai Bin. You don't truncate Chinese names like that. :)

frothy...had to catch the froth before it overflows from the neck of the bottle
tastes urm, tasteless
very light beer taste
tastes like water actually
the head stays throughout the drinking session in the bottle
doesn't dissipate
at 5.0 , gives a mild kick when downed on a semi full stomach
marketed as a premium (traditional belgian style - oh la di dah) beer
cost me A$11.99 for a 6 pack
the first bottle was agitated a little though
second bottle just had a nice gas escaping slowly and then a nice heady froth on top

frothed up something wicked when i opened it. no, i did not agitate it. it's an easy to drink and rather tasteless beer. i had it pretty chilled though. maybe a slight bitter aftertaste and thats it. but don't take my word for it, my tastebuds are screwed. the beer is easy to hold too. slightly contoured (or is that tapered?) at the bottom, which fits the hand nicely. the shiny aluminum conducts the cold nicely too. and there's just something good about holding a large can of beer. it's twice the size of normal beer cans, and it holds 650 ml of 5% alcohol beer. i forgot what i paid for it, but it isn't cheap. its somewhere around A$7. take note that beer here is cheap compared to Malaysia.

curses. i've already typed a review but accidentaly clicked no when it asked me whether i wanted to save. anyway, i'm try to recall the best i can from my (foggy) memory. this local premium beer (oh, la di dah) is made from malted wheat and brewed in matilda bay,western australia. it weighs in at a dismal 4.7 % alcohol by volume. the 6-pakcs looks rather pretentious, with wood colored packaging and stickers (with gothic writing, no less) over all the caps. it tastes strangely "heavy" like milk or milo but did not have an objectionable taste or aftertaste. the beer seems rather malty, but did not have a characteristic bite of malty beers. i've had malt milkshakes that were much more bitter than this nice beer here. the heaviness is strangely pleasing and satisfying. however, this thing here did not have a twist off cap. wtf? i thought twist off caps are standard for local brewed beers. i tried twisting the cap off anyway, but that did not acheieve anything other than give me bottle cap shaped grooves in my hand. i tried prying the cap off with my key, but that's going to take too long. luckily, i bought a nail clipper today and peering over, noticed that it has a bottle opener. mmm...

Well....all that beer made me sprout this gem here:

Silencer® (9:45 PM) :
u hungry?
sixthseal.com (9:46 PM) :
nah i drank a lot of beer
burp

What has this picture got to do with introspection you say?!? What has this picture got to do with introspection you say?!??!?! Erm...well, it looks introspective.

I did not sleep at all last night in an effort to finish my ITPM and IE deliverables, which was due today. I nearly went into a coma when I had a plate of char kueh tiaw for lunch. I was loaded with coffee and by the end of the day I was tired and edgy. I kept nodding off in the shuttle bus and had to keep re-reading a sentence from Darwin's Radio, the book I'm reading on my commute now. I just could not focus and promptly forgot the sentence as soon as I read it. Heh. Well, sleep deprivation is probably not a good time for introspection, but I've learnt two things about myself today. Actually, I've known it ages ago, but I'm going to ADDRESS the problem starting from today. These are two things I would like to change:

I. A variation of the God complex

I tend to feel that I can meet unrealistic deadlines. I actually believe that I can make impossible deadlines, because I usually do. Unfortunately, that does not happen all the time. I need to think about whether it is possible before saying I can do it.

II. Pride

I do not like asking for help. I find myself trying to find solutions to every problem by myself, and perhaps that is not the best way to do everything. I also tend to turn down help even when I need it, preferring to go about doing my own things myself. Another "personal risk list" that needs to be addressed.

Small steps, but it will help me in the long run. Hmm...but then I'll probably forget about it the next day. Heh. Oh well, writing about it is half the battle...or something. You learn something new everyday. =D I don't even know what I'm talking about, I am going to sleep now. Well, damn, I was drafting out an insightful post in my mind when I was taking a shower and now I've forgotten half of it. Huh?

It's actually a prayer mat on a mattress wrapped with construction paper. It has rice, some twigs, some leaves and I don't know what the third bowl holds. Saw this on the 5th floor of B block when I had my client meeting just now. One of them public art displays.

Ceremony of Reflection and Respect for the Monash shooting victims [monash.edu.au]

Venue: Robert Blackwood Concert Hall (Building 2 on the Clayton campus)

Time: 11am on Friday 25 October, 2002.

Hmm...the gunman is being charged in court and the 5 wounded are well on their way to recovery so I guess it's back to life as usual. It's sad to think that two innocent students died though. I actually saw the parents and sister (?) of one of the deceased today. They looked very sad, but I didn't know what I could say that would make them feel better so I just nodded at them. On the other side of the coin, the gunman's story seems unfortunate as well. He has an old mother to support, and now that he's in prison, what's going to happen to her? And why didn't he think of that before he started shooting? The mind boggles. I heard stories that he's under a lot of pressure to do well in his presentation, and it's quite a challenge considering he doesn't know English that well. I guess that can be pretty stressful, but hell, if every student started shooting every time they're stressed, I guess there won't be any Monash students left, would there? What he did was wrong, and yet, inexplicably sad.

You have received a message!
Pls forward:
For your safety dun go to crown these days
terrorist attack: a friend's friend had found a wallet somewhere and he rang the owner and gave it back to him, the owner of the wallet is from pakistan, then he thanked my friend's friend and then told them not to go to crown or any places which are these days as there will be something terrible going to happen"

"Ths was written by a HK friend from eng. Just on the safe side dun go"

This is an ICQ message that's been circling around lately. I got two of these from two totally unrelated people (except they're both Monash University students) within a 15 minute period. I suspect it's a hoax, but one can never be too careful these days. Just FYI.

