What a Week in Sydney!

Allo allo! I'm back from my long rendevous with Sydney- my third trip there, but it's always a trip with a difference.

The main purpose of going their this time is to be part of the Hillsongs Conference. I figured out that since I won't get another opportunity to do this, I might as well go for this 5 day, super intensive conference while I can afford it. It was real tiring, having to wake up at 7am every morning to catch the train to Olympic Park. The sessions don't end till 10pm, and I'm proud to say that I survived all but 1 night. There were great speakers such as US top tv evangelist Joyce Meyers, the German fire-infused Reinhard Bonnke, and Michael W Smith. It was great fun seeing the crowd of 30,000 every night filling into the Superdome. The 2-hour queueing each day was mind-boggling, but you get the drift after a while.

Despite the contraint in time, Aud and I did some sightseeing as well. Went to the Darling Harbour, the Fish market, the Rocks, the DFO and Birkenhead Point for some factory outlet shopping. And we rented this awfully great split-level apartment (thanks Phil!) that was loaded with dvds that Aud and I found it hard to leave it. Our place was just 5 mins from the Glebe Markets, and a short walk to the Broadway Shopping Centre, so we didn't really stepped into the city at all.

Took at pic of Darling Harbour- Atiq, this one is for you! Remember that in 2001 we came here for coffee every night after our conference??

So now I'm back, sick to the core. After experiencing the gorgeous Sydney winter weather, I suddenly felt shortchanged staying in Melbourne. It's not funny to be running a fever, accompanied by a slow-to-perform 6 fin heater turned on at full blast, tucked inside a down quilt, and yet it's cooooold cos it's 9 degrees outside.

Back to savouring my instant soup. MSG never tasted so good.

Darling Harbour

The Hillsong Conference Crowd at the Sydney Olympic Superdome

Nobody Knows- The Bittersweet Movie

I promised myself that I have to have something worth calling a 'celebration' after my last exams on Thursday. Offcially, that is the last exam of my life- at least in an institution of learning.

So hey, I celebrated by washing up my huge pile of laundry, cleaned the toilets, vacuumed the floor. That is what freedom smells like when you are living along in a foreign country. Of course, I tried to compensate by going to catch a really good show- Nobody Knows, which is a pure 140mins worth of heartbreaking, bitter-sweet, emotion-provoking, big-sighing movie.

Based on a true story about a mother's abandonment of her 4 children in a small apartment in Japan, the story revolves around the lives 4 children and how innocent and ironic joy can be found interwoven into the overhanging tragedy. It does not try to overdramatize the plight of the children, nor pit the audience against the heinous irresponsibility of the mother, but through nuances, elicit a silly kind of joy that everyone can identify with- the squeaking slipper, seeds planted in styroform Nissin noodles cup.

The movie is directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, and admittedly, took a longer time to come around to this part of the world. Featured in the 2005 Cannes Film Festival, it saw 12 year old actor Yuya Yagira took home the coverted title for 'Best Actor'. I personally prefer the absolutely adorable 4 year old Shimizu Momoko, whose amazing acting and drop-dead cutie pie face won my heart after the first 20 mins.

Friends in Singapore will be mad to know that they have missed such a great show (it was shown in cinemas last Dec), but for my Melbourne friends, it's not too late to catch this at NOVA. It's worth every bit of your cents.

That being said, I had a great brekky at Nonya Hut at Glen Waverley this morning, with Nonya kueh and the works. That my friend, is the real smell of freedom!

Nobody Knows

I am an Aunty!

Never thought this day will come, but I'm an official aunty now! Not those aunty of your cousins' kids, but the children of your sibling.

Close friends of mine will know that I'm not a big fan of children, not even babies. Not that I dislike them, but let's put it as they get no goodwill points when it comes to them. However, I'm quite excited about her, although it'll be some time more before I'll see her. Hopefully that brother of mine will continue to send me some pics from Arizona.

