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THE JOURNEY
of how far we came, in words of mine.

It was all in His plans for me to study in Sydney. Now that I'm here, it's up to me to shine His light.

FLIGHT 818 .




unspoken .





credits .

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FLY AWAY TO SYD
on the journey to Sydney.

4 years in Sydney is an awefully long time.
Catch me before I fly away, cause I'm having the time of my life.
Friends come and go, but the close ones never part irregardless of the distance.


Sunday, September 30, 2007
22:12

GOLD COAST AND AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITY GAMES

i wanted to type a freaking long post on the AUG, but i'm not in the mood to do so. Maybe its cause i lost in the Finals. I have no interest in commenting on the competition and Gold Coast.

Played badminton from monday to friday. had bananas and gatorade everyday. didn do much shopping. did grocery shopping daily. had to sleep early and wake up early. played some fantastic matches even though it went to a rubber match. i was surprisingly on form during the tornament, despite my short of fitness and consistency. played charades every night. played singles in the finals. i dont like the way Monash played against me and my partner during the finals. was really sad, but there were no tears. played timezone and went to the beach after 5pm. met up twice with the roat trip gang. drank minimum alcohol at Gold Coast.

Basically, my trip is really boring if you aint a fan of badminton. even if you are a fan of badminton, you'll still get sick of it. tht's wht i'm feeling now, with injuries creeping in. decided not to touch the racket for at least 2 weeks. People said i lost a bit of weight after the trip. I think the excessive diet of bananas, energy bars and gatorade contributed massively to tht.

My air ticket labelled me as a MRS. I wonder who i'm married to. Myself? HAHA.

In all, the standard of badminton here is lower than tht of Singapore, and some of these players act as though they are freaking good. They had the arrogant attitude on court, with poor sportsmanship. was really disgusted by such players. Had the usual fun of bitching about other pple.

-

ELEANOR'S AND GRACE'S 21st BIRTHDAY

i touched down at bout 430pm. Went for their party at the Star Bar at 830pm. I totally got no time for myself. the theme of the party is: PUNK ROCK. well, i tried to dress to tht theme. thanks to my mango top, it fitted the theme perfectly. played some games. fadhly got sabotaged to do a hot dance on an opposite sex, and he chose me. sheesh. the crowd wasnt pleased, so he had to take off his top. he owes me one for me being so sporting. sheesh!

was really tired tht night. wasnt really in the mood to do anything, including dance. was too tired to even hold conversations. by the time joy and the rest came, i was too tired and cranky. made ian play the random games prepared by the birthday girl. he did a hot dance on julian. HAHA. to bad i dont have a photo of it. then keng loon had to kiss jeremy. HAHA. it was turning out to be a gay and lesbian night when joy kept picking dares tht have to be done on the same sex. since i'm the only other girl around, i had to 'sacrifice'.

i had to go home early cause i've got another badminton competition the next day. but it turned out to be an absolute waste of my time. plus, i'm already suffering from fatigue. :/ cant really play properly.

-

DRINKING SESSION

had a mini get together at julian's house on sunday night. attendance: julian, ian, jeremy, keng loon, gabriel, yun hsiu, joy and i. had pizza, beer and wine. played pub krawl and truth or dare. i got a bit tipsy from all the wine. wasnt a good night for me. :/ tired from the lack of sleep.

-

SHOPPING AT BONDI JUNCTION

shopped at bondi with joy, jeremy and keng loon. bought my dress. absolutely blew my budget. dno how to explain to my mom. :/

not in the mood to type a lot. in a confused mode now. but yanho is really sweet. he sent me an sms from sg saying tht i'm still pretty whether or not my eyebrows are crappy. -awww. no wonder he's one of my best friends. HAHA.


Saturday, September 22, 2007
19:35

FRIENDS

i thought i would be bored on friday and saturday. the reason: joy, jeremy and co left for Gold Coast on Friday morning. Sagar left for Singapore on Friday noon. I didn't get to see the guy the whole week. Sai is heading to Melbourne on Saturday morning. And i? I'm only leaving for Gold Coast on Sunday morning. But i'll be back on Saturday afternoon. The whole week is packed to the maximum. But the days leading to it is so relaxed and empty.

To a certain extent, I enjoy the quiet times. With the book Joy lent me, I am lying on my bed, engrossed in the world of thrillers. I'm grateful she lent me a book to past time. I miss those times when i stayed up to read a storybook. When will i have the time to do it again? I don't even have time to watch a single drama serial now.

