My Australian Adventure

San Francisco Vacation Rentals

2012-01-07T12:21:00.000+11:00

Ever wanted to travel to San Francisco but lack the budget for the expensive accommodation price tag that comes along with it? Now here's your chance to do so. San Francisco Vacation Rentals is part of Airbnb which is the latest traveling trend by backpackers all around the world. San Francisco Vacation Rentals lets you list (if you're a home owner/renter going for a holiday) or book (if you are a traveler looking for a place to stay) a place within San Francisco.

You get to view pictures of the place you're interested in staying, view feedback by previous travelers, and post your own feedback after your stay. Airbnb facilitates the payment and holds the payment from the tenant for 24 hours after you have checked-in and are satisfied with the place.

Here's a short video clip on how San Francisco Vacation Rentals works:

San Francisco Vacation Rentals currently has over a thousand places to choose from. Ranging from 1 bedroom apartments in the city to huge 5 bedroom houses by the seaside. The whole concept is pretty neat and I would most certainly want to give this a go when I pay my friend a visit in the United States one day.

So if you're planning a trip to San Francisco anytime soon, check out San Francisco Vacation Rentals first before googling for hotels to stay in. You might save yourself quite a bit of cash which you can use to fund other things during your trip.

Renting in Canberra

2011-12-07T13:30:00.007+11:00

I've actually moved out of my uncle's place a few weeks ago now. Since I've got a full time job, it was high time that I started being more independent. I'm currently renting a room in a fully furnished house with an Aussie family. The rent is AUD $200/week or around RM640/week (or RM33,280/year) which is inclusive of all bills; water, electricity, gas and internet. The price is average but you can probably find cheaper rents elsewhere. The main reason why I chose this place was because the house itself is clean and tidy unlike some of the other places I've checked out which were horrible.

My landlord is a pretty nice guy. He and his wife are really friendly and easy to get along with. And because the house is fully furnished, I didn't have to buy too much when I initially moved in here (apart from all the Asian pantry staples such as soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, wan ton noodles, mee suah, etc. and a rice cooker that is). And fortunately for me, my landlord doesn't mind me cooking up the typical Asian stir fry.

I've been cooking the usual stuff the past few weeks. Nothing really interesting. Had stir fry snow peas with prawns with lots of garlic, eggplant with minced beef, fried mee hoon, wan ton mee, fried egg with french beans, stir fried broccoli with beef slices, stir fried ginger beef and so on. I even cooked a steak one day on my landlord's bbq. Just did the basic salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, oil and red wine marinate and chuck it on the fire. Nothing too fancy.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my room:

My current place now is also pretty convenient as it is located quite close to the town centre where all the shops, supermarkets, banks, restaurants and fast food joints are located. It is also where I catch the bus every morning to get to work.

The yellow line is the route I normally take to get to the bus stop. It's about 850m or a 10 minute walk. The bus takes about half an hour from there to the city centre where my workplace is.

This place where I'm currently renting is also very near a lake (or a pond). The distance round the lake is roughly 4km. So what I normally do is I go for a jog either on Saturday or Sunday around the lake just to keep fit. I hardly have any time to jog during the weekdays because I normally get home late after work. But I'll be looking to jog more regularly during the Christmas break.

The red line is the path I take when I go for my once-a-week jog. I think the total distance is around 4.5 to about 5km which isn't too bad.

Here are some pictures of my 'neighbourhood':

The Town Centre is all the way down this road where the building with the little 'chimney' is.

The path on the way to the lake

The jogging path at the lake

It's very green with lots of trees and plants all around

The usual ducks and ducklings at the lake. You can see some black swans there sometimes. Some people also go there to fish. Not sure if they ever caught anything though.

That's all for now. Will update again next time. Am going to be busy with work over the next two weeks running up to the Christmas break. Take care!

New Phone: Blackberry Bold 9700

2011-12-06T21:36:00.000+11:00

Just a short update.

I was actually just about to confirm my order for the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc when another rival phone company had a promotion for a Blackberry Bold 9700. It's a pretty old phone, but I get a lot more credit for calls if I sign up with those guys. For the BB plan, I only have to pay $29/month for 1 year (which is good as I can would be able to sign on to a new contract next year and get another new phone) and I will have enough credit to make a phone call to a mobile number in Cuba for around 3 whole hours (assuming my phone's battery doesn't die on me by then). With the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, I had to pay $29/month for 2 whole years and only get enough credit to call my friend in Cuba for 2 hours on her mobile phone.

And because the main reason for getting a new phone was not because of the phone but because of the credit to call my friend, I decided to apply for the Blackberry model instead. This particular 9700 model was released in October 2009. So it's about 2 years old as it is. The specs aren't great, with a 624Mhz processor (which is still faster than my current Nokia N97 mini's 434Mhz), 256mb of RAM (double my current 128mb), a slightly faster bluetooth connection with supporting up to v2.1 (unlike my current v2.0) as well as a longer battery life with the BB having a 1500mAh Li-Ion battery (compared to my miserable 1200mAh). The BB also boasts a slightly higher pixel density although it only has a 3.2mp camera compared to my Nokia's 5mp camera. However, I'm not really in it for the camera, so that doesn't really bother me.

Also, my current $29/month plan includes a 1.5gb of data for video streaming and unlimited Blackberry Email Internet Browsing. It should be more than sufficient as I hardly use too much of my mobile internet.

I've already put in my order for the phone. So hopefully my credit check is successful and I would be able to receive it by the end of this week if all goes well.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc

2011-11-29T22:00:00.000+11:00

So now that I've started working full time, I thought I might treat myself and buy me-self a new phone. My current Nokia N97 mini is still working fine albeit a little (maybe very) laggy. It hangs ever so often and the battery doesn't seem to be able to last the whole day as well. I was also in the midst of looking for an extra phone line so that I can have extra credit each month to call a good friend of mine who is currently studying in Cuba. So since I was going to get a phone line anyway, why not sign up for a 24 month contract and get a new phone whilst I'm at it?

So after much browsing (of the various telco websites), I decided to get the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc. This phone was released less than a year ago in March. It is sort of a mid-ranged phone and is no where as powerful as the Iphone 4 or the Galaxy SII. However, the newly launced SE Xperia Arc S (which is one model after the Arc and was just released last month) which boasts of a 1.4Ghz processor might be able to compete with those two phones.

The SE Xperia Arc has a 4.2" LCD screen which has the same panel that Sony uses in their Bravia TV range. This phone also has an 8.1-megapixel camera sensor which borrows the Exmor-R back-side illuminated image sensor from the Sony's Cybershot camera range. Apart from it's 1Ghz processor and Android OS platform, this phone is also one of the lighter phones on the market, weighing just 117g.

I might be getting this phone in the coming week or so. It should provide me with something to do over the Christmas holidays. Also, I'll be paying $29 per month for 24 months once I sign up with this plan. Hopefully I'll like the phone and won't have too many things to complain about.

ACT Road Rules Knowledge Assessment Test

2011-11-26T22:16:00.000+11:00

In order for me to get an Australian drivers license, I had to re-take both the theory and practical exams again despite holding a Malaysian drivers license. It's just so unfair that we Malaysians have to re-take our driving exams again while our fellow neighbours, the Singaporeans, get to convert their drivers license without having to sit for any further test.

So anyway, I went to one of the two testing centres that Canberra has to do my Road Rules test or more commonly known as 'Undang' in Malaysia. There are 35 questions in the test and you are allowed to make 4 mistakes in the general section and none in the intersection, drugs and alcohol and seat belts section. If you do make a mistake in one of the three sections stated, you'll automatically fail the test and have to resit.

The test itself costs AUD $35 per sitting (maximum of 2 sittings per day) and you would be required to bring along:
1. your foreign drivers license,
2. an NAATI approved translation of your drivers license if it's not in English,
3. 3 forms of ID (Passport, Medicare card, ATO tax assessment, etc.),
4. 2 passport sized photos ($5 payable for picture to be taken on that day), and
5. $35 (both cash and Eftpos accepted).

Some practice questions can be found on the ACT Government's website. It is advised that you have a go at the practice questions prior to sitting for the Road Rules test. Some of the questions are actually similar in the actual test itself.

There are two testing centres:
North Canberra Office
Canberra Technology Park, Block D
49 Phillip Avenue, WATSON ACT 2602
Ph: 02 6162 5152
Fax: 02 6162 5153
E: roadreadynorth@freebott.com.au

South Canberra Office
72 Townshend Street,
PHILLIP 2606
Ph: 02 6282 8990
Fax: 02 6281 7432
E: roadreadysouth@freebott.com.au

Their opening hours are:
Monday to Friday: 9am to 5pm
Saturday: 9am to 12noon

It's fortunate that they open on Saturdays as Saturdays are the only time when I'm actually free to do all this kind of funny things now that I'm working full time. As for my test, it went alright. Managed to score 34/35. After I passed the test, they printed out a confirmation letter to be presented when I book my practical exam.

More on the driving test when I actually attempt it in the next few months or so.

Permanent Residency (PR) Application Approved

2011-11-17T21:47:00.003+11:00

My Australian Permanent Residency (PR) Application has been approved. I got an email a couple of days ago informing me that my Skilled - Independent (VB 885) visa has been granted. It took the Department of Immigration and Citizenship approximately 20 weeks to process my PR application.

In the notification email, it is also stated that I will have to wait 2 years before I can receive most Centrelink income support payments. Centrelink is the government organisation that makes social security payments. "Income support" is government welfare assistance that is enough to live on. The payments with a waiting period include unemployment and sickness benefits, income support payments for students and a number of other payments.

But I'm glad that's all well and done for now. Next thing to do is to get my Australian Drivers License. That's going to cost me another $300+. Will update again soon on that.

And maybe in 4 years time...

Back to PR Application Checklist

A Job and Moving Out

2011-10-29T22:29:00.002+11:00

I'm glad to say (or write) that I've finally gotten myself a job at a company called Dixon Advisory. I am indeed very thankful that I have been given an opportunity to work in one of Australia's leading independently owned financial advisory firms.

A short excerpt from their website:

Dixon Advisory is one of Australia’s leading independently owned financial advisory firms. We help more than 15,000 families with their superannuation and financial affairs including over 4,000 with self managed super funds (SMSFs) with a combined asset base in excess of $4 billion.

Dixon Advisory offers the following services:

Financial advice
SMSF set up and administration
Investment advice
Property and mortgage advice, including Australia’s leading property investment inside SMSF service.
Estate planning and other legal services
Insurance advice.

We provide a comprehensive suite of financial services and we are the only major advisory firm that helps clients with detailed expert advice on self managed super, retail, industry and government super funds.

Learn about the benefits of choosing Dixon Advisory.
Read Testimonials from a selection of our clients.

I guess Dixon is a pretty good place to start as a fresh graduate. I am expected to work late during the peak season (April-August) but the working lifestyle has been pretty good so far. I'm currently a financial analyst in the firm. Basically what I do there is to assist the Financial Advisors by taking notes during meeting with clients and drafting up Statements of Advice which are basically documents containing all of the recommendations made by the advisors during the meeting.

I will also be moving out from my uncle's place pretty soon. Am going to be renting a room with an Aussie family in a nearby suburb. The main thing that I was looking for when I was looking around for my own place was that my place had to be close to a bus stop. I do not plan to get my own car just yet although I might reconsider in a couple of months when I get a pay rise. I'm going to be paying AUD $200 per week for this place that I'm going to be moving into. I'll be getting a room, furnished with my own bed, a small work desk and a wadrobe. Apart from that, the whole house is also fully furnished so I do not have to buy much stuff when I move in.

My rent also includes all bills; water, electricity, gas and internet, which is pretty good. The place I'm staying in is pretty convenient because it is located around 800m from the bus stop, 2 major supermarkets, major banks, a dry cleaners, a post office and a couple of restaurants. Hopefully everything will work out well.

I'll also be on leave for around 2 weeks plus for the Christmas/New Year period as the firm will be closed then. Therefore, I'll be taking leave without pay during that period as I have not accumulated any annual leave just yet. I might think of something to do then. Maybe pop by Sydney or something.

I guess that's probably all for now. Will update again with pictures of my new place. Take care!

Processing Time, Permanent Residency (PR), Australia

2011-10-14T21:00:00.012+11:00

It's been close to four months and I still haven't heard from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) regarding my permanent residency application. Apparently, they haven't even touched my application form yet according to their website.

Finding out when your application will be processed or whether or not it has been allocated a case officer:

http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/estimated-allocation-times.htm

If you clicked on the link above, and scroll down, you will find a table showing the various visa subclasses as well as their respective dates. Applicants who have lodged their applications before those dates have been contacted by a case officer and should only take a matter of weeks before their final visa is granted. The table is updated fortnightly.

Processing dates for General Skilled Migration applicants. Updated on the 7th of October 2011.

I actually lodged my application online towards the end of June. So it shouldn't take too long before a case officer is allocated to me. I'm estimating a time of around 3 weeks before this actually happens. Hopefully once I get allocated a case officer, everything will be processed really quickly and I will be able to get my Permanent Residency Visa approved before the end of next month.

Back to PR Application Checklist

Family Holiday

2011-10-13T21:07:00.002+11:00

My parents flew over into Melbourne from Malaysia last month. They were here for my graduation ceremony which was held in September. They landed in the morning and we took the Starbus shuttle to our budget accommodation called the Space Hotel. The hotel is located on 380 Russell Street in the CBD itself.

The hotel itself was pretty impressive. I paid a total of AUD $139 per night for a queen bed and 2 single bunk beds with my own ensuite bathroom. The so called 'hotel' also has quite a number of facilities such as their own theater room, lounge area, mini arcade room, gym area as well as quite a number of computers for guests to go online with. The 'hotel' also had a pretty big kitchen area for guests to cook stuff. But the downside to this place is that half the facilities don't actually work. The whole mini arcade room had game machines that are all spoilt. Their gym area was appalling with non-functional equipment that might pose a serious safety hazard to guests. The lounge area was pretty bare. And the worst part was that the hotel rooms only had heaters and not air-conditioners. Fortunately for me, I was staying during the start of Spring. So it was still pretty cooling when I was there.

I took my parents to Port Melbourne for fish and chips on the first day and then down to the Crown Casino at night to watch the fire display along the river bank. The Casino actually built a number a 'chimneys' along the bank that emits a huge flame at night. If I'm not mistaken, this fire display starts at 9pm and lasts for around 5 minutes every night and is displayed every hour until midnight.

OZ Doner & Chicken Kebab or also known as Flemington Kebab

18 Racecourse Road, Flemington, Melbourne

A friend of mine recommended this kebab when I was in Melbourne. It's situated quite a bit out of town but it's easily accessible by tram (15-20 minutes ride). The kebab was pretty good although it is just a little bit pricier than the food you can get in the city. You do get quite a big kebab for the price you pay. This place opens from 6pm until the wee hours in the morning (hardly anyone is open at those hours) and is quite popular among uni students.

The following day, we went to the Carlton Brewery in Abbotsford for a brewery tour and some beer tasting. It was a pretty informative session and we got a chance to sample four different types of beer each. Entrance was AUD $12 per person as I bought a coupon from a group buying website prior to their arrival.

In the afternoon, we headed to the Prahran markets just a couple of streets down from where we were for lunch. It's no where as big as the Queen Victoria market but I guess it's still somewhere to have a look around. After that, we headed to the Queen Victoria market and walked around the city's CBD.

Lunch at Prahran. Had some fancy stuff. Crispy skin fish with grilled vegetables.

The usual steak

Seafood Risotto

We caught the early morning Greyhound bus to Canberra early the next morning at 7am. The journey was a killer. It took us about 9 hours plus just to reach Canberra because the bus had to make various stops along the various towns along the way. Over the next two days, we stayed in Canberra and didn't really do much.

Floriade, the flower festival in Canberra. Photo was taken from a ferris wheel. Lots of different combination of flowers of various colours/designs at the festival itself.

I also went to Jervis Bay for two nights at Hyamms beach. Apparently this beach has the whitest sand in the world as certified by the Guinness Book of Records. I guess they were right. The sand was indeed really white. Only managed to take a short dip in the sea once because the water was freezingly cold. The weather during the trip wasn't exactly ideal either.

The whitest sand in the world.

We came back to Canberra the day before my graduation. And my graduation ceremony took up the whole afternoon the following day. My parents managed to sneak in a short drive around Canberra's northern and southern suburbs in the morning before my ceremony itself.

I was also nominated as a Student Representative and had to go on stage to deliver a speech.

The following day, we headed up to Sydney via Greyhound again. The only reason why I chose Greyhound was because all my flights that I booked via Tiger Airlines were cancelled when the airlines got grounded. Subsequently, they then decided to stop servicing the Canberra route as they deem the route as unprofitable. What a shame.

We stayed in another budget accommodation in Sydney; the Formula 1 Hotel which was located in Kings Cross. This hotel was slightly cheaper for the same type of room but way crappier. The F1 Hotel in Kings Cross was a really old one and they didn't really have any other facilities apart from a tiny kitchen. The next time I head up to Sydney, I'll definitely be booking a different place to stay.

The iconic Coca-Cola signboard synonymous with Kings Cross.

At Sydney, we did all sorts of touristy things. We took pictures at the Opera House, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, popped by the Sydney Fish Market to take some photos and had brunch there, caught the train and a ferry to Manly beach, shopped around Paddy's Market in Chinatown and walked along George Street to experience the culture.

The Opera House (above) and Harbour Bridge (below)

Half a lobster, some chips, calamari rings and oysters.

After Sydney, it was back to Canberra for another night and then back to Melbourne to catch their flight.

We took the scenic Pacific Drive route back to Canberra on the way back from Sydney.

We also stopped over at the Kiama blowhole to have a look and take some pictures.

Blowhole <-- click for definition

Overall, I think I might have crammed a little bit too much within the two weeks that they were here. The next time they come over, I'm just going to leave them in Canberra to do nothing for two whole weeks.

That's pretty much it for now.

Take care!

