Saturday, September 30, 2006
I went for a one-day trip to Port Stephens yesterday. Port Stephen's is about 2-3 hours away by bus from Sydney city.
It was great! I finally saw what I've been wanting to see in Australia. Not that the past few months haven't been an eye-opener, but even the city (not to mention my little suburb of Berala) is quite stifling as compared to the vast natural landscapes here. The air was fresher than it had been for me in weeks. It was stunning! Please do go to Port Stephens if you haven't been there yet. There's great seafood there too.
The dolphin-watching was so-so. It was a bit like whale-watching, but dolphins were supposed to be much more payful so that we could see them at a closer distance. But there wern't many dolphins, so many passengers simply stripped down to their swimsuits to ride on the boom-net instead. But the sand-dunes and beach were amazing. We got to do a bit of sandboarding, during which I was honestly terrified out of my wits. But the experience was incomparable. I got some kicks watching my friends spitting out sand from their mouths. As for beach, well, I can now understand why Australians love their beaches, sun and sports.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Xiu Juan out
@ |7:05 PM|
To commemorate mid-semester break, we had beer + pizza + chips + ice-cream!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Xiu Juan out
@ |3:18 PM|
Anyway, to commemorate completion of test and assignments, we went whale-watching!
See the patch of grey in the centre? That's the humpback whale. I was sort of hoping to re-enact the inspiring Free Willy scene - me giving some whale-signal, whale swims to me, whale leaps majestically over my extended arm to swim to Mother Nature's blue seas of eternal freedom, hahaha - but the whales were a bit aloof and cautious that day.
Anyway, one thing I really noticed for sure the past few days: Sydney is hot. And getting hotter. The sun burns. And it's really quite a few degrees cooler in the shade. I'm running out of t-shirts. We have to wash our clothes more frequently. I knew the past few months were to good to be true.
And with fewer layers of clothes, I noticed another thing: weight gain.
I look (literally!) on with horror at punishment of my erroneous ways of the past 2 months. I need new clothes. I need plastic surgery for my eyes because whatever eyes I had were smothered by the fat on my face. It's time for serious exercising but I fear my face will sag to resemble a bulldog if I ever attempt to pursue jogging seriously. And I'm still thinking of the potato chips I polished off yesterday. Argh!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Xiu Juan out
@ |7:11 PM|
Anyway. Back to the title at hand. I was thinking the other day, the most horrible realization that can occur to an undergraduate student is to be aware that he/she is simply not good in the area of her undergraduate studies. Isn't that an agonizing tragedy? Because one can't simply ditch that pessimistic perspective when one graduates - it lingers on until that person finds a miraculous niche in his/her career. One of the core principles of treatment in my course includes seeing a person/patient as a unique individual and appreciating that person/patient for who he/she is. That sounds very nice in a clinical setting, but it is an ideal that's almost impossible to implement in life. (To be honest, I think it's quiet hypocritical that people (myself included) keep harping about it - who can honestly say that they don't compare one person to another? To not compare would likely mean that one is simply a receptor in the whole scheme of things, that he/she is not analysing the information at all.) Have you ever thought how it feels like to be a boring person? (I admit to being boring, and thus speak for a percentage of boring people - 'We wish we are more interesting too!') To think, then know for sure that you have inferior ideas? Then to realise, to your everlasting horror, that this will be the scenario for the rest of your career?!!!!!
Ouch.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Xiu Juan out
@ |10:40 PM|
Quick getaway
I went for a one-day trip to Port Stephens yesterday. Port Stephen's is about 2-3 hours away by bus from Sydney city.
It was great! I finally saw what I've been wanting to see in Australia. Not that the past few months haven't been an eye-opener, but even the city (not to mention my little suburb of Berala) is quite stifling as compared to the vast natural landscapes here. The air was fresher than it had been for me in weeks. It was stunning! Please do go to Port Stephens if you haven't been there yet. There's great seafood there too.
