Here's My Story

...I've submitted my answers to the exam, which I've posted about here . Nervous about this as the quality of the answers are probably borderline in my opinion. Oh please let me pass. If I don't, I'll blame it on Nick and Llyod who introduced me to Trickster hehe. I've already forwarned Nick :-)

How much red packet do you give for a wedding dinner? I understand the convention is to give enough to cover your share of the cost of the dinner i.e. cost per table divided by the number of people at the table. The logic behind this is to help the newly weds in covering the cost of the dinner. Yes, that is definitely a good way to help them, especially if they are your loved ones but only if you can afford to do so. Unfortunately, due to society’s convention, it’s better to decline attending such dinner, even if it’s in the honour of your loved ones, than to turn up with meager red packet. I recounted to my colleague during lunch that during my younger days, my family has to avoid going to wedding dinners simply because we cannot afford the red packets. Or at least minimise the number of members attending. We were rather poor back then. My colleague (who thought that anyone giving anything lesser than conventional amount are misers) suggested that we just don’t attend. I responded...

Last Saturday, I was supposed to attend a friend's function. However, due to some unexpected circumstances, I ended at VivoCity with nothing on my agenda. Now, I dislike going out without having some sort of objective. Even objective as simple as "Dinner at xxx" is good enough for me to venture out. Window shopping is a borderline objective for me since I usually don't want to do that. So I tried to think of meeting up with some friends. Problem is that I've met a bunch of them the night before (movie, dinner and coffee) and I don't want to bore them ;-) Tried SMSing and calling another friend whom I haven't met for a while but as expected, he's still sleeping (it was just past noon). So I just walked around VivoCity. It is a mall I rarely go to and so there are plenty of new stuff to see. It's a good thing too because I stumbled upon Daiso: a $2 Japanese store. Got a few stuff from there and most importantly I bought something to cover the l...

Lol sorry for this sudden lingering nostalgic songs. I love these songs but seems they are not popular enough to be played on radio. This particular song is so cheerful. Gives a warm glow in my heart...especially if I daydream haha. Lea: Be still my heart Lately its mind is on it's own It would go far and wide Just to be near you Brad: Even the stars Shine a bit bright I've noticed When you're close to me Lea: Still it remains a mystery Chorus (Both): Anyone who seen us Knows what's going on between us It doesn't take a genius To read between the lines Brad: ohh And it's not just wishful thinking Or only me who's dreaming I know what these are symptoms of We could be in love Lea: I ask myself why I sleep like a baby through the night Maybe it helps to know you'll be there tomorrow Brad: Lea: Don't open my eyes Ohhh I'll wake from the spell I'm under Makes me wonder how Tell me how I could live without y...

Any chance anyone know where to get hold of Jose Mari Chan's album that has this song and Beautiful Girl? Boy, the music video looks so old. But I love this song. Hope I get to sing it with someone special in future ;-) If you love me like you tell me please be careful with my heart you can take it just don't break it or my world will fall apart you are my first romance and i'm willing to take a chance that 'til life is through i'll still be loving you I will be true to you just a promise from you will do from the very start please be careful with my heart I love you and you know I do there'll be no one else for me promise i'll be always true for the world and all to see Love has heard some lies softly spoken and I have had my heart badly broken i've been burned and i've been hurt before So I know just how you feel trust my love is real for you i'll be gentle with your heart i'll caress it like the morning dew i'll be...

... I'm taking exam again. I've switched to Society of Actuaries after having failed the Instituted of Actuaries of Australia for, oh only gazilliion times. As what I've achieved previously is not completely converted, I have to take a step back and do this particular course: Fundamental Actuarial Principles. I'm doing its Interim Assessment. I have to pass this for the sake of my self-esteem and to arrest the continuous demoralisation for past years. Gambate!

Magpie. The bad bird. During early part of spring, countless of people have been and, I bet, will be attacked by these birds, especially those wearing caps. In more serious cases, people lose their eyes. Toddlers are not spared either. And the dumbest thing is that since magpies are protected species, it's illegal to hurt them. Sheesh. I theorise that they attack people wearing caps because they look like huge birds with beaks and the magpies are trying to protect their young chicks. This is just across from Bruce Hall, on the way to the university's Union Court. These ducks are quite common, and they are adorable with their ducklings. My friend thought I was going bonkers when I said that I've even spotted a duck on a tree. Really, I did. Ducks on the lawn, where students sometimes sit around and chat, especially in late spring, during summer and early autumn when the weather is warmer in general. The paths to and from the Union Court. Lined by trees. It...

