australiana pt 1

So, while I was happily snapping pictures at Fed Sq, this guy sitting next to this girl on a bench suddenly yells out in my direction. "Take a picture of us." And I was like, "ok..." *SNAP* He quips, "there you go! that's a piece of Australiana for you."

This is the 6th year I'm here. I don't think I count as a tourist. Not surprising though.

Fed Sq + Camera + Asian= Tourist

This is St Pauls' Cathedral.

That street lamp is extremely bright, but I like the lights beaming out of those arches.

sigh of relief

more photos will be uploaded real shortly.

before i do the photos, let me just rant and release some words here. nothing wise or anything.

so, exams are OVER. i'm so relieved it's not funny.

what was it like?? so, the exam venue was in box hill and on the exam information slip was some mention of a 'Cambridge International.' turned into the street and I just thought to myself , "ahh, should not be too difficult to find/" I walk down the road and saw a small group of people gathering around and i assume that must be it, even though I did not see no Cambridge International. What I saw was a bunch of people congregating near this stairwell. It's a restaurant. Doing 3 years of exams at a racecourse has become unbizarre and I kind of miss the ground level of the racecourse where you do you exams overlooking green, green grass.

Back to waiting outside this restaurant. As I would normally arrive slightly earlier for exams, I waited outside. Today happen to be the coldest April morning for decades. We're looking at 3 degrees. Hands were stiff, numb, cold.

Now, we're in the exam hall. Find my seat, etc. The exam has started. Part of it is MCQ. I don't know about anyone else, but I would always wonder with MCQ, about the alphabets I tick. "What?? B again?? did I get this right??" Or halfway answering, "Since there are so many Cs, the next one might be a D." And, I would kinda analyse the patterns of the answers. And if i were to find a little twist in the question, Iwould just think, "Hah! Tried to trick me there, huh?? Gotcha!"

I wonder how I actually still manage to finish my exam in time with all those questions in mind. Overall, I'm glad the exam is over. There were a few Gotcha! moments. It certainly was better than expected. And praise God for that. Thanks for sustaining me through this whole period, that I did not fall ill, that i could still manage despite the crazy workload recently.

the laporcs episode

one fine sunny afternoon, a bunch of us decided to head to laporcs for lunch



while the boys are cool about it, Phoebe hasn't had her coffee RAWR

the spotlight (or rather, halogen) was lit and the scene was set.

it's the long table right at the end of the restaurant. the one they give to rowdy, loud obnoxious youth (which we are not)

hence,we try to behave ourselves, but end up with restrained, funny-looking constipated faces

meanwhile, iced coffee comes.
Phoebe is so relieved (she suffers from caffeine withdrawal syndrome).
Mark and Jason are glad on Phoebe's behalf.
The waitress is just wondering why are these people so excited to see coffee.
Don't know what Ken is doing



*hehe* Pheobe finds Ken hilarious (or maybe she was just yawning)



*LOL* Ken

Phoebe: I told you Ken was funny

Lem: Oh my, che, stop embarrasing me



He's glowing from the compliments



Akhmed: I kill you! (he's just jealous)

nephews

These are the ever-adorable nephews

The ever-friendly sociable older brother (except when he's just woken up)

He's evolved to be a roaring dinosaur

Him playing with the cool piggy bank that's not a pig but an aquarium and the money is fish food. The cool thing is, it records and tabulates the coins deposited.

Still shots only possible with the TV on

Close up

The daddy

sic ride