What's New???

Fluid mechanics is tough...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting Thought

Something my friend told me today, it's not true...but it's still really funny.
"Women are like carparks, they're either taken or disable."

Margaret Court

As The Name Suggest

This Place is even greater up close

Me and Ken Roswell

Back at One

Whew…!!! Finally arrived back safe and sound at Newcastle. What a relieved. I’m pooped, arrived back at Newey unexpectedly late…Can’t believe that my first journey alone (technically second) went wrong…the express train back to Newcastle was cancelled due to technical failure of the regular route…so I was forced to endure a grueling 3 hours and a bit ride “home” .
Anyway, Melbourne was something else I would say…it would be one place I would definitely recommend people to go to…it’s just so organized, like a bigger version Singapore, minus the pressure. Everything is so neat and in place, accessible…I like it a lot…it’s a City not to big…but still, lots of attraction…it’s probably a vision I see for KK in the not to distant future I hope. Definitely a huge contrast between Sydney. In Sydney, everything is just so big…dense…sometimes I feel overwhelm in Sydney…it always so chaotic…Maybe it’s a little too much for one that has come from a humble and tiny city… but it’s definitely different.
Been all over Melbourne…well, at least the places I deemed worth the effort. Bourke street was probably the most happening place…it the China Town of Melbourne…an as one would expect…very busy street…food there was great…at least I get to indulge in some Asian food before I head back to KK. Lygon Street was probably my favorite, very classy, very Victorian…Mom would definitely like it there. Smith Street I would imagine would be Dad’s forte, lots of bargains and steals…but I think Victoria Market would have been everybody’s favorite place to hang…you would have been just blown away by all the fresh Veggies and poultry you every seen. Strange food, all the colors, smells…was like a huge kaleidoscope.
Anyway, I guess that’s all I can just about muster up at the moment…feeling really jaded, and beat up. I guess the best part about the whole trip was that it felt at home…spending time with Sam gave me a glimpse home…that’s why it was extra special…plus Jia Ming was really hospitable…we all had great fun together…all in all…fantastic vacation.

The Genius

whew...He did it again...Roger Federer has officially cemented his place as one of the elite players of all time. Man...I'm just so relieved that he won a grand slam this year...who said being a Fan is easy...After enduring one of his most trying seasons , with all the pressure weighing down on him, especially since he set himself impossible standards after his spectecular performances last year (which included 3 grand slams and the masters cup). I was worried the pressure might finally get to him, with the press constantly hounding him with his semi-final losses at the Aussie Open (to Safin) and the French Open (to Nadal)...but not Federer, he responded with spectecular fashion...cruising to his third straight Wimbledon title and a masterclass performance against No.2 seed Roddick. There's something about the grass that inspires Federer...every part of his game seems to be enhanced when he's playing at grass...shots seems better...but regardless of that...order has been restored in the ATP circuit...Federer is the undisputed world No.1...with that monkey off his bone...we should be able to see a more relaxed Federer (emotionaly)...expect more things to come from this tennis genius.

Simply Absurd

Here’s something I heard on the news on the radio today…it goes something like this… “The governor (or something like that) of New South Wales would like to congratulate the Newcastle Police Force, for their contributions , helping Newcastle achieve its lowest crime rate since 1993. According to statistics, car thefts and breaking entry rates have decreased…however, kidnapping has shown an increase.”… my friends and I were laughing while listening to this piece of information…we said something like “Citizens, your cars are safe now, but your children aren’t…but don’t worry…we’re working on it.”

Growing up......