The feeling of being an aunt is the closest I get to being scrutinized, to have a life watched and pondered by an impressionable one. Suddenly you feel that you need to ACT right, make sure the little one sees you in the right light. Wannabe mums and dads, you'll feel that too, and in triple intensity! (Gloats...)

My first baby niece Kalynn

Me, Hearing Loss??

I couldn't resist writing this one, despite being halfway through a take-home exam.

My case study for this exam is on Cochlear, Australia's pride and joy for a company who develops hearing implants. Yes, you heard it right, implants to help the profoundly deaf people to hear. Great technology- you have a mini broadcasting station built into you.

To prove that I have been working on this case long enough, I slacked off a little to check my hotmail, only to be shocked by MSN dispensing me advice on "How to Prevent Hearing Loss". Yes, the magic of technology yet again.

Alright.. back to work.

Ryanair, Ocean Spray and Cochlear

My exams starts this Friday. I'll have to put a suspension to my blogging days. For a taste of what it'll feel for the next coming weeks, I'll be pulling my hair over the cases of Ryanair, Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice, and the Aussie pride and joy-Cochlear.

I came across an interesting quote that I've better wake up to everyday.

“A number is a fact. Divide two numbers and you have an analysis. If you divide two numbers and explain how a third number is related you have an argument. If your argument makes sense you have a hypothesis. Combine a few hypothesis credibly and you can present at the board meeting.” – BCG Partner 1999

Ok... concentrate... soon it'll be over. See you on 16 June.

The Last Lectures of My Life

You see it during every end of semester. People bringing their cameras and snapping pictures with anyone and everyone they can lay their hands on. I promised myself that I would not succumb to the cheesy activity of taking last minute pictures, immortalizing that part of your life that you paid so much for.

I broke my promise, almost- it was my classmate's camera. It finally occured to me that it's the last week of uni and also the last lectures of my life. I have passed yet another milestone of my life, and decided that it'll involve too much trouble relating it verbally in the future.

But I should take some pictures, for nothing will bring back those memories as vividly as pictures do.

So, whether you are the snap-happy or the photo-shy, this will be my unbashful sharing.

Deena, my newfound neighbour living just above me. We didn't know of each other existence till one rainy morning in the tram.

Me, Deena and Kate. Together, we represent the Southeast Asia countries of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. 

Purpose of this picture is to illustrate the concept of "scale". Or rather, Omar's a great guy, doesn't mince his words. He's mellowed over the semesters tho, no more quick-witted sacarsms.

Chinese Steam Egg Recipe

This is dedicated to my friends in Melbourne, where every meal doesn't come that easy.

I've tried this a couple of times, and it's quite fool-proof. Just dump all the ingredients inside, steam it till it solidifies, and viola!

You'll need:
4 Eggs
Lean Pork 100 g
Dry Black Mushrooms 3 pcs
Chopped Spring Onion 1 stalk
Chicken Stock-same volume to egg

For the Sauce:
Salt 1/2 tbsp
Light Soy Sauce 1 tbsp
Pepper to taste
Yellow Wine 1 tbsp

Directions:
1) Wash lean pork, mince into small fine dices
2) Soak dry black mushroom, cut into small dices
3) Heat wok with 2 tbsp of oil, stir fry pork and black mushroom
4) Add sauce when pork is cooked, stir fry well then pour in a large bowl
5) Whisk well the egg with same volume of chicken stock and 2 tbsp of water
6) Pour the egg into bowl gently, and stir mix well gently
7) Put inside a steam case, steam the egg in medium heat when water is boiled
8) Steam for approx. 15-25 minutes until egg is steamed solid
9) Sprinkle chopped spring onion, serve

Steaming time varies, but just make sure that the egg has solidify before taking it off the stove.

Bon Appetit!

Steam Egg

Check this Out!

This is a posting from the online forum of my Strategic Management class. Check out this posting and tell me if the lecturer reading this will flip.

