SOUNDWAVE! SOUNDWAVE! SOUNDWAVE! (this was our mantra in the car on the way up from Wollongong)

SEE LAST.FM JOURNAL HERE

SSSSSSOOOOUUUWNAVAVEVADEAAAAVVVVEEEEEEEEE!!!!@@@!!111

SOUNDFREAKINGWAVE tomorrow!!!!!! Here's my list (in chronological order) if anyone's interested:

1. Riverboat Gamblers
2. Chiodos
3. All That Remains
4. Silverstein
5. Bayside
6. The Subways
7. Forever The Sickest Kids
8. Underoath
9. Hellogoodbye
10. Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
11. Minus The Bear
12. Dillinger Escape Plan
13. 36 Crazy Fists
14. Billy Talent
15. New Found Glory
16. Say Anything
17. Emery
18. Nine Inch Nails Green means hellz yeah!! It's going to be a good day and I ain't stopping from 11:40 am until 10:00pm!
    

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I'm currently researching on how to install windows on my mac so i can play left 4 dead.
Heh heh. (^-^) But I'm having trouble trying to figure out what to do with a 147Gb imovie file? That's ridiculous if you ask me. There's not much i can do with it really...

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It's grey and overcast outside. Don't feel like going out.

(F)untitled

I took pictures down today.
It was fun.

I sang a song today. Really loud.
It was fun.

I played the drums today. Really loud.
It was fun.

I read an article today. I agreed with it.
It was fun.

I wrote some emails today. Shared some stories across the sea.
It was fun.

I covered a cardboard box with pages from an old dictionary. Now it looks pretty.
It was fun.

I thought about the past, the present and the future and the great infinite mystery we call human existence on this ever-shifting template we call life. The sun shone for the first time in 3 weeks and they say it's not going to rain tomorrow.
It wasn't all that fun.

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Photo from Laura's 21st. Camwhoring can be arty too.

When It Rains, It Pours...

The week back from Malaysia saw heat on our fair city like we hadn't experienced in a long time. It felt even more intense than the Malaysian heat! This could be because of our lack of air-con, and my house is fairly well insulated as such. Although the rumours of a 47 degree heatwave in the west didn't fully come to fruition, it was hot enough for us to sweat long into the night.

One week exactly after we arrived back home though, the rains came. As I left church on Sunday night i remarked to Tony and newborn daughter that we better get home before it rained. I could smell it on the air. The breeze was picking up, but it didn't actually rain that night. Monday morning however, was grey as winter and we've had wet and dreary ever since. Is it a welcome change? I've always claimed to be more of a winter guy. It allows time for quiet and solitude, while forcing us to stay indoors with friends and family.

I think I'm neither a winter guy nor a summer guy really.
I just try to enjoy whatever
the day has to offer.

[There's that old Carpe Diem Coram Deo thing again!]

So while I've been taking much advantage of the quiet and the solitude since coming back from Malaysia, it finally seems like things are settling down. I even visited ANSTO today for 4 hours to cover some uni stuff, and while it felt a little weird and I'm still a bit confused about it (my brain has atrophied slightly,
but physics is just like riding a bike really...
Just get back on!) it did feel peculiarly nice to be back.

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Summer is gone prematurely.
But I do quite enjoy
wearing a jumper.
driving in the rain.
seeing breath on the window.
keeping you close.
for warmth.

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Change. The things we want to change always stay the same, and the things we don't want to change always do. Whether it be as meaningful as a long-time friendship or as fickle as a TV show, life always seems to change in places we least expect it...

Here's a change I didn't expect to find. Cleaning through our old computer yielded my braces photo! I remember this day very vividly. It was a sunny day in early 2003 as we drove from the orthodontist back to school, this song was playing on the radio and I'm pretty sure I couldn't stop licking my teeth, eager to debut my new accessories (haha). One can't quite forget the unique, permanent taste of metal in the mouth. Not quite a million dollar smile, but $4500 rounds up to a million doesn't it?...

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Please spare a thought and prayer for the Victorian bushfire victims.
The fires are still ongoing, and the damage is tremendous to say the least.
Too many homes lost. Too many lives destroyed.

25 Facts Later

Here's that 25 tagging thing everyone's been doing on facebook but in blog form! Why? Because I can.

[tagged by Zoe, Amy G, Jon, Gadiy]

1. I am slightly annoyed when people don't reply to my sms, even if I assume they don't have any credit left.
   
2. This is my last year of uni, but anything beyond that is a mystery.
   
3. I sometimes wonder what life would be like if i hadn't skipped 2 grades in primary school. But am very glad that i did.
   