A Fresh Graduate

2011-09-13T20:52:00.001+10:00

I truly apologize to anyone who still frequents my blog just to see if I've updated. I was actually back in Malaysia for the whole month of August and only got back just recently. Overall, it was a good trip. I managed to catch up with family and friends while I was back and ate most of the things that I wanted to eat. I also managed to buy a few articles of clothing while I was back during Malaysia's Mega Sale which is normally held from June to September.

Some of you might be wondering how did I manage to go back after applying for my Permanent Residency (PR) onshore. I managed to go back to Malaysia and return to Australia because I'm actually still on my student visa. My student visa expires at the end of September and therefore, I am still able to leave the country and return on that visa. Once my student visa expires, Bridging Visa A will come into effect and I will then be required to remain in Australia until a decision on my PR application is reached.

But if you're currently on Bridging Visa A, you can actually still make a trip back to your home country by applying for a Bridging Visa B. This could be done by downloading the required form here and then submitting it at your nearest Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) office together with a payment of AUD $105. You will also need to provide the DIAC with a valid reason on why you need to travel back home. I am not sure how lenient they are regarding the approval of these visas as I have not tried this before. And once you get back after your trip overseas, I think that you might need to check back in with the DIAC to let them know that you're back.

And now that I am back in Canberra, I'm currently looking for a job. Apparently it is pretty hard to land a job these days as a non-resident/citizen. I've tried applying to the big four accounting firms and some of the mid-tier ones and all my applications were turned down. I have even tried submitting my resume with various recruitment agencies here in Canberra and got called up for one interview. But up till today, I've yet to receive a job offer.

I will be taking a break from job hunting the next 3 weeks as my parents will be coming over for a holiday. But I will definitely resume my job hunting once I'm free. Hopefully, I'll be able to land myself a job soon or else my funds will be depleted and I might have to go back to Malaysia for good.

I promise to put up some pictures the next time I update.

Take care!

My Permanent Residency (PR) Application Checklist

2011-07-16T18:00:00.001+10:00

This post will be set to remain on top of my blog for quite some time. To see if I've posted anything new, please scroll down to the next post

I will keep updating this post and adding links to it when I find out more stuff. Click on the hyperlinked numbers of each criteria to find out more.

I will be applying for the Skilled Independent (Residence) Visa (subclass 885) in Australia. I'm hoping to lodge my application by the 30th of June before the new point system takes effect.
Required: 120 points
Application Fee: $2575

For that, I will need to meet/have the following criteria/documents:

1. Age (30 points)
- 18-29 years old as of date of application
- Cost $172
- Required:
--->Translated Birth Certificate and
--->Passport

2. English Language Ability (25 Points)
- Band 7 in the International English Language Testing System
- Cost $317.15
- Required: IELTS test report form

3. Nominated Skilled Occupation (60 points)
- ANZSCO Code: 221111
- ANZSCO Occupation: Accountant (general)
- Assessing Authority: CPA/ICAA/NIA
- Cost $409.80
- Required: Skills Assessment Form from assessing authority

4. Eligible Visa
- I hold an eligible student visa

5. Two years study in Australia
- Required: Completion letter from the university

6. Location
- Must be in Australia when I lodge my visa application

7. Health
- Undergo medical check with Medibank Health Solutions
- Cost $321.80
- Test results will be submitted directly to the Department of Immigration

8. Character
- Cost $64.40
- Required:
--->Australian Federal Police check and
--->Malaysian police check

9. Australian Qualification (5 points)
- Required:
--->Academic Transcript
--->Completion Letter

10. Form 80 & Form 1221

Total points : 120 points
Total costs: $3,860.15

Permanent Residency (PR) Application Lodgement

2011-07-16T17:56:00.001+10:00

Right after I received my CA Skill Assessment in the post on the 28th of June, I started my PR Application process online and successfully lodged my application that night itself. It wasn't too hard. It's just a pretty lengthy procedure where I had to fill in lots of stuff. At the end of the application, I had to pay the application fee which is non-refundable (even if my application got rejected) of AUD $2575.

I was then given a Transaction Reference Number (TRN) for all future transactional purposes. Once I got that, I had to start uploading all my scanned documents.

The list of documents I had uploaded to the Department of Immigration's website is as follow:
- Original Birth Certificate
- Officially Translated Birth Certificate by a NAATI translator
- Old Passport (because I lodged my Police Check application with the old passport number and got my new passport just recently)
- New Passport
- IELTS Test Report Form
- University of Canberra Completion Letter
- University of Canberra Academic Transcripts
- ICAA Accounting Skill Assessment Notification
- Australian Federal Police Check
- Malaysian Police Check
- Passport Photo (which I scanned from the additional copy I bought for my passport renewal the other day)
- Form 80
- Form 1221

An email was sent to me the following day confirming the receipt of my application for permanent residency by me. A few minutes later, another email was sent to me notifying me of Bridging Visa approval. This bridging visa only comes into effect once my student visa expires sometime in September. With this visa, I am allowed to remain in Australia lawfully with permission to work an unlimited amount of hours. But the only downside to this visa is that I am now allowed to depart from Australia until my PR application is either approved or rejected. So until then, I'm pretty much stuck here. But I can apply for an exemption to leave the country provided I have substantial reasons for my travel.

Therefore, I have made the decision to travel back to Malaysia this coming August for a whole month and come back in September before my student visa expires.

That's pretty much it for my PR Application Process. I now have to wait for the good news or the bad news. This PR application process can take from a few months to up to 2 years for them to make a decision on your application. But the average waiting time is around 1 year. Hopefully I'll get mine approved way before that.

Health: Medical Check Up

2011-06-24T13:00:00.003+10:00

For my Medical Check Up, I had to find the nearest Medibank Health Solutions Clinic via their website as the Department of Immigration stated specifically that all health examinations for onshore applicants has to be done through them.

And because I am doing my medical check up after the 30th of June, I am going to have to pay $317 instead of the $303 if I did it in June.

What I had to do was:
1. ring up the nearest Medibank Health Solutions Clinic
2. make an appointment and get a reference number
3. bring along form 26 and form 160 together with my passport and $317

Cost: Health examination fee $317 + Postage $4.80
Total: $321.80

12th and 15th July update:
At my first appointment, I had my picture taken, paid my check up fee of $317 and waited 10 minutes for my turn. The nurse called me in, had an eye-test where I had to read the alphabets of the chart, got my weight and height measured and had my blood taken.I was then directed to another building to get my chest X-ray done. The whole appointment took just over an hour.

At my second appointment, I had a consultation with a doctor who asked me to perform a few basic physical movements such as touching my toes, walking on my toes, squatting down and so on. The doctor then checked my eyes and asked me a series of questions. I was in the consultation room for only under 15 minutes and I was done. I had to wait for a further 30 minutes while the report was finalised and had to pick up my test results in a sealed envelope to be posted to the Department of Immigration. I'm not sure why they can't do it for me.

Back to PR Application Checklist

Nominated Skilled Occupation

2011-06-11T00:01:00.001+10:00

The Australian Department of Immigration's Skilled Occupation List (SOL) which was last updated on the 1st of July 2010 could be found by clicking here. It basically tells you how many points you get for whichever occupation you choose to apply with. The SOL also tells you who your skill assessing authority is so that you can get your skill assessed by them.

I will be applying for residency as a General Accountant which carries 60 points (the maximum) with it. And the skill assessing authority that I have to refer to are the CPA, ICAA and the NIA. Two really common skill assessing authorities are the CPA and the ICAA. Both of these organisations charge the same amount for the skill assessment; $350 and promises to get your result back to you within 2-3 weeks. But only the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia (ICAA) has a fast track option for this skill assessment. The downside, it costs an extra $45 for it. And they will get your application processed within 1-1.5 weeks.

Because I'm sort of in a hurry to get my application in before the 30th June dateline, I decided to use the ICAA fast track option and pay that extra $45. My uni results were officially released at 3pm on the 10th of June. I went to uni on that day, hoping to get my academic transcript as well as my completion letter printed but was told that I could only get my academic transcript on that day and had to wait till the following Wednesday for my completion letter to be processed (because Monday was a public holiday). This delay is due to the fact that the computer system hasn't updated my completed status because the results were only just announced on that day itself and will take some time before my completion letter could be printed.

What I did was I enlisted the help of my course convener whom I was on good terms with (being such a good student) to help me try and fast track the process of my completion letter. Fortunately for me, I managed to get my completion letter that evening itself (after numerous phone calls made by my convener).

So anyway, the subject requirements for each Australian University could be found here. What that document does is it tells you which subjects you need to have completed in your degree to be eligible for this skill assessment.

To apply for my skill assessment with the ICAA, I had to:
1. take the IELTS test and achieve a Band 7 in all four sections of the test
2. get a certified copy of my academic transcript
3. get a certified copy of academic award, stating the title of the award, name of the awarding institution and the year the study was completed
4. download the application form
5. fill up the application form, attach the required documents and post it off together with the payment

Cost: Application fee $395 (fast track) + Academic transcript $10 + Postage $4.80 (express mail)
Total: $409.80

Back to PR Application Checklist

Proof of Age

2011-06-03T21:00:00.003+10:00

For my Permanent Residency (PR) application, I need to show that I am between 18-29 years of age in order to get that 30 points. And the documents that would be required of me are my passport as well as a translated copy of my birth certificate.

Passport:
I had to renew my passport prior to lodgement because my passport only had a couple of months left in it before it expires. I am actually allowed to lodge my application with my old passport and inform the department of immigration once I've renewed my passport so that they can update their system with my new passport details. But because I am planning to go back to Malaysia before my student visa expires, I thought that I might as well get my passport renewed and update my student visa details so that I would not encounter any problems or difficulties when I re-enter the country.

What I had to do was to:
1. download the application form here
2. fill it up and call the Malaysian High Commission to make an appointment at 9am
3. bring along my original identity card (IC) and a photocopy
4. bring along the original passport
5. bring along 2 recent passport sized photos (or have your picture taken on that same day for $12)
6. present all of the above to the person in charge
7. pay the application fee of $110
7. collect your new passport at 3pm the same day

It's pretty much a straight forward procedure. The only hassle is the waiting time between 10am and 3pm. What I did was I caught the bus home, grabbed some lunch and then headed back. Spent a lot of time traveling in the bus, but I didn't mind.

And once my passport was renewed, I headed straight to the Department of Immigration in the City Center to inform them of my change of passport details. Before I went over, I had to print out Form 929 and fill it up and submit it together with a photocopy of your old and new passport. Because I came straight from the embassy, the staff at the department were kind enough to make a photocopy of both my passports for me without charge. Changes will then be reflected in my online student visa after 24 hours.

Cost: Application fee $110 + 2 x Passport photos $12
Total: $122

Birth Certificate:
I actually got my birth certificate translated at the Malaysian High Commission here in Canberra when I got my Police Checks done for $10. But I later found out that the department of immigration only accepted translated documents by translators from the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI).

So what I had to do was to head to the NAATI website, follow the selected prompts and locate my nearest NAATI translator. Once I located a translator (there was only one in Canberra for Malay to English translation), I contacted him via email about my query. He called me back later in the day and asked me to email him a scanned copy of my birth certificate, both front and back (even if the back was blank) and he will translate it and affix his legal stamp and arrange for a meeting time where I will have to pay him $40 for his service.

Required:
1. Locate NAATI translator
2. Email scanned, coloured documents
3. Meet up to pay $40 and collect translated documents

The translator here in Canberra is pretty efficient. I sent him an email on a Friday afternoon, he called me in the evening, I emailed him my document the night itself and he could get it translated and ready for pick up the next day.

Cost: $40 + $10 (unofficial translation from Malaysian High Commission)
Total: $50

Total costs for proof of age: $172

Back to PR Application Checklist

Done with Uni!

2011-06-01T17:34:00.001+10:00

Sat for the last paper of my uni life yesterday! I'm now officially done with uni and am on my way to become a fresh graduate. Everything still feels the same. Don't think nothing much has changed. But I do thank God for providing for me throughout my entire 3 years of uni, helping me every single step on the way. To think I only came to Australia with my first semester's worth of uni fees paid for, a 20kg luggage bag (because I traveled with a budget airline, JetStar, to save money) and some savings from my short business venture in Malaysia, I would say I've done pretty well to survive for so long.

Now that the university chapter of life has passed, it's time for me to move on to the next chapter, whatever it may be. I will also be applying for my Permanent Residency (PR) this month once my results are released on the 10th of June. Then it'll be a 1-1.5 year waiting period before it gets approved.

As for the video I filmed in April, I'm sad to say that I didn't place in the video competition. But oh well, I've learned a little from that short experience and I'm currently planning for my next video competition where the dateline for submission is on the 26th of June.

Anyway, my plan for this month of June is to try and sort my PR application out and try and lodge it by the 30th of June before the new point system for migration takes effect on the 1st of July 2011. The next couple of blog posts will be pretty much on my PR application process.

Character

2011-05-24T19:00:00.004+10:00

So I had to get my police checks done in both Australia and Malaysia.

The Australian Federal Police Check application was pretty easy. All I had to do was
1. head to the AFP website,
2. read the instructions,
3. print out the application form,
4. photocopy and certify my passport,
5. get a bank cheque and
6. post all of the above to the stated address.

It took them about a week or so to post the results to my home address.

Costs: Application fee $43 + Bank cheque $5.40 + Postage $0.60
Total: $49

The Malaysian Police Check was slightly more complicated. I had to
1. head to Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website,
2. lodge my application online,
3. print my application form,
4. call the Malaysian High Commission in Canberra to make an appointment,
5. submit my application at the Malaysian High Commission bringing with me:
-> original and 2 copies of Malaysian Passport
-> original and 2 copies of Malaysian Identity Card
-> original and 2 copies of Australian Visa
-> 2 passport sized photographs
-> confirmation of enrollment from the university
-> $10

I reached the Malaysian High Commission at 9am (appointment time) and I had to wait for half an hour before they saw me. I then had to wait until 11.30am before I can get my Letter of Good Conduct (police check).

Costs: Application fee $10 + Bank cheque $5.40 (found out that it was not necessary on that day itself although the website said they only accepted bank cheques or money orders)
Total: $15.40

Back to PR Application Checklist

English Language Ability

2011-05-15T21:00:00.002+10:00

For the English Language Ability section of my permanent residency (PR) application, I had to take the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test again although I had to take the exact same test in Malaysia before I came to Canberra as part of my pre-requisite for entry to the University of Canberra. For PR application purposes, I had to achieve a band 7 out of 9 for all four sections of the test because I am planning to lodge my PR application by the 30th of June before the new point system takes effect. If I were to apply for PR from the 1st of July 2011 onwards, I'll be required to achieve a band 8 out of 9 for all four sections of the test.

I sat for my IELTS test on the 14th of May and had to register the month before. Registration was simple enough. All I had to do was to:
1. visit the IELTS test centre's website (which so happens to be at my uni),
2. look through the available test dates, bearing in mind which test you need to do (I had to sit for the academic test and not the general test because my skill assessment authority required academic IELTS)
3. download the application form
4. complete the form and submit together with payment, 2 recent passport sized photos and a copy of your passport
5. a confirmation letter will be posted to you a week before the test date to inform you of the time and location of your test
6. test results will be posted out to you 2 weeks after the test date

Cost: Application fee $317 (increased to $330 from 1st August 2011) + Passport photos $0.15 (because I did it myself)
Total: $317.15

The test was simple enough. It consisted of four main sections; Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. More information on the test format could be found from the IELTS website. The test started at 9am on the 14th of May, and in the confirmation letter that was posted to me the week before my test, told me to be there at 7.45am. I thought, why do I have to go so early to sit for a 9am exam? But I didn't question any further and arrived at my uni at 7.45am in the morning on that cold autumn day. The temperature that morning was sub-zero.

Once you enter the test hall, you're not allowed to leave until the first there sections of the test is complete; Listening, Reading and Writing. After you're done with the three main sections, you have to wait until your allocated Speaking time to be tested on your speaking ability in a one-on-one question and answer format. Fortunately for me, I had my Speaking session set pretty early. So I managed to complete all four sections by 12.30pm that same day itself.

I received my test results in the mail on the 30th of May. My results were as follow:
Listening: Band 9
Reading: Band 8.5
Writing: Band 7
Speaking: Band 8

Although I am a little disappointed with my writing ability, my results will still be sufficient to help me gain enough points for my PR application.

Back to PR Application Checklist

Cheap Passport Photo Solution

2011-05-01T21:00:00.001+10:00

Because I'm a cheapskate and don't really like to spend my money unless truly necessary, I decided to print my own passport sized photos instead of having to take a proper one in a shop. The cost for printing 4 passport sized photos here in Canberra, Australia is around $12 per set. And you won't even get to keep the soft copy to reprint more pictures in the future if you ever needed them.

So I went on to google and came across this website, http://www.epassportphoto.com/. It essentially helps you come up with passport sized photos according to your country's requirements. All you have to do is to select which country you're doing the passport photo for, browse for a picture that you want to use, crop the picture to ensure that your face is within the required boundary (all done on the website itself) and finally, download the picture. Now all that you need to do is to go to your nearest photo shop to get the picture developed.

I went to the cheapest store to get the cheapest prints I could get. Big W were offering 15 cent prints and I could hardly resist such a cheap offer. The only downside to this method is that you have to take your own photo and cut them up yourself.

Taking the photo is not too hard. All I had was my handy digital camera, a couple of books as a tripod, a well lit place and a photo editing software for editing the brightness, contrast and a bit of touching up. If you need a blue background photo, go invest in a blue cloth. And as for cutting up the photos, because they get developed in 4R sizes, I used a guillotine at my uni to cut up my pictures.

Here's a sample of a passport sized photo from epassportphoto.

University of Canberra, Australia

2011-04-20T23:11:00.004+10:00

Since I am in my final semester, I decided to make a short video about my uni so that I could look back and remember my uni days. Well, if you know me well enough, that won't be a strong enough excuse for me to go around uni snapping pictures and filming video. I basically came up with this video as part of a video competition organized by my university. The theme was "What U C".

So anyway, I've embedded my video below. It's not that fantastic because I only spent a couple of days on it and have other assignments to work on. I borrowed my friend's Canon 500D to take most of the shots and video and used Windows Movie Maker to edit the whole thing. The soundtrack is also provided by another friend of mine.