Link: 7 deadly weapons [heraldsun.news.com.au] (He even had a 9mm Luger)

Link: Professor sings praises of murdered uni duo [theage.com.au]

Link: Kung-fu instincts kick in as shots fly [theage.com.au]

Link: Modest hero's instinct takes over [heraldsun.news.com.au]

...and the knee-jerk response:

Link: Howard to push for limited ban on handguns [theage.com.au]

Link: National push to restrict pistols [heraldsun.news.com.au]

It's interesting to see that the gunman is said to be a member of the Melbourne Indoor Pistol Club [mipc.com.au]. I went there earlier this year (read about it here [sixthseal.com] - 1/4 down the page) and it's a pretty fun place where you can shoot with real handguns and live ammo. They're also an authorized Heckler and Kosh [hecklerkoch-usa.com] dealer. Check it out if you're interested.

Well, it seems that newspaper sales go through the roof every time something happens because I could not get a copy of The Age or the Herald Sun after 1 pm. The newsagents seems to have sold out of those papers by midday. Anyway, here are a couple of links regarding the incident:

Link: Police name Monash shooting victims [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Shootings suspect appears in court [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash gun rampage [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Gunman was a classmate [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Distressed students face exams [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: 'A quiet, normal guy' [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Students ashen over new horror [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Heroes prevent uni massacre [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Classes resume at uni [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Your views on the Monash Uni shooting (2) [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Your views on the Monash Uni shooting (1) [heraldsun.news.com.au] (My view about 3/4 down the page)

Link: Kung fu fighter a modest campus hero [theage.com.au]

Link: A sombre uni gets on with life [theage.com.au]

Link: Reluctant hero returns to work [theage.com.au]

(Updated throughout the day)

Official Monash University statement [monash.edu.au]

Monash shooting helpline: 03-9545 6961 or 03-9545 6579

Toll: 2 dead, 5 hospitalized (1 in critical condition).

Facts:

Image (c) Mario Borg/The Age

• Gunman is Huan Yun Xiang, a fourth-year commerce honors student who has trouble with English.
• He was supposed to give his final presentation in econometrics today.
• He brought a revolver and a semi-automatic handgun instead.
• He has been arrested and is in St Kilda police station.
• Read this [theage.com.au] to understand his possible motives. It's sad, really. But what he did was wrong.

This will be updated throughout the day. Please refresh for latest news.

Link: Man held over uni killings [theage.com.au]

Link: Pressure builds in the Ming Wing [theage.com.au]

Link: Talented loner who struggled in class [theage.com.au]

Link: 'They were screaming, there's a gunman on the loose' [theage.com.au]

Link: Where it happened [theage.com.au]

Update: Shooter Identity (Source: Halls Direct Connect server chat room) - Unverified Verified

<Carve2> Okay, official info to follow, I have a friend who was in that class
<Carve2> On the shooting
<Carve2> Honours Econometrics class, student in class had a total of 6 handguns and opened fire on his classmates
<killuminati> so it wasn't an outsider?
<Carve2> Apparently stressed out over a presentation he had that day
<Carve2> no, it was a student
<killuminati> icic
<killuminati> thats a bit harsh...shooting up the class over a presentation
<Carve2> The other students basically overwhelmed him and held him till police arrived
<The_Great_S@t@n> is your friend doing OK?
<Carve2> Yeah, he's fine, just a bit shook up, as you would be!
<The_Great_S@t@n> yeah..... one of my mates doing honours with the guys in the class, he went and visited some of the injured people, says one guy got shot through both knees, he'll be OK eventually he says, and a girl who got shot through the cheek, he didn't get too see her though.
<The_Great_S@t@n> Did anyone go to the information session @ 6pm?
<Carve2> No, was tutoring
<The_Great_S@t@n> the policeman said there were 4 guns, and one of the deceased was an international student, otherwise just calmed everyone down, said Monash was probably the best Victorian Uni when it comes to security.

Link: Herald Sun: Your views on the Monash Uni shooting [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Calls for handgun ban [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Howard 'not' to blame: NUS [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash rampage visits more terror on Australians [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Students no longer invulnerable after Monash shooting [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Fed govt policies to blame for shootings: NUS [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Update: There will be a counselor available all day in the MRS Theatre for all Halls of Residence residents who needs it.

Update: The cell phone lines are clogged for a couple of hours following the shooting due to everyone calling at once, but it's okay now.

There was an announcement over the halls PA system this morning, requesting that we do not go to the university because there has been an incident. It seems that there has been a shooting at the campus and the gunman is still at large. Well, being a curious sort, I headed down myself to see. Everyone at the university is rather hard pressed for information, but from several reports I've heard, it seems that there has been a shooting at the Robert Menzies building. 5 people were shot (Update: 8 people were shot) (Update: 7 people were shot) Update: 10 people were shot - 2 people are confirmed dead, 5 people are in the hospital and 3 more are injured. The unidentified gunman apparently walked into either a tutorial or a lecture (conflicting reports) and opened fire. There was a guy beside me who was actually in the tute, but he didn't see the gunman coz he was facing the other way. Next thing he knew, everyone was running out and there was this girl with blood all over her saying "Help me". Hmm...there seems to be a lot of school shootings, but not that many uni shootings. It's a media circus at the Clayton campus right now. I counted 5 news helicopters and 2 fixed wing planes circling the campus. I still don't know what happened to the gunman at this point (Update: Gunman was overpowered by other students and has been arrested. He's being held at the Glen Waverley police station), but the campus is crawling with police and the Menzies building has been cordoned off. The police have been talking to everyone around the area. I didn't stay for long coz I only got 3 hours of sleep last night but the media is camped out in front of the Law faculty, awaiting a police statement. Check The Age [theage.com.au] and Herald Sun [heraldsun.news.com.au] for breaking news. (Update: Seems to be gang related, the victims and the gunman are all Asian) {Update: The shooting seems indiscriminate)

Students around the crime scene and a couple of early news people.

The media interviewing some students.

More news people behind the police tape. I was standing on the Law Faculty walkway when I took this.

The media talking to a police spokesman.

The forensics department being escorted past the cordon.