The dolphin-watching was so-so. It was a bit like whale-watching, but dolphins were supposed to be much more payful so that we could see them at a closer distance. But there wern't many dolphins, so many passengers simply stripped down to their swimsuits to ride on the boom-net instead. But the sand-dunes and beach were amazing. We got to do a bit of sandboarding, during which I was honestly terrified out of my wits. But the experience was incomparable. I got some kicks watching my friends spitting out sand from their mouths. As for beach, well, I can now understand why Australians love their beaches, sun and sports.
Xiu Juan out
@ |7:05 PM|
Booze 'n' Pizza R Us!
To commemorate mid-semester break, we had beer + pizza + chips + ice-cream!
Xiu Juan out
@ |3:18 PM|
I saw whales! I'm becoming one!
The last week was quite torturing for me...with 1 report and 1 test. Of course, I vaguely recalled that it used to be much worse in NYP, but I have been irreversibly conditioned to become the slackest, laziest person in Western Sydney...so....oh well. Last week was bad.
Anyway, to commemorate completion of test and assignments, we went whale-watching!
See the patch of grey in the centre? That's the humpback whale. I was sort of hoping to re-enact the inspiring Free Willy scene - me giving some whale-signal, whale swims to me, whale leaps majestically over my extended arm to swim to Mother Nature's blue seas of eternal freedom, hahaha - but the whales were a bit aloof and cautious that day.
Anyway, one thing I really noticed for sure the past few days: Sydney is hot. And getting hotter. The sun burns. And it's really quite a few degrees cooler in the shade. I'm running out of t-shirts. We have to wash our clothes more frequently. I knew the past few months were to good to be true.
And with fewer layers of clothes, I noticed another thing: weight gain.
I look (literally!) on with horror at punishment of my erroneous ways of the past 2 months. I need new clothes. I need plastic surgery for my eyes because whatever eyes I had were smothered by the fat on my face. It's time for serious exercising but I fear my face will sag to resemble a bulldog if I ever attempt to pursue jogging seriously. And I'm still thinking of the potato chips I polished off yesterday. Argh!
Xiu Juan out
@ |7:11 PM|
What am I doing?
Ah I have left this as a title for a few days without any content...but I guess it doesn't really matter much as it's pretty obvious that this blog has sort of become my blog. I remembered I set up the blog a year ago as a way for us to know how each other is doing, but it's evident that it has ceased to fulfil its intended purpose. I think it will be petty on my part to be pissed and bitter about this, so I shall not be so contemptible as to bring up my recollection of how I was not only one who wanted this in the first place. This is particularly in lieu of the fact that I have hardly fulfiled my role as an ex-classmate to you guys in the last 4 four years by my repeated absence in class gatherings. Right. My fault.
Anyway. Back to the title at hand. I was thinking the other day, the most horrible realization that can occur to an undergraduate student is to be aware that he/she is simply not good in the area of her undergraduate studies. Isn't that an agonizing tragedy? Because one can't simply ditch that pessimistic perspective when one graduates - it lingers on until that person finds a miraculous niche in his/her career. One of the core principles of treatment in my course includes seeing a person/patient as a unique individual and appreciating that person/patient for who he/she is. That sounds very nice in a clinical setting, but it is an ideal that's almost impossible to implement in life. (To be honest, I think it's quiet hypocritical that people (myself included) keep harping about it - who can honestly say that they don't compare one person to another? To not compare would likely mean that one is simply a receptor in the whole scheme of things, that he/she is not analysing the information at all.) Have you ever thought how it feels like to be a boring person? (I admit to being boring, and thus speak for a percentage of boring people - 'We wish we are more interesting too!') To think, then know for sure that you have inferior ideas? Then to realise, to your everlasting horror, that this will be the scenario for the rest of your career?!!!!!
Ouch.
Xiu Juan out
@ |10:40 PM|