And if you do like the video, go on to youtube and like it. Hopefully I might be able to win a prize for my effort. And in case you're wondering why my uni looks so deserted, the reason is because I filmed most of the stuff on a weekend after my library shift. Also, due to legal complications, it was easier to film/take pictures without having anyone in it. If I do take a picture of someone, I will need to get them to fill up a form, consenting to the filming/picture taking process.

So, here's how my uni looks like.

Australia Permanent Residency (PR) / General Skilled Migration Independent Visa Subclass 885 Point Test

2011-04-16T23:33:00.012+10:00

As this is my last semester here in Canberra, Australia, I've got to start planning ahead on what I want to do. At the moment, I really don't know. But since I'm here in Australia and have been studying here the past three years, I thought, why not apply for my permanent residency first and see how things work out? If I don't get it, that's fine, that won't be the end of the world. I can always head back to Malaysia and work for a couple of years and then decide where I want to go after that. If I get it, that's fine as well. I could stay here and work, and if I do like it here, maybe get my Australian citizenship 5-10 years down the road.

So anyway, my exams end on the 2nd of June and my results will be out on the 10th of June. If I were to apply for PR under the current point test, I'll definitely get it with a Band 7 in IELTS. But the Australian government recently announced a new point test for people applying on/after the 1st of July 2011. Under the new point test, I'll need to get a Band 8 in IELTS in order to qualify for the PR visa.

IELTS, for those who don't know, stands for the International English Language Testing System. There are four parts to this test; Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. Those who take the test are scored out of nine for each section. And with the new PR point test, applicants would need to score a Band 8 our of 9 for every section in the test. I've got to say, I'm a bit worried about not getting an 8 for every section. Sure my Listening, Speaking and Reading skills are fine. But I'm not too confident with my writing ability. When I first applied for my uni, I only scored a Band 7 for my Writing section with the other sections getting an 8 or an 8.5.

Why not apply before the 30th of June 2011? Well, the thing is that I might not be able to get my application done within that 20 day period after my results are released. This is because, I'll need to get my skills assessed by a Chartered Accountant body in Australia once my results come out as part of my application for PR.

Anyway, here's a diagram of the new point test system for future applicants. You'll need 65 points in order to be eligible for Permanent Residency. Click to enlarge.

Under the old point test system, applicants would need to score 120 points in order to be eligible for PR. But points were easier to score back then. Here's a table of the old point test system. Click to enlarge.

Here's a comparison between the old and the new point test system. It's not that clear though. Click to enlarge.

My point test:
Age - 25 points (18-24 years old)
English language - 10 points (Band 7) / 20 points (Band 8)
Qualifications - 15 points (Bachelor degree)
Australian Study - 5 points (Minimum 2 years fulltime study)

Total = 55 points if I get a Band 7 in IELTS
Total = 65 points if I get a Band 8 in IELTS

So anyway, I've already registered and paid for my IELTS test over here. My test date is on the 13th and 14th of May. And the test fee is AUD $317 (RM700). It is so much cheaper to take my IELTS test in Malaysia because it only costs RM550 back in Subang.

And if I do well in my IELTS, I'll have to start forking out money to pay for the other expenses related with my PR application. Expenses such as a medical check up ($300+), police check both here in Australia and Malaysia ($60), skill assessment by professional body ($350+) as well as the application fee itself ($2575+). The prices quoted here were from when I enquired last year in 2010. These prices are expected to have increased by the time I apply. Overall, I would have to set aside about $3700 for the total application. That's excluding any translation and certification fee that I might have to pay to get my application done.

I guess that's all for now. Will update again on my PR application process.

Adelaide Trip

2011-04-06T21:41:00.045+10:00

So in my 'quest' to visit all of Australia (I've already visited Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart), I decided to give the small city of Adelaide which is located in South Australia a go during my one week mid semester break which ended last Sunday. From what I heard, Adelaide is supposed to be just like Canberra. A quiet, small city with nothing to do. And that I would have seen most of Adelaide if I've taken the city tram from one end to the other.

So when I actually got to Adelaide last Tuesday night, I was actually quite impressed with what Adelaide has. Their airport itself was so much bigger and nicer than Canberra's. A friend of mine, S, who used to attend the same high school and church with me very kindly offered to pick me up from the airport and allowed me to stay at his awesome apartment for the four nights I was there. He came with another friend, W, also from the same high school and church and we went out for supper at about 10pm that night. It was good to be able to catch up with them after not seeing each other for such a long time.

The supper for that night was...

AB or also known as Abortion,
a local specialty that is found only in Adelaide.

From wiki:

The AB is a type of fast food from Adelaide which has been popular with university students since its creation. It is made up of chips, and yiros meat, covered with tomato, barbecue, garlic sauce and tzatziki. Its somewhat grotesque appearance is the source of the name "AB", for "abortion", or "after-birth". It is also known to be sold as an Atomic Bomb or Dog's Breakfast at other Adelaide eateries. It is commonly eaten after or during a night of drinking, or as a hangover food. While $9 is the normal price for an AB, it is merely the minimum possible size: ABs in excess of $350 have reportedly been consumed. Only two North Adelaide take-out cafes currently serve the AB: the North Adelaide Burger Bar and the Blue and White, which are both on O'Connell Street within three storefronts of each other. Both claim to be the inventor of the AB, and both claim to make a superior AB to the other. The main difference is that the Red and White includes tzatziki sauce whilst the Blue and White does not.

Well anyway, this abortion thing is super unhealthy but tastes pretty good.

And on the way back from supper, I realised that there were still a lot of food outlets open with patrons still in them even though it was getting close to 12 on a Tuesday night. Wish I had that in Canberra.

The apartment where my friend stayed in the city

On Wednesday morning, I walked around the city a little and visited Adelaide uni. The roads in the city are all very straight as Adelaide is a planned city. But the funny thing is even though the roads are straight, the same road can have two different names. I later found out from my friend that no street/road can pass over the main street which is called King William Road, named in honour of the King. And therefore, every street would have to end at this road and would have a different name across this King William Road (I've highlighted the main road in red).

Adelaide city map. Click to enlarge.

Staring down King William Road

See how straight the roads are?

Also, while walking around the city, I saw a number of pianos (pic below) along the streets in Adelaide. Apparently anyone can just go up the piano, take a seat, and play to their hearts' content. I think that this is a very cool idea.

I think I counted about 6 pianos in the city. There's probably more that I didn't see.

Adelaide also has two very well known universities. Apparently, a lot of Malaysians study there. They are:

The University of Adelaide

and the University of South Australia

In the evening, my friend took me out to this really popular Vietnamese place for dinner. The food there was pretty good and really authentic. Forgotten to snap pictures there so you'll just have to take my word for it.

The next day, my other friend, W, took me to a small German village, Hahndorf, with two of her friends. It took us about 40 minutes on the bus from the city to get there. The weather was lovely that day with a max temperature of 17 degrees.

The following day, I went to Adelaide's Central Market. In there were lots of different stalls selling all sorts of things. From cheese, to bread, to coffee, to sweets, to middle eastern spices, to italian delicacies and so on. It was nice to walk around and sample some of the things they have over there.

Lots of different kinds of cheese. Tasted a few different kinds and they were so good!

All kinds of bread you can think of

The sweet shop was pretty popular with the kids

After that, I decided to catch the city tram from one end to the other. The ride was about 40 odd minutes roughly. And at the end of the tram line was the beach. It's just so convenient for people there in Adelaide to go to the beach.

The tram

The fare

I can actually see the ocean from the tram stop

The town centre with the building that used to be the City Hall on the left

The beach with pockets of random people sun tanning. I was actually wearing my wind breaker then because it was sooo cold. Don't know how those people can stand it.

A view from the pier.

They had this awesome slides there by the beach. Might go back there during summer to try it out.

In the evening, my friend took me to this place called the Mac Factory where they sold really good macaroons. This place was currently the hyped of the town because it only opened its doors very recently and sold really good macaroons. Each macaroon cost AUD $2. Macaroons are hard to make because it requires a lot of skill. And the Mac Factory has all sorts of flavours ranging from the normal chocolate to flavours such as toasted bread and honey, strawberry mint and so on.

According to wiki, 'A macaroon is a type of light, baked confection, described as either small cakes or meringue-like cookies depending on their consistency. The original macaroon was a "small sweet cake consisting largely of ground almonds" similar to Italian or Moroccan amaretti.'

The different flavoured macaroons

I guess that pretty much summarised by whole my trip. I didn't really get to do a lot as I was also pretty occupied with my assignments while I was there. Anyway, below are just a couple of random pic

Their main railway station in the city

The Torrens River in the city

Adelaide has a lot of old buildings that are really well maintained

One of the many churches over there in Adelaide. Adelaide is known as the city of churches with more than 700 over churches at the last count in 2008.

Inside the church

And because there are no cheap direct flights from Canberra to Adelaide, I had to stop over Melbourne on Monday night and only flew down to Adelaide the day after. And since I was in Melbourne, I took the opportunity to grab myself a good bowl of yummy pork ball noodles at the Coconut House in Melbourne city. It was absolutely delicious.

That's all for now. Am currently in the middle of everything with mid semester tests to study for and lots of assignments to hand in. Take care!

Melbourne/Hobart Trip

2011-02-27T20:04:00.023+11:00

Hi people, this is a very late post on my short holiday down south last January. A lot has been happening lately and I hardly have the time to post up stuff on my blog these days. So what I'm going to do is to summarize my activities over the past 2 months.

So when my exams ended, I stayed at home pretty much the whole month of December. I did not manage to work much at the pool due to my injured elbow from the fall of my bike in November. But it was a good rest nevertheless. And after my hike up Mt Kosciuszko, I went to Sydney for a couple of days and spent my New Year's Day there with a friend and her friends who all happen to be South Americans. So it was a good time listening to them conversing in Spanish. I didn't manage to go to the harbor to enjoy the spectacular fireworks display because of the few million people crowding the area. But I still want to do that one day. Hopefully.

Queen Victoria Market. A lot of cheap fresh produces are sold there. Fruits there are half or one third the price of the ones being sold in Canberra.

Fresh oysters. 12 for $11.

And a couple of days after that I went down to Melbourne to get a haircut from a friend and also to stock up on Malaysian food. Melbourne has so much more Malaysian food compared to Canberra. And they're so much cheaper too. For example, if I were to buy a plate of Char Kuey Teow here in Canberra, it will cost me about AUD $15. But over there in Melbourne, I can easily get a plate for maybe AUD $8 or so.

I ordered a Nasi Lemak Sotong over there and didn't really like it at all. Maybe I ordered the wrong type of nasi lemak, but I'll never visit this shop again.

This shop on the other hand, is one of the better and cheaper ones in Melbourne in my opinion. Had beef ball noodles, kuey teow soup and not sure what else over there. The food's pretty good and the price very reasonable. But do not try their cendol. It's bad.

Had pasta at an Italian place somewhere outside the city. This whole bowl of noodles only cost like AUD $13 or $14. Enough to feed 3 people. (Still had my long hair then)

I also did a bit of sightseeing down there in Melbourne when I visited the Crown Casino and loss AUD $20 gambling and went up Mt Dandenong which is somewhere on the east side of Melbourne city. The view from up there was pretty cool. And the best thing was that it was easily accessible by public transport.

Crown Casino

The view up Mt Dandenong. I can actually see the city's skyscrapers in the far distance.

Tried the so called 'best pie' in Melbourne. Wasn't too bad.

A very pretty looking cottage.

After Melbourne, I decided to drop by Hobart, Tasmania for a couple of nights just because I managed to grab a couple of cheap flight tickets. It only cost me AUD $45 for a return ticket to Hobart from Melbourne. So I thought, why not?

Hobart is a pretty quiet city. And I would think that Hobart has actually less things to do compared to Canberra. And people say Canberra's boring. Wait till they see Hobart. And unfortunately for me, when I was down in Hobart, the weather wasn't really that favorable. It rained pretty much every day and the weather was very foggy. Because of that, I didn't manage to see too much of Mt Wellington which is just a 20 minute drive from Hobart city which supposedly offers a very spectacular view of Hobart city and the ocean. But I still managed to get up there courtesy of my old high school friend's friend who had a car. Very fun times up there with them.

A very downcast day.

And the roads there in Hobart are REALLY hilly! Very good for jogging and exercising.

Seafood; fish, scallops, squid and chips.

But I did managed to do a couple of other things including a visit to a wildlife park to pat koalas, feed kangaroos and having a look at a couple of Tasmanian Devils and other wildlife, a short visit to Wrest Point Casino to get free hot chocolate, a tour around a beer brewery with a session of beer tasting, a trip to the Cadbury Factory where (unfortunately once again) they stopped organizing actual factory tours due to hygienic reasons and a short lunch cruise. The weather in Hobart was pretty cooling and a little chilly at night but it was all good because I'm from Canberra and the weather in Canberra's much colder. Even as I type this out, the weather outside is just about 16 degrees and it's only 8.30pm and it is still meant to be summer. The minimum temperature is going to be single digits in the coming week as autumn approaches.

Bonorong Wildlife Centre

A koala bear up close.

A kangaroo and her joey.

Me feeding the kangaroo. They have buckets of kangaroo food along the track. So you can just grab a handful and offer it to the kangaroos.

Cascade brewery. One of the oldest brewery in Australia I think.

Tasting the beer. Entry to the brewery includes 3 free cups of any beer of your choice.

Cadbury Factory

Each visitor will get a free bar of Cadbury chocolate upon entering the factory.

Because we can't tour the factory, the whole process was explained to us in a room.

They also had tasting of the raw products used in the making of the chocolate.

Overall, Hobart's a nice place to go and chill. Prices of things in general are slightly more expensive than Melbourne but still cheaper than Canberra (some are more expensive). I would love to have another trip back down there and visit the other parts of Tasmania. Maybe a road trip around Tasmania would be a good idea.

The view from the halfway point up Mt Wellington

The road up the mountain. The trees were really really green.

A couple of random shots of gardens

Salamanca Square

Wrest Point Casino, the tallest building there in Sandy Bay, a short 20 minutes walk from Hobart. Also one of the few buildings that are still open after 5pm.

A random duck crossing sign.

The University of Tasmania...

...and this is the kind of view they get everyday

Look at how big the portion of my steak was. It was huge!

Right after my 1 week holiday stint in both Melbourne and Hobart, I had my 3 week vacation program with KPMG Canberra. Got thrown into a team that was working on an external audit at a client's place which was pretty cool. Did a bit of other stuff as well while I was there. The people in the firm were all really friendly and nice. The pay was also pretty sweet. For my 3 week program, I got paid AUD $24 an hour and worked 7.5 hours a day for 5 days a week. So that three week stint pretty much got me about AUD $2700. Not bad huh?

But sadly, on the last day of the program, everyone else was offered a job offer except me. This is because they were all Australian citizens and I was the only international student on a student visa. And because KPMG Canberra's work consists of mainly government related contracts, I would need citizenship status in order to get security clearances for the various departments that I might need to work in. So that means I will have to start applying elsewhere.

I'm currently about to start Week 4 of classes tomorrow. So far, it's going pretty alright. Assignments are starting to pile up and I'm going to be even busier the next couple of weeks. I want to try to get as much work done as soon as possible because I won't be here in Canberra during my 1 week mid semester break in Week 8. I've already purchased my flight tickets to Adelaide and will be there for 4 nights from the 29th of March. The tickets weren't too expensive. It COULD be cheaper. Altogether I spent about AUD $150 for a return ticket to Adelaide. I have to stopover in Melbourne first though because TigerAirways (a budget airline) do not offer direct flights from Canberra to Adelaide. They use to do that but I think they terminated that line due to the lack of passengers. There are other flights flying directly from Canberra to Adelaide but they are pretty expensive starting from AUD $150 to over $300 one way.

So Adelaide should be quite fun. I might just head to the Gold Coast and Brisbane after my exams in June. Have to see if any of my friends are up for it.

I guess that's pretty much it for now. I'll probably update my blog again next month if I have the time or if anything interesting happens to me.

Medical Scrubs, Nursing Uniforms, Surgical Srub Hats

2011-02-16T22:36:00.004+11:00

Are you a medical professional?

Tired of wearing the same old boring, unattractive and ill-fitting scrub uniforms and hats provided by your hospital or medical body?

Try out blueskyscrubs.com!

Blue sky scrubs sells a range of medical scrubs, scrub hats, lab coats and even designer nursing uniforms. This site is started by an anesthesiologist who actually knows what you guys are facing in the hospital and clinics every day. Therefore she came up with the idea and design so that doctors, nurses and all the other medical professionals out there could wear their scrubs with pride. These designs will definitely catch the attention of everyone and will brighten up your workplace.

Blue sky scrubs have one of the best if not the best range of scrubs for women. These nursing scrubs and medical uniforms for women offer a slimming fit and uses a high quality fabric so that you will feel beautiful and great about yourself. Their Original Scrubs have a fashionable stitching on both back pockets of the scrub bottoms and matching stitching on the pocket of the scrub top that are sure to make you stand out from the rest of your colleagues!

Another awesome thing that Blue sky scrubs are selling are their fantastic lab coats. Made from wrinkle resistant, teflon-protected 100% cotton that is perfectly trimmed, these lab coats will surely help you look professional and smart at the same time. Not only that, these lab coats are also specifically designed with plenty of pockets, which offers abundant storage for papers, pens, stethoscopes, and whatever else the busy medical and nursing professional may need. Once you've tried out one of Blue sky scrubs' lab coats, you'll never want to try another brand!

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Mount Kosciuszko

2011-01-04T23:08:00.013+11:00

Mount Kosciuszko is a mountain located in the Snowy Mountains in Kosciuszko National Park. With a height of 2,228 metres (7,310 ft) above sea level, it is the highest mountain in Australia (not including its external territories). It was named by the Polish explorer Count Paul Edmund Strzelecki in 1840, in honour of the Polish-Lithuanian national hero and hero of the American Revolutionary War General Tadeusz Kościuszko, because of its perceived resemblance to the Kościuszko Mound in Krakow.