A guy in the Menzies building. The news people started snapping pics of him when he poked his head out, so I did too. Heh. Note: This is not a hostage situation, it's a shooting. Another rumor going around is that it's a terrorist related bombing or shooting. It's not.

A detective walking towards the crime scene.

The air ambulance that evacuated one of the guys who was shot in the stomach.

Crime scene investigators heading into the building.

Oh, and do you know why all those people at these type of incidents all look so grim-assed? Accounting for different personality types, it's pretty obvious that not everyone is going to be looking sad or scared. The reason?

News photographer: "Okay, I'm going to take a photo of you people now. Please don't smile and look serious."

There you go.

Update:

Link: Students tackled uni gunman [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Monash helpline numbers revised [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Photo gallery: Monash Shooting [theage.com.au]

Link: Shocked: Premier Steve Bracks [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Some thought security announcements were a joke [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Police rule out terror as cause of Monash attack [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Leaders mourn more young lives lost [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Counselling services set up at Monash Uni [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Uni shootings suspect showed no emotion: witness [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Police ask students to reassure their families [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Man kills two, injures five at Monash Uni [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Students tell of confusion after university shootings [heraldsun.news.com.au]

Link: Where the shooting happened [theage.com.au]

Link: Two dead, five injured in Monash Uni shooting [theage.com.au]

Link: Two dead, eight injured in Monash Uni shooting [theage.com.au]

Call your loved ones if you're a student at Monash University to tell them you're okay. Otherwise:

From the article:

Police have released two phone numbers for family and friends of Monash University students to call for information about the fatal shootings.

The numbers are (03) 9545 6961 and (03) 9545 6575.

beneath a mountain of assignments. Will update when I dig myself out.

The dining hall of the Halls of Residence sometimes offer filled bread rolls for 50 c during dinner. These are the leftover ones from lunch and they usually go for A$2.85, but the price is marked down to 50 c during dinner. My calculator tells me that's a 82.46% discount. Heh. They taste the same as they do during lunch anyway.

Well, I had a Simpsons marathon last night and I had an Initial D marathon today. Wah lau...I'm going to fail if this keeps up. =D

Link: National day of mourning in honor of the Bali bombings [theage.com.au]

A minute's silence to be observed at noon Australian Eastern Standard Time.

The Roberts Hall annual photos have finally been distributed today. It's huge so I had to scan it in two sessions, thus the join flaw. I had to collect mine from the College Head's office though, because I put A$10 short into the envelope. Heh. Apparently A$17 +A$23 equal A$30 to me. =D

Well, this week was "Hall in the Wall" week, where Roberts Hall resident artists display their works in the common room. I liked this one the most:

It's an artificial pond, set right in the common room. It even has pond scum, cigarette butts, coins and other miscellaneous rubbish in the pond for a realistic feel.

Here's a closer look.

Anyway, I got this chain email today. I've gotten it twice before, but I'm in the mood to answer it today, so here goes:

Do you think that you do not understand your friends at all? Maybe you
should do something to make them know you better. If you have the time to
spare then, reply to this.

Okay, here's what you're supposed to do. Please DO NOT be LAME and spoil the
fun.

Copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste it onto a new e-mail that
you will send.

Change all of the answers so that they apply to you and then send it to all
your friends.

The theory is that you will learn a lot of little facts about your friends.

( Caution, can be quite scary!)

**Remember to send it back to the person who sent it to you.

**READY?

>What is your name?

Poh Huai Bin

>What color pants are you wearing right now?

Light brown pajamas with a Star of David and double concentric circle pattern. It's comfortable. I like wearing pajama pants even when I'm not going to sleep. It's my favorite at-home attire.

>What are you listening to right now?

Bad Religion's All Ages [badreligion.com]. The track Winamp is on now is Against the Grain. One of my favorite Bad Religion songs. If you haven't heard of them, they're a punk band with oddly intelligent and thought provoking lyrics.

>What are the last four digits of your home phone number?

I don't have a home phone here. The last four digits of my cell phone number is 7474. It's Optus.

>What was the last thing you drink?

Vanilla Coke. The vending machine outside the common room has dedicated two whole slots to Vanilla Coke. Those slots used to hold Diet Coke. Now you only have a choice of (original) Coke or Vanilla Coke. Useless fact: A 600 ml bottle of soda costs A$2 from a vending machine. It's interesting to note that sodas and mineral water comes in 500 ml bottles in Malaysia while it comes in 600 ml bottles here.

>If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

Red. Fiery, passionate and the first one to get colored down to a nub.

>Where do you plan to go on your honeymoon?

I'll start with Venice. Then it's off to Rome and Egypt to see the Colosseum and the pyramids. And of course, the Bahamas [bahamas.com] to wind up the trip. Now, it's just the question of how I'm going to fund that. =D

>How is the weather right now?

Slightly cold. It was a scorching 30 Celsius this afternoon. Showers towards the end of the evening and through the night brought it down to 14 Celsius.

>Last person you talked to on the phone?

My girlfriend. I talk to her every day. It's a good thing calling cards go for 6.3 cents per minute. That's the GPS phone card after a 10% discount from my campus phone shop. The listed call rate is 7 cents.

>What's the first feature you notice from the opposite sex?

The eyes. They're the windows to the soul and everything. =D

>Do you like the person that send you this?

He's the one on the right.

Yeah. I'd known him since primary school. Heh. Last memorable trip we had was to Sarikei. Read about that here [sixthseal.com].

>What's your best birthday present ever received?

I have a real sweet tooth and there was this one time where my father bought a lot of imported chocolates for me. I was about 10 or 11 at that time. He claimed to have bought it from Kuching (he just came back from a trip there) but the price tag shows a KL store name. I knew it was a KL store name because he went to KL some time ago too and came back with chocolates with the store name's price tags on it. Hmm...I thought. He must have hidden it somewhere in the fridge. I decided to root through the refrigerator just in case there were more from that batch and came up with another stash of chocolates. I'll never forget the slightly chagrined yet amused expression of my father then. Heh. I guess it was the memory that made it the best birthday present.