4. Australia's lack of political excitement and real cultural heritage is both amusing and worrying to me.
   
5. I have too many msn contacts for my own good but I feel rude if I delete them (hence the appearing offline haha).
   
6. I still wear a retainer at night.
   
7. I am currently learning to Rubik's cube and can solve 2 and a half layers so far. (After 5 days).
8. When alone, I prefer playing piano to drums.
   
9. I feel a book or movie inside me incubating, waiting to be unleashed upon the world. Then I will make my millions and the movie adaptation will have Paramore on the soundtrack... and then I will marry Hayley Williams (maybe).
10. I can't put on weight no matter how much I eat. A friend even asked if i had lost weight yesterday since being in Malaysia. I laughed.
    
11. Sometimes I wish I had become a professional concert pianist.
    
12. Medicine is still an option for me (though unlikely), but my only interest would be in an organisation like Medicins sans Frontiers.
    
13. This 25 fact thing is taking a lot longer and is a lot harder than I expected.
14. I still can't beat Dragonforce (Expert) on Guitar Hero. Partly because my controller doesn't function 100% any more.
15. I like drawing pictures of people's faces.
    
16. I believe in seizing every opportunity and living every day for the Lord. But this is also a lot harder than it seems.
17. Christians who only hang out with other Christians are another worry to me.
    
18. Stray dogs, maimed beggars and shops without any customers make me very sad to see.
    
19. I still enjoy listening to Linkin Park.
    
20. I rode an elephant bareback.
21. I often wonder what life would be like if I wasn't born in Australia. But I'm very glad that I was.
    
22. A surprising percentage of my brain is forever devoted to Dragonball Z and (old school) Pokemon information. Similarly, Backstreet Boys lyrics are locked in there somewhere too.
    
23. I've had the same phone for almost 5-6 years.
    
24. I feel a bit funny when camwhoring myself these days.
    
25. Facebook is slowly losing its allure. Too many friends. Not enough friendships.
    

So there's my 25. A mixture of deep, whimsical, and just things on my mind.

I tag all the people on the left column...if anyone reads this.

Unpacking My Mind Takes Longer Than Unpacking My Junk

Back in the Gong and I've spent the last 3 days unpacking- both literally and figuratively speaking. Mostly just clearing out old junk in my room to make room for the new junk accrued from our adventures abroad.

Clearing through old stuff is always an interesting experience. The memories attached to specific items are what make us who we are really. An old birthday card, a newspaper cutting, a drawing of a pokemon...all are tied to moments in my life that one simply cannot reject. I have this sort of inherited sentimental streak in me, which means i have a lot of such junk from my childhood and onwards simply lying around my room acting as dust-collectors.

I try to disconnect myself from the process and discard objects mercilessly, but funnily enough mum requests a second check before i throw anything out. There's that inherited sentimental streak I mentioned!

So it took me about 3 days to complete it, but here are the before and after shots! All that junk on the floor is simply paper i pulled out from my desk. There was a lot more to come trust me. Also did some reorganising of my corkboard and my walls, which i take some pride in. It's something of a hobby I guess. Phye Beng collects Transformers, I collect random pictures and gifts and post them on my corkboard and walls.

This table did not look like this beforehand. The fan was a nice touch i thought. From a water puppet show in hanoi, vietnam we caught in 2005. I'd like to thank whoever provided me with the Q.Q.Bee Sweet Family photo frame in the secret Santa. It serves well.

My corkboard you may or may not recognise from last year. Now with included SOUNDWAVE timetable! Various Christmas knick knacks and movie tickets also included. Photos haven't been updated in a while though.

And here's my wall of black and white pictures I find in magazines and newspapers. It's almost complete! Spot Thom Yorke. New additions include: Transformers Animated Lockdown, Rubik's cube(s), Dark Knight pin-up, and a Riddler Pez dispenser.
......

The figurative unpacking may take a while longer yet...I'm still adjusting to the abrupt culture shock of life in Wollongong but it will all settle in time. Just happy to spend some quiet time alone, and not alone for now. Hence the unpacking business...

I'm simply very grateful for the time we had in Malaysia. again.

But now we face normal. real. routine. again.

Spare a thought for Sara though who is stuck at school!
I'm also very grateful that i still have
a month off before uni starts proper. :)

Cheerio. Kloo