"In the literature review assignment,my interest is innovation one.My questions are from the question you asked us"can innovation be effectively framed as the firm's capability?" (1)you expect us to find the different prevailing innovation theories(value innovation,technology innovation,management innovation) or your focus is how they could be framed as the capability or you want us to show that we know that capability is not necessarily the competitive advantage to firm(4 attributes)? (2)As the reading given under this topic is the value innovation(focusing on customer needs, irrelevant to competition),the writer says this should be the strategy(not the traditional competition-based),I am confused about the above points relative to your question.Ir does not mention capability stuff,should I define the "capability"in the question to be narrower,that is ,the capability which could provide company with competitive advantage. Thanks very much."

Lecturer's Reply:
The questions you have asked is a little confusing, but let me try to answer the issues you have raised.

What The??! (Series 1)

It's one of those things that never fails to catch your attention. In Communications Marketing, we call it Novel Stimuli (using of humour to attract attention). BAD ENGLISH!

Talking to Cindy and Clara, we've compiled some bad english that occured right in the heart of Melbourne, land of the English descendents, but possibly peppered with ambassadors of other nationalities (of which I will not try to name).

Here's the list from the restaurants:
1) Prok Vemicelli, Dump Dumplings and Fred Red Bean Cake
2) BBQ Chiken with special rice

And these came from formal correspondence/presentations of the post-graduate students of Australia's best university:
1) Alternative Adz
2) It's a Pitty
3) Swizzland

We're quite brain-dead now... so we'll add on as we get more of such input.

"Everyday Everyone"

I've been spending recent nights obscillating between thoughts of correcting a badly written essay and sending a politically correct email to the authors to get a better grip of their writing. I'll let you be the judge.

A sample of it goes like this:

"Furthermore, within the budget airline industry, high number players who are severely competing on price gives a little room for customer to differentiate products provided by different firms... Additionally, the weaknesses of not well established brand and lacks a safety track record also prevent the company from ... ..."

Additionally, the flexible culture the company where cost saving is regarded as a core task of everyone everyday accommodates favorable conditions for cost leadership strategy......"

I'm a fan of Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves (the ultimate guide to punctuation), but I don't demand her pristine standard of english on anyone. However, to put things into perspective, this context is set on a post-grad level course which requires a convincing command of the language in order to be effective.

Therefore, I am hardly surprised when the following article was published in The Age:

Unis Depend On Foreign Students to Stay Afloat
Australia's universities have become so financially dependent on foreign students that their viability as major learning and research institutions now hinges entirely on that market.
But the pressure of maintaining the 220,000 international students needed each year to keep the campuses afloat has led to a drop in academic standards.
Academics report that in some courses entry requirements have been lowered, courses have been made easier and marking has been softened to help overseas students cope with their problems with the English language.

Back to another night of editing. Cheers!

I'm Back!

Hi, I've finally returned to the blog scene. It's been a crazy 2 weeks with tonnes of assignments and presentations. My dear friend cindy will attest to that, and even Clara, since we've not have a decent meal together for sooo long!

'Buggered' was a good word to use after Marketing Plans and Strategy presentation. When it was done, you get the feeling of wanting to just slob over a chair and call it a day. The good news was that our Swiss Choc lecturer didn't go on an attack, but the bad news was that the French was a tough loaf.

But that is all over!

Thanks to my babe Sharon, i had been entertaining myself (read: wasting time) with Toshimitsu Takagi's Viridian Room and Crimson Room. They are great mind-perking games to play when you are bored with your Strategic Management assignment.

Back to case study on Swatch. Food for thought: it costs only A/S$10 to manufacture one swatch. Irony indeed...

Do you like my revamped blog page?

Blog Undergoing Major Overhaul

Dear Readers of this Blog,

This blog is going through an identity crisis. And the blogger has to picked up from where she left off, from the days where HTML was the only script available for websites. Taking a leaf from TV 12 who stole yours truly's idea of a cartoon website, I have decided to make Yahoo my template. But need to sort out a few garbage on this one, and at 12.48am and the crazy wind howling outside, is not the most favourable of moods for an overhaul.