>How are you feeling today?

Pretty good actually. I didn't get much work done though. I just came off a Simpson's marathon where I watched 10 episodes back to back. Downloaded them from the halls network.

>Your favourite drink?

Coffee. It's perfect for a stimulating boost.

>Your favourite alcoholic drink?

Midori Illusions are pretty nice. Easy to down quickly because they're not really fizzy and I couldn't taste the alcohol in it too. You have to love the twist off cap as well. I hate having to search for a bottle opener. I like plain old beer tool.

>How do you eat an Oreo?

I put the whole Oreo into my month and crunch it. When I was young, I used to break open the biscuits, eat the cream filling and discard the biscuits. Heh. Oreos are good in McFlurries as well.

>What's the next CD you're going to get?

I stopped buying CDs ages ago. MP3s are more versatile and uh, it's free. ;)

>Hair color?

Black. I usually color it light brown but I couldn't be bothered to do that after my haircut a couple of days ago.

>Eye Colour?

Brown.

>Do you wear contacts?

No. I actually have severe myopia in my right eye. Anything more than half an arm's length away is totally blur to my right eye. However my left eye has near perfect vision and compensates for that. Thus, I don't need any prescription glasses or contacts. My optometrist did advice me to wear one, but I didn't, and it didn't get any worse. At least, I hope it didn't. =D

>What's your favourite month?

I don't have a specific month but I love the end of the year period right through to Chinese New Year. That time is usually spent with my girlfriend, friends and family. Unfortunately, I won't be coming home until late January/early February this year. :( I'm taking Industrial Experience, which requires me to stay back for summer. Please shed a few tears for me.

>What's your favorite food?

I find that I crave kampua mee the most. It's a local dish from my hometown. Basically its noodles flavored with soy sauce, chili, green onions, fried onions, pork oil, and lots of MSG. It's usually served with slices of BBQ pork but you should order another dish of pien nuk (pastry stuffed with meat) for the best effect. Simply divine. Damn, my saliva glands are working overtime now, just by typing this.

>Last movie you watched?

Lik Goo Lik Goo San Nin Choi (Fatt Choi Spirit). A fun movie about mahjong meant for Chinese New Year.

>What's your favorite date of the year?

Chinese New Year's eve. Since it follows the lunar calendar, the date changes every year. It's the time where all the extended family gathers together for a reunion dinner.

>Are you shy to ask someone out?

Nope. I have a girlfriend though, so I don't do this anymore.

>Do you like scary or romantic movies better

I like all movies. Even pretentious art house flicks. =D

>Would you prefer hugs or kisses?

I like them both, but if I had to choose, it'll be hugs. It feels closer somehow.

>Relationship or one night stands?

Relationships. Contrary to popular belief, I don't go for one night stands.

>You prefer chocolate or vanilla?

In ice cream? Vanilla. It seems less cloying than chocolate and more versatile.

>Do you want your friends to write back?

Sure. It will be interesting to see what everyone's response is.

>Who is most likely to respond?

I'm posting this on my blog instead of forwarding this, so probably no one. However, feel free to cut and paste the questionnaire and revive it as an email. Hmm...now that I think of it, I might as well keep the chain going.

>What book are you reading now?

I just finished Robert J. Sawyer's Calculating God [sfwriter.com]. I'm either going to start on Greg Bear's Darwin's Radio [gregbear.com] or Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey. My interests mainly lie in Science Fiction and Horror, but I do read other genres from time to time. I tend to average about one book in two weeks. I only read during my commute and in the toilet, unless I'm finishing the book soon or I can't put it down. I read ebooks via WordSmith on my Palm m505.

>What's your favourite board game(s)?

Monopoly. I can be a bit of a bastard when playing Monopoly too. Heh. I try to snatch up every color coded real estate and never relinquish it to avoid other people from building houses. Railways are my favorite too, I'll pay exorbitant amounts just to control all four.

>What's your favourite magazine(s)?

Hmm...I don't read much magazines here. But we have Time, Asiaweek (now defunct), National Geographic, and Reader's Digest back home. I like reading Time but by the time (haha) the magazine is out, I've already read the news ages ago online. The only magazines I've bought here are Australian travel magazines. I read those for fun.

>What's your favourite smell(s)?

Protex soap. The smell is associated with school holidays and Friday evenings where I play computer games all day long. I made that association back in Form 2 and it's stuck ever since.

>Least favourite smell(s)?

Lavender. I have associated it with depression and anxiety attacks and desperation. No thanks. Go away lavender.

>What's your favourite sound?

Banging gongs + drums + crashing cymbals + sounds of firecrackers. Chinese New Year ahoy! I also like church hymns. Those make me feel peaceful and relaxed.

>What radio channel you tune in to?

I don't listen to radio but the shuttle bus always has Fox FM [fox.com.au] on.

>Date of birth?

5th of April 1981. It's Ching Ming aka Tomb Sweeping Day [yahoo.com]. A day where the dead is honored by having an extended family outing to clean the tombs of the departed ancestors.

>Your zodiac sign?

Aries. I'm a classic Aries too. Represent!

>Do you eat the stems of broccoli?

Yeah. I like the texture.

>Do you have patience?

Nope. Absolutely none at all. I'm working on that though, so bear with me. =D

>What kind of people do you dislike?

Pretentious people, arrogant people and know it alls (HAMPALANG EH).

>What type of guy/girl are you interested in?

A nice, simple and trustworthy Christian. I would like my wife to be with me in life and also in the afterlife. ;)

>What would you do to impress a guy/girl that you like?

The most outrageous things. I also tend to hang around them for extended periods of time to make an impression.

>How would you react if the person you like rejected you?

It won't bother me. Different strokes for different folks.

