Friday, June 23, 2006
Sigh, I'm back in Taiwan after a glorious two weeks in Singapore. After a trip to malaysia, meetings, outing with friends and handling adminstrative matters, i suppose the entire home leave experience can be distilled down to a single reflective, introspective question; " Have I eaten all the items on my food list?"
So I haven't cleared all the items on that list but it was a short period and there are only so many meals I can have a day. Plus, I'm getting old, the all consuming monster in my belly is reaching his limit. I suppose it's time for another generation of over eaters to emerge. I remember a Jap buffet that i went to; I could barely keep up with Siew Ho. I still won but barely (it didn't help my appetite that he could make his belly swell like an infected bladder).
The trip to port Dickson wasn't that great either. Not only was it over packed with activities but i didn't get to do shopping, bleh.
My birthday was a relatively tame affair; Aaron and company surprised me by treating me to the Carlton buffet. Not something i didn't suspect but this way i suppose it's a pretty safe birthday present seeing as it's good food+buffet. Hard to miss with such a sure hit combo. I want to thank everyone for their gifts and good will. Of course following the buffet we met up with Moses and another bunch at the cheesecake cafe ( I hear the cheese cakes there are really good).
A rather embarrassing thing happened.
I got up to go to the bathroom and to relieve myself there was this rather complicated lock on the door*. After reading the instruction and turning the switch clockwise as indicated by the diagram above the handle, I assumed that it was safe to " let go".
Of course what the diagram did not show was that you really have to press the door in to ensure that it's locked. So (Hmm how to put this tastefully) while I was "contributing back to the earth's water cycle " someone walked right through my carefully locked door and typical to my charmed life, it was a woman. Completely oblivious to my presence, she proceeded to preen herself in the mirror. Not a second later, she noticed my obvious frame in the mirror desperately trying to simultaneously zip up, apologize (though come to think of it, for what?) and scoot out of there as fast as my stubby legs could carry me. Needless to say I was VERY careful the next time i used THAT toilet.
I met up with Adrian and medic wee on Monday, Nicky was suppose to come along but as it turns out he couldn't make. Sa'right, I like the company of the two of them all the same. It was a nice day we had a jap buffet ( i won't say which but anyone who knows me can guess which one it is and might i say the standard has dropped quite abit). Painfully as it is, I enjoyed the company that afternoon.
Met up with Moses, Aaron and others watch X men 3 a BIG disappointment, not only does it deviate from the X men canon but it killed off all the fun characters. Sigh this is what happens when you let Hollywood work it's "magic" on the classics.
Spent the rest of my home leave handling my administrative matters. I'm still stuck of choice regarding where i want to study. So far I've gotten it down to two:
UQ
Pros
- Higher international ranking (than UWA)
- Offering me the double degree that I wanted to do
- Non urban area i.e. cheaper accommodation
Cons
- Far from everyone else I know that in Aus (except sigh "someone's" brother)
- 3 yrs before completion i.e. higher costs and longer time away from home
- Someone else's brother studying there, I'd hate to be " following his path"
UWA
Pros
- Shorter single degree, 2 yrs
- Alot more pple i know will be going there, and in some cases even taking the same classes= social support (impt when you're in a foreign country)
- non urban area
- Single degree = chance to do honours in the third yr of my stay there
Cons
- Single degree, I don't get to do psychology :(
- Not as highly ranked internationally as UQ
- With the accredited units it may be hard to do a double major (which MOE requires if you want to teach sec sch)
So while I tackle this conundrum of mine I'll leave you first with today's Jon's Gem
" Look on the bright side, there are only two instances when you can feel lonely. When you're by yourself and when you're with other other pple. "
* It seems the locks in Sg (especially in lavatories) have gotten REALLY complicated. I wouldn't be surprised to find one in the near future that requires you to solve the Goldbach conjecture or a Landau problem before the door will open or lock, much to the dismay of any desperate commode user.
So I haven't cleared all the items on that list but it was a short period and there are only so many meals I can have a day. Plus, I'm getting old, the all consuming monster in my belly is reaching his limit. I suppose it's time for another generation of over eaters to emerge. I remember a Jap buffet that i went to; I could barely keep up with Siew Ho. I still won but barely (it didn't help my appetite that he could make his belly swell like an infected bladder).
The trip to port Dickson wasn't that great either. Not only was it over packed with activities but i didn't get to do shopping, bleh.
My birthday was a relatively tame affair; Aaron and company surprised me by treating me to the Carlton buffet. Not something i didn't suspect but this way i suppose it's a pretty safe birthday present seeing as it's good food+buffet. Hard to miss with such a sure hit combo. I want to thank everyone for their gifts and good will. Of course following the buffet we met up with Moses and another bunch at the cheesecake cafe ( I hear the cheese cakes there are really good).
A rather embarrassing thing happened.
I got up to go to the bathroom and to relieve myself there was this rather complicated lock on the door*. After reading the instruction and turning the switch clockwise as indicated by the diagram above the handle, I assumed that it was safe to " let go".
Of course what the diagram did not show was that you really have to press the door in to ensure that it's locked. So (Hmm how to put this tastefully) while I was "contributing back to the earth's water cycle " someone walked right through my carefully locked door and typical to my charmed life, it was a woman. Completely oblivious to my presence, she proceeded to preen herself in the mirror. Not a second later, she noticed my obvious frame in the mirror desperately trying to simultaneously zip up, apologize (though come to think of it, for what?) and scoot out of there as fast as my stubby legs could carry me. Needless to say I was VERY careful the next time i used THAT toilet.
I met up with Adrian and medic wee on Monday, Nicky was suppose to come along but as it turns out he couldn't make. Sa'right, I like the company of the two of them all the same. It was a nice day we had a jap buffet ( i won't say which but anyone who knows me can guess which one it is and might i say the standard has dropped quite abit). Painfully as it is, I enjoyed the company that afternoon.
Met up with Moses, Aaron and others watch X men 3 a BIG disappointment, not only does it deviate from the X men canon but it killed off all the fun characters. Sigh this is what happens when you let Hollywood work it's "magic" on the classics.
Spent the rest of my home leave handling my administrative matters. I'm still stuck of choice regarding where i want to study. So far I've gotten it down to two:
UQ
Pros
- Higher international ranking (than UWA)
- Offering me the double degree that I wanted to do
- Non urban area i.e. cheaper accommodation
Cons
- Far from everyone else I know that in Aus (except sigh "someone's" brother)
- 3 yrs before completion i.e. higher costs and longer time away from home
- Someone else's brother studying there, I'd hate to be " following his path"
UWA
Pros
- Shorter single degree, 2 yrs
- Alot more pple i know will be going there, and in some cases even taking the same classes= social support (impt when you're in a foreign country)
- non urban area
- Single degree = chance to do honours in the third yr of my stay there
Cons
- Single degree, I don't get to do psychology :(
- Not as highly ranked internationally as UQ
- With the accredited units it may be hard to do a double major (which MOE requires if you want to teach sec sch)
So while I tackle this conundrum of mine I'll leave you first with today's Jon's Gem
" Look on the bright side, there are only two instances when you can feel lonely. When you're by yourself and when you're with other other pple. "
* It seems the locks in Sg (especially in lavatories) have gotten REALLY complicated. I wouldn't be surprised to find one in the near future that requires you to solve the Goldbach conjecture or a Landau problem before the door will open or lock, much to the dismay of any desperate commode user.