Soooo... it's Easter break! Haven't done much except for an internal analysis on AirAsia. Went to a church camp at Howqua, 2.5 hours from Melbourne. Met some interesting people, got myself inspired, played some games and was soon propelled to reality.

Was just thinking, if you have no money right now, what would make you happy? Mine will have to be:
1)Talking to my cat
2)Sitting in a vehicle with misty windows
3)Watching another one of those Jamie Oliver's shows (current one: Jamie's School Dinners) and feeling all wanting to make the world a better place
4)Looking at pictures of Montreal and L'ile Des Soeurs, my favourite places to reminisce

Ok, better stop dreaming. Send me some of your ideas of penniless-joys alright?!

Someone is in the Details

Do you think it's possible to bump into someone whom you have not met for 6 months and before you know it, the two of you are rushing to a Christian rally?

I did, met her on the tram. Have been trying to catch up with her, but never had the chance to. And that was after walking aimlessly for 30 mins in the supermarket, wondering what to cook for dinner.

The Franklin Graham rally at the Telstra Dome was pretty great, about 3000 came forth to receive Christ. I was enjoying the performances by The Katinas and Hillsongs. Feeling pretty "unmoved" by the message(expecting more, since he is Billy Graham's son), but apparently it did touched many throughout the 3 days. I knew being a non-Christian herself, she was touched too.

That for me is enough.

Not to mention that the latest discovery is that my new project mate is the flatmate of a good friend here. It's freaky, since another mate of mine took over the room of that similar good friend. Melbourne is just soooo small isn't it?

It has to be that someone is in the details...

Easter is coming soon! Someone died for me.

Cindy's Surprise Birthday Party

When was your last time?

Seriously, when was the last time you went hiking?

I don't think I've really had a last time. The ONLY time I went hiking was doing a couple of 1hr walks in Tassie, and that's all there is. Climb a couple of steps, pant a little, look and your watch and wonder if the destination is anywhere near, and then marvel at some lookout.. and reverse the whole sequence again.

It's a long weekend here in Melbourne, and the highlight of it is bushwalking at the Werribee Gorge State Park, an hour and a half's drive away from the city. The circuit we took was a 4hours, 10km route. Just in case you are wondering, I did secretly chart up the possible 'exits' I can take, for good measure. Good thing I didn't have to use it, and was among better hikers. The gorge was pretty, and there was a couple of nice lookouts. We travelled along the river, and it's amazing how I climbed those huge rocks and ambled through the narrow edges of the gorge. Quite frightening sometimes! That again, is one of my greater 'achievements', a going out of your comfort zone mental challenge accomplished.

Clara and I had a great time trying to get a surprise birthday party going for Cindy. Operation Cindy's Bday went in such a clockwork fashion- wenli buys present, shuan gets the cake, clara brings the deco, clara tricks cindy out, mike brings cake over, wenli, mike and shuan decorates the house, clara brings cindy back home, suprise!

When was the last time you had a surprise birthday party??

Werribee Gorge State Park

Closer to...

Closer to Autumm, Winter, Easter, bad weather,
Closer to established friendships, better coffees, busier calendars
Closer to assignments, deadlines, reviews
Closer to Home.

I miss my cat. But I know I'll miss my life here when it's time to say goodbye. I've learnt how little money I have, but also how little money can buy. I marvel the times when you feel broke to the bone, and yet able to miraculously smile, laugh, have fun and sleep well.

Although Autumn has descended and all activities ebbing, things do get a little cosier. Watched Closer after a panting swim. Had a nice vietnamese dinner with the rest and caught Run Lola Run at Arthur and Chet's place till late. The gale came on full force on Saturday but nothing stopped me going for a shopping trip to Chapel Street. Went to Ricky and Caro house to chill out on Sat and Sun.

Listening to the 11909th time- The Blower's Daughter, proving the effect of what an appropriate scored movie can do... or simply put, what a great song can do for a movie.

Damien Rice's "O": featuring the hauntingly surreal song "The Blower's Daughter" in the movie 'Closer'