ok, so every time i mention that i’d be heading back to singapore when i’m done with my phd, i’d be faced with a “but whyyyy? whyy would you want to go back to that place?” why do they ask as if that’s the worse place one could live in? i suppose it’s sort of surprising…considering i’ve lived away for so long without getting homesick (probably not until now?) and/or wishing i was somewhere else. don’t get me wrong, i do still love this place very much, but i think it’s a good time to leave.
i’m not saying that i want to be in singapore for all of my life – ideally, i’d like to find a few short stints in some other parts of the world (ireallywouldlovetoliveintheUSofA for a little while!) but i just think i’m at the stage in life when i have to find a “settling ground”, a port for the ship…just some place i can call home, if you know what i mean. (wow, does this mean i’m getting old?)
here are some of the reasons why i think i’d be heading back to that place:
1. i might be born in malaysia, bred in singapore and located in melbourne but i still consider singapore to be home. even when i get lost every single time i go back for a holiday.
2. my family has not been in the same country all at the same time since i was 15. that makes it…10 years now. (!!) the parents and the sister recently moved back to singapore and i think it would be nice to finally be able to be ‘re-united’ again. unless wanderlust gets the better of us, of course… (damn, i just heard -after typing this out- that the father will be moving to birmingham after the CNY for work. not sure for how long but…so much for reunion! haha!)
3. it’s my 9th year in melbourne – i am getting bored. i can confidently say that i’ve experienced the best and worst in this city and i’m also tired of living a somewhat nomadic lifestyle. i think it’s time to explore new restaurants places. (besides, i gave melbourne a maximum of ten years when i started my degree. i thought i’d never even come close to ten…well, who knew.)
4. most of my friends have gone back to singapore! (and don’t tell sof…but i have secret plans to kidnap her and put her in my luggage when this big move happens.) it really does get a little sad sometimes without all the people around.
5. and really…what is so wrong with singapore? sure, it’s not perfect – it’s busy, it’s overcrowded, apartments are expensive…some might argue that there’s no freedom in speech and that it’s stifling because we’ve had the same ruling party for 50 years….but hey, there’s also so much to love about it – we have clean water, an abundant food supply, there’s less tax, there’s always something to do in the city, everything is efficient, we’re constantly upgrading ourselves….besides, singapore does a damn fine chicken rice.
of course there are some challenges that i can imagine would make my transition a little uncomfortable. here are some that i can think of:
1. i have not lived with my parents in a long time. i am so used to doing whatever i want and whatever time i want. i don’t generally abuse the trust they have given to me but i think i would still feel obliged to report(?) to them when i live with them. that will be very interesting.
2. i have grown soft. i am not sure if i can cope with the working environment/demands in singapore.
3. i will miss living in the city. i live in the middle of nowhere in singapore (really) – it’s the kind of suburb that people (my mother) would live in if they had a car. i live in the city and have a car in melbourne. i have neither back home.
***
where is home to you?
where you were born? where your love is? where your family and friends are? where you are most familiar with?
i cannot say (for sure) that singapore (or anywhere else for that matter) is the place for me but i am confident that i’ve got suitable training from living overseas in the last decade to adapt to what comes my way.
i’m sitting in my air conditioned living room feeling so happy to be rotting on the couch because i just had a reaaaalllyyy bussssyyy weekend.
it’s sofi’s birthday today!
it all started on friday. i was having a relatively crazy day at work and i was running (literally. laptop bag and all) from one point to another to get stuff done. everything was going according to schedule until i got stopped by an old lady at the post office who talked to me for an hour on the street (?!) and then an creepy indian fortune teller (i’ll tell this story another time) who stopped me about 5 minutes after i was done with the old lady (?!). i ended up VERY LATE to dinner at cutler and co where we DID NOT take pictures of ourselves despite being all dressed up! atypical of me to forget but…got to cut me some slack after my strange encounters.
i did take one photo of my food though.
anyway, on saturday, we decided to gather the masses and have a games night at sofi’s (all in the name of celebration heh heh. the more parties, the merrier.) .
that huge box you see right there…? that, my friends, is a microwave oven. you see, we’re all about practical gifts over here; her microwave oven broke down. also, if you haven’t heard already, this woman is great in the kitchen and we’d do anything to aid her with her culinary adventures since we benefit as well. haha. 
i was going to suggest another bout of eating (i really want to go for tea at hotel windsor but i guess that will have to wait!) but i think we were all feeling slightly guilty from all that feasting on friday and saturday so we went cycling instead. we rented a bike from federation square in the city and cycled along the yarra river to abbotsford convent. that route was a little more than 13km because we got lost. it was scorching today so we ended up taking a shorter route back to the city; that also meant that we had to cycle on the roads instead of a bicycle path. roads = scary for inexperienced riders.
we’re…too sexy for our helmets. and i spy a poorthingdehydratedsofia face there.