Buddha Jumps Over The Wall [yahoo.com]

My network connection was down for practically the whole day yesterday. Thus, I have decided to sleep early and wake up early today to prepare for the final ITPM presentation. I woke up bright an early at 8 am and headed down to my campus to rehearse with my other team members:

Group 702: Brass Monkeys Consulting

From left: Poh Huai Bin, Dan Chandrasoma, Sheralyn D'Rose, Bela Farbas

I think we did pretty well in the presentation, but there was a group with an impressively feature packed product though. Good thing the marks are not scaled...at least I hope they're not. =D Anyway, I had to wake up early yesterday too. It seems that my National [national.com.au] bank account has been overdraft to the amount of A$11.12 (don't ask me why a savings account can be over drafted). Since I already have a Commonwealth bank account (my main account now), I've decided to close the National one. The only branch around here is in Clayton town. There was one in the campus center last time, but it has closed and the space is now occupied by the Business Systems laboratory.

Well, I also got to eat the Beef Salsa Burger, which is part of McDonald's ever changing New Tastes Menu [mcdonalds.com.au]. It tasted like the old Italian Romano Burger (part of their Tastes of the World Menu) to me, and the burger is rather small-ish too. I'll go for a Big Mac or Filet-O-Fish over it any day.

Link of the day: Firebugs threaten mosque attacks [theage.com.au]

I knew this was going to happen sooner or later.

Note: I haven't fallen into "The Zone" while writing for a long time. Feels good to be back. Please read the story.

Hmm...I feel contented coz today was quite productive by my standards, which unfortunately, is not high at all. =D I did get chewed on a bit today by my IE supervisor though. It's understandable coz our group seems to be rather behind schedule. There was a semantics issue involved as well. I had assumed that a non-reply will default to the affirmative regarding meeting times, but apparently that was not the case. Well, you know what they say about assuming. I can't resist reiterating though, assuming makes and ass out of u and me. There. Anyway, I was grilled for a while about PHP syntax too. Felt like I was back in graded school. Heh. Oh, which reminds me. Back in primary school, we had this Nazi math teacher who would force us to memorize the multiplication tables up to 13. Now, every time she comes in, she'll carry this big ass rattan (flexible wood-like plant) cane and swish it around a bit. Then, she'll start to traverse the tables and rows, asking each one a random multiplication. She'll give you 1 second, and 1 second the most. If you couldn't answer correctly by then, she'll give you a hard lashing with the cane.

So down she'll go, asking "What's 3 times 12?" "What's 7 times 13?" "What's 11 times 10?". Now, each day, she'll add one lashing to the punishment for the wayward ones who couldn't figure out the multiplication tables in the head (no tables are allowed). This went on until the punishment was 50 lashings (!) on the 50th day. She promised that the counter will reset itself to 1 the next day. I'm not kidding, this really is true. Note though that capital punishment was acceptable in Malaysia when I was in primary school. Anyway, I could answer everyday, right up until the dreaded 50th day. Many of my classmates has conveniently brought a tube of Colgate toothpaste, which is said to numb the hands so the lashings won't hurt so much. Well, the guy in front of me, an Iban, didn't get the answer right, so the teacher started to give him 50 lashes. Right around the 35th lash point, the cane splintered and frayed, but the teacher kept on going. Well, besides being not good with multiplications, the Iban guy was unfortunately not good in acting too. He was smiling after the rattan cane frayed, because rattan canes don't hurt much once they've frayed. This is because the kinetic force applied to the cane distributes through each fray, which then lands on a larger surface area.

Unfortunate. The teacher started to realize this and started slapping the guy instead, substituting each lash with a slap until the prescribed 50 were up. The poor guy started crying (we were 12 years old at that time) and the whole class was in a quandary regarding this new development. The Colgate Method ^TM has effectively been nulled, voided and stamped with a big red NOT APPLICABLE, sorry mate. Anyway, once the slapping has been dealt with, the teacher moved to the first girl in my row. We were (rather ruthlessly) hoping that the next few people will "get it" too, since the bell was 10 minutes away from ringing. Inferring and extrapolating shows that the teacher can produce 30 slaps per minute (SPM).

[Edit: Replaced original ASCII depiction with JPEG graphical representation.]

Thus, if 5 people in the row of 9 "gets it", I would be spared from any questions, since the bell would have already rung. I think we learnt more math by trying to avoid a spanking than memorizing multiplication tables. Unfortunately, the next girl was the smartest girl in our class, so she instantly got the answer right. We were momentarily elated for a couple of seconds, when the teacher fired off 3 more questions in quick succession, as if wanting to get the girl to slip up. Unfazed, the smart girl answered all of them with impunity. And thus it went, until it was the turn of the guy beside me. The clock still had 7 minutes to go at the time, so I was about to resign to my fate...until I thought of a trump card. Of course! I'll go to the toilet. So,

Me: Cikgu, boleh saya pergi ke tandas? Perut sakit...

[Teacher, can I go to the toilet? I have a stomachache...(which was only half untrue - who wouldn't get a stomachache with this kind of pressure?)]

Teacher: Eh, tidak boleh...sudah hampir sampai giliran kamu. Mahu lari kah?

[Of course not...it's nearly your turn to go. Are you trying to get away?]

Me: ..............................

And thus, it was my turn. "What is 7 times 9?" said the teacher. "Er...62?" said I. 7's were always my weakest multiplication tables. "SALAH!!!" boomed the teacher with delight, glad for an opportunity to flex her muscles once more. Salah means wrong in Bahasa Malaysia if you haven't figured it out by now. I had never gotten the multiplication tables wrong before. I could hear a sigh of relief from the row behind me. Infidels. The teacher made me stand up and started giving me a slap. However, she apparently could not bring herself to do it a second time and contented herself with giving my cheeks a hard pinch. "Huai Bin" the teacher said. "Jangan salah lagi, ah, kamu budak pandai". (Don't make any more mistakes, you're a clever kid).

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" went the class, voicing discontent at the preferential treatment I was getting.

Oh well.

