Caramel Toffee //

- Walking Down Symonds Street, Auckland (11.05.08) -

Well, I’ve decided to go back to Livejournal for personal entries. Since I’m too buzy and lazy to setup another blog for academic, I’ll reserve Caramel Toffee for more academic entries and less personal stuff from now onwards.

Tags: livejournal

- Lumsden Garden, Newmarket, Auckland (24.02.08) -

WHAT I HAVE

1. Pretty good grades in all subjects (based on tests and assignments so far)
Overall A and A-, which I think is pretty good. In fact, it’s much much better than the last semester.

2.Books (academic, non-fiction/leisure & fiction)
I’m glad to have books in my room. I’d surely feel empty if I don’t. The problem is… Academic books cost a lot. One textbook for $99.99 after 10% discount. A small workbook for $75.99 after discount. You get the picture. Oh, and notebooks and stationeries are all crazily priced. The RM0.80 Kilometrico is NZ$2.50 here. Ouch… Fiction and non-fiction books are pretty cheap, though, if you don’t convert it to Malaysian ringgit. I bought William Hazlitt’s “The Pleasure of Hating” ($8), Leo Tolstoy’s “The Kreutzer Sonata” ($12), Matthew Pearl’s “The Poe Shadow” ($24), Daniel Goleman’s “Emotional Intelligence (Why It Can Matter More Than IQ)” ($27) and “A Perfect Mess” by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman ($27). Currently reading “Emotional Intelligence”. The book is soooooo nice! I want to buy his second book, “Social Inteligence” next I’m looking forward to read ‘The Perfect Mess’ too. It’s so intriguing how the authors (Abrahamson & Freedman, 2006) argue how “crammed closets, cluttered offices, and off-the-cuff planning make the world a better place - the hidden benefits of disorder”

3. Violin
A 1/2 size violin for practice. I’m getting the 3/4 later, when my bank is properly stuffed. I can’t ever buy the full 4/4 size. My hand is just too short. Even the 3/4 size is big for me. But I’m happy I got to buy it from TradeMe at only $58 (including postage).

WHAT I DON’T HAVE

1. Reliable internet connection
I’m currently on Woosh Wireless. It worked well the first couple of weeks. But then it started being an ass to all of us in the house. Seriously. The connection is hell during late evening until nighttime. Sometimes, I get ‘Page cannot be displayed’ all night long. Downloading a small 5mb file can sometimes take up to 1 hour (that’s less than 1kbps!).

2.Time for Blogging/Designing
How very unfortunate! I need to reschedule my daily plan to fit blogging into the picture. My language would suffer if I don’t.

- On a Train to Otahuhu, Auckland (16.03.08) -

Woosh Wireless in Auckland SUCKS!!!!

I had stupid connection even though the signal was excellent. Goddamn internet connection… I’m pretty much sure that our apartment has only used about 30% of our monthly data cap (a few days ago). It’s not possible for Woosh to reduce our speed to the speed of dial-up connection. In short, I was so pissed off up until last night.

Oh, and I even lost a few items at TradeMe because of the lagging connection.

I could have bought that violin for just $50! And now I missed my chance

On the other hand, I have an interview scheduled with a Mr. Webster, Stephen of McDonald’s (Queen Street Branch) this evening for a part time job. Wish me luck!

- Warehouse, Newmarket Auckland (25.02.08) -

Auckland has been really nice since the past few days. The weather is getting a little bit more consistent compared to last week. Last week was like all sun and then all showers, you really couldn’t guess what the day was going to be like.

I had an interview with Sheryll today. It was more like a nice, long chat. It was really pleasant to talk to her. I kind of poured out what I was thinking about, especially about this course that I’m taking. I told her everything - what I think, how I feel, why this why that, etc etc. She sounds very much supportive, though I kind of know that she won’t be the one we turn to when we have problems (except for academic ones, maybe).

Overall, yes, it was a nice, loooooong chat.

Now all I had to think about is how am I going to wisely manage my time and money. Like, REALLY WISELY.

Otherwise, I’m doomed.

Thanks Sheryll, for that much-needed awakening talk. I think I’ll be on the right track.

That aside, let’s just go back to ‘before the interview’. The 1-hour database navigation/library course was so boring today, probably because I was in a state where I could fall asleep just about anytime. Sorry, Mark. You’re not boring, it was just me. And then I couldn’t log on to ERIC via Voyager. Damn. They had some kind of issues with the licenses, so… Yeah.

After the class, I went to kill time at Starbucks with Haniff before the interview. I think I have succeeded in ‘poisoning’ him with Caramel Frapuccino in Starbucks. Haha… Okay, no, I didn’t poison him. I just got him hooked. I wonder what Dyau would order if he was there… Probably something with a kick.

But hey, I don’t trust Starbucks all that much anymore if it deals with deciding on drinks that can get me wide awake. I still remember getting 2 shots of espresso, hoping to keep myself awake anough to finish one of my assignments. Ten minutes after, I got REALLY sleepy. So… Espresso in Starbucks has reverse effects on me.

I tried out Telecom Wireless in the cafe to. It cost me 10 bucks, but what the hell… Just testing. Besides, I haven’t been using my card for a while. Might as well give it a test.

While waiting to see Sheryll, we met up with Mint, Pikah, Wira, Sze Wei, Felicia, Nisah and Dzeti at level 10, Fisher Building. I had a really nice time chatting with them

Ahh… I so love my coursemates~

p.s/ And I am now officially the subject representative for my group. What the hell am I suppose to talk about? All I know is that we have a meeting this March 13 at 10am with Richard (I call him Mr.Chairman :P). Hmm…

No, seriously, you can accuse me of being rather insensitive towards the current issue - particularly the upcoming general election. It’s not that I’m not aware of my responsibility as a member of the public. I just happen to think that all these posters blanketing the towns and cities are eyesores.

In the end, it doesn’t make any difference. I don’t think the posters could actually influence the public. It definitely does not influence me! The town is looking like… I don’t know - like some kind of wasteland! From afar, they look like garbage.

Just whose idea it was to start the ‘War of Posters’ everytime elections come around the corner?

The posters are only mood-setters. But sometimes, when people overdo it, they become mood-killers.

Give me back a decent view of my hometown!

I’m writing this from KLIA, where I’ll become the ‘Penunggu Airport’ until my flight tonight. 9.15pm. Yes, still half a day awaaaaay.