Finally - a chance to relax!
The weekend is over… again. *sigh*
But… it’s mid-semester break!
Ever since the time leading up to elections, I’ve been hanging around with Kan, Farhad, Ben, Wei Han and Hui Kiet, my new friends from the halls… and where’ve I spent a lot of time? At the halls! And now I’m jealous of the people living there! They have so much fun! And Kan has all these videogames… which I’ve been taking advantage of already (mwa ha ha ha!).
Anyhow, Thursday night, I spent some time just chilling out and calming down after elections with Farhad, Hui Kiet and Kan… dinner first, then just stoning in … was it in Kan’s or Farhad’s room? Can’t remember…
Friday, went to Kan’s room in the afternoon, after checking in on ballot counting progress and having a chat with both Catherine and Patrick. I played both Paper Mario and Kingdom Hearts all day long… and after that, Rick came over, and we moved into the projector room and played Mario Cart and Naruto. I guess I won’t be as desperate to play games once I get to BKK this time! Kan should meet P’Oad – I think they’d get along, both being big game aficionados!
Sidhaesh called me while I was playing Paper Mario… I handed the controller over to Kan… and spoke on the phone. Then Kan handed it back to me and I was distracted for a few seconds while I was trying to get rid of it again. Why did Sidhaesh get to annoyed with me? Why do we always end up having a very negative exchange over the phone? I don’t want to fight. Really don’t want to. More than anything, I just don’t see a point to fighting, a point to being unhappy. And perhaps we may disagree on this, but I think it’s better not to talk than to talk and be unhappy.
Saturday was fun – went to the Royal Melbourne Show – it’s a bit like a ‘gnaan wat’ in Thailand, except the Australian version of it. Just a big carnival with just about everything in it.
The mission for the day was to win a stuffed toy ‘Spongebob’ (above) for Hui Kiet. Atleast, that was the mission as far as Ben, Wei Han, Farhad and Kan were concerned…
In the end, I think between the three of them, they probably spent about $40-$50 trying, and none of them managed to win it. And I won myself a dragon for $2 by winning a race =) I named him/her Dragonseka
Here are a few more pictures from the fair:
These are both cakes, believe it or not! Super cute!
Ben, Farhad and Wei Han got really bored waiting for me and Hui Kiet to finish making our ‘soya candles’ and resorted to gnawing on their collars out of sheer frustration…
I was trying to figure out which earrings to buy… but in the end got a special discount from this Thai guy making stuff out of shells… From $10 to $2! Just for being Thai!
Getting this thing to float on its own was a real challenge!
Lunch!
Eeee… eeew…
No comment…
The top-right warning is a little bit worrying… do they mean while it’s moving… or would they stop it first? Kan and I waited while the rest went…
Teatime! From left to right, for those who are unfamiliar with these faces: Me, Kan, Wei Han, Ben, Farhad, Hui Kiet
Richard was supposed to come and join us, but he never made it =(
Dinner at Bismi – why does everyone look so dead tired?
Rue Babylon… Dragonseka has his/her first drink. Bumped into Hardesh and his friend there, too =)
It all ended with a drink in Farhad’s room. Catherine was so stressed out, and we spent most of the time telling her not be bullied by anyone!
Sunday… swam for the first time in AGES! Swam for a whole hour! I didn’t know that Hui Kiet was coming as well, and apparently we were there the whole time at the same time, and totally missed each other! How was that possible?!
Anyhow, had dinner with Kan and we started planning our summer holidays – I think I am not going to go for the NUS conference and just go to Bangkok a month earlier, right after exams finish… on November 10! That way, we can go up to Laos! Never mind student politics… I think it’s time to move on to something new next year… I’ll do my year as MUISS education officer if I get elected… then calm down, chill out and just hang out a lot more… enjoy my university years =)
Speaking of MUISS elections… haha… that election forum the other day… I’ve never heard such pointless questions all my life. The ‘friends of MUISS’ were asking things that basically said “I want things run the old fashioned way – OUR way”. So much for progressive thinking! It seemed more like an opportunity for them to show that they disapprove of ‘new blood’ (meaning, in this case, Farhad, since the rest are all ex-MUISS people) and ‘new ideas’ (meaning, here, people who do not belong to the ‘friends of muiss’ clique, which was almost all of us).
Oh… maybe I’m just being judgemental… I shouldn’t be. But I can’t stand the fact that some people seem to think that if one is to be part of MUISS, it has to be the only commitment in anyone’s life… as though it were a marriage! What I really love about our team is that we all come from different backgrounds, and are involved in other activities as well. It simply means that we’ll have more creative ideas when we work together as a team, and we’ll argue more (not quarrel, mind you!), which will lead to creative solutions, rather than the norm.
I wondered at the amount of questions the team received regarding whether or not we’d be capable of handling the workload. A person in capable if they believe they are capable. The questions should be about what we intend to do in our roles, not about many contact hours we have per week! We’re all dedicated, and it’s up to us to decide whether or not we can handle the workload. It’s up to the voter to decide whether we are suitable for the role, and I hardly believe that how many hours we spend in class per week has any significance!
But getting back to my earlier point… that I shouldn’t be judgemental. I can’t help it! I remember when I came back from NLCAC2004, I was still a MUISS committee member, even though I’d been elected as state convenor. I remember thinking that my team would be supportive of me… but NO. I performed my duties as editor for Network magazine with all due diligence. I attended all MUISS meetings. I perhaps didn’t do as much in the MUISS lounge as I used to, but in any case, I still performed my duties fully. So what was the big deal? Even when I had time to do things on campus, and help MUISS, all of a sudden I was considered an outsider because my time was managed between NLC and MUISS.
