The small things

I like to find humour in everything around me and I personally subscribe to the logic that laughter is the best medicine. Except after having abdominal surgery.

Two humourous signs stood out from my walk to uni today.

The first sign is located near where I live. For those uninformed- I live near Oxford street in Sydney. One of the restaurants closed down and a poster was erected with the words 'sailors', 'old sailors' and 'dingy'. I nearly pissed myself.

The second sign was located at a cafe in the vicinity of a police station proclaiming they serve the best bacon and egg wrap.

Small things but they do make a trip to thr uni interesting.

May the 4th be with you

Happy Star wars day everybody!!!

This is the day when we celebrate all things Star wars. Being relatively new in town and wanting to  see if there are any star wars based 'happenings', I decided to head into the city. I reckoned the comic book shop to be a logical first stop. It turned out the comic book shop was having a free comic book day and the line outside the shop was way to long. Made an executive call at that point to just roam the city until 4pm and head to the AbsintheSalon. Plus I had my iPad with me which contains part of my Star Wars comic collection.

 

And there you have it- this was how I spent "Star Wars Day"- Absinthe and Comics. May the 4th be with you.

EVOL

Had a rough start yesterday. Got a couple of Facebook statuses forwarded to me which were followed by whatsapp messages by various people. I usually turn a blind eye to facebook updates like this as I respect each individual's opinion, no matter how divergent from mine. However, I got really ticked off when I saw a post and this led to a facebook response.

The 'offending' Facebook post made no sense what-so-ever. The situation has changed since last year and it continued to change this year as well. Maybe others were not privy to certain information sent personally to me and this allowed a 'sympathy party' to form. I will not post any details here, or on facebook. But suffice to say- in lieu of the current situation, the messages are distasteful. Maybe the whatsapp messages could have been worded better. but no corrections were made to expand on it- I will take it as it is.

I have considered that hormonal changes could have played a majority part as well. For that, I do think my response might be harsh. Nevertheless, I still stand by my response.

I was hoping for it to be a peaceful, relaxing day yesterday. It did turn out ok- watched a couple of standup comedies, played counterstrike again and attempted to learn the "gentleman" dance. Peaceful, maybe not, but I was relaxed at the end of the day.

Rainy days- never say goodbye

Actually the rain did say goodbye- to my plans that is.

I was planning to visit the Taronga Zoo today but the rain made me change my plans. The alternate plan was to head to the Event Cinema in George street to watch Jurassic Park 3D. The alternate plan failed as well. I found my Godzilla (Heisei) DVD boxset and decided I had to watch "Godzilla vs King Ghidorah". I mean it IS a cheaper alternative, plus it was still raining and I just made tea. 

One thing led to another and it became Godzilla Heisei fest today. Who needs to walk around the city when you can watch giant monsters fighting it out in front of your laptop screen. Clearly I needed help.

This went all the way till dinner and being under the influence of the Japanese language for the entire day, I had the munchies for some Japanese food. Decided against using the internet and I just wandered around the neighbourhood in search for an affordable Japanese eating place. My neighbourhood is littered with eating places so I was pretty confident in finding one. After walking through a couple of blocks, I found a place called "Sushi on Stanley". It's a tiny little spot with the seating being rather cramped. The joint is "wallet-friendly" with combo meals with rice, miso soup, salad and fruits below AUD$20. I left the place feeling very satisfied. A quick search on the internet revealed that this eating place has really good reviews. I guess this could be a regular Saturday night dinner place. 

Even though my primary plan for today failed- the back up plan did leave me satisfied as well. Now to make some tea.

Let the $avings begin....again

"Money is a guarantee that we may have what we want in the future. Though we need nothing at the moment it insures the possibility of satisfying a new desire when it arises." -- Aristotle

I got the official email saying that my stipend payments will commence next week and will be back paid to when I enrolled 24 days ago. This news is very welcomed- I've been tapping into my savings ever since February when I had to withdraw from my previous institution. Money just seem to drain away since then for my relocation. Air tickets, professional cleaning of my old place, temporary accommodation while I find a new place in Sydney all took a toll on my savings. 

I like to save for a rainy day. When compared to my peers- I do not get a lot of income and I'm reaching my 30's in 3 years.In addition, half of my stipend (fortnightly payment) goes into rent which leaves me with half for expenses and savings. I've always targeted to save 15- 20% of my stipend and that's been working out so far; which created a safety buffer to spend for my relocation.

Now with a regular income coming in again- it's time to start saving my bank account which has been bleeding way too much recently (in my opinion, that is). Plus, I also need if for trips up to Brisbane.

Alderaan

It is different here-shops opening till late and all. It is really easy to adapt to the Sydney life as it is similar to what I'm used to growing up in Singapore. Resumed the PhD journey on the 8th of April and I've been swarmed with paperwork- one of the thrills when starting out in a new place and setting up a lab. I foresee the paper work is going to take me up to a month to complete but the experience gained from this will be very valuable- not many PhD candidates get the chance to be actively involved in starting up a lab. Other than that I have an abstract for a conference due in June and a paper to submit by October- Full steam ahead!

In other news- the closing of LucasArts by Disney came as a shock to me. Ever since having access to a computer and gaming consoles , LucasArts has been providing me endless entertainment in the form of Star wars games. The news of the closure felt  "as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced"- as I'm pretty sure many people around the world felt the same way too.

Thankfully this does not mean that there will be no new star wars game in the coming future. Disney interactive studio will take over and provide a new hope to gamers everywhere. Hopefully they will give us Star Wars: Battlefront III.

The 8th Day

It has been 8 days since I left Brisbane for Sydney. The transition was not easy- I've spent 4 years in Brisbane. Many friends were made during my stay in UQ, Adalong guest house, CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences and the Queenslander at 145 and they are all dearly missed. Thank God for modern technology- everybody is only a 'button press' away despite the long distance.

These 8 days were primarily spent in securing an accommodation as well as getting to know the city. I'm glad that I was able to accomplish both aims in a span of a week; rooms here get snapped up pretty quick so it really is a case of "like it- grab it". Procrastination serves a 'homeless' sentence.

It's all about location, location, location. My new neighbourhood is an interesting one. For starters, it's near oxford street, the place to be for the Sydney Mardi Gras. The streets are also lined with sex shops, massage parlours, bars and eating places. The most important thing is that the University is a half hour walk away and it is looking to be a good way for a scientist-in-training to stay in shape. My new place is also walking distance from the Absinthesalon, the place I purchase my absinthe when I was living in Brisbane. I foresee that visits to the bar will be a monthly occurrence.

I guess every administrative thing is set for now- cannot wait to resume my PhD studies on the 8th of April.