We took the left path and made a whole loop and came back on the right side

So I went up to Mt Kosciuszko last Tuesday with my aunt's brother. And it was surely a very long hike. I had to get up at 3am to get ready and to pack my lunch. Left the house at 4am and arrived at the start of the track at about 7.45am. The entire length of the hike was about 20km and we took about 6 hours to finish the hike.

The path you see in the distance was the path back

The terrain was ok, not very steep except for a few occasional places. It wasn't tiring physically but more towards mentally as you have to keep walking and walking and walking with pretty much the same scenery throughout the entire hike. And the temperature in the morning was about 6 degrees up there. So it was pretty cold when we first started hiking at 7 something. I only brought along my thin windbreaker and was feeling the wind chill for that first hour into the walk. After that, the sun gets higher and the temperature gets warmer. The maximum temperature during the day was about 14 to 15 degrees.

Rocks everywhere

Icicles?

The main highlight was of course reaching the peak of Mt Kosciuszko. The scenery up there was awesome. There were even patches of snow along the hiking path where we were walking. But it gets boring after a while because everything's the same. Rocks, shrubs, patches of snow, glacial lakes, more rocks and so on.

Walk and walk and walk

Patches of snow here and there

More snow along the foot path

The air was very thin up there

Foot path covered with snow

Endless steps

Glacial lake

Dusty and rocky terrain

The final ascend along that steep foot path

A creek with ice-cold water. I went barefooted across the stream and my leg got frozen.

But overall, it was an interesting experience hiking on Mt Kosciuszko. Saw a couple of people jogging along the 20km path. Might try that one day. Very good altitude training. I tried running up a steep path while I was there and found it really hard to breathe after a while.

That's all for now. Take care!

Our population problem: not dead yet

2010-12-24T17:36:00.001+11:00

A news article from theage.com.au. Thought it was a nice read.

For those worried about too many people in Australia, or at least the inability to find a car park right outside the shops on Saturday morning, there's an overlooked aspect to our alleged population problem: we're not dying.

Perhaps more accurately, we're not dying as much as we used to. Death is on a go-slow. Despite the Grim Reaper having 22 million, 342 thousand of us to chose from on June 30, he only took 140,629 over the course of the last financial year – a fall of 2.2 per cent on his 2008-09 work. Given the larger population, Mr Reaper's productivity is in serious decline.

With so much happening this week – NBNs, MRRTs, ASICs, GST avoidance undermining capitalism and Ken Henry going full-time with the wombats - the Australian Bureau of Statistics quarterly demographic release tended to slip by without much comment.

The main news was that our population growth rate continues to retreat from its 2009 peak of 2.2 per cent, down to 1.7 per cent in the year to June 30, still a healthy rate but the lowest it's been in three years.

The expected slow-down was well known but pointedly ignored during the grubby election campaign with its dog-whistle politics and boat people demonisation, but it turns out our population growth rate would be lower again if it wasn't for the new challenge facing the nation: too much living.

The ABS has a particular set of numbers that demonstrate what a slacker Death has become.

Death's key performance indicator for long and short-term bonus payments is the SDR - Standardised Death Rate, deaths per thousand standard population. Over the last financial year, it dropped to 5.63 – it was 6.17 five years ago and averaged a fraction over 6 for the previous four years.

No wonder Gen Y and X are antsy about housing prices – us boomers just aren't shuffling off as quickly as we used to, not providing enough deceased estate auctions. It's very inconsiderate of us. Euthanasia isn't a civil liberties issue, it's a question of housing affordability.

Death still knocks more in some states and territories than others. On a proportionate basis, there's a much better chance of attending a funeral in the Northern Territory (standardised date rate 8.04) than in the ACT (SDR 5.16 – but some might argue there's not much difference between being alive and dead in Canberra anyway).

Even in those examples of the best and worst places for dying, Death isn't trying as hard as he used to. The NT's SDR, while far and away the nation's highest, still had the sharpest fall, from 9.04 to 8.04. It was a whopping 9.43 in 2005-06.

The ACT's low 5.16 was down from 5.67 the year before. And in case you're wondering, the second deadliest state is Tasmania with 6.69 – comfortably ahead of South Australia on 5.77. Well, we all know about SA, but Tassy? What happened to the apple-a-day story?

In the grander scheme of things, births, deaths, migration and whatever state of existence is current in Canberra might not mean much. Another part of the ABS release looked at international population projections out to 2050. With our unwillingness to die, Australia's projected population in 40 years is just 34 million, but that means we would only drop one place on the world's population ladder, from our current 54th to 55th spot.

That's as good as steady, particularly when, on current trends, there are some quite noticeable changes in the rankings.

The Canadians are slated to drop from 36th today with 36 million lumberjacks to 45th place on 41 million, but Italy's diving from 23rd (58 million) to 35th (50 million) and Greece falls 20 places from 75th to 95th as the population falls from 11 million to 10 million – which is probably still more than they will be able to afford with German assistance.

The shrinking standout though is Japan, tipped to drop from 10th place (127 million) to 20th (94 million). And if you think adding 12 million people is a social challenge, losing 34 million is in another league of policy crisis altogether. Maybe Bob Brown would like to try government in Japan.

For all the little losers, there has to be a big winner: India. From second place with a population of 1173 million in 2010, it's projected to claim first place with 1657 million in 2050. Apparently Indians think size does count. China is expected to be relatively stable – 1330 million now, 1304 million then.

Of course, it might not happen: policies change, plagues break out, people devote themselves to updating their Facebook page instead of having a real life and making babies, all sorts of things.

For example, on current trends, the ABS reckons the population of Melbourne will overtake that of Sydney around 2040. (Sydney is expected to have 4,541,800 shallow souls in 2011 and 6,527,300 in 2041, while Melbourne should have 4,079,600 artistic aerial ping-pong fans next year and 6,573,100 in 2041.)

It won't necessarily happen – projections are just projections. It is a possibility that changes in government policy could make housing more affordable in Sydney than in Melbourne and people there will get sick of “reading books in tiny dark bars”. The Emerald City might rediscover its mojo and the prospect of another bleak winter surrounded by people who talk about nothing except a particularly insular football code could drive a wave of mental health refugees north. It's possible.

In any event, with the federal government having no less than three committees dithering around on population, each committee's chair displaying their existing prejudices, there's plenty of room for the population debate to evolve. So, in 2011, let's move that debate on to where the government really could make a difference: getting Death back to work.

Despite the political ravings and some economic qualms, we really don't have much choice on the immigration side as we need to import the skills and education we weren't smart enough to invest in ourselves. But encouraging more deaths, hey, lots of governments do it. The danger is, the Greens might take this seriously.

Michael Pascoe is a BusinessDay contributing editor, who, despite the favourable policy outcomes of the alternative, wishes everyone a safe and happy Christmas.

Wound's Almost Healed

2010-12-20T20:08:00.002+11:00

It's been pretty cold lately here in Canberra. And it even snowed in the mountains this morning. The minimum temperature for these couple of days is around 7 degrees and the maximum temperature is about 18 to 19 degrees. It's meant to be summer and the average temperature should be about 25 degrees or so.

Anyway, I managed to check out and clarify some stuff with the Immigration department regarding my PR application. I should be on the right track. All I need to do now is to take my IELTS (English test) in March or April, go for a medical check up (X-ray, HIV test etc.) in May, get my police check done (both Malaysia and Australia) in May, get my accounting degree recognized by the Chartered Accountant Board and then wait for my results to be out on the 10th of June 2011 and then get all my paper work done and post it off to Adelaide. My application has to reach the Adelaide office before the 30th June 2011 because the point system will be changed on the 1st of July 2011.

Apart from the immigration stuff, I haven't been doing much. Read the first six Artemis Fowl books again and the first book of the Tomorrow series by John Marsden. I might start on 'The Real Hustle' series soon. Probably after Christmas.

That should be all for now. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year people!

Post Exams

2010-12-11T12:47:00.008+11:00

This semester of uni was a really hectic one. I've been working more hours in uni on top of my never ending workload of 3rd year uni work. And I literally left things to the very last minute to get things done. But oh well, at least I got them done. Hopefully my grades won't be too bad this sem.

Anyway, my wound's pretty much healing. I'll just have to give it another week for it to fully heal. I think I'm getting soft. Been getting a lot of injuries and falling sick more than usual this year. It all started with my plantar wart, then my minor surgery in June, and then I fell sick in July, came back to Australia and fell sick in the middle of the semester with fever, sore throat and cough that lasted for a while, and then had a terrible case of hay fever last Spring, having to take anti histamines almost everyday, and then falling off my bike and getting the wound infected, which gave me a fever and headache in the middle of my exams. I really need to toughen myself up again.

Thursday, second week

Monday, third week

Friday, third week (Poor picture quality due to lack of lighting)

So, semester's ended and I'm almost done with uni. One more semester left next year and I will be graduating. Classes start on the 7th of February and my vacation program with KPMG begins on the 17th of January and ends on the 4th of February. So I will have one whole month of break before I start work and then uni. I won't be working during my one month break as I think I need some time off to chill. Ah, but all the opportunity costs involved in not working.

I've got a list of things I want to do this holidays as well. I'm planning to read up on my Spanish because I don't think I'm too good at it yet. Will be taking Spanish again next semester. That will be my 3rd semester doing Spanish. I also want to read up on Microsoft Excel and learn how to use the various functions available if I have the time. I've also got a couple seasons of 'The Real Hustle' to watch. I'm also thinking of getting my Australian license this December and also to find out more about applying for my Permanent Residency (PR) after I graduate. If the requirements remain the same until next year, I would have just enough points to get myself through.

And I've also been doing a lot of shopping online recently. Bought a new pair of spectacles for AUD $12 inclusive of frame and lenses. Wasn't too hard ordering it. Just had to measure my pupil distance (PD) which was a bit hard. You normally get all these measurements when you go to an optometrist to get a prescription. But over here, to get a prescription and get your eyes checked, you'd have to pay AUD $75. So I decided to measure my own PD. And because I know the power of my own glasses, I didn't have to go to an optometrist. Other things I bought so far are a sling bag, a pair of shoes, a mini condenser microphone, an lpt to usb converter cable, a new case for my phone, a couple of shirts and a nike bottle. Retail therapy for relieving stress.

Cheap pair of shoes

My new pair of glasses

I'm also waiting for my gift vouchers from the online surveys I've done. I should be receiving my AUD $60 voucher pretty soon. So far, I've redeemed up to AUD $280 since I started doing these online surveys in November 2008. I should be able to treat myself to something nice this Christmas I reckon. Maybe a book or something.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hopefully I'll start jogging this coming week and star getting back into shape. Might be attempting a 100km bike ride at the end of this month with my aunt's brother. It'll be a good workout.

Short Post

2010-11-30T12:12:00.007+11:00

That weekend before my exams, I was working in the Library. I normally take my uncle's bike there and back to get little bit of workout. The distance from my uncle's place to the uni library is about 10km and I normally cycle an average of 30km/h and reach the library in about 20 minutes or so.

So anyway, on my way back from work that Saturday, I was cycling along as I usually do when I fell of my bike. I was attempting a corner slightly too fast and turning a little too far to the left and slipped a little when my left shoe touched the ground. The moment that happened, everything else happened pretty quickly. Because of that quick-stop motion when my shoe touched the ground while turning to the left, my whole bike skidded and I too skidded along with the bike and scraped a bit off my left elbow.

It was quite bloody with lots of sand and dirt in my wound. I still had to cycle another 5km back home. So I washed my wound as best I can and cycled back. Fortunately, my uncle's expensive bike is still intact albeit for a couple of scratches on the handlebar and the seat. The moment I got back, I washed my wound somemore, and cleaned it with antiseptic solution. Managed to get most of the dirt out. Coated my wound with another kind of antiseptic medicine and left it open to dry.

On Monday, my wound started to hurt and I had a fever that morning. I took the day off work and went to see a doctor. My temperature that day was 38.3 degrees. The doctor said my wound was infected and he prescribed me antibiotics, Cephalexin, 2 x 500mg tablets in the morning and at night. He also drew a circle on my hand to mark the infection and to see if spreads.

The next day, the red patch of soreness on my arm spreaded further than the initial boundaries marked by the doctor. My arm felt sore and really warm. Went back to the doctor, got my wound cleaned and redressed. He said to continue taking my current antibiotics and will check up on me again the next day. I also had a slight headache on that day.

On Wednesday, the redness spreaded even further still. This time, the doctor prescribed me with another type of antibiotic, Clindaymycin, 1 x 150mg table every 6 hours on top of my current dosage of Cephalexin. I still had a slight temperature of 27.8 degrees.

On Thursday, the red patch spreaded a little further. By then, it was from my elbow all the way to my wrist. But it wasn't as red as compared to the Monday before. So he said it was getting better. My fever was also gone.

On Friday, the red patch was almost gone and I felt much better. The nurse put a piece of silver sheet on my wound for the weekend.

The next Monday, my scab was soft enough for the nurses to remove. They have been applying a sort of cream on my wound everyday during the previous week to soften my scab so that they can remove it. Not sure exactly why they have to remove it. But they did.

All that was left was a little bit of scab on the wound which they could not peel off. They then stuck a piece of 10cm x 10cm hydrocolloid on my wound which keeps my wound moist and allows the liquid from my wound to collect there. Don't ask me why they do that. They just do. My next appointment with the nurse is in 2 days time on either Wednesday or Thursday. Depending on how much liquid is collecting in there.

So anyway, I had to go through all this trouble just because I fell of the bike. So dumb. I had to take 2 days off from my Library job, and 3 weeks off swimming. So I don't think I'll be swimming at all because the swimming program ends next Friday and I doubt my wound will heal by next week. So that's like a total lost of close to AUD $1000 in opportunity costs from not being able to work. And I have to pay about AUD $50 on top of that for my medicine. So terrible.

It's back to the books for me. Not sure if my grades will drop this sem because of the wound. Didn't study too much for my 2 papers last week because I was in pain. But oh well, I know I'll pass all the same. Will update again after my exams on the 9th of December.

First Home??

2010-11-10T22:07:00.009+11:00

The weeks seem to be flying past me really quickly this semester. I guess I'm having a little bit too many things on my plate this semester. So anyway, my final exam's starting on the 26th of November and ending on the 9th of December. And I'm swimming instructing on every single weekday apart from my exam days. Maybe I should take a couple of days off to revise. But then again, there's the opportunity costs of not making money. But we'll see how I fare. Hoping to maintain my GPA of 6 or even pull it up higher if I could.

And while I'm supposed to complete an assignment that's due this week, I've been looking up and reading up on houses. House ownership is a very interesting topic. Do you know that Australian house prices are currently overvalued by quite a bit compared with the rest of the world? And while some people are arguing that because demand outstrips supply, the inflated house prices are justified? But then on the other hand, this seems a lot like the property bubble that just burst in the US.

For example, a friend of mine bought a 3 bedroom house for about $320,000 last year. And exactly one year later, if he were to sell his place, he could reap a nice profit of about $50,000 or more. That is a 15.625% profit per annum just on capital gains. If he had been renting his place out the past year, he would have gotten more than that 15% gain. Wouldn't anyone with extra cash to spare invest in property? Seeing that it is possible to get back returns of up to 15% per annum?

So this is house I'm particularly keeping my eye on at the moment. It is one of the cheaper ones in the market for now. 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom. Land size is 386 meter square. Sold in 1998 for AUD $95,000. Owners are currently asking for AUD $338,000+ and the house is currently under offer. This house is located about 16km away from the city and would take a 25 minute drive to get there. The place is also situated about 4km or a 5-10 minute drive away from the supermarkets. So anyway, here's the calculation needed if you were to buy this house:

Assuming price sale of the house is AUD $338,000

Stamp Duty- $11,590
Legal Fees - $800
Loan Application Fee - $655
Minimum deposit (10%) - $33,800

Total initial payment would be AUD $46,845! This is the amount you need to set aside when you sign the agreements.

And assuming if you head to one of the bigger banks for a 30 year loan with a 15 year fixed rate for the balance of $304,200

Interest Rate - 8.24% pa
Monthly Loan Service Fee - $8
Total Interest Charge after 30 years - $506,751

First 15 years of the loan, monthly repayments would be AUD $2,284 per month! and the next 15 years would be AUD $2,223 per month!

So basically, your monthly salary would ideally need to be at least $3,000 per month. And you'll barely survive with that amount.

Here are some pictures of the house mentioned above:

Doesn't look too bad huh? Well, if I do get an accounting job here in Canberra with KPMG, my starting pay would be about AUD $50,000 per year. My take home pay after tax would be about $41,700 taking into account the low income rebate offered by the government. And assuming if I do get this $41,700, my monthly salary would be about $3,475. So with this kind of take home pay, I should be able to comfortably pay off the monthly mortgage repayments of $2,284 per month with an extra $1,000 to spare for my meals, groceries, utilities and transportation.

But these are the calculations for now. With Australia doing so well and the Reserve Bank of Australia worrying about inflation, interest rates would probably go up further in the coming year or so. But hopefully property prices will stall or dip in the coming year as demand for houses decreases due to reduced migration intake by the Australian government as well as the higher interest rates for loan repayments.

I shall leave you with this post to ponder about the issues regarding the Australian economy while I take a short breather to focus on my remaining assignment and final exams.

Take care!

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2010-10-14T19:01:00.004+11:00

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Update

2010-10-08T23:33:00.013+11:00

Well, it's been a while since I last updated my blog. And thought that I'd do a little revamping with it. I'm currently finishing week 8 on uni which also so happens to be my class free period. But I don't think I got much rest at all as I was busy working in the library and also working on my many assignments. I had a test last week, a management assignment due last friday, a law assignment due just now, a leadership presentation this coming Wednesday and a taxation assignment due in 2 weeks times. It feels like I've been working so much harder and just have so much more to do compared with the previous 4 semesters of uni.

So apart from uni and assignments and getting that vacation program position at KPMG, I also went to Floriade recently which is a flower display festival in the city that lasts for slightly over a month every year. Tried my hand at my uncle's Nikon D70 and a 35-70mm lens. I so need to practice more so that I can take better pictures. And maybe once I'm good at it, I'll buy my own DSLR camera to play around with. Hopefully I'll be able to afford it by then.