Everybody has some kind of role model, or fantasy when they were growing up. I remember clearly who mine was…personally I think it was rather bizarre. Well, basically, Sam adored Spider-man…he would always be wearing the fruit sack ( those things “Tai Sing” use to package their fruits), and he’ll hang in all sorts of acrobatic positions on the swing…pretending he was Spider-man… Serene on the other hand… well, frankly, I don’t really have a clue…she was mostly playing with her doll house and Barbies… I reckon she saw women with impossible figures as a bench mark (I really don’t know, maybe girls never go though that phase…which would make my intro pretty redundant…or…they’re too shy to talk about it)…anyway, as bizarre as it sounds…I simply adored Michael Jackson… I haven’t a clue why really. Maybe it’s because he was at the peak of his career. Or ,maybe simply because my maid loved MJ as well… so when I was young…I used to ask my maid to tie a pony-tail for me (like MJ)…and I would be running around the house trying to bust a move, or sing a MJ tune…As you would expect, mom wasn’t really a fan about this whole ordeal...( with good reason as well, seeing how he turned out)…One of the things that would drive my mom absolutely nuts is when I go jumping around the house singing those famous line “You know I’m bad…I’m bad…I’m bad, I’m bad, I’m bad…” (it was one of his hits at the time …and probably the easiest to remember as a 5 year old)… my mom would say something like “If you bad Paul, I have to rottan you” …well, it didn’t catch on after that... I don’t go around acting like MJ anymore…but still, remembering those day just puts a smile on my face…you know, as a child…the innocence and ability to capture imagination or catapult oneself into a whole new world…it just fascinating at times what children can do to amuse themselves…it’s a face that nobody really appreciates really…but when it’s gone…it’s gone…so don’t stifle children of imagination…encourage it…who knows…we might learn a thing or two.

My Picks for Wimbledon 2005

Man, exams are officially over now...Far Out!!!! I'm just so relieved...Anyway, I'm just overwhelmed with so much emotion that I probably won't blog something serious...

Well, Wimbledon just started today, so I'll try my chances as a bookie...

Favorite to win 2005 wimbledon : Roger Federer ( How can you go wrong with him??)
Second favorite : Andy Roddick (hey, he might suprise...comes out of nowhere)
Third Choice : Lleyton Hewitt (looks hungier than ever...sign of danger)
Long Shot : Tim Henman (I'll normally put him up there, but judging by his consistant ability to disappoint, I reckon i shouldn't jinks him by putting him up the list...)
One to watch for : Richard Gasquet (might just raise a few eyebrows)
Special Mentions : Marat Safin (not going to win it...for sure!!)

The Greatest Invention In The World

I reckon the greatest invention in the world is the "lint remover"...it's probably the greatest thing since slice bread. Before I had a lint remover, my clothes had lint on them. But after using the lint remover...wallah, it was lint free...amazing thing, this lint remover...everybody, go get yourself a lint remover, and forever rid yourself of...well...lint.

Words Of Wisdom

"When your feeling cold...you don't feel hungry...you just feel...cold..."...words of wisdom indeed.

Potatoes

Ah…potatoes…everybody loves them…such beauty and versatility. You can mash them, boiled them, bake them, steam them, make cream soup with them, put them whole in broth, fry them, make chips with them, or wedges with them…heck, you can even eat them unskinned. Amazing vegetable this potato is…simply stunning. And the “best” thing is that you get to have them, every single day in T.E.Ds, for the rest of your lives here. Rain ,shine, gloom…it’s potatoes, potatoes, potatoes…always….potatoes.

My Picks for Frenchy 2005

Favorite to win 2005 French Open : Guillermo Coria (if the pain of last year doesn't weigh in on him)
Second favorite : Roger Federer (provided the errors don't creep in)
Third Choice : Rafael Nadal (as the form player)
Long Shot : Juan Carlos Ferrero (always a threat on clay)
One to watch for : David Ferrer, Nikolay Davydenko (could be their break through year)

Special Mentions : Carlos Moya, Marat Safin, Tommy Haas and Gaston Gaudio (will loose when expected to win)

The good, the bad ,and the ugly

Phew, I feel so relieved now. My assignment is as good as done. I’m just so glad it turned out alright in the end. It all started a week ago when I attempted my surveying assignment report. Everything was going so well, I was on a roll, my numbers were crunching in just fine, I was just in the zone, at a groove, no problems what so ever. But when the moment of truth arrived, I was shocked to realise my numbers didn’t add up right. Horrified I was…sigh. I spent the whole weekend working on it and it turned against me. Man, I checked everything through again, from my field notes, to my numbers to my calculation. Everything seemed fine, there wasn’t a trace of error. I was crushed, and in my desperation I went to see the lecturer the next day. Well, she didn’t give me any answers (didn’t expect it anyway), just some tips and stuff like that. With renewed spirit, I went back to re do my assignment…but…it came out just as bad…which lead me to fear the worse. Our group must have stuffed up when we were collecting data during the field exercise. I was sort of in a state of denial. We went through the whole thing with so much precision, like a surgeon we made sure everything was accurate and right on the spot…couldn’t believe it. I was dejected for a couple of days…still shellshock by the whole thing. Cum weekend, I sort of accepted the fact that my field notes were wrong and had to take up the optional exercise (perhaps a lot of students got it wrong, thus a separate assignment was given as an alternative)…but I wasn’t about to give up without one last fight, like they say, “it ain’t over till the fat lady sings”, fat lady wasn’t in sight …went through the whole assignment again…and to my astonishment, turns out I input the wrong data to one of the calculation. The number should have been 97.852, but I wrote it down as 87.852…turns out it was a big deal, because the errors just snowballed if some information was misinterpreted. Well, it was a turn of events, or “Eu-catastrophe” as Tolkien puts it. Wallah, my work now was near perfect ,and because no field work can be perfect, plus the fact, no perfect equipment has been build yet…my work was thus…PERFECT…