Just across the parking lot from Burton & Garran Hall ("B&G") is Bruce Hall, where I stayed during my first 2 years of university. It started of as a fully catered hall i.e. 3 meals per day everyday except for weekends where, if I recall correctly only breakfast and dinner were served on Saturday and none on Sunday. Later it switched to partially catered hall where only breakfast and dinner were served during weekdays but meals for other times were available on pay-as-you-want basis. I did not choose Bruce Hall. In fact, I was already late arriving at ANU (missed first week of lectures I believed) because I was waiting for my A Level results in Singapore to assess my options. So when I decided to go to ANU, only Bruce Hall still has vacancy. It was my idea, supported by my parents and my grandfather, that the first year I stay at a fully-catered hall so as to minimise the impact of the challenges I'm about to face e.g. foreign country, university, actuarial st...

This is where I stayed during my 3rd and 4th years at ANU (specifically, one of the blocks in the photo). It is a fully self-catered hall i.e. food is not provided. What's provided is kitchen and dining facility that unofficially doubles up as social meeting place i.e. it's where you meet and chat with friends and take shelter from the bitter winter cold lol. You see, although there is heater in each room, the heat is centrally made available (geez, I sure hope I'm not mixing up with my previous hall lol), which in turn is connected to the university itself. Apparently, it will only be turned on after the maximum (or is it average?) temperature of the day hit below a certain degree for 3 consecutive days. Meanwhile, we all get warmed up in the kitchen hehe. Unlike in Singapore, you can save tonnes of money by cooking your own food rather than buying. The amount you need to spend, even if you shop around, on eating out or even getting take-away is easily at least twice t...

Just when I thought there was nothing else I want to accomplish during this trip, suddenly I was inspired to take a walk on my university's campus. It was unfortunate that it was not a good day to take photos. Oh well. The Australian National University. It was where I spent the last 4 non-working years of my life. It was quite an emotional journey and at least one of my major ailments arose during my tenure here. I had the most free time ever during my entire academic life e.g. during my third year, I had only about 10-11 hours of classes per week, including both lectures and tutorials. It was my first real taste of internet too...yum ;-) Coombs Theatre. It's where I went, often with friends and my sis, to watch movies screened by the ANU Film Group. With movie tickets in cinema obscenely high, the Film Group's membership fee was dirt cheap. At the start of each semester, they have already lined up what movies they were going to screen during the semester and hen...

Flashback from the past haha. Many weeks ago, I had dinner with a group of friends at New York, New York in Singapore. Though I've been there a few times, I've never been to one where someone ordered the burger until then. This is what normally people order. Compare the length of the fork to the plate. Humungous, isn't it? And no, it's not a tiny fork. It's the normal size. The burger on the left is of normal size (and no, it's not tiny). The burger on the right is gigantic! Still don't believe me? See the picture below: That's my handphone, compared to the gigantic burger. Lol no way I'm going to order this. I surely cannot finish it by myself.

Went to Belconnen Mall with my sis's hubby and the twins. Decided to take pictures of Australia's major banks and was pleasantly surprised that the mall has branches of the top 5 banks. Australia has termed the following banks as the Big Four banks: ANZ Commonwealth Bank NAB Westpac The interesting thing is that these 4 banks are not allowed to merge with one another, due to anti-competition regulation. This bank is often called the "Fifth bank" in Australia but it's currently in the process of being sold to Westpac: St. George

Bleh. Having slight headache now and not too sure whether there's blocked nose or not and if there is, whethere it's causing the headache. Or perhaps I should go out for a walk. My second day in Canberra, which was the past Sunday, seems like a distant memory...especially to an old man like me ;-) I do remember us driving to the lake and get the twins to feed the ducks: Can you spot the 2 odd ones? They were quite territorial around their source of food (which was the twins) and would occassionally drive off other ducks. However, things changed dramatically when a giant waded among them: Hehe none of the ducks dared to shoo away the swan. The next day, before dinner, I went out for a walk and took some pictures, which I thought are quite interesting: I like this house. Not sure why since it's design is not exactly eye-catching. Perhaps it's the colour combination. I would say that this is a typical house in Australia. Rooftop garden! I was ...