I also tagged along with my uncle and his family for a drive up to a dam. The rain this year in Canberra is pretty good. When I left Canberra for Malaysia in June, the dams were only about 51% full. And currently, the dams are 79% filled with water which is great news for a drought hit state with a normal average of 50% the past 10-20 years.

I also tried my hand at baking again this semester despite my hectic schedule. I've attempted egg tarts, tiramisu and chicago cheese cake so far and all of them turned out pretty well especially the cheese cake. Was craving for cheese cake the other day and I was thinking about the ones that Coffee Bean normally sells. So I decided to make them instead. Surprisingly, it's quite easy to make. I made everything from scratch, including the base. And it tasted as good as the ones sold in Coffee Bean.

My preliminary exam timetable also just got out today and I found out that my last paper would be on the 9th of December, the second last day of exams. My papers this time round is pretty spread out, unlike previous semesters. I only have 1 paper per week. So that means I would have had lots of time to prepare for each paper and would expect to do slightly better than before. Hopefully.

I'm still not sure what I want to do after my exams. I have a short one month break from the 10th of December till the 16th of January. My work with KPMG starts on the 17th of January right up to the 4th of February and my classes start the following Monday on the 7th of February 2011.

I've also been riding a little lately instead of jogging. My uncle hardly uses his expensive road bike so I take it cycling every once in a while. And this coming Sunday, I'll be cycling down to the city to take part in a charity bike event organised by the Rotary Club of Canberra. The distance from my uncle's place to the city would be about 15km and the event would be another 20km or so and then after that I'll be cycling back home. So that would mean that my total distance covered on Sunday should be around 50km or so.

That's all for now people. Will try to update again soon.

Here are some pictures from since I got back till now.

Before I move on to other pictures, I just want to show you guys a picture of my foot. My wound from the plantar wart surgery has completely healed. It's now just a hard piece of skin there.

A very large slice of pizza that I had with uni friends. It's $4 a slice.

Egg tarts that I baked using puff pastry as the base. Turned out pretty alright. Am going to try and substitute the puff pastry with shortbread pastry the next time round and see if it makes a difference.

My Chicago Style Cheesecake. The recipe called for an 8" springboard pan but I only had a 9" one with me. So my cake is slightly lower than it should be. But it still tasted good.

At the bus stop waiting for the usual bus to uni.

Floriade, the flower festival in Canberra

By the lake in the city. I would be cycling around this lake this coming Sunday.

One of the stops before reaching the Corin Dam

Those white specks that you see are sheeps grazing in the field

Took this at another stop on the way to the dam

At the Corin Dam

KPMG Vacation Program

2010-09-15T22:10:00.005+10:00

18th August
A couple of representatives from KPMG Canberra came to my uni to give a brief 1 hour presentation about their company and to also promote their vacation program as well as their graduate program. I was walking to class that morning and saw a notice up on a wall and decided to give it a shot since I was free just for that hour.

About 20+ students were there together with me in that room when they gave their talk. And then came the question and answer session. Two main questions that I took out from their Q&A session; international students were allowed to apply as long as they are keen on staying on in Australia after they graduate and the vacation program was a paid program.

The vacation program is a 3 week program for students who have yet to graduate. The graduate program is for those who are graduating at the end of this year and would like to start working early next year.

21st August
I procrastinated about a week before deciding to give KPMG a try. One of the main reasons why I applied with KPMG is because they have an in house classroom for CA training and me as the student will be able to attend classes during work hours and get paid while I'm at it. Whereas the other big accounting firms require me to take my CA classes on Saturdays with an external provider.

So anyway, I got online that Tuesday night and looked up KPMG.com.au. Upon entering their application page, I was only given 3 options. Citizen, permanent resident or non-resident. The moment you select non-resident, the application page closes and apologizes, informing me that I am not eligible to apply. I was surprised and decided to call KPMG up the next day.

22nd August
I called up KPMG's human resource manager and told him about my dilemma. He told me to select the permanent resident option first and just state that I'm an international student interested in remaining in Australia after my graduation and that he will look into it.

I did as I was told and filled up the online application that night. I had to give basic particulars, grades for each subject so far in uni, subjects I'm taking this semester and what I'll be taking next semester. After that, I had to answer 3 questions. I answered all 3 questions with a 300 word answer for each of them.

The whole application process took me about slightly more than half an hour. The closing date for the vacation program application was on the 29th September.

30th August
I got a call from the Human Resource manager informing that my application was successful and I was invited to an interview on campus. KPMG will be sending a senior manager to my uni to conduct the interview.

31st August
I got to uni early that Tuesday morning all ready for my interview. I also typed and printed out about 10 questions to ask the interviewer just to make myself look prepared and keen on the position.

The interview was pretty good. The whole interview was a conducted in a relaxed manner and the senior manager asked me questions such as why did you choose Canberra, what do you like to do during your free time, do you plan to further your studies after this and so on. I managed to impress the senior manager that day and was told that if I do not get the position now because of my permanent residency status, I can give him a call once I've got my PR and he will try to take me on the team.

1st September
I got a call from the Human Resource manager of KPMG again. Informing me that my interview was successful. The next step that I have to take would be to take an online math and english test together with an online personality test. I had 24 hours to take the test. And since I will be busy the next day, I decided to take the test that night itself.

The English test was first. 6 short passages, 18 questions, 19 minutes (I think, if I remembered correctly). Multiple choice with "True", "False", "Not Mentioned" as my options. The false and not mentioned options were the tricky ones. You really have to read the passage carefully and select an answer. Only one question was shown at one time and you can't go back to change your answer. It's not exactly hard but because of the limited time, I had to read and understand the passages really quickly.

The Math test was equally challenging. I had to answer 21 questions in 29 minutes (Again, if I remembered correctly). Multiple choice as well with five to six options for each question. Tested my knowledge on basic mathematical calculations such as percentage increase, ratios, cheapest option etc. Again, the problems are not too hard. They are all based on a given chart, graph, table etc. So for example, if you get a chart with total sales for each months, the question would ask you to state which month has the biggest percentage increase. So you have to actually calculate the percentage increase for every single month before getting an answer. And for the math test, I actually failed to complete it and had 2 questions blank when my time ran out.

Next up was the online personality quiz with 434 questions. That took quite a while to complete.

2nd September
The next day, I got a call again from the HR manager congratulating me that I've managed to pass the tests and have a final step to complete before getting the position. The next step involves 3 interviews, 2 multiple choice tests and a written tests. All to be completed at KPMG Canberra's head office the following Tuesday.

7th September
3 other candidates were with me on that day. From what I heard, there were a couple of sessions being conducted over 2 or 3 days. First up was an interview with a partner. Again, it was a pretty relaxed interview with similar questions as to what I got the other day. Other questions I got asked were what's the toughest part about being here in Canberra, would I stay in Canberra after getting my PR or would I want to go to the other cities, do I intend to head back to Malaysia and so on.

Second interview was with the Human Resource Manager himself. This one was a tough one. I guess because he's the HR manager, it was up to him to decide on the best candidate for the position. The kind of questions he threw at me were situational questions such as, Have you encountered conflicts among friends/colleagues? What did you do to resolve it? Was the outcome favourable? Have you encountered setbacks in your life? What did you do? What do I like most about working in the uni library? Have you ever been appreciated before? How did you feel? And so on. Pretty stressful interview I reckon.

Third interview was with another partner. Again, it was another relaxed interview. Asked me a lot of questions regarding my family as well as my future. Such as, Do they want me to go back home? What would they think if I stayed on in Canberra to work instead of going back home to help my dad with his business? Would you be giving up my Malaysian citizenship? Do I intend to stay on in Canberra my whole life? Would I be planning to head back to Malaysia in 10-20 years? And so on.

After that, I had to take a multiple choice english and math test. They are similar to the ones I did at home and I had to take them just to prove that I was the one taking the test at home the week before and not someone else.

Lastly, I had to take a written test. This last assessment item was done in a room together with the other 3 candidates in it. Each one of us got a laptop in front of us and were required to type an email.

The questions was something like this (because I can't reproduce the question due to the confidentiality issues, I'll be making something up that's similar to what I did):

I was just hired to work in Company A and my manager is currently working on a proposal to offer my company's services to Company B's CEO. My manager fell sick and I had to take over the writing of the proposal and had to email the proposal to the CEO.

The instructions were 2 pages long and the problems were 14 pages long. I had half an hour to read the whole thing, draft a proposal and type it out nicely and formally on the laptop as though as I'm actually sending the proposal to the CEO.

This final assessment item was super stressful. Firstly, there was no spellcheck on the laptop. Secondly, I had no idea how to actually type out a formal proposal. Thirdly, there just wasn't enough time to read through all the many pages and type out a proposal. I think I took 15 minutes to actually read the whole thing and spent the remaining 15 minutes on the laptop. And when I was still reading, the other 3 candidates actually started typing already. I thought I was reading too slow.

So anyway, I managed to complete it all the same. And I think I answered it quite well.

13th September
I got a call from the HR manager congratulating me and informing me that I got the vacation program position. I was also told that my information pack and contract would be arriving in the mail sometime during the week.

15th September
A registered mail came in for me in the morning. I now have to decide if I want to do my 3 week vacation program from the 29th November till the 17th of December or from the 17th January till the 4th of February. I have to reply within 2 weeks via a registered mail envelope whose postage has already been paid for which was also included in my information pack. Don't you think these guys are just so professional and efficient?

And my pay would be $26.50 an hour. Which is totally awesome! Working hours are from 8.45am till 5.15pm with a 1 hour lunch break each day.

So that's basically my story. From a last minute decision to attend a talk to getting a position with KPMG for a vacation program all within the span of just one month. Thanking God for His provision.

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)

2010-08-31T21:16:00.003+10:00

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Short update

2010-08-19T16:34:00.014+10:00

Well, my 2 month break in Malaysia ended sooner than I expected it to. Time sure flies. But I managed to meet up with quite a number of my friends from various parts of the world as well as the country. And it's all good. I also managed to catch up on all the good Malaysian food when I was back there. It's just sad that Australia does not offer the kind of variety that Malaysia has to offer in terms of food. And it's also painful to think about what I could actually get back in Malaysia with the kind of money that I'm spending on food here. For example, I went out with a friend from uni the other day and we had Japanese food. My rice and main dish cost me about AUD $17. With that kind of money, after conversion to Ringgit, I could have gotten myself a buffet spread at Tenji or something. But oh well. At least I'm working here and not back in Malaysia for now.

My flight back to Melbourne on the 4th of August could be a really comfortable one if not for a screaming baby seated 2 rows back. That small feller was yelling his lungs out throughout the entire night (I caught a midnight flight). Initially, when I got up the plane, I was really happy with the seat I got. AirAsia gave me a centre aisle which was right in front so I had ample leg room. I found out later that the people seated beside me on the same row had to pay an additional RM150 for seat selection to get those seats. And I also pre-ordered an in flight meal this time round just because it's cheaper in Ringgit. The food wasn't that appetising and was served 1 hour after take off. I initially thought they were going to serve breakfast just before I land and not supper right after take off.

The amount of leg room that I had on the flight to Melbourne from Kuala Lumpur

The in-flight meal that cost RM10 on AirAsia X. This was the international meal.

Melbourne was fun. Slept over at a friend's place for a night and went to another friend's CG that night itself. Had a huge helping of Italian home made pasta at Sofia, Camberwell (which is quite well known for their humongous helpings of pasta) the next day and headed back to Canberra on Friday night.

This is the Tagliatelle Sofia, one of their specialities. This plate was AUD $11 if I'm not mistaken. A very huge portion with lots of fresh seafood.

I counted about 20 or more prawns with generous amounts of scallops, mussels, mushrooms and bacon.

I also gotten myself a new phone after I renewed my contract with my mobile network company. Ordered my phone casing and screen protector at a bargain price the following day which arrived the following week from Hong Kong. I'm pretty satisfied with my phone I must say because of the fact that I have an actual keypad to type on rather than typing on a fully touch screen phone. The phone's still alive after 2 weeks of heavy usage. So that's a good start.

The Nokia N97 mini that I got free on the $29 cap plan

The so called 'leather' casing that I got for my phone off Ebay for only AUD $3.50

I've also gotten myself a new pair of headphones. I was supposed to wait for a friend to go back to UK and get one there, bring it back to Malaysia in December when she returns home for her winter break and passes it to another friend who will be back in Malaysia from Melbourne for her summer break and then bring it back with her to Melbourne. And I will then pick it up from Melbourne when I head down there. The only advantage of going through all this hassle is because I can get the headphones for half the price if compared with getting the same pair from Malaysia. But to cut the long story short, I decided that I wouldn't want to wait that long and got myself a new pair right away. A pair of these would cost about RM200 or so back in Malaysia.

Most expensive pair of headphones I've ever bought in my life, so far.

Another pair of expensive headphones that I have in my possession. Many thanks to my friend who gave it to me.

It was back to uni again last Monday and everything was back to normal. Am taking 4 subjects this semester with 2 third year subjects and another 2 first year subjects. So I guess I could afford to slack a little. I'm also still working in the library and as a peer tutor in the university.

The subjects I'm taking this semester are:
1. Advanced Revenue Law (Just because I liked Revenue Law last semester and thought to myself that I would find this interesting as well)
2. Law of Business and Associations (The first lecture this morning was pretty boring. Not too sure what to expect next week)
3. Introduction to Management (Was supposed to do this in my first year. But here I am doing it now)
4. Spanish 1b (Continuation of Spanish 1a which I did last semester)

My timetable for the semester

Well, first week of uni's done. I've got another 13 weeks to go before I sit for my final exams and start my swimming lessons for the summer.

That's all for now. Will probably update again when I feel like it.

Take care people!

Malacca Trip

2010-08-11T20:54:00.025+10:00

This trip was sort of a last minute kind of thing with my friend calling me up like the day before asking me if I'm up for it. I said, "Yeah, why not?" and was up early the next morning to head down to Malacca. My friend drove me and my other friends down and it was a 2 hour drive more or less. If you're interested in the historical aspects of this state, you can read it up here.

Random building

We parked our car in front of this church building

Walking along the Malacca river to the chicken rice ball shop

Another picture of the river

Our first stop after reaching there was to try out the famous chicken rice balls. It was alright I think. Wasn't as good as I'd expected it to be. The chicken was grossly overpriced though.

The shop where we had our chicken rice balls

The Rice Balls

The chicken. I think this was half a chicken.

After having a couple of chicken rice balls with chicken, we headed to Jonker Street to get some of the famous cendol at Jonker 88.

The menu

The famous cendol with heaps of gula melaka

After a nice, cooling bowl of cendol, we continued walking along Jonker Street towards Christ Church which is the famous red building in Malacca. On the way there, the girls practically stepped into every single shop to check out the cheap clothes, shoes, hats and all. We also passed by a road stall where they were selling 'Tok tok tong' or knock knock candy if directly translated. It's really hard candy where a person needs to physically chisel out the sweets.

The boy is actually trying to hammer out the sweets (child labour is you ask me)

We finally made it to Christ Church and then headed up the hill to the hilltop fort where they used to have canons facing the sea in case of an invasion.

Christ Church

At the foothill of the famous fort

After walking in the blazing heat for so long, we decided to cool off by taking a walk in Dataran Pahlawan which is a shopping mall right opposite the fort. We had McD ice creams there and had a nice, long rest in the air conditioned mall.

Malacca's famous red buildings

Next up on our itenery was the famous nyonya food. We called up some of our friends and they all recommended Nyonya Makko which so happened to be situated right outside the mall. After another 5 minutes or so in the outdoor heat, we managed to seat ourselves down in the small restaurant and had our lunch.

Outside Makko

What we had for lunch together with rice of course

The food was different I would say. But according to my friends, there is this Nonya restaurant back in PJ that serves much better nyonya food.

The famous Satay Babi (pig sate) was next. The shop selling the sate was actually situated near Makko and you can actually get there by foot. But we were tired and also lazy so we decided to take the car there using the gps navigation.

Satay babi with cucumbers, onions, ketupats and peanut sauce.

After the satay, we headed to Capitol, a famous shop popular for its satay celup. The shop supposedly opens at 5pm and if you go late, you'll have to queue for ages. Well, we got there at 4.50pm and we already had to wait for almost an hour before we could be seated.

The long queue outside the shop at 5.30pm

Basically, you take these raw food on sticks back to your table and cook them in the sauce provided in the center of your table.

The sauce that made this place famous. Not sure what's inside though. Tried asking but they won't tell.

After a good dinner, we headed back to Jonker Street for their daily night market. The night market occupied the whole length of the street and thus was quite a long walk.

The entrance of the Jonker Street night market

Midway through the night market

We were glad to be able to get into the car and head home after walking from one end to the other and back. That's the end of my first ever trip to Malacca. Awesome company, exciting food, memorable experience!

Singapore continued..

2010-08-08T14:09:00.010+10:00

And yet again, I've succumbed to my laziness to blog for the past month or so. Anyway, here's the rest of my Singapore trip.

Day 2
Woke up early on Day 2 to take my sisters on the Singapore river cruise. Oh, and the backpackers place we were staying provided breakfast which consisted of bread with blueberry jam, kaya jam and butter together with coffee or tea. So we managed to save on breakfast for that trip.

We then took the train to City Hall and walked past the Parliament House to the Raffles Landing Site where we bought our tickets for the river cruise. The ticket price for adults is SGD $20 for a 45 minute boat ride to the river mouth, all the way in and back out again.

After the river cruise, we walked about Clarke Quay and then headed to Bugis Junction and Bugis Street where my sister enjoyed herself shopping almost the entire time. Had lunch at some street stall towards the end of Bugis Street and didn't really find the food appealing. In fact, I think every Singaporean meal I had was just lousy compared to Malaysian food. But that's just my humble opinion.

Orchard Road was next on the list. Walked halfway through Orchard and decide that it was enough for the day. We went back to our room early and then went walking along Serangoon Road where we stayed to look for dinner.

Day 3
Had breakfast at the backpackers place as usual and then headed to Chinatown for some last minute sight seeing and shopping. My sisters managed to get a couple of souvenirs there.

After seeing them off on the bus, I headed to my friend's place at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Will be bunking in at his place for the next two nights.