I finally managed to get a haircut today. It only cost A$17, which is pretty cheap over here. I went to Monash Hair Salon at the campus center. Anyway, I watched a HK movie on VCD just now. It was the 2002 Chinese New Year movie by Andy Lau and Gigi Leung. I don't know the name, but it's about mahjong. The plot is predictable, but that's not the point. It's a Chinese New Year movie, it's supposed to be a feel good movie, not one where you can endlessly debate the intricacies that motivated the main protagonist. I like Gigi Leung before the breast augmentation surgery (in the movie). She seemed rather top heavy after that. Heh. I want to go home for Chinese New Year. Update: The movie is called Lik Goo Lik Goo San Nin Choi (Fatt Choi Spirit). Man, that rice bit was funny. =D

Reading: Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer (A damned (damn?) good book)

I had dinner at Wah Kee today with Adrian and Jun Wei. I've been craving after their Combination Mun Fun with heaps of soy sauce and pepper. Basically, it's a combo of chicken, beef (?), char siew, squid, prawns and vegies cooked in a tasteless sauce (hence the soy and pepper part). I had some short soup too. Short soup is what they call wonton soup here. Later we headed over to Jun Wei's house, where he has an autographed photo of Stephanie Sun when she was in her youth. Heh. Nah, actually it is a photo of his girlfriend, but she sure looks like Stephanie Sun in that photo. Anyway, I've got heaps of work to do before tomorrow. I'm sleepy and I'm demoralized. End of semester sucks. And I can't even look forward to going back because I'm not going back during the summer vacations. I have to stay back because IE runs for two consecutive semesters. Shit.

Link of the day: Bali Bombing Full Coverage [theage.com.au]

I headed down to Chadstone today to do a bit of shopping. I wanted to cut my hair too, but the prices at Chadstone "The Fashion Capital" ranges from A$45 - A$75 and I couldn't justify paying those prices. Especially not when I pay around A$5 - A$10 for a haircut back home. =D I was going to get Contacting Aliens: An Illustrated Guide to David Brin's Uplift Universe [davidbrin.com] too, but the Borders at Chadstone did not carry it. Hmm...one of the best things to eat in the food court is the lunch plate of Sizzling Wok. I like having honey chicken and Mongolian beef. Their Mongolian beef is really salty and their honey chicken is really sweet and that combination tastes good. My thoughts are kinda foggy today, I'm still feeling the flu. More of a runny nose and mental slowness today though. Yeah...Well, anyway, I like Lush.

The store smells really nice and I like the idea of huge block of soap that you cut and wrap up yourself. They have really nice names [lush.co.uk] for their soaps too. Their bath ballistics [lush.co.uk] looks fun to use, but unfortunately, I don't have a running bath. Oh well. I feel slow today.

I think I've caught the flu. Or it could be the asbestos and lead fibers I've been breathing in for the past week. I'm relegated to a short life of mental retardation, doomed to die of lung cancer. Roberts Hall was opened in 1971, so it's safe to assume that the walls are built solely with asbestos (and plenty of manpower) and slathered with some good old lead based paint to hold it together. There was some work done on my ceiling one week ago to fix my ceiling light. The electricians replaced the entire housing and left my carpet strewed with debris of dubious origin. Being somewhat of a hypochondriac, I find myself waking up with a sore throat, stuffy sinuses, and significantly reduced mental capabilities. The last one might be psychosomatic though. =D Anyway, I went to the operations office today to ask whether the ceilings have asbestos in them. The receptionist was quite taken aback by my question. Heh.

Me: There is asbestos in the ceilings of Roberts Hall, isn't there?

Receptionist: (startled) I'm not sure...why would you think that?

Me: (describes my symptoms, both real and imagined =D)

Receptionist: Oh dear, let me get someone better qualified to answer that question.

(The receptionist goes into the office and gets the director)

Director: Hello there. How can I help you?

Me: Well, I'm concerned that the Roberts Hall ceilings contain asbestos. There was some work done on my ceiling which left a lot of dust and debris and I've been having respiratory problems after breathing it in.

Director: (phrasing his words carefully) Well...I'm not familiar with the architectural aspects of Roberts Hall, but I would think that there isn't any asbestos in the structure. What does the dust look like?

Me: It looks like long, thin fibers. It doesn't seem to break easily.

Director: (guardedly) Oh...hmm...I think that might be the spray on concrete they use to coat the ceiling. I'll check and get right back to you. Do you want to leave a contact number?

Me: (gives my cell phone number)

Director: Thank you. I'll personally get back to you when I know.

Hmm...that conversation wasn't reassuring at all. I didn't think about the lead issue until later though. I spent the better part of the evening vacuuming my room and washing my bedsheets. I know that vacuuming will stir up the particles and that's more dangerous since it will be easy to breath it in, but my floor is saturated with that shit anyway and walking alone will disturb the fibers. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

I spilled detergent powder in front of my door just after I returned the vacuum cleaner. Wonderful.

I'm sleepy. I haven't had a good night's sleep in two days and last night was even worse. I couldn't sleep at first, and when I finally thought I might be able to, I laid down on the bed for two hours - but still no sleep came to me. The dawn light that filtered through my blinds didn't help either. I like to sleep in absolute darkness. To make matters worse, the lawnmower man came at the UNGODLY hour of 8:30 am and started to mow the fucking lawn. I haven't started to sleep at that point and the noise from the lawnmowers (it the kind you drive) made it really hard to sleep. I tried pulling my bedsheets over one ear and stuffing the other ear with my pillow, but that didn't help much. As if things couldn't get any worse, I had to field several phone calls informing me that a client meeting is scheduled today. Joy. Okay, enough bitching. :)

Springvale train station

Anyway, I headed down to Springvale today to see if they still have any
Item X's in stock. It should be noted that the Store X in Springvale is
nowhere near the town center. There is quite a significant traveling
distance involved too. However, all is not in vain, for they had one last
Item X in stock. =D They were actually holding it for another person, but
the manager decided to sell it to me anyway. That's good then.
Hmm...anyway, is it just me, or does Springvale look dodgier and dodgier
every time I go there? Puzzling.