The Right Attitude

Well, time flies really quickly when you don’t pay attention to it. I remember, when I first got here, I was thinking “how am I going to survive 9 months here?” Well 3 is gone now, and time still moving forward…At this time, it’s good to reflect on some of the things I’ve gathered in my course thus far. As a Civil Engineering student, I’ve learn to appreciate so many aspects of construction, from the mechanics to material selection to cost of project. One of the many things our surveying lecturer always tries to emphasize is the need to be accurate, because the client expects it to be accurate.
That reminded me of the time my dad gave me, my brother, and his friends a job as data collectors (we were hired to count cars at a particular stretch of road)…come to think of it, he was pretty brave to have given a million dollar project to a bunch of kids (maybe he though is wasn’t going to get through anyway). I remember distinctly that all of us started seriously enough…with our pens and paper, marking every car that whizzes by. However, the job eventually took its toll, and by noon, all of us were just lazing about…some proceeded to “manipulate” data so they could go to the shopping mall (I didn’t do that, just so you know). 8 years later, when I think about it, I thank God that the project never went through (although I think it still should have, that stretch is still always jammed). If it did, it might have cost the client serious amounts of money and put my dad’s job in jeopardy.
Being so young at the time, we neither saw the magnitude of our work, nor the seriousness of it. I guess at that time, being a pre-teen/teen…we had that all too familiar attitude of “couldn’t care less”…I think the mistake most young people make nowadays (or always for that matter), is that we think we can live a life without care or responsibility because we have youth on our side…and youth will bail us out whenever we are in trouble…however sooner or later youth runs out and your left with no more excuses for your irresponsibility.
So my advice to all my young readers (though I still consider myself young)…never make the mistake or cultivating the attitudes of “couldn’t care less” or “I don’t care” because one day that might be your biggest downfall…instead start learning to treat each situation with respect and dignity…and your efforts will definitely be rewarded.

About Time and Wisdom

One of the assets that has been given to us once we were born is TIME. Same things, yet viewed so differently by each individual. I bet both scientist and philosophers alike have been constantly finding explanations to define the mechanics of time. Hence the age old question, are we moving forward with respect to time, or is time just going in circles. Well, on one hand, we could say it’s moving forward, the way we evolve as an individual, we learn, we grow. However, after December comes January, seasons repeats itself…so how does time play its part.
The book of Ecclesiastes talks a little about time. In chapter 3, we can clearly see how the author of the book appreciates the role of time. However in chapter 1 the author start with puzzling words “Meaningless! Meaningless!”. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” The chapter proceed to talk about how everything in life is periodic. Chapter two then talks about how effort is meaningless. You see, in that sense, time really just goes around in circles. Life really is frustrating. As a student, life really is about routine. But it gets worse once you’ve entered the workforce, everyday, you work because you need to put food on the table, pay the bills, and once you get your paycheck, it still doesn’t stop there, because you will still need to eat, and the bills will still come in. It’s really frustrating. The current workforce work, but will be replace by the next generation. We work hard to build up something, only for someone else to take it over, with or without caliber.
Hence we come back to chapter 3, and we can really see how time really just goes in circles, because in life, we will not only know love, we will know hate. We will not only know peace, we will know war. We don’t escape any of these, all of these will come to pass. In fact, we aren't really moving forward at all. The author even goes as far as to say that men and animals share the same fate. “all from dust, and to dust all return.” This is where the conclusion was drawn. Life is really what you make of it, so enjoy it while it last.
Remember that Ecclesiastes simply means wisdom. It’s kind of odd isn’t it, the bible telling us that life is meaningless, and life is really what you make of it. But turn to John 5:24-25. Verse 25 “I tell you the truth, a time is coming AND HAS NOW COME when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”
You see, life really is what you make of it. However, Jesus offers us a way to break from that cycle, because his time has already come. So what are you going to make of life??