That night itself, I headed down with him and his friend to Lim Chu Kang which is located on the NorthWest of the island and consists of forest reserves for school camps and army training. I had another friend there who was in a camp so we decided to drop by to see him. Went back home after that and helped his friend with some video editing for her presentation the next morning.

Woke up late the next day and had lunch on campus. Had Korean in one of the many cafeterias there and think that it was quite reasonably priced. After lunch, me and my friend headed to the Sands Hotel & Casino. We initially wanted to go all the way up to the SkyPark which is basically a nice open platform connecting all 3 buildings with shaded walking area and a pool. But the only thing stopping us was the entrance fee. In order to go all the way up to the observation deck, we need to pay SGD $20 each just to spend a couple of minutes up there. And we don't even get to walk around the whole area. Just stuck at the tip of the platform.

So what we did was we discovered alternative routes up from the lobby. All the main hotel lifts from the lobby to the hotel rooms were guarded by a hotel staff. So, in order to get into those lifts, you need to show proof that you're staying there. And once you get all the way up to the highest floor where the pool is, you also need to show your hotel key card once more before you can get out. We managed to get the top but couldn't get out because we did not have the key card to show to the person guarding that we were hotel guests. But oh well, it was still a good adventure. Being able to go all the way up and enjoy the view. You can even see Johor from up there.

After that, we headed to Changi Airport to pick up another friend who just returned from Cuba after 2 years. She stayed overnight in Singapore and headed back to Malaysia on the same bus with me the next day.

Anyway, after picking my friend up, we headed to the Genting Casino at Resorts World on Sentosa Island. My very first time in a casino and it was pretty good. The casino was spacious, clean, modern and you even get free coffee, tea, soft drinks and water. Had a go at roulette with my friend and we won 20 over bucks each. More than enough to cover our cab fare home.

Headed back to Malaysia the next morning.

Overall, my first trip to Singapore was quite a memorable one. Especially the parts at Marina Sands and Resorts World Casino.

The Singapore Parliament House

The boat we took for our river cruise. We went in the morning, so it wasn't too hot yet.

The newly built Marina Bay Sands Resort

Inside the Convention Centre/Shopping Centre

Miniature version of the Hotel

The view of one of the three buildings

The view from the top of Marina Bay

The swimming pool at the top of the hotel

Marina Bay Sands Casino entrance

Double decker buses are pretty common outside the city and I managed to hop onto one

Me and my friends outside Resorts World Genting Casino

Singapore Trip

2010-07-12T17:03:00.001+10:00

I decided to head down to Singapore on the 3rd of July together with my sisters for a short break since neither of us has actually been down there exploring the place. We only been there once to catch a flight from Changi Airport. I also thought of picking up a friend who was supposed to arrive in Singapore on the 7th of July. So in the end, I took my sisters down and spent 3d/2n with them and sent them back and continued staying on for another 2 more nights with a friend.

Day 1
Me and my sisters took the First Coach bus down to Singapore from One Utama in PJ to Novena Square in Singapore. The return ticket cost us RM115 per person and our departure time was at 8am on that Sunday. The trip down was pretty uneventful and the fact that I did not bring a pair of headphones to make use of the in-flight entertainment further added to my misery.

A friend of mine, Jason, picked me and my sisters up from Novena Square and all four of us took a cab to our accomodation on Serangoon Road. I managed to find a cheap backpackers place called The Hive on the intersection of Serangoon Road and Lavander Street online. Read a couple of reviews and was impressed with the cleanliness of the room and the ease of commuting around as an MRT station was just located within walking distance. I stayed in a small room with bunk beds for SGD $45 a night.

The place itself has 4 computers with internet access that patrons can use for free, free coffee, tea and water for the whole day, free local calls, air-conditioned bedrooms, really clean bathrooms and toilets as well as free breakfast. I guess it's not too bad a deal. But if you're tempted to book a room, you'd have to do it at least 1 week prior to secure a room as they are normally fully booked.

Back to the plot, me and my sisters went to Vivo City after checking in the room and just walked about exploring the place. In the evening, we headed to Sentosa Island via Monorail which costs us SGD $3 per person. We wanted to go for the Songs of the Sea show at 7.30pm but was dismayed when we found out that the tickets were all sold out. We weren't interested in the Universal Studios as we heard that some of the major attractions weren't open yet and the entrance fee was just a little too pricy at SGD $66 per person.

We got back at about 9 something that night after taking pictures at the luge, the merlion as well as the Universal Studio's rotating globe.

The room

Queue for the luge ride

Some colorful lights

Songs of the Sea

Merlion

The iconic Universal Studios globe

Day 2 will be posted in a couple of days time as I'll be busy the next couple of days and heading to Genting after that.

Time back in Pj

2010-07-11T16:29:00.005+10:00

I truly apologize for not updating as often. My house in Malaysia doesn't have a telephone line and therefore no internet connection because my mum cut the house line 2 years back since my family hardly uses the house phone and the internet. And also, I've just been too lazy to update my own blog the past couple of months. So I'm going to be uploading 3 blogposts the next couple of days starting with this one.

Well, I didn't do much in the first month I was back. I spent the whole of June staying at home while waiting for my foot to heal. And in between, I had to hop and hobble as I didn't want to add pressure on my wound. So I only went out a little celebrating friends' birthdays as well as stocking up on the good Malaysian food. And due to this, I think I've put on a couple more kilos especially when I haven't been exercising (not because I dont' want to, but more because I can't).

My pretty face for that first couple of days I got back. It's not tainted with pimples due to the humid and polluted weather here in PJ.

It's good to be back home in Malaysia but I still dislike the weather (even after being back for a month now). It feels good to be able to just hang out and chill without worrying about studying, assignments or even working. I've only got 3 more weeks of hols here in Malaysia and I better make the most of it. Not sure when I'm going to be heading back here again.

The Plantar Wart

2010-06-10T23:12:00.012+10:00

This is a diagram of a plantar wart. Plantar warts are benign growths that occur on the bottom of your foot. They are not cancerous. They usually occur on the heal or ball of the foot. Pressure from walking and standing will flatten the wart (as can be seen in the diagram of a plantar wart), and cause them to grow deep into the skin. It is important to get plantar wart treatment immediately. If left untreated, they will become very painful and can cause a change in posture, which can lead to back or leg pain. The cause of these warts is a virus known as human papilloma virus (HPV). This virus enters the body through a break in the skin on the bottom of the feet. The virus thrives in moist, warm places. Common places to contract the virus include a locker room, a shower, or a swimming pool. There is no cure for the HPV virus. Most people will naturally fight off the virus from their body within 2-3 years of infection. However, for many people, the virus can linger years longer. You can also be re-infected at any time

More pictures of plantar warts (these are not mine by the way):

So I got myself a plantar wart on the sole of my right foot since January this year and had it till just recently. I finally had it removed via surgery last Wednesday at Assunta Hospital at a price of about RM1100+. I initially tried freezing with liquid nitrogen and when that failed, I tried applying salicylic acid and pumicing the dead skin surrounding the wart with a pumice stone. That second method didn't work either so I had no choice but to get it cut out forcefully.

So I got there at 7am and waited till 9am to enter the surgery room. The waiting area was pretty cold and I was quite horrified at the thought of being injected and then cut up just to remove that darn wart. So when the nurse called my name to go into the operating room, I was quite reluctant to move. And when I reached the operating theater, the sight of the room itself was a pretty daunting experience. The room was equipped with those ultra big and bright lights, lots od medical equipment like those you see on House or ER and you can see all the nurses washing their hands and putting on their mask, gloves, suit and goggles. Like some serious operation is going to take place pretty soon.

I was told to lie on the bed in the middle of the room. I did as I was told and guess what? The bed and blankets were heated. How cool is that? After I lied down, a nurse stuck a blue sticky patch on my thigh. Its supposedly there to conduct electricity into my body. While my leg was being preped up (eg cleaned and positioned), the surgeon came in and got ready. And I forgot to mention that the whole surgery procedure was obstructed by a piece of cloth they placed on top of me that acted as a curtain so I can't see whats happening to my leg.

Once the nurses are done prepping my leg, the surgeon came in and told me not to move. The moment he said that, he jabbed my foot with a needle without any warning. No count downs whatsoever. That first jab was crazy. It hurt quite a lot. And this step was repeated quite a number of times until I felt no more pain because my leg went numb after the third jab.

The surgery itself wasn't too bad. All I could hear during the entire duration was the surgeon using some high powered tool making those motorized sounds that you normally would hear at the dentist when a drill is being used. Fortunately I felt no pain during the rest of the surgery. I was scared stiff lying on that bed with my hands folded and clutching both my arms.

After the main procedure was the clean up part. Couldn't see how much blood I lost or how big my wound was. After cleaning up, they wrapped my foot up like a 'mummy' and transferred me to a portable bed (you know those with wheels). I was then wheeled out to a room to rest and recover. And while I waited, I was using a wheelchair because I couldn't really walk just yet. It was a pretty cool experience; using the wheelchair and not the surgery. And I managed to see my wart. It was basically the size of a ground nut. You know those small little nuts that fall out when you crack the shell? Yeah. That's about the size of my wart. Pretty big thing to be under my leg for so long. I'm trying to get it back so I can take a picture of it but the hospital is keeping it to conduct some tests on it in the mean time.

The doctor said that my leg should be fully recovered in about 3 to 4 weeks. I think I will be removing my dressing next week on Wednesday when I have a follow up appointment with my doctor. So hopefully all goes well and my leg recovers really quickly so I can start training for my half marathon which is on the 27th of June.

And that is basically the story of my plantar wart.

Here are some pics:

A picture of my foot. Basically, the doctor had to cut the surrounding area which is slightly yellow-ish to ensure that he removes everything. So it's a fair big chunk.

Me having fun in the hospital with the rented wheelchair. I think I can join the handicapped category for my half marathon if my leg doesn't heal in time.

My bandaged foot. It looks as though it is swollen but I think it's just those cotton pads underneath to soak up the blood.

Took this pics after I changed my bandaged this morning. Click on pictures to enlarge.

It's quite a big chunk. And if you look in the middle, there is another smaller crater. That was where the wart was. It's about the size of a peanut.

So yeah. I'm practically hopping about at home with one leg out of action. I so need to get this healed before my 21km run. Any suggestions on what to eat to speed up my recovery?

Dead Blog

2010-05-27T21:09:00.002+10:00

My blog's just so dead with the lack of proper updates and pictures over the last semester. Guess I've lost my interest to keep updating my blog on a weekly or even a monthly basis.

Well, this semester's been a pretty normal and uneventful semester. It's also shorter than the other 3 semesters that I've done so far in this university due to the fact that my uni is having a trimester starting from this year. This also partly explains the reason as to why I've decided to go back. Because I'm not taking the winter semester that is being offered by my uni, I get a 10 week break to myself. Plus the fact that I managed to get really cheap flight tickets back to Malaysia makes it even more worth while going back.

The first half of 2010 just seemed to blew by me really quickly. The subjects that I took this semester weren't too hard but they weren't too easy either. I had two third year and two first year subjects. I guess the two more interesting subjects for this semester were Taxation Law and Spanish.

Because I took the taxation law subject this semester, I also managed to claim more tax returns from the taxes that I paid last financial year by sending a tax amendment form. I got back all the taxes that I paid last year PLUS interest. So in all, my total tax paid is effectively 0. I guess that this is what you can call practical application of the stuff you learn at uni.

I'm now in the midst of exams and a week away from my departure to KL. It's been close to 2 years now since the day I left and I guess it's about time I returned to PJ to start catching up with friends and family. The two papers and the oral test that I've sat for were pretty alright I guess. Will have to wait for the results to really know how well I've fared. I think the results should be out a week after I land in Malaysia. Hopefully my GPA won't suffer too badly this sem.

I guess that's about it for now. I might update again before I leave but don't keep your hopes up. Take care people.

And I should update with a current picture of myself so as to not give you guys back home a shock when you see me. I'll see if I have time this weekend to camwhore.

Dates confirmed!

2010-04-26T20:20:00.000+10:00

My exam dates are confirmed and it looks like I'll definitely be back in KL on the 4th of June. I've also booked my return flight for the 4th of August departing KLIA LCCT at 10.30pm. Managed to get a cheap ticket as well that came to a total of RM354 inclusive of a 20kg luggage allowance. But I've also added in an in-flight meal just because it's cheap. Only RM10. That's like AUD $3.30 and is much cheaper than having breakfast in Melbourne.

So in total, my return ticket with AirAsia only cost me AUD $270 which is about RM810 inclusive of taxes as well as a 20kg luggage allowance. Neat stuff.

That's all for now. I better get back to my assignments now. And I'd have to start studying earlier for my final exam so I would have time to pack. I'm practically heading straight to the airport right after my last paper. My paper ends at 4pm and I have to check in at the airport by 7pm to catch my flight from Canberra to Melbourne.

Take care people!

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010

2010-04-05T21:54:00.009+10:00

Since I'll be back on the 4th of June, I'll have ample time to acclimatise myself to the warm, polluted and humid country of Malaysia before the race date of 27th June 2010. And I'm considering taking part in the half marathon (21km) on that day despite not jogging/training at all for the past 2 years that I'm here. But I'm being optimistic and hoping that if I start training next week, I'll have about 10 weeks of training before the actual race. And by training, I do actually mean once a week of 2-3km jog. And also because I'm 'training' at a high altitude (Canberra's 500+ metres above sea level) with less oxygen in the air, I'm hoping that when I get back to Malaysia, my lungs and heart would be fit enough for the half marathon.

So anyway, the main point of posting this up is to get people to join me in the 21km run. I know it may seem daunting at first, but if you start training now, you'll have the same amount of training as me (or probably more). So just let me know if you do want to accompany me in this 21km run.

The details are as follow:

Date: 27th June 2010
Time: Flag off at 6.15am
Venue: Dataran Merdeka, KL
Distance: 21.0975km
Registration Fee: RM45 (Mar 15-Apr 15), RM55 (Apr 16-May 31), RM65 (Jun 1-Jun 10)

Route:

What you'll get: Running singlet, bibs, timing device (D-Tag, a new kind of disposable timing device that you loop around your shoe lace that comes with your running bib. Completely waterproof, weatherproof and heatproof.) and upon completion, a finisher medal and certificate

D-Tag

For now, I think the organizers only accept registrations through their website and not any physical entry forms. Click here, to go to their website for more details and to register.

So come join me ok?

Preliminary Exam Timetable

2010-04-01T14:48:00.003+11:00

The preliminary exam timetable came out today. And from the looks of things, my last paper will be at 2pm on the 2nd of June. And if it stays that way, I'll be able to go back to Malaysia this coming winter! The final exam timetable will be released on the 23rd of April at 3.00pm.

....

I've already purchased my flight tickets and details are as follows:

Canberra - Melbourne : 2nd June 2010, 8.20pm
Flying with TigerAirways. Paid $19 for the ticket and another $20 for a 20kg baggage allowance. That came to a total of $39. Bought the ticket online with a Debit Mastercard. If you do not have a debit Mastercard, you'll get charged an additional $5 admin/convenience fee. Arriving in Melbourne at 9.25pm.

Melbourne - Kuala Lumpur: 4th June 2010, 12.45am
Flying with AirAsia. Paid $119 for my ticket and another $28 for a 20kg baggage allowance. That came to a total of $152. Bought the ticket online. Didn't get any comfort packs or food because I'd rather have a proper Malaysian meal after I land. And also, it's a midnight flight so I don't think I'll be snacking much. Arriving in Malaysia at 7.00am.

....

So if all things work out right, I should be in Malaysia on the 4th of June at 7.00am just in time for nasi lemak. Will definitely update again on this when the final exam timetable comes out.

I'll probably stay on in Malaysia for about 2 months. I haven't bought a return ticket yet and am still keeping an eye out for cheap flights. Hopefully, AirAsia will launch their KL - Sydney flights soon and offer free tickets. If no cheap flights are available, I'll probably just fly back at the end of July or first week of August because uni only starts on the second week of August for me.

So I guess I better start studying hard for my final exam now and not leave it till the last minute.

Take care people!!

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

2010-03-31T00:38:00.009+11:00

Basically, my cousin who is in year 5 (std 5) got these math questions from school. I had a look at them and found some of them pretty challenging. Either kids these days are doing really hard questions or my brain's slowing down. I'd like to think the former is true but I have a slight inkling that maybe, just maybe, the latter could be the reason why.

So anyway, the questions will be in JPEG format. Click on them to enlarge and to save them if you want. And give those questions a shot and see how well you fare. I do not have the answers with me just yet but I'm planning to get the answers from my cousin when she gets them.

All the best!

Cover page

Instructions

Okay. Here comes the first question. Shouldn't be too hard. This is to get your brains warmed up.

This is to help you with the first question. Just in case you're like me and can't really visualize all the squares in your head.

How was question 1? Took quite some effort? Well, here's question 2. This one's pretty easy I can guarantee.

Feeling confident? Now try this!

Stressed out yet? No? This is the last question.

Did you manage to answer all 4 questions as well as all the sub questions? If you have, well done. Come back in a couple of weeks for the answers. If you haven't, keep trying. My cousin managed to answer all 4 questions.

The Sharemarket

2010-03-28T21:15:00.003+11:00

Recently, I've been playing about in the share market; buying and selling shares in the ASX 100. It's a game, mind you. Organised by the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) to educate future and potential investors. So anyway, during the first week of the game, I was doing pretty well. We all started of with AUD $50,000 and can only make a maximum of 20 trades per day. We also have another rule that states that we can only put a maximum of 25% of our total cash into any one company.

In the first couple of days, my portfolio was up at AUD $51,233.69 and my national ranking was 4531 out of 12150 people. After that, things sort of went downwards for me. Well, it all started when I thought of buying this certain company's share. They had just paid out their dividends and the price of their share was pretty low to adjust for that dividend payout. So I after some research (the company was doing pretty well and had recently just bought over another company in December last year), I thought that the share was a little undervalued and the time to buy should be now. And therefore, I purchased 19,000 units of that share at a price of AUD $0.64 per unit which came to a total of AUD $12,160 plus brokerage fee of AUD $36.45.