we ended the day with dinner by the beach at republica. why hello, i really liked the atmosphere there! i don’t go down to st kilda beach often because parking sucks there and i’m quite lazy with public transport but i this place was worth my effort. everyone was just lounging by the beach, drinking wine and sangria, listening to live music and i wish it was not sunday. icing on the cake: a sunset stroll by the beach and strange hot cross bun flavoured ice cream (!!).
i am exhausted but if it’s possible to be exhausted in a good way, then this is it.
hope you had a good one babe! happy birthday, xoxo! ♥
you know there are just some things in life that you’d look back on and think “hmm, that was so difficult/crappy/sad/insertappropriateadjective, but if given a choice, i think i’d still do it all over again”. i think i’ve got tons of those because i’m (fortunately) an optimist. unfortunately, even the optimist in me cannot say that about this PhD. i’m sorry.
at times i also wonder about the more….complicated situations. if i were to use chocolate as an analogy (♥) – you never knew it tasted SO good until you took the first bite and then you realize that birds sing every time you take a bite. the process of eating it is enjoyable but by the time you reach the end of too many pleasure bars, you’d be face with the awful task of trying to lose the weight that you put on as a consequence. so if you were sitting there wondering about the chocolate bars, would you think “dang, those were so tasty, i would totally eat those 600 bars again even if it means i should never eat again for 20 years”? or would you sit there and totally regret what you’ve done?
should you just never have taken the first bite in the first place?
it’s tempting to put the blame on the perfect mix of cocoa, sugar and fat but really, sometimes… you just got to acknowledge that it was your own fault and take responsibility for your actions.
so we went for our murder mystery dinner and as much as i was feeling antisocial, it turned out quite interesting.
we were invited to Lord Daventry’s place for his birthday dinner.
while we were given a character to play, we were also given a little ‘task’ in the middle of our dinner. you weren’t supposed to tell others what you were going to do… you just got to play along and act it out.
anyway, they don’t call it a murder mystery for no good reason. someone (part of the cast) does die.
poor uncle bernie.
the murder actually took place outside of the dining hall. the cast kept going in and out of the dining hall at different times so that at any one time, there isn’t just one who was outside – that would make it more difficult for us to figure who did it and why.
i reckon it would be fun if this was played out amongst a group of friends – it takes away a lot of the awkwardness. though i have to give credit to some of the “guests” that did so well with the improv.
sof and i are going for a murder mystery dinner tonight (more on that later) and we’ve both been assigned a character to play.
i’m ms daphne nouveau
Miss Nouveau is an art collector and is waiting with enthusiasm for the unveiling of the Constable painting Fanny has bought for Quinten’s birthday present. She is very loud and outrageous, referring to everyone as “darling”. She does not get along with Fanny’s friend and artistic mentor, Gwendella Garavinah. When the painting is unveiled she is shocked and horrified and very vocal about her disgust at the painting’s quality.
the year is 1928 when people wore stuff like:
picture from here
and this is how i got into character.
1) take a shower and put on a cute tank top that says i love french: toast, fries and boys.
2) get a 1920s inspired hairdo.
i’m not proficient in the hair styling department so i actually went to the salon to get this done. i feel a little bit like susan boyle to be honest.
3) put on some dramatic make up
ok, i managed this on my own.
4) take off the cute tank top and put on something a little more appropriate (wearing an old dress means i don’t need to waste money. woot!)
pardon the streaky picture. i windex-ed my mirror and left streaks on it. not a very good job, i know.
5) finally, accessorize, accessorize, accessorize and pose like this is the most fun thing on earth.
don’t get me wrong, i’ve been looking forward to this murder mystery dinner for a while now but i’m having one of those days when i am not feeling sociable and just want to stay and home and watch the tennis finals on my couch. can’t back out now so i suppose a drink or two (damn, i’m driving) may help in this area. naw, i’m sure it’ll be good. i’ll be back with pictures of the dinner!
p/s: i’m very pleased with my blog’s new header!
the moonlight cinema runs during summer at the royal botanical gardens in melbourne and i usually try to make an effort to visit it at least once a year…although i did have a hiatus in 2009. because it’s outdoors, the movie only starts screening at about 8.30pm-9pm which is after sunset. you can rent bean beds from them for $7 or just bring your own. i wasn’t driving and i figured i’d take too many people out if i were to carry my beanbag on to a tram so i just rented one. what we’d also do is to lug our stuff to the garden and have a picnic before the movie begins. the weather was lovely yesterday – there was sun and a cool breeze.
we watched The Informant! which is based on a true story of a whistleblower who exposes his company’s price-fixing tactics. it somehow reminded me of Thank You for Smoking which i remember enjoying. i particularly liked mark whitacre’s self-dialogue – it’s HILARIOUS because it’s always completely random and sounds like stuff i’d think to myself.