What a load of crap… viva la difference! Progress requires a catalyst!
But… it’s mid-semester break!
Ever since the time leading up to elections, I’ve been hanging around with Kan, Farhad, Ben, Wei Han and Hui Kiet, my new friends from the halls… and where’ve I spent a lot of time? At the halls! And now I’m jealous of the people living there! They have so much fun! And Kan has all these videogames… which I’ve been taking advantage of already (mwa ha ha ha!).
Anyhow, Thursday night, I spent some time just chilling out and calming down after elections with Farhad, Hui Kiet and Kan… dinner first, then just stoning in … was it in Kan’s or Farhad’s room? Can’t remember…
Friday, went to Kan’s room in the afternoon, after checking in on ballot counting progress and having a chat with both Catherine and Patrick. I played both Paper Mario and Kingdom Hearts all day long… and after that, Rick came over, and we moved into the projector room and played Mario Cart and Naruto. I guess I won’t be as desperate to play games once I get to BKK this time! Kan should meet P’Oad – I think they’d get along, both being big game aficionados!
Sidhaesh called me while I was playing Paper Mario… I handed the controller over to Kan… and spoke on the phone. Then Kan handed it back to me and I was distracted for a few seconds while I was trying to get rid of it again. Why did Sidhaesh get to annoyed with me? Why do we always end up having a very negative exchange over the phone? I don’t want to fight. Really don’t want to. More than anything, I just don’t see a point to fighting, a point to being unhappy. And perhaps we may disagree on this, but I think it’s better not to talk than to talk and be unhappy.
Saturday was fun – went to the Royal Melbourne Show – it’s a bit like a ‘gnaan wat’ in Thailand, except the Australian version of it. Just a big carnival with just about everything in it.
The mission for the day was to win a stuffed toy ‘Spongebob’ (above) for Hui Kiet. Atleast, that was the mission as far as Ben, Wei Han, Farhad and Kan were concerned…
In the end, I think between the three of them, they probably spent about $40-$50 trying, and none of them managed to win it. And I won myself a dragon for $2 by winning a race =) I named him/her Dragonseka
Here are a few more pictures from the fair:
These are both cakes, believe it or not! Super cute!
Ben, Farhad and Wei Han got really bored waiting for me and Hui Kiet to finish making our ‘soya candles’ and resorted to gnawing on their collars out of sheer frustration…
I was trying to figure out which earrings to buy… but in the end got a special discount from this Thai guy making stuff out of shells… From $10 to $2! Just for being Thai!
Getting this thing to float on its own was a real challenge!
Lunch!
Eeee… eeew…
No comment…
The top-right warning is a little bit worrying… do they mean while it’s moving… or would they stop it first? Kan and I waited while the rest went…
Teatime! From left to right, for those who are unfamiliar with these faces: Me, Kan, Wei Han, Ben, Farhad, Hui Kiet
Richard was supposed to come and join us, but he never made it =(
Dinner at Bismi – why does everyone look so dead tired?
Rue Babylon… Dragonseka has his/her first drink. Bumped into Hardesh and his friend there, too =)
It all ended with a drink in Farhad’s room. Catherine was so stressed out, and we spent most of the time telling her not be bullied by anyone!
Sunday… swam for the first time in AGES! Swam for a whole hour! I didn’t know that Hui Kiet was coming as well, and apparently we were there the whole time at the same time, and totally missed each other! How was that possible?!
Anyhow, had dinner with Kan and we started planning our summer holidays – I think I am not going to go for the NUS conference and just go to Bangkok a month earlier, right after exams finish… on November 10! That way, we can go up to Laos! Never mind student politics… I think it’s time to move on to something new next year… I’ll do my year as MUISS education officer if I get elected… then calm down, chill out and just hang out a lot more… enjoy my university years =)
Speaking of MUISS elections… haha… that election forum the other day… I’ve never heard such pointless questions all my life. The ‘friends of MUISS’ were asking things that basically said “I want things run the old fashioned way – OUR way”. So much for progressive thinking! It seemed more like an opportunity for them to show that they disapprove of ‘new blood’ (meaning, in this case, Farhad, since the rest are all ex-MUISS people) and ‘new ideas’ (meaning, here, people who do not belong to the ‘friends of muiss’ clique, which was almost all of us).
Oh… maybe I’m just being judgemental… I shouldn’t be. But I can’t stand the fact that some people seem to think that if one is to be part of MUISS, it has to be the only commitment in anyone’s life… as though it were a marriage! What I really love about our team is that we all come from different backgrounds, and are involved in other activities as well. It simply means that we’ll have more creative ideas when we work together as a team, and we’ll argue more (not quarrel, mind you!), which will lead to creative solutions, rather than the norm.
I wondered at the amount of questions the team received regarding whether or not we’d be capable of handling the workload. A person in capable if they believe they are capable. The questions should be about what we intend to do in our roles, not about many contact hours we have per week! We’re all dedicated, and it’s up to us to decide whether or not we can handle the workload. It’s up to the voter to decide whether we are suitable for the role, and I hardly believe that how many hours we spend in class per week has any significance!
But getting back to my earlier point… that I shouldn’t be judgemental. I can’t help it! I remember when I came back from NLCAC2004, I was still a MUISS committee member, even though I’d been elected as state convenor. I remember thinking that my team would be supportive of me… but NO. I performed my duties as editor for Network magazine with all due diligence. I attended all MUISS meetings. I perhaps didn’t do as much in the MUISS lounge as I used to, but in any case, I still performed my duties fully. So what was the big deal? Even when I had time to do things on campus, and help MUISS, all of a sudden I was considered an outsider because my time was managed between NLC and MUISS.
What a load of crap… viva la difference! Progress requires a catalyst!