The next week, the company's directors resigned. And with news like that, naturally the price of that share will fall. So it fell to AUD $0.59 that week. And the following week, it was reported that the company's directors weren't too honest about the company's financial position. And the share price fell even more to a low of AUD $0.50. And because of that, I've made a loss of AUD $2,660. And now, my portfolio stands at about $47k plus and I'm in the bottom 200 in national rankings.

Bah!

Since I'm on my break this coming week, I'm going to do a lot of market research and ensure that I recoup my losses and pull my rankings back up again. But oh well, lesson learnt. At least I didn't loose any real money in this scenario.

That's all for now people. If you have any tips of analysing and purchasing stocks, feel free to leave a comment or email me.

2010-03-23T22:28:00.004+11:00

I hereby declare my Nokia 6288 completely dead!

Got my new LCD screen this morning and tried putting it in.
In the process, I think I broke something else (again).
So now my phone doesn't even want to start up.

Am just going to wait for the new Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 to come out.
Will probably get that if it doesn't cost a bomb.

2 more days of uni ,
then it's the mid sem break for me!

yay!

Amplitudeaudio

2010-03-22T00:26:00.003+11:00

amplitudeaudio

Your number 1 stop for sound system problems

Keep checking for more details

Week 6 of Uni

2010-03-17T21:38:00.005+11:00

Am half way through week 6 of Uni and am just updating my blog for the sake of updating it. Nothing interesting to write about so I shall just update a little on my current happenings.

Assignments
Managed to get 1 of my assignments in this morning. It was due at 5pm. Somehow, I reckon that I'm getting slack-ier and slack-ier if there's even such a word. In my first sem at uni, I was uber gung-ho and the moment I got my first assignment question, I was like, "Ok. Let's start!" kind of thing. And I think I finished it in slightly over a week and was the first to hand in my work and got 96% or something for it. Most of my assignments in the first sem were handed in way before the due date and I managed to score pretty well in most of them.

Coming back to the present, when I do get an assignment question, I'm like, "Ok. Let's see how long I can postpone it." It's starting to be a really bad habit and most of the work I do now, I hand in like on the day itself, the day before or two days before kind of thing. But fortunately for me, my marks still remain in the above average section.

So anyway, after handing in a piece of assignment this morning, I thought that I deserved a small break and will only start on my next assignment which is going to be due next Friday tomorrow. A week should be more than enough for me to complete it. I hope.

Malaysian Club
As you all know (or don't know), my uni has the least number of Malaysians in the whole of Australia. I'm just exaggerating by the way. But you catch my drift. I think in the past 1.5 years to 2 years that I've been here, I've only met like 4 Malaysians. 2 of whom are already PR holders and have lived in Australia for a long period of time so I guess that doesn't count. While on the other hand, ANU which is the rival uni in Canberra, has a couple of hundreds of Malaysians, Singaporeans and all the other Asian people despite charging those kids almost two times what they are charging me. So basically, most of the kids there are pretty well off.

Anyway, back to the point. Because there are so few Malaysians in my uni, there wasn't a point in setting up a Malaysian club. But recently, a gung-ho Malay chiq decided to gather all the remnants together and form a Malaysian Club. Not sure if she's planning to register it as a formal club in the uni but I'm not too enthusiastic about joining it at the moment coz the whole idea of coming to Australia is to meet people from other places and definitely not to meet Malaysians. Don't you agree?

But anyhow, the first 'meeting' is this coming Friday. Maybe I'll decide to drop by and see how it's like. And if I do become a member, it's going to be purely because of the Malaysian food that I might be promised if I do join. Like the Malaysian Club in ANU organizes Malaysian themed food events pretty often and I heard that the food's pretty good coz there are quite a number of excellent cooks there. Let's hope that it's pretty much the same at UC.

Well, this should be a long enough post to keep whoever that still reads my blog entertained for the time being. Am going to be having my 1 week break from the 26th of April to the 5th of May. But despite calling it a mid semester break, I'll probably be burdened with heaps of assignments that are due right after the hols.

Till my next update people!

How long do you have to work to buy yourself a Big Mac?

2010-03-03T23:46:00.004+11:00

Well, all these while that I've been here in Australia, I know that Australians have quite a high amount of earning power. As in, a person's hourly pay here can actually get that person quite a bit of stuff. For example, if you work in McDonalds, your hourly pay would be AUD $17 an hour or so. And with your one hours pay of $17, you can actually buy yourself 2 large Big Mac McValue Meals for about $8 each. Where else if you're in Malaysia and happen to work in McDonalds, you'll probably get a pay of RM4.50 an hour. To buy a large Big Mac McValue Meal, you'd probably have to work for about 2 hours to get 1 meal.

So anyway, I recently came across this survey and thought it might be interesting to put it up on my blog. And from the survey, I found out that Australia has the highest earning power of the 13 countries surveyed. That's pretty cool. I guess Australia is really a good place to work and live in.

Based on an unscientific survey by Reuters reporters, low-income workers in Australia have the highest earning power of the 13 countries, earning enough to buy a Big Mac every 16 minutes. The lowest earning power is in less-developed countries, where it takes up to 5 hours and 15 minutes to earn the price of a Big Mac. In the United States, it takes about 30 minutes. The comparison is an extension of the Big Mac index.

*PS: A Big Mac burger is about $4.25 over here. With my current Peer Tutoring job, I can buy myself a Big Mac after every 8 minutes of work. Pretty cool if I look at it this way.

Replacing the Flex Cable Ribbon Connector for my Nokia 6288

2010-03-02T23:52:00.023+11:00

The Flex Cable Ribbon Connector that I bought on Ebay for Aud $4.95 for my poor Nokia 6288 on the 19th of February arrived this morning.

I managed to tear apart my phone and replaced the flex cable ribbon connector and in the process of doing so, managed to break the clip that was supposed to hold my earpiece (speaker) in place. And in the end, I still had the same problem of a blank screen. So I'm planning to buy a new LCD screen for my Nokia and try replacing that instead.

Here are some of the pictures of the replacement process.

The new $4.95 flex cable ribbon connector together with the free tool.

Remove the battery and unhinge the housing. You could use your thumb or the blue tool.

Remove metal frame around LCD by pressing the sides

It should come off pretty easily. Be careful as not to bend it out of shape.

Using the blue tool, lift the navigating keypad up. It's glued to the phone's frame so you might need to use quite a bit of force for this part.

Remove the connector connecting the navigating keypad to the ribbon connector.

Remove LCD screen.

Remove flex cable ribbon from main motherboard.

Remove earpiece (speaker). This is where I broke the clip. Be gentle when removing this part.

The dismantled phone with the new flex cable ribbon.

The old flex cable ribbon with the secondary camera. Had a little trouble removing the camera. In the end, I just used the blue tool to wedge it out.

This was when I saw a broken piece of plastic. And I was like hmm, where did this piece come from. I realized later that it broke off from the earpiece and now my earpiece can't be clipped in.

Assembling back the phone.

And voila! The phone is still spoilt!

I just found a cheap LCD screen for sale on Ebay for AUD $9.66. I'll probably get it sometime this week if I can't find anything cheaper.

Sony Ericsson Aino, Satio or Xperia X10?

2010-02-28T21:08:00.011+11:00

Okay. Since I'm going to be getting myself a new phone soon, I've started doing a bit of reading on the 3 phones that I've currently set my eyes on. The Aino, Satio or X10.

The Aino is retailing for about RM1300 / Aud $430 in Malaysia. It has a 3 inch touch screen with limited functionality, a normal keypad and an 8mp camera. The cheapest of the 3 phones and I guess it's good for me to slowly get use to the touch screen functionality of hand phones these days. I don't quite like the idea of having a fully touch screen phone just yet.

The Satio is retailing for about RM1700 / AUD $570 in Malaysia. It has a 12mp camera with xenon flash. That's the best part of this phone. It also runs on a 600Mhz processor with a 3.5 inch touch screen. It's only RM400 more and I get a phone with a much better specs.

The Xperia X10 is yet to be release. But it runs on a 1Ghz processor (the Iphone 3Gs only runs on a 412 Mhz processor), has an 8mp camera and a 4 inch touch screen. And it runs on Android OS 1.6 which would be a plus for me. Don't quite fancy Symbian which is on the Satio.

Then there is also the Vivaz by Sony Ericsson which is really similar to the Satio. It's also due to be release sometime this year. The only difference from the Satio is that the Vivaz has an 8mp camera instead of the 12mp one but with a faster processor of 720Mhz.

How to decide you tell me?

Anyhow, here are the pics of the 4 phones mentioned.

Aino

Satio

Vivaz

Xperia X10

First Nokia, then now my Sony Ericsson

2010-02-25T21:07:00.003+11:00

Now I really really need a new phone. First, it was my Nokia who blacked out on me. Now, the Sony Ericsson k800i phone that I brought with me from Malaysia is playing up. The speakers on the phone are not working. So if I were to make a call or receive one, I have to either put my call on loudspeaker or use my headset which is just troublesome. But I guess that's normal since my Sony phone is more than 4 years old.

I've also bought my replacement part for my Nokia phone. Hopefully it'll arrive soon and all will go well with my fixing. It's going to be a scary process because I don't want my phone to end up in a more terrible state than it first was.

On a side note, I think I'm overspending this semester. I bought a textbook for the very first time in my uni life. It cost me AUD $90 for a Principles of Taxation Law 2010 textbook. I also bought a Spanish text book that came together with a workbook from a student in Queensland for AUD $60. The original price of both the textbook and workbook together is AUD $160.95. So I managed to save $100 by getting it second hand. They have this website here in Australia for students to sell and buy second hand books. I find it really useful in times like this. Leave a comment or email me if you want the link.

I finished week 3 of uni today. 11 more weeks to go till the final exam. And assignments are all pouring in. Got to start working harder from now on.

That's all for now. Will update again when I finish fixing my Nokia.

Blacked out!

2010-02-17T18:37:00.004+11:00

My poor Nokia 6288 slide phone's screen has died on me. After numerous days of occasional flickering, it finally breathed its last breath and blacked out on me during the hour when I most needed it. Bah!

Am going to be using my old Sony Ericsson k800i for the time being (I'm guessing it's going to be a long while before I get myself a new phone).

Just look at that, keypad working but screen's blank. Need to get myself a sturdier phone next time. This phone only lasted me for about 1.5 years. Not very long.

*Edited:

I did a little research and found out that there could be 2 causes for my blank screen. The first, it could be my phone's LCD is spoilt. Or the second reason could be that my phone's flex cable ribbon got spoilt. I'm going with the second reason because my screen still works after every hundred switch offs and ons. And that also is only for a couple of seconds before everything turns black again.

So, I'm going to attempt to dismantle my phone and replace the flex cable ribbon on my own. There's no point sending the phone in to a phone shop coz it will definitely cost me a bomb. So because of that, I'm going to get a replacement part from ebay for about $10. Hopefully I spotted the right cause. If I'm wrong, I'm going to need to fork out another $15 or so to get myself a new LCD screen from ebay and hope for the best.

The best part is that with one slight mistake, I'll render my phone useless forever.

More updates to come.

My Timetable for the semester

2010-02-14T17:42:00.002+11:00

First week of uni has been alright I guess. Doesn't seem to hectic at the moment. I just have to make sure I keep putting in sufficient effort into my studies. As you can see from the timetable, I'm doing a Spanish subject this semester. Seems pretty interesting for now. Just that I've got to get my head around all those Spanish vocab. Need to learn up the new words as well as the grammar. It's good in a way that it requires me to use a different part of my brain and therefore ensuring that my brain remains active.

Also, from the timetable, you could see that I have quite a couple of PALS slotted in. PALS stands for Peer Assisted Learning Session. It's an international program where students who have taken a particular subject and have done well are recruited to assist their first year peers who are currently enrolled in that subject. It's a pretty easy job I reckon. I'm just there to help those guys study and guide them through the hard parts of the subject. And it's a paid job. AUD $35 an hour.

My other job involves me answering to general queries in the Library. I'm basically called an Information and Loans Desk Representative. I loan books out, check them in and shelf certain books as well as answer queries such as, "Where do I find this particular book?" or "Can I place this book on hold?" and so on. This job gets me AUD $27 an hour.

Mind you, those figures are before tax. I get my pay every fortnight and my pay is usually taxed prior to me receiving the cash. And because of that, I have to fill in a Tax Return form at the end of the financial year (which is 30th June for Australia). The tax rate for earnings $6000 - $34000 is 15%. Below $6000, you don't get taxed and get all your money refunded to you at the end of the financial year. And above $34000, the tax rate is 30%.

I haven't been doing anything interesting the past couple of months. So there's not really much to post up. And my camera has been collecting dust for quite some time now. Don't seem to have the mood to go and snap pictures. Maybe when the weather becomes slightly cooler then that will change.

That's all for now. Maybe I'll jump on to my uncle's bike and snap a picture of myself and post it up in my next post. Take care!

So in need of a new phone

2010-02-09T20:50:00.003+11:00

The screen on my current phone is flickering. Like it turns blank every few seconds. I'm going to need a new phone very very soon. How how how?

Late ski video post

2010-02-03T18:26:00.007+11:00

I just realize that I haven't uploaded the video of my first ski experience. Well, here it is. It's nothing fancy. Just basic beginner's slope doing my turns and stops.

My summer hols have finally came to an end. It's back to class and work for me on Monday. I'm taking 2 first year subjects and 2 third year subjects this time so I'm hoping that I won't be too burdened by my subjects. I'll be taking Advanced Management Accounting, Revenue Law, Introduction to Marketing and Spanish 1A for the next 14 weeks.

I'll upload my timetable as soon as I finalised when my classes and work are.

And my I have to pay an additional AUD $350 for my fees per semester from this semester onwards. You see, my uni is one of the few unis in Australia who capped students' fees unlike universities like ANU, Melbourne Uni or Monash Uni. So I've been paying AUD $7000 per semester and suddenly for this semester, I've been asked to pay AUD $7350. I thought there was a mistake and went to dispute it at the students administration office. And then they told me that they've made a mistake for the past 3 semesters I'm here by undercharging me by AUD $350 a semester. So I guess I have to start paying the actual fee of AUD $7350 a sem from now on. If only they could continue making the same mistake until I graduate. But fortunately for me, I do not have to pay them back for the their mistake. So I guess it's all good for now.

And on a side note, my uncle just got his motorbike license. I'm considering getting mine as well. It's not too expensive I reckon. Only AUD $235 to get my L license and another AUD $45 to sit for my P test. The L license is valid for 2 years and the $235 covers the basic training and all that. The $45 for the P test does not include the training course. If you want extra training, it is AUD $145 for the 7 hour training course. Well, maybe after getting my license, I could borrow my uncle's bike if he's not using it.

That's all for now. I'll update again next week after my first week of uni. Take care people!

An Article from The Malaysian Insider

2010-01-25T18:00:00.006+11:00

Don’t come home, son – Ice-Cream Seller

JAN 24 – To Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, this is what I have to say in response to your statement (click on it to read the statement) about emigration by ingrates.

Sometime in 1980, when I was a final-year student in London, I had a very short telephone conversation with my father. In those days, there were no call cards, skype or the like and international phone calls were expensive. He had a very simple message – “Don’t come home, son.”

Now, almost 30 years on, I see where he was coming from.

He advised me to stay on in the UK or, if I found the weather not to my liking, suggested I go to Australia, even if it meant that I might eventually “marry a white girl” as he put it.

I was 23 and marriage was certainly not on my mind.

He was a “pendatang”. This pendatang, however, secured a scholarship to study in Raffles College ( the precursor to the University of Malaya) and served some 30 years in various senior teaching positions, culminating with the last few years in the Malay College. Among his students were a veritable who’s who of past and present ministers and opposition figures.

I didn’t heed his advice then, and spent 28 years working in Malaysia. However, in recent years, it became increasingly untenable to work in my home country without compromising my values, integrity and conscience.

Why did he advise me such?

With hindsight, I saw his foresight. As an educationist, he saw we were becoming another Ceylon (from where he had been sent to then Malaya when he was orphaned), Burma, the Philippines and, in today’s scenario, Zimbabwe.

He saw what the outcome would be when we mess up education with politics.

He saw that religion would be a divisive factor in the years to come (he even encouraged me to learn Jawi as a nine-year-old).

He believed that in a country like this, mixed marriages would help cement society.

He saw in some of our leaders of yesterday that, even in their youth, they had unbridled cunning and only needed an opening to exploit that trait.

He saw in some of his students the potential to become PM but said that would never come to be because they were “too smart for Umno’s liking”.

He saw that, given our racial demographics, religion would be used as a means to ensure the survival of a particular group.

He believed that, eventually, the Malays would have a class war amongst themselves.

He said that even among the Malays, many of the English-educated would opt to live away from Malaysia.

He told me promotions wouldn’t necessarily be given for competence. These are usually won in the Clubs (read political party today) and over a few drinks.

Since I am a bit of an introvert, he encouraged me to join clubs, associations and play sports and travel.

He said honesty does not necessarily pay in this world but still, it is better to be honest and live with dignity.

Our home was (at different times) home to three delinquent Chinese boys, sent by the Juvenile court. He volunteered to take them in. Add to that a few other Indian boys.

Though not my mother tongue, I spoke to my parents in Malay till I was about 10.

We took in a Chinese woman injured during the war and she lived with us for about 40 years till she died. My father referred to her as his mother-in-law. I thought she was my grandmother even though my mother was not Chinese!

By the late 70s and early 80s, he saw that this scenario would not likely repeat in the years to come.

When he died in 1982, we were pleasantly surprised to see some of his students (by then in their 50s) come from different states for his funeral.

One told me that it was my father who made sure he spoke flawless English. Another told me how my father would bring the 6th Formers home from the hostel and used our home for dinner and to teach them social graces – including dancing (taught by my mother).

Partners were arranged from the convent school, with the blessings of the headmistress!

Twenty-nine years years on, I view his foresight through the same prism and now agonise over whether I should tell my children the same.

For now, I am allowing my eldest to pursue his tertiary education overseas. Maybe when he finishes, he may not be as shortsighted as I was. I pray to God to grant him wisdom and vision.