polar bears cover their noses before they pounce on a seal. how do polar bears know their noses are black? did they look in the water one day, see their reflection and say, “man, I’d be invisible if it wasn’t for that thing.”
anyway, try visiting it before it ends in the first week of march. there’s just something magical (for the lack of a better word) about lying in the garden (legitimately) and staring out into the sky – i still think that it’s a great place to have a date. falling asleep in each other’s arms is optional. 
look what arrived today!
remember how i previously mentioned about being on pubmed? well, i actually managed to score a chapter in a book and we finally got a few hard copies of it today!
i’ve only just discovered google chrome extensions.
i’ve been saying for a while now that i need to waste spend less time online and be a little less wired (at least for just a while) but it does take a lot of discipline to break a habit. i found this feature that might help me though…
the stayfocused extension. it allows me to set the maximum amount of time per day i want to spend on a certain website. it was originally set at 10 minutes but i thought that might be a little harsh so i set it to 60 minutes instead. though i think i might just reduce that a little to increase productivity. i mean, when i see the timing ticking like that, i’d feel obliged to close the window while i’m working lest i waste unnecessary time at that site and can’t go into it later when i’m free. so far, i’ve “blocked” twitter, facebook and google reader – all of which are major time-wasters…although facebook is already restricted at work anyway. i hope this does not mean i’m turning to my phone instead because i have this really bad feeling about my data usage. haha.
my australia day was just bueno. i’m totally exhausted and probably don’t have enough time to recover before our next fun activity (work’s such a distraction ) but it was all worth it, i think. apart from trying to graduate this year (ok, i really need to work on this part), i’ve also told myself that i’m going to get out more even when i’ve only got one friend here. and to make new friends and be.less.antisocial too. i know it might seem really weird to carry around an….intent..to “make” friends and it might seem just a little contrived BUT i reckon that as much as it depends on a lot of other factors (such as personality compatibility), meeting new people also requires effort on my part. (remember, i’m slightly more introverted than i am extroverted. it’s not easy!)
(note: another goal for the next few months is also to finish up some old bottles of perfume that i’ve abandoned for a while now – only because when i find something i really like (Chloe), i cannot stop using just that one. but i’ve started using some old ones again and old scents bring up nice memories of old times. something about the olfactory bulb being in the brain’s limbic system which is closely associated with memory and emotions. but nerdy stuff aside….)
anyway, sof and i headed to the tennis on monday night to watch federer (♥). it wasn’t exactly an extremely exciting game – rather uneventful actually. but i got 2 hours of federer (live) so it’s all good.
look what the megasuperzoom on my camera managed to capture. these tennisballheads are so cute.
we bought the night ticket which meant that we could stay for 2 matches. we left halfway through the azarenka vs zvonareva (seriously unpronounceable), as did many other people, because we were headed to the toff in town for drinks. everyone else left because they got annoyed with azarenka’s grunting which they compared to some kind of tribal mating call. i felt sorry for her because the crowd just could NOT stop making fun of her. it was so rude (yet slightly funny at the same time… which made me feel worse). sigh. i’m glad she won, that might just shut everyone up.
after getting notenoughsleep on monday night, we left melbourne nice and early on australia day for geelong. we visited the adventure park, which is a water theme park full of kids about 1m high and families having bbqs on the grass. yea, it sounds like 4 girls might be slightly out of place in a place like that but we actually had a really good time on the water slides (just be thick-skinned). the only downside? it was meant to be 34 deg (hence the water theme park idea) but it was like 24freakingdegrees so i was FREEZING. especially since we were going in and out of the water and walking around the park in damp bathers.
remember children, archery could be dangerous. and no, su the klutz didn’t kill anyone.
we ended our australia day with an australian flick (bran nue dae) at the coburg drive-in cinema.
while we didn’t have a barbie, have vegemite crackers, snack on tim tam slams (mmm) or call australia home, i think we still had a great one.
whoever said there’s nothing to do in melbourne probably just hasn’t tried hard enough.
so much for giving my liver a break – sueewong, you need more discipline! less alcohol, less chocolate, more vegetables, more water and more SLEEP.
i’m so glad it’s a public holiday on tuesday (australia day!). i know i’ve only been back at work for 2 weeks now but when you have zero passion for what you do, every single day counts as hard hard work.
there’s a lot to look forward to though – australian open tomorrow night (federer vs hewitt! WOOT!), after-tennis drinks, adventure park and drive-in cinema on tuesday, murder mystery dinner (!) on saturday, the sister’s coming over CNY, we’re going to sydney for tetsuya’s in march and i just got us tickets to perth in april. now to just fill in all the time in between with work. you can do it, sueewong!
a lot going on in the space between my ears but i suspect it’s all hormonally-influenced. i’ll sort them out another time.
but in the meantime, i actually think it’s all good. so good, i’m not even afraid i might jinx it.
24. singaporean based in melbourne, australia. 