Just as the day was starting to get boring, and i'm starting to miss my friends who already left Sydney, Grace called me out for dinner. Eternally grateful. Ate at the same place as where i met her the night before. Chat till the wee hours. Topic: the Shuwen religion, and wht is LUCK? it was a pretty deep talk. slowly enjoying each other's company, the chocolate drinks and the cakes.

A different group of friends, a different perspective to things.

In all, I'm grateful for all the friends i have and made so far. This goes out to those in Singapore too. Without you people, life would be meaningless and boring.

Of course, listening to Chirstian music helps to calm my heart and mind. It gives me the feeling that I'm never alone. The Lord is always with me. I guess this is what it means by depending on the Lord.

OH! the stupid me tried to pluck my eyebrows last night. I even tried to trim it. And i've overdid it. I have uneven eyebrows. I'm going to wear a cap for the whole of next week. Until my eyebrows grow again. hmphs. Bought a roxy cap for 15 dollars. Mind you, the colour is light purple. :)

I'm going to turn in for my flight. I don't want to oversleep. Till then, I'll be back in a week's time to post pictures and to update about the trip.

p.s. And YES, i do miss those crazy bunch of good friends who are on the road trip to Gold Coast as i type.


Friday, September 21, 2007
00:11

oops, i did it again, 4 times in a row.

i think i'm really dumb. it's the forth time in 2 weeks. why can't i learn from my lesson? am i really tht stubborn? i go for trainings at around noon time. so its pretty warm. i wear my short trg shorts. after trg, the sun sets, and the temperature starts to drop. and i, am left to walk back in the cold with my short shorts. usually, i'll take 400 to randwick junction, and another bus back to my place. tht happens if i'm really cold.

i could have died in the cold.

had a short training session on wednesday. the last one before the competition. i am definitely not match-fit. but i hope i'll regain my competitive spirit during the competition and make up for my shortfall. went for dinner with sharon and vivian. nasi goreng jakarta. the food isn't tht bad, but the wait was terrible.

after tht, the weather was freezing cold. wht was i wearing? my shorts. went to ritz cinema to meet joy and ian esjay for the movie, hairspray. waited almost 2 hours for the movie. and just 15min before the movie, i popped the qns: why didn we ask jeremy to watch with us? HAHA. so we called jeremy, who was playing poker at churchills. he and kengloon managed to rush in time for the movie, missing the first 15mins.

after the movie, we wanted a place whereby we can have coffee. zellini's was closed. the other place left is mackers. so i told kl and jerm to pop by mulwarree first. wait for me to bathe and change, before we head down to mackers and then to baxter to watch the champions league match. the five of us had a nice talk in my room till bout 1ish. then joy went back to sleep.

headed to mackers. ate. went back to baxter college, my 2nd home. chat on msn using jerm's laptop. i swear, his laptop is so screwed up, i cant even access facebook. random chats till 5am. then its manu vs sporting lisbon. manu won! 1-0. they are becoming like chelsea 3 seasons ago. eww.

slept at 7am. woke up at 1pm. missed all 3 tuts tht day. my first time missing any tuts. and i pon all 3. in a holiday mood. no point going. did random stuff. met and chat with several groups of people. the feeling was good. i should be more pro-active in asking people out. seriously.

going to try and correct my body clock before my competition. i managed to avoid any form of alcohol today. pangseh eleanor and grace again. SORRY! i'll make up for it on the following saturday. i promise i'll stay up as late as possible and provide as much entertain. haha. i'll try to heck care my competition on sunday!! for you girls, i will. :))


Wednesday, September 19, 2007
00:00

nothing much has been happening. except for the fact tht i'm not doing my homework. the holiday mood is sinking in. :) i'm now looking forward to my gold coast trip. i'll be staying at zenith apartments which is smacked in the middle of the night activities of the esplanade and surfers' paradise. moreover, my service apartment is in front of the beach. 1 min walk. AWESOME.

i must learn how to be more considerate. everytime i talk to my mom, i have to ask how is she first! (before i tell her about my current situation and tht i need more money) HAHA.

eleanor's and grace's preparation for their 21st birthday has got me thinking about mine too. wht should i do? hmphs. btw, i told them i'll blow my budget for them. the problem is, wht present is meaningful enough for a 21st? and, wht's my budget?

decided to do some self reflection now, and reply emails.
tada.