Inspired by a sermon in UniChurch

Tips on Dressing

This is a pretty old story, it involves our old friend Tim the care-taker. Well, this happen about 2 weeks ago. Tim and some of the fellas were having dinner. Now ,Tim was being his usual chattery self, when all of a sudden, my friend Fira came with her tray and sat with us. The whole gang grew silent as Tim, the catalyst of the conversation pauses, and proceeded to stare at Fira with a very odd and inquisitive look. Was there something wrong? Long lost daughter?…we were all puzzled, what could have made this machine of words stop during one of his more intriguing stories?? What, What?? It was intense and mind blowing, the silence just saturated the air, we couldn’t wait for it to be broken. Finally his lips start moving again, with a slightly questioning yet sarcastic tone, he says “Does your T-Shirt say BUM Equipment ?”. And that is the day I decided to never step foot into another Bum Equipment boutique again.

Note: Slight dramatization and exaggeration might have been added to enhance the plot of the story.

A Little Something About Marriage

Here’s a little something I learned off 1 of my conversation with our college care-taker. His name is Tim, and when he has dinner at the college, he usually sits with us and has all sorts of conversation. Now I can’t recall how this conversation came about, but I think it started when we asked him about his wife and kids. So he proceeded to elaborate about his family, took a pause, turns to me and goes, “You know, marriage is like a business partnership. In a business partnership, both parties will strive to reach an agreement where it benefits both of them. In the same way, when you’re married, you have to think you know ‘what’s in it for them’, and not just yourself”. Well, I’m not married, so I can’t really give concrete advice regarding marriage, although my parents are in fact marriage counselors. But, I guess looking back at that statement, it does make a lot of sense. And more importantly, it does give us a guideline on how to approach friendships, relationships and anything to do with people. On a lighter note, he goes on to say “ They say MEN are the HEAD of the family, but what they fail to realize is that WOMEN are the NECK in the family, see nobody notices the neck, but the thing is, WHO MAKES THE HEAD TURN???” interesting huh? Well, I shouldn’t go on about this, might give women too much ideas.

Cause and Effect

This is a pretty old subject, but non-the-less, still very intriguing. Many interesting people have cross my path during my stay at Newcastle ( and hope to meet more ), but 2 of them stand out, when it comes to the topic of cause and effect. Well, one of them is 4th year Swedish guy persuing a graphic design degree, the other and Australia born Cambodian girl in her 1st year Pharmaceutical post grad degree. Now both these guys are your regular Uni students, nothing fancy, just like you and me, and sometimes, we take being ordinary for granted, because we hate the fact of being ordinary (not to mistake for not aiming high in life). Now ,I'll start with the Swedish guy, nice bloke, well the story doesn't really lie with him, but his great grand-parents, sometime during the early-early nineties, when the US opened their shores to the foreign, his grand-parents actually bought tickets to go to the US, on the day they were supposedly to leave, all ready with the tickets in hand and suitcase full of their belongings, they suddenly decided they didn't want to go. And there ends this particular story...not very impressive?? think again, had his parents boarded that ship, my friend would probably have not existed, instead, it would probably some 3rd generation Swedish Americans living in Ohio...who knows?? Well, the 2nd story involving the girl takes a more dramatic route, see, her parents lived in the mist of the Pol Pot regimen, to escape this onslaught, they had to flee to Thailand, and eventually found solitude in Sydney,Australia...well, certainly more dramatic when lives are at stake, but again, demonstrates that circumstances forces people into action... when I heard this two particular stories, it made me wonder about my own family's past, and it hit me, had the Hakka people been a rich tribe, they wouldn't have made their way to Sabah. To give their children what they couldn't have, an opportunity. So in fact, the idea of each and everyone of us being where we are, doing what we do ,or even who we are, isn't as simple as being born under our parents, or even talents that we have bestowed...NO, it certainly runs deeper than that, the probability or events that lead up to future events, are so small, that it's seems almost by chance...doesn't that make your feel fortunate and bless that standing/sitting where you are right now lies on such deep history and could not have happen any other way. Therefore, be thankful each day because the "effects" we have now are down to the "cause" or our fathers (and mothers)...definitely as the Lord had plan...