Link of the day:

Korean man dies after computer games binge [theage.com.au]

FUD. People don't die from playing computer games non-stop for 86 hours.
People die from heart attacks while ingesting stimulants. Notice that he
died in the toilet. My...uh, friend told me that it's common for people on
methamphetamines or similar stimulants to experience constipation or

oliguria (got this word from my med school sister). This friend of
mine once tried to force himself to take a piss coz he hasn't done so for
quite a while and said he nearly passed out. He felt a surge of blood
going to his head and his heart started to pound really fast, and he
thought he was about to kick the bucket there and then. Stimulants
increase blood pressure and makes your heart work harder. People generally
don't stay up for 86 hours non-stop without stimulants. He died with a
felafel in his hand. I mean, he died in the toilet. Do the math. Oh, and
don't force yourself to piss while on meth. =D

I had a group meeting scheduled today at 2 pm, so I took the 1:40 pm shuttle. Right as the shuttle was turning into the campus, I got an SMS telling me that the meeting is cancelled because everything has already been completed (!). Well, that's a first. =D Thus, I decided to go to Store X to shop for Item X. I have to be discrete you see, because Item X is supposed to be my girlfriend's birthday present, and she reads my blog. There is a Store X in Carnegie, so I headed down there to see if they have Item X in stock. There is a promotion involving Item X where Store X is selling it at less than half the price of other retail outlets (for a limited time only). Unfortunately, Store X is Carnegie is out of Item X, but I was told that the Store X in Glen Waverley might have some in stock. If you haven't figured out by now, Store X is a large chain. Now, a temporary lapse in cognitive thinking made me associate Glen Waverley with Blackburn. I had dinner at Glen Waverley with a couple of my friends last Mid-Autumn Festival, and I swore I saw the Blackburn station right in the middle of Glen Waverley. Anyone with a map of Melbourne will know that this is rather unlikely as the stations are in fact quite far away. However, I didn't know this, so I took a train to Richmond station to catch a Hillside train back down to Blackburn.

                  <------------------- Carnegie

         Richmond                     

                  ------------------------------------------------------------------------>   Blackburn

As you can see in the ASCII map (an overstatement) above, I had to first travel in the opposite direction from my destination to catch a train to Blackburn. This is because the trains in Melbourne runs on different lines so if you want to catch a train to a different line, you need to go to to a switching station, which can mean backtracking. That trip took nearly an hour.

Anyway, as I arrived in Blackburn, I started to sense something amiss. One side of the station exit houses residential estates and the other side is populated by just a small strip mall. Hmm...I thought. Upon questioning several passerby's, I was forced to conclude that Glen Waverley != Blackburn. Luckily, I spotted a 703 Blackburn bus pulling into the bus stop, and boarded it, safe in the knowledge that the 703 bus will pass by Glen Waverley. Alas. That is not true, as I soon found out. I could take the 703 back to the halls, but I really wanted to go to Glen Waverley before Store X closes, so I asked the driver how to best get there. He advised me to stop at Syndal station and take the train down to Glen Waverley. A good 2 1/2 hours after I boarded the train in Carnegie, I finally arrived in Glen Waverley. I hurried to The Glen and rushed into Store X right before it closed only to find out that...they were out of Item X too. What a waste of time. At least the store personnel told me that the Store X's in Springvale and Ringwood still have a few Item X's in their inventory. I will follow it up tomorrow after my tutorials.

On the other hand, I managed to find out that the Forest Hill Chase Shopping Center [foresthillshoppingcentre.com.au] has a 10 theatre Hoyts. This is more convenient for me than Chadstone since the 703 bus passes right outside my halls and goes right to the door of Forest Hill Chase. Also, I managed to stock up on some Cadbury 250g bars. 2 for A$5 dollar dazzlers in Coles rule. They usually go for A$3.59 each. Oh, and the new Vanilla Coke is pretty good as well. Tastes like a vanilla ice cream coke float (or spider or soda or whatever you call it). Interestingly, it coats the mouth with a rich vanilla taste.

Word of the day: HAMPALANG EH (from Daniel)

Foochow. Adjective. A sarcastic term for someone who acts like he/she knows everything. Correlates to "Smarty Pants" and "Mr Know-It-All" in English. See also: HU NO EH, DEI LEI KIAN.

Dragging my feet to hit the streets tonight, to drive along this shit town lights...

I need a haircut badly. I feel like I'm wearing a furry hat on my head. It really is that thick and heavy, but unfortunately I don't have time to get a haircut until the weekend. The thing is, I need to take a bath after a haircut coz I cannot stand those short hair bits trying to crawl down my neck and have their way with my chest and back. Thus, I have to put aside about 2 hours if I want to get a haircut, and I'll rather sleep than wake up early to get a haircut. So, I've decided to wait until the weekends before I get my much needed haircut. I hate the way it pokes into my eyes and feels all heavy on my head. Hmph.

Link of the day: The Quaoar FAQ [caltech.edu] (maintained by one of the co-discoverers)

I just came back from Rock Kung [eateries.com.au] in Glen Waverley. Had supper with Adrian and Jun Wei. I saw two other halls ressies there too. It's the only Chinese restaurant nearby which is still open in the early morning. Perfect for supper, except I probably shouldn't eat so much before going to sleep. I had spicy pork chop with fried rice. Eating Chinese food before going to sleep presents another problem - the MSG gives you two choices:

1. Drink heaps of water and therefore have to get up every 5 minutes to take a piss or 

2. Don't drink enough water and wake up with a headache and sore throat.

Decisions, decisions...