Sunday, September 16, 2007
02:23

wht is the definition of team spirit?

the recent f1 saga took a new turn. Mclaren is found guilty of stealing and using Ferrari's data. The controversy? Mclaren team is stripped of all their constructors' points BUT their drivers get to keep their points for the drivers' championship. The bait? the drivers are required to surrender all information they have and they can keep their points. therefore, where is the team spirit? all i see is selfishness. the $150 million fine on mclaren is not going to affect them much. they should expel the team for this season and the next. it will send out a severe warning to all the teams and make F1 a 'cleaner' sport. but our dear bernie decided tht the rivalry between hamilton and alonso is far more interesting. money - the root of all evils. even if Mclaren stops using the stolen information, it is already embeaded in the heads of their engineers. you cant erase memory! disqualify them!

p.s. i'm a ferrari fan.


-

there are always regrets in life

didn do as well as i expected for my mid-semester exams.


finance:
failed my 15% quiz. got 6.5/15, but the tutor was nice enough to round it up to 7. its still a fail.

qma:
i reckon i got a HD, if i didn make any careless, needless mistake.

accounting 1b:
i'm hoping for a HD, but a D should be within reach. :/

microeconomics:
passable, but i dno by how many marks. i shouldn have listened to others saying tht the paper was easy. i didn study for it at all. pretty screwed. tht's why i 'annouced tht i'm not taking an econs degree. haha.

told my mom about my failed quiz, and she asked wht the reason was? is it because your competition is coming up? i went like "nvr study hard enough." the reason will nvr be badminton, not when i'm here. and my mom went "study harder next time." she seems so relaxed bout it, beyond my imagination. :)

-

commitments

i nvr had a problem going for trainings or badminton in sg. but i seem to have a problem committing my time to badminton here. wht seems to be the problem? is my passion for badminton dwindling? after several reflections, i realised it was due to the friends i have here. none of them a really dedicated to go for trainings. and they do not play competitive badminton. in the past, all my close friends play competitive badminton. training was THE place for us. there is an invisible 'string' tht pulls me for training. i want to go for badminton. i really do. is my hunger for glory and victory there? the very thing tht made me train so hard in secondary school seems to be severely lacking. do i want to win? more often than not, i seem to be losing pretty frequently in trgs. in doubles and in singles. its understandable tht i lose in singles, but not doubles. just not doubles. i still feel sore whenever i lose. the spirit is willing, the flesh is not.

i'm just thinking - maybe my failed attempts to get a position in the SSA is a sign for me. a sign to focus on the task at hand. learn to be committed and dedicated to badminton before moving on to other things. MAYBE. how i wish the Lord would tell me so. -wishful thinking.

-

secret

i bought the dvd, secret. a movie with jay chou as the lead actor. watched it at julian's house on saturday with him, joy, ian and keng loon. at first, i thought it was another chick flick tht i have to make to guys watch with me. [correction: it was kengloon who introduced me the show. so technically, it should be him who is putting us through all these.] however, a surprising twist in the movie made us all glued to the screen. even ian was glued to the screen. and we stopped julian from telling us the ending - which he sourced for online.

verdict: an idol movie with loopholes, but nonetheless worthwhile to watch. the twist makes the movie a hit. and, it has the usual lame taiwanese jokes.

-

today

i know this is a really long post. these thoughts have been accumulated in my head, and it was about time i got rid of it. been studying really hard the whole week. and i'm finally glad its all over. i cant wait for the hols. however, i know my AUG trip will only be about badminton. :/ hopefully the company will make my day.

training today was tiring. was made to play singles. over and over again. i think i tried my best, despite losing all the games. we'll see. w/o our 2nd singles going, we are a depleted squad. i'm wondering how far can we go.

church wasn't so bad today. i like the songs they played and i felt the presence of the holy spirit. however, i cant be blamed for falling asleep during service. too tired. and every sunday, joy would ask if i'm okay, cause i look really tired. and i'll be really quiet. to be honest, i'm too tired to social or even talk after training. so yea, tht's a different side of me.


Thursday, September 13, 2007
23:08

i am NOT doing an econs degree.

haha. yes, i must say tht to people. it is too embarrassing telling everyone tht i'm taking an econs degree when i know nuts bout my econs paper tmrr. to think it was the most basic module of all. i dont even know how to calculate the producer and consumer loss. i happily thought it was just Qty minus Qty.

thank goodness i did the practise paper. joy and jeremy had to teach me.

moving on, my mom is a joker. she didn even say anything bout my failed finance quiz. YES, i failed it. and we were arguing bout the smallest of details.

the swell on my face isnt getting better. UGLY ME.

hopefully i dont off my alarm tmrr, just like wht i did this morning. I HAD BETTER NOT SNOOZE.

alright, thrr will be a long and exciting day. 2 papers to a mini-freedom. ssa agm. elections. WE'LL SEE IF I HAVE GOOD NEWS TO SHARE TMRR.

i'm in a very cranky mood now. (as you can see with all the caps.)
wish me good luck and a high distinction for my MSTs.