Last year, I resigned from my job, returned the company car and driver, said goodbye to my executive package and moved to Australia where I now live with no maid, no driver, no Audi 2.8, no golf, no teh tarik sessions, no bonus, etc.

But I am rediscovering humanity, running a humble ice cream shop.

Sometimes we learn very late.

* "Ice Cream Seller" is the pseudonym of a reader of Malaysian Insider

If you have the time, click on the link and read the comments below the article. I seem to be reading more and more about Malaysians migrating overseas. The Australian Trade Commission said that in 2008, Malaysians invested about RM 15.3 billion in Australian property. And that figure is just for Australia. Imagine all the other countries Malaysians are buying properties in; countries such as Singapore, USA, UK, Canada, New Zealand and so on.

With 300,000 over people migrating each year and billions of ringgit flowing out of the country together with them, the future doesn't look too bright for Malaysians.

The Inefficiency of Australian Post

2010-01-23T17:34:00.003+11:00

I've been getting a lot of stuff on Ebay ever since I got here in 2008. It's just so so convenient to buy things over the internet despite not having a credit card to call my own. You can even buy your groceries from the nearest supermarket online and get them to deliver them right at your doorstep.

But anyhow, back to the topic. I recently bought an mp4 player for my cousin for her Christmas present. Well, I don't think it's considered recent any more but you get my drift. It was a 16gb touch screen mp5 player with all sorts of cool functions like an ebook reader, a video player, the ability to capture pictures and videos with its 1.3mp camera, voice recording function and fully touch screen. But the thing is, the player was faulty when it arrived and I decided to send it back to get a refund.

So I sent the item back to China on the 9th of December and the person on the other end is still waiting for it. Either my parcel found its way to the wrong place or the process of sending the parcel takes a really long time. But as long as the other party doesn't receive the item back, I won't get my refund. That is just so so crappy. Next time I'll have to use their registered service instead of the normal economic air parcel and pay an additional AUD $10 which will not be refunded by the other party. So, if any of you guys are thinking of sending anything overseas, try to get your items insured or use the registered mail option.

I guess these things happen. Am going to lodge a complaint with Australian Post and see what happens. I doubt that it'll do much but I'll update this post if anything happens. So in the meantime, my AUD $35 item and the AUD $14 I paid for postage will have to be considered lost until found.

The Project Management PrepCast

2010-01-19T12:52:00.004+11:00

The Project Management Professional (PMP) Exam is managed and offered by the The Project Management Institute (PMI) and is the most sought after certification in the field of project management today! So why choose Project Management PrepCast?

Most people who take this PMP Certification are often bogged down with work, family and other activities and can't seem to find the time or are normally too tired to attend the many classes available. That's where The Project Management PrepCast comes in. What these guys did was that they came up with a series of video and audio files that you can download and listen to on your mp3 on your way to work or while you're working out. This way, you can do the course in your own time.

Not only that, The Project Management PrepCast also offers the cheapest PMP training on the market for a really good deal of $99.97. Other competitors are offering the same thing for up to $1000. To make it more irresistible, The Project Management PrepCast are also throwing in various bonus items that are worth up to $285 as well. So why wait? Go to The Project Management PrepCast to sign up now!

The PMP PrepCast covers concepts, tools and techniques you need to be familiar with to take the PMP Exam. All these material are covered in the PMBOK Guide (4th edition) which will also be included together in your package.

And the best part is, there is NO RISK for you as they are offering you an UNCONDITIONAL MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! They will completely refund you the purchase price with no questions ask if you're not 100% satisfied. And you get to keep the videos that you downloaded as well because there is no way they can ask you to un-download the video files.

If you're still not convinced, try out their free PrepCast to see if it works for you. They explain everything in a very down to earth manner and gives loads of examples to help you understand better.

Click here to go to The Project Management PrepCast website!

Pigging out my holidays

2010-01-06T15:49:00.003+11:00

Bumming around seems to be really time consuming.

Been on hols since my last swimming lesson on the 11th of December. Left for Melbourne on the Sunday after that until Wednesday to see my Uncle and his family off to Malaysia. Came back and bummed since then until now.

I initially prepared a list of to do things during my summer holidays; reading, learning a song on the guitar and so on. But I've been sleeping late everyday; there was even once when I slept at 6am in the morning. And I've been getting up even later everyday.

But I've managed to accomplish a few things throughout my home alone period thus far. They are mostly cooking related though. The day I got back from Melbourne, I had to restock my fridge. So I gladly went along to the nearest supermarket and got a whole heap of stuff. Not knowing how much I needed for one person. A week passed and I still had enough meat and vegetables. Another week passed and I just barely managed to finish up my groceries. Lesson learnt: never overbuy groceries lest they end up rotting.

Cooking wasn't much of a problem. Only cooked simple stir fry dishes, steam fish and fried eggs. I did make the occasional spaghetti and shepherd's pie the next day with the left over pasta sauce, grilled steak with salad and recently, cheese tarts. Also had some friends over the other day and made curry laksa (using the laksa paste).

And I think I'm growing rounder these holidays. Was super semangat during my first week back here after Melbourne, jogging and doing sit ups (mainly because I felt guilty for consuming such a ridiculously large amount of Malaysian/Asian food down in Melbourne. you can't really blame me for it, the food there is just so much better than up here in Canberra). After that 1 week, I grew lazy and started to be a couch potato; watching the whole Season 2 of House. I so need to get Seasons 3-6.

Apart from the food and me getting rounder, I'd say I'm doing ok this holidays. Liking the relaxing atmosphere here with nothing to worry about (not even my uni fees because I managed to save up the AUD $7,000 I need for my next semester's uni fees in the last 6 months). But I'm so dreading going back to uni in February. It's going to be back to work and studies again for me. Hopefully I'll still manage to get sufficient cash this coming semester to pay off my following semester's fees with just 2 casual jobs. Will be continuing my Library and PALS tutoring job this coming semester. Don't think I'd be doing anything ambitious like getting another part time job or anything.

As for my subjects this coming semester, I've decided to take up Spanish as an elective subject and drop by Economics minor. So when I graduate, I'd be graduating with an Accounting major with random elective subjects. I might take up an IT subject in my final year to see how it's like.

I also got a letter from my Uni the day after I got back from Melbourne saying that I've been awarded a prize of AUD $300 from the Kinsella Partners Charted Accountants for being the top 2 students in my Accounting subject. Didn't quite expect that with all my last minute revisions and cramming. But I'm glad I got it. If I keep this up, I might be spotted by some Accounting firm willing to sponsor me right after I graduate. I like the sound of that.

I guess that's all for now. Will be going back to my Facebook Poker. Started the game a couple of days ago and it's really addictive. Managed to loose over 100k in a day. I better practice more and get better. Will welcome any chip donation from anyone.

Here are a couple of pics from Melbourne. Stayed at Accommodation Star Docklands. Pretty nice place. Unfortunately, I do not have any pics of the room. Enjoy!

View from the apartments

Docklands Harbour

Etihad Stadium

View from the pool deck

The pool at the apartments. Was too cold and windy to be swimming outdoors.

St Kilda Beach

This was earlier on in the day at about 9-10. At about 12, the beach was packed with people suntanning themselves.

Some random bridge at the beach

Two very talented artists. They paint their pictures with spray paints by the road side.

Take care people and a Happy 2010!

Will update next month

2009-12-23T21:32:00.002+11:00

Internet's been really slow the past couple of days. Apparently I've blown my uncle's internet usage for the month and the cut off date for this billing period is on the 2nd of January. So I'll blog more on the 3rd.

I haven't been doing much lately. After swimming ended, I went down to Melbourne with my uncle and his family for a couple of days. They drove down to catch a flight at the Melbourne airport back to Malaysia.

Will continue bloggin next month. So in the mean time, Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Take care people!

Holidays

2009-12-06T19:17:00.020+11:00

I've been swimming 4 days a week for the past 3 weeks. My skin is so burning from the 5 hour our session in the pool each day. The chlorine just eats into your skin after a while. But oh well. I do need the cash. Next week will be my last week of swimming. After that, it will be pure chilling holidays for two whole months. Looking forward to sleeping in and lazing about.

Anyway, here are a couple of pics from my last two outings. Enjoy!

Canberra Indoor Rock Climbing, Mitchell

Opening hours
Monday : 3pm-10pm
Tues - Fri : 12pm - 10pm
Sat & Sun : 10am - 8pm

Koko Black, Canberra Centre

Increase in Malaysians Giving Up Citizenship

2009-12-01T23:06:00.001+11:00

Taken from The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 1 – The number of Malaysians who surrendered their citizenship has almost doubled in this year, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Senator A. Kohilan Pillay, who revealed today that about 3,800 Malaysians have given up their citizenships to date compared to 2,000 last year.

This figure, however, is much smaller than the 304,358 Malaysians who were reported to have migrated from March 2008 to August 2009.

Kohilan clarified that the number of “Malaysians who migrated” consists of those who are working abroad and registered with the respective Malaysian embassies.

There was nevertheless a sharp rise in the number of Malaysians who registered themselves as having moved abroad with 210,000 of them doing so from January to August this year compared with 94,000 from March to December 2008.

He also said that between 45 to 55 per cent, or roughly half, of the Malaysians working abroad are professionals.

The volume of Malaysian talent moving abroad is a potentially damaging brain drain and a matter of concern as the country is attempting to remake itself into a developed high-income nation.

The most common reasons given for migration were better education, brighter career or business prospects and marriage.

Look at the amount of Malaysians who migrated overseas. A whopping 300,000 people migrate overseas each year! And roughly half of that amount are professionals. And I can guarantee you that this number will definitely keep increasing. Malaysia is going to suffer a major brain drain pretty soon.

UC Campus Accomodation

2009-11-27T21:18:00.000+11:00

Here's a price list of the on campus accommodations here at the University of Canberra as of 2009. Prices quoted are in Australian Dollars and per week (yes, it's that much per week!) and are expected to increase every semester.

Arscott House - $260.00
College House - $233.00
International House - $165.50
New Ressies -$157.00
Old Ressies - $145.00
University Village - $133.50
5 bedroom apartment - $201.00
2 bedroom apartment - $231.50
1 bedroom apartment - $316.50

There is also a weekly $18 charge for utility fees. Internet usage is charged separately and by the amount of data used. And only Arscott House provides breakfast and dinner 7 days a week which is included in the price above. The price for laundry is $3 per wash and another $3 to use the dryer.

Internet charges are as follow:

2gb - $14
5gb - $30
10gb - $58

As you can see, it's too expensive to be downloading anything over here. This is unless you're staying off campus and get a different internet provider.

2009-11-27T21:17:00.003+11:00

Arscott House

A big plus at Arscott is that we are the only student accommodation at UC that provides breakfast and dinner daily.

You'll share a floor with 23 other students. On each floor there is a common kitchen, bathrooms, eating/lounge area and laundry. You'll also have access to the Green Room - the community common room which has a full-sized billiard table, stereo, flat screen TVs and pay-TV.

Your room at Arscott includes:

- single bed
- study chair
- desk lamp
- telephone (external calls charged)
- internet access (connection fee is charged)
- wardrobe with drawers and shelving
- bookshelf
- notice board
- bar fridge
- central heating
- hand basins (R block only)

College House

College House is a 26 room residence featuring private bedrooms with ensuites and a balcony or small porch off each bedroom. The residence has two fully equipped, modern kitchens, a coin-operated laundry and a spacious lounge/common area and courtyard for relaxing and entertaining. College House is predominantly for Mature Age students or those undertaking Postgraduate studies and has a relaxed, quiet and comfortable community environment with a very strong focus on academic studies.

Room Inclusions

- ensuite (toilet, shower, hand basin)
- single bed
- study desk
- study chair
- desk lamp
- phone (external calls charged)
- network port
- wardrobe with shelving
- bookshelf
- notice board
- mini fridge
- heating

International House

International House will be refurbished this coming summer (09/10) and consists of duplex style apartments in townhouse blocks, with some rooms boasting superb mountain views. Rooms are arranged in groups of 7 and 9 with well equipped kitchens, large lounge/dining rooms, bathrooms, electric heating and a centrally located laundry. International House has a common room called the Great Room which will also be refurbished during the summer. The Great Room will have a communal kitchen, large TV, DVD player, Foxtel, a group study room, boardroom and coin-operated laundry.

Room Inclusions

- single bed
- study desk
- study chair
- desk lighting
- phone (external calls charged)
- network port
- wardrobe with shelving
- bookshelf
- bedside drawers
- notice board
- heating

University Village

University Village is comprised of 20 blocks of 12 rooms and a recreation hall called the Resource Centre which is available to all residents at the Village. The Resource Centre contains a large TV, DVD player, hifi, Foxtel and smart card operated laundry facilities. Each block of rooms has a well-appointed kitchen and lounge/dining room.

Room Inclusions

- single bed
- study desk
- study chair
- desk lighting
- phone (external calls charged)
- network port
- wardrobe with drawers or shelving
- bookshelf
- bedside drawers
- notice board
- mini fridge
- heating

Old Ressies

Old Ressies is the largest residential area within the Village, with 250 residents. It offers large bedrooms arranged in groups of 12 or 13 with communal kitchens, showers, and toilets. Centrally located and claimed to be the heart of the residential community by its residents, Old Ressies creates a communal living environment with many friendship opportunities.

Room Inclusions

- single bed
- study desk
- study chair
- desk lamp
- phone (external calls charged)
- network port
- wardrobe with drawers or shelving
- bookshelf
- notice board
- central heating
- hand basin

New Ressies

New Ressies is a recently refurbished six share apartment with spacious, north-east facing individual bedrooms. In each apartment there is a large common area and well equipped kitchen, two fully upholstered 3 seater lounges, a coffee table, dining table and six dining chairs in addition to the standard bedroom furnishings. Each apartment has a separate toilet, shower and basin, making group living easier. A smart card operated laundry is located on each floor. Some apartments have great outlooks towards the mountains.

Room Inclusions

- single bed
- study desk
- study chair
- desk lamp
- phone (external calls charged)
- network port
- wardrobe with drawers or shelving
- bookshelf
- notice board
- heating

Apartments

The Village’s modern 1, 2 and 5 bedroom apartments offer open plan living spaces with high quality fittings chosen to create a relaxing and stylish atmosphere in each apartment. Coloured feature walls, smart furniture design and spacious living areas ensure that all apartments and common areas provide a refreshing environment for studying or hanging out with friends.

Room Inclusions

- king single bed
- study desk
- study chair
- desk lamp
- network port
- wardrobe with drawers and shelving
- bookshelf
- notice board
- in-slab heating

My list

2009-11-22T21:36:00.001+11:00

The temperature's coming down tonight. Tomorrow's a high of 21. How lovely. But it's going to go back up to 31 degrees the day after and probably higher after that.

Another 3 weeks and 10 swimming lessons to go until I'm free to do whatever I want. Am still a little tied down with swimming for the next 3 weeks. But oh well. I have to focus on getting sufficient funds to pay off my next semester's fees. So far, I've earned about AUD $6400 since the beginning of this financial year (1st July) and spent about AUD $1850. I should also be getting another AUD $640 when my pay comes in on Wednesday. So I guess I'm hanging on pretty well.

My to do list for summer:

1. Learn up some basic Spanish
2. Learn to play Canon in D or Classical Gas on the guitar
3. Read up on a couple of books:
- My Sister's Keeper
- Time Traveller's Wife
- The Lost Symbol
- Deception Point
- Digital Fortress
- Probably all the Harry Potter books again
4. Read up on basic Photoshop techniques
5. Look up for competitions to join
6. Exercise

Like most lists I have, I doubt I'll be focused enough to tick everything off before uni starts. Seeing how hot it'll be during summer, I reckon I'll just bump around or chill out in the mall.

That's all for this update. Take care people!

A couple of pics

2009-11-21T16:47:00.009+11:00

These are a couple of pictures taken outside my uni by the lake. Will take more pictures and upload them soon. Enjoy!

On the way to the lake

A couple of ducks

A random picture from the library with other staff members

I said I will blog

2009-11-18T21:08:00.005+11:00

and so I should. It's only going to be a simple post for now. Will post another one up again pretty soon.

I've just finished my 3rd semester here in University of Canberra and I think I had a pretty heavy sem this time round. Was constantly occupied with my assessment items that I don't think I did anything else apart from uni related stuff and work. At least I managed to get two 3rd year units out of the way and not have to worry so much when I get to my final year. The workload was just terrible.

I'm still pretty tired from my last paper. Only managed to get 2 hours of sleep the night before my paper and had to get up early again this morning for my swimming. I guess that my exam went ok; not excellent but sufficient. Will be working at the pool 3 times a week for the next 4 weeks with each work session lasting for about 4 hours with a half an hour break in between. I think I still reek of the smell of chlorine at the moment after absorbing up so much from my time in the pool today. And some of the kids are just hard to manage. Once swimming ends on the 11th of December, I'll be jobless and probably just bum around until uni starts again in early February.

The weather at the moment is also killing me. It's like 38 degrees tops tomorrow and it's still spring. I dread to imagine what summer would be like. 38 degrees is like way warmer than Malaysia. Why oh why must the weather here be so extreme? You either get extremely cold temperatures within the negative range or extremely scorching heat hitting the high 30's. And to make matters worst, the buses I normally catch are not air conditioned. So imagine yourself catching a bus in the afternoon sun, packed with people, with the sun shining through and flies flying about. I can surely guarantee that the AUD $3.80 ticket that you pay for a one-way bus ride is definitely not worth the price. It doesn't even come close to being value for money.

That will be all for now. Feel like sleeping early again today to catch up on my lost sleep the other night.

Take care people!

*Ps: Anyone know how I can include a search widget on my blog? The google search widget that I used to use doesn't seem to be working anymore. So I changed it to Lijit. But it doesn't give very accurate results. Suggestions?

2009-11-13T16:52:00.002+11:00

I'm so sorry that I haven't been updating my blog for the past 3 weeks or so. I know I should have but I'm just sooo lazy these days. Had a couple of papers so far and going to have one more last one on Tuesday. Will be back with updates after that. (Not to say that I've got a lot to update) Will probably go hunting for some pics to compensate for my lack of updates. See you guys next week!