Schoolgirl, 12, suspended over amphetamines [theage.com.au]

Notice that the girl was considered a "model student". I guess staying up for days on end does give you an edge in classes. Not having an appetite will do wonders for your figure as well. Heh. In another semi-related news bit:

Star couple's toddler swallows ecstasy tablet [theage.com.au]

This is not as improbable as it sounds. Ecstasy tablets have been found on the floors of drug friendly raves before. It could be dropped (haha) by a someone who's rolling too hard to realize or dropped on purpose on some MDMA-fuelled charitable act. Not that I know, of course.

Church of Christ Fellowship, Clayton

I'm feeling rather lethargic now after dinner. I had 5 hours of sleep last night coz I wanted to finish the second Artemis Fowl book before I went to bed. Finishing a book always makes me feel strangely empty though. I've been known to read through a series of books and then start with the first one right after finishing the last one. Heh. Anyway, I remembered why I loved Artemis Fowl so much when I read the first book. It's very witty and a good "cheer me up" book. The funniest line in the book goes to the part where Artemis Fowl goes "I suspect I'll view Captain Holly Short in a different way once puberty hits in 8 months". Heh. Well, I did to go church this morning. Had to pull myself out of bed to catch the 9:30 am bus. The church in question is of the Church of Christ denomination, which is quite similar to Methodist. I'm sure there are differing doctrines but it's pretty much the same to me. It's located behind the Coles in Clayton and about 50% of the congregation is composed of younger people. Interesting. They have a really rousing hymn too...goes something like "I'm full of fire for Christ or something". Fun. Anyway, they have "church lunches" as well, where people stay for lunch. It's free for visitors (A$2.50 otherwise) and it was rice with 3 drumsticks, a fried egg, some cabbage, 2 pieces of buttered bread and lots of sauce. Pretty good, and their pastors were really full-on too. Reminded me of my church back in Sibu. Oh, there was a really big spider on the wall of my stairway when I got home today. It was absolutely huge and it's not those thin spiders too. This one had a large abdomen and long sturdy legs. Nasty. I had to give it a wide berth every time I passed by. :(

Size comparison: Look at the automatic door shutter. Damn, that's a huge spider.

Isn't it interesting that Lucifer translates to Bearer of Light and the apple in Genesis is known as the fruit of wisdom? Is too much intelligence an impediment to child-like trust? Let's go to the most basic dogma of Christianity - the resurrection of Christ. I want to believe, but there's this small nagging voice in my head that goes "It won't be too hard to sneak the body out of the tomb - more impossible heists have been pulled off before". Or the miracles in the bible, can they not be group hallucinations from some drug slipped into their food and drink during their feasts? Can the small pieces of fish and bread feed 5,000 because they were eaten together with Khat or a similar stimulant/appetite suppressant plant? It's common knowledge that the Bible was compiled from a long list of written material, with only the non-contradictory material included. Heresy, you say? Sacrilege? I want to believe, but the skeptical part of my brain keeps on providing counter-points. Help me believe, Lord. I'm going to church tomorrow.

Christian Answers

Listening to the Sound of Music soundtrack always cheers me up for some reason. :) Anyway, I went with a couple of my friends today to catch Reign of Fire [reignoffire.com] at the Hoyts in Chadstone. It's a pretty good movie, but not one you should question too much. There are things in the movie that requires some suspension of belief. We had a long list of implausible things by the time the movie ended. Heh. The best scene of the movie is the one where Van Zan jumps off a building to engage the dragon with an axe. That was the money shot. I expected more from the plot outline of the movie, but generally, it was a pretty good film. Anyway, I also bought The Artic Incident [artemisfowl.com] in Borders while waiting for the movie to start. It's the second Artemis Fowl book, and I didn't even know it was already out. I bought the first book and finished it in a few hours while sipping double shot ice blended lattes after having to fly to Kuching for a day (long story) and found it was rather good. I heard a lot of hype about the first book coz people were comparing it with Harry Potter. I'll say Harry Potter is better, but Artemis Fowl is a close second. However, the best books I've ever read are the ones in The Uplift Saga [davidbrin.com] by David Brin. Those are divine if you're into science fiction. Oh, and there were people distributing free yogurt when we were walking out so I grabbed a bag. Contents of the bag: 1 x Vaalia Low Fat Passionfruit Yogurt, 1 x plastic spoon, 1 x A$5 gift voucher redeemable at Coles, BI-LO, Safeway etc. Interesting.

I went to the library today and saw that it has grown a new arm. The extension to the Hargrave library has been completed sometime during the holidays, I see.

Hmm...I'll make this short coz talking about this is depressing in itself. Well, I've been suffering from bouts of depression every few months. Usually, it's tolerable, but sometimes, it comes with anxiety attacks, which makes it somewhat hard to shake off. I had one of those two days ago and went to see a doctor. I was diagnosed with clinical depression (low serotonin levels) and prescribed some Diazepam (Valium). It comes in yellow 5 mg tablets and I was told to take two while talking to the doctor. It did help heaps with the anxiety, and I found that if I think happy thoughts, it helps with the depression too. However, I was hit by some wild ass mood swings when it started to wear off, so I'm not going to take it again. Also, I admit I have an addictive personality so I'll rather stay off benzodiazepines. I haven't taken it since then, I'll rather tough out my depressive episodes instead of relying on pharmaceuticals. Oh well, look on the bright side. At least I have the option of not taking anything and still not kill myself. Some people do not have that luxury and need to take benzos or else they'll become suicidal. I've struggled with suicidal thoughts myself though, and in one major depressive episode, I nearly did it. But I found out that running as fast and as hard as you can until you collapse from exhaustion is a good way to get your mind off things. That and praying. If you still feel suicidal after that, sing (scream) as loud as you can to drown out those thoughts and go somewhere where there are people around. I know that the sheer desperation that occurs during depressive episodes is pretty bad, but I've survived so far. =D Anyway, regarding yesterday's post, I was wondering whether moving to another halls will help. Change of surroundings, you know. We'll see. Hmm...now I'll have to put a happier post on top of this so I don't have to see it when I load my page.

P/S - If you know me in real life, I don't want to talk about this because it makes me depressed. Thanks.

More about this tomorrow...