02:30

my mum would be proud of me.

i studied so much the past few days, my mom would be proud of me. and i'm actually sacrificing my precious sleeping time to blog. after my accounting 1b mid-sems, i actually went to school to continue studying. well, it included slacking in baxter college, taking a nap, and playing table soccer and ping pong.

funny things happen when you are studying. especially if you are studying with sagar and jeremy. one is so laid-back, the other can't manage on his own. HAHA. and they are the ones tht disturbed my 15mins of sleep. (well, tht turned out to be a 30min nap tho).

the reason they woke me up: sagar uses a financial calculator. he keyed in the same numerical numbers as jeremy, and he got the wrong answer! it took him 3 times to get the right solution. in between, he even thought tht his calculator was faulty. jeremy was laughing so much and sagar was so confused. i just had to wake up from my slumber. it was too hilarious.

when we studying in the law lib, the only entertainment for us is FACEBOOK. so my friends who hasnt got one, please go and get it now. i need it for my study breaks. haha.

on retrospect, i did pretty well for my accounting 1b. might get a high score for it. who knows? right now, its QMA and micro. sigh. give me a break. :/

no kit kats.

only 5 hours of sleep left. gd night.


Wednesday, September 12, 2007
00:25

pray tht my face is not swollen nor does it have rashes when i wake up tmrr.

i wont be able to face the world with my hideous face.

:((((((((


Tuesday, September 11, 2007
01:12

studying makes me cranky.

i think this is a known fact. steph and ter used to laugh at me after a hard day's work of studying or a major exam. cause i'm always making weird comments after tht, or behaving as tho there's no tmrr.

cranky, tht is wht it is called.

and the crankiness struck me again.

laugh all you want, cause i'll be back on normal on saturday. :D

signing off with love.


Saturday, September 08, 2007
22:16

neither happy nor sad, but i'll be stressed if i don't start doing work soon.

this is probably my 3rd post of the day, but who cares. it's my blog. alright, my day was not helped by the fact that i burst my racket string in one month. which means i have to fork out another 20 dollars to restring the racket. sigh.

and i'm so tired from playing badminton games now. no mood to do accounting. i was thinking on the lines of sleeping now, and its only 11pm. my day wasnt interesting. and it certainly isnt helped by the fact tht my wish to go dreamworld during AUG is fading.

i guess AUG is about the beach and the booze.

OH! amelia called me on friday afternoon. made me smile. :) we talked for exactly 18min, until her phone card died. i'll endure for 3 months, until i get to see her again.

p.s. i have yet to change my air ticket. at this rate, i dno when i go come back. :/


12:03

since i'm going to play badminton soon, and i cant find anyone from last night who is online, i'm going to blog about wht my nameless housemate wrote to me.

hey shuwen,
....
i hope you'll be more considerate to your housemates, as i usually dont like noise after 11pm. i cannot take the decibels of your ... there are other venues in which you can hold your gathering.
eg. pubs/clubs
(the person gave 3 options)

regards,
(signature which cant tell the name of the person)

mind you, the person took the chivas box out from the recycle bin and put it on the table. so tht i'll notice the note immediately.

i would accept the suggestion if you spoke to me nicely and said tht you want to study at night. i would have taken the party out of the house. but now, the tone of your note disgusts me.

now i'm left with no mood to study nor play badminton.


11:36

i want to say wht happened this morning.

but i must practise tolerance and consideration.

ARGH.


Friday, September 07, 2007
02:06

fragility of life

was watching "no reservations" today. the death of zoe's mother (in the show) made me reflect on the fragility of life. how precious one's life is. i've always wondered how i would react when my nearest kin passed away. (choy!) but yea, you'll nvr know when it'll happen. i always have a few scenarios in my head, but i know deep in my heart tht when the time comes, i will be devastated.

every time i think of such stuff, i'll have to convince myself tht everything will be fine. it's really difficult not to think about it. sometimes your mind wonders off and there you are, back at the square one. it does not help matters when you are far away from your loved ones. if anything happens to them, it's not just a cab ride down in 15 min. its the cost of an air ticket, an 8 hr flight, etc. the feeling of facing it alone here and not being able to be there.

gosh. this makes me really scared, especially with past experiences. maybe i should just use this chance to tell my loved ones at home tht I LOVE THEM. i know i'll nvr be able to do it over the telephone or face-to-face. so i hope someone will relate this message to them. :D

this reminds me of an ex-classmate of mine. every time she talks on the phone with her family, she'll always end off with a 'love you'. her logic: in case anything happens to her, she wants it to be the last words to her loved ones. HAHA.

i miss my ah ma.


Wednesday, September 05, 2007
23:54

attempt 2

i think my attempt to be intellectual failed again. you need to be in the groove to be intellectual, and i just aint in swing.

something funny happened during accounting lecture today. as usual, sagar, jeremy and i were sitting together. and jeremy was 'pestering' sagar for magic tricks the whole time. and i was there listening to the lecturer occasionally, looking at the card tricks, day dreaming for the most part, and sleeping. this particular trick is so funny:


sagar: think of a card, and i'll think of a card too.
jeremy: ok, i'm ready.
sagar: wht was your card?
jeremy: ace of hearts.
sagar: i thought of the same card too! -cheeky smile
okay, tht wasn't even a trick and jeremy got FOOLED, BIG TIME. i was there laughing till i almost dropped off the chair. if i wasnt in a lecture, i would be laughing out loud.
JEREMY, YOU GOT PUNK'D.

alright, i'm hoping to achieve a chunk of studies this week and next. cause the mid-sem exams is next week. and i'm so not prepared for anything. don't even have the motivation to study. :(
and the gold coast trip is pretty expensive. 755 dollars. eewww. and i reckon i'm going to spend bout 200 tht week. but my mom was like: "is 500 enough for expenses tht week?" jaw drops. but i rejected it. i think 300 will be the max. she knew i'll drink a lot tht weekend, and drinks is expensive. so yea... so nice of her. imagine me drinking 500 dollars worth of drinks in a week? whoa. i think i can play in the competition alr. too drunk to even start warming up.

i read the article on unsw asia staff being forced to sign the letter of release. -shakes head. i've nvr approved of the university doing tht. going back on their words. if they had a moral obligation towards its students, it should have a moral obligation towards its staff too. haiis.


Tuesday, September 04, 2007
23:31

the new intellectual me.

i've decided to be more intellectual and blog about things, other than myself.

but i'm too tired to do it now. shall do it tmrr, if i can finish up all my homework.

back to what i did today:
i was awaken by julian's sms at 1030. played on my laptop and read some random blogs. attempted to study, and the end product was a completed qma tutorial, a wasted afternoon, a missed lecture (again), a missed badminton session and a movie called the bourne ultimatum. eventful? nahh.

came home and finished reading my micro chap, BUT i'm too lazy to do the tutorial.

and just as i'm about to sleep, my dear nigel has to come and say hi to me. HAHA. how can i 'reject' him? maybe i will.


00:36

nothing to blog about. except tht i'm having breakout of pimples, and i'm suffering from a lack of sleep.

gd night. going to talk rubbish on msn now.


Sunday, September 02, 2007
17:01

no more alcohol

alright, its no more alcohol for me until the AUG. not because i'm afraid of a brain damage. but i want to be match fit for AUG. and, i will be playing badminton 3 times a week until AUG. felt so lousy after training today.

anyone who tempts me with alcohol before the AUG will be slaughtered.

i'm so tired. but i still have to study.
off to bathe.


Saturday, September 01, 2007
19:25

this is going to be a random and offensive post.
so pls forgive me.

A letter to myself:

Shuwen, f*ck you. start studying cause you dont have time left. stop playing with the laptop even when no one is talking to you.

regards, me.


alright. i'm just angry with myself for accomplishing nothing these few days. progress on work has been slow. :/


12:30

i'm one happy little girl. :D

even though i slept for 5 hours, i'm raring to go! a man called me at 11am today. asleep as i was, i woke up and picked up the phone. the delivery man was on the line. asking me to go down to collect the parcel! HURRAY. the parcel my mom sent me only took 3 days to arrive. and guess wht, i have 1 more pair of shoes, 1 pair of flats, 3 nice (clubbing) tops, and almost 15 other new and old tees. plus more socks. AND my ipod shuffle.

yay!! no need for shopping, no need for weekly laundries, no need for being afraid of my friends knowing my entire wardrobe. HAHA.

had steamboat last night at nory's place, harvard court. think 14 to 15 people went. nice gathering. the guys tried to make me drink, but the gas on my body made me very uncomfortable. and please, i didn even puke!! hehe.

TO GRACE: hey girl, you dont have to be paiseh. but i'm sorry, i am not able to forget wht happened last night. :)

TO SHERWIN: who were you praying to? allah or god? haha. please dont get so drunk the next time.

short entry post. cause i'm rushing for time to study. :)