Simplicity at its finest is NOT what i would depict how my life was, nor would i suggest the continuation of my naivety however, as my life escalates into complexity, i hope to keep my optimistic hindsight on life in order to live. Just live. My personal ordeal is to live with no regrets, as though i will die tomorrow. I follow the path that will lead me to who I want to be: someone who people can confide in, to go to when they are in their deepest hour; that's who I want to be. That is my aim in life. Hobbies and interests make my path more flamboyant and enticing, while my family, pet, and friends are the reasons for my existence; the reasons why i try and improve myself. My lack of self motivation for change may be quite obvious, but it doesn't mean that improvement did not occur. It may be so petite, so small, that it's practically invisible, but i guarantee you, i do try. Indefinitely.



Blog By EGO BOX

Wednesday 30 March 2011

State Election


Last Saturday, I worked for the state election. I worked at the Cabra Vale Leisure Centre but initially I thought I was working at Cabravale Diggers because of the 'Cabravale' part. It was only recently that Cabra Vale Leisure Centre became a polling area. Maybe because it's recent, not that many people knew about it, or they just rather go to a place where they're used to going. So by the end of the day, less than 300 people voted at our place and hence, we get to go home earlier than most people =). I wish it was more busy, but it wasn't so bad. There were boxing bags there so we just exercised while we waited for people to come. I also had fun talking to the liberal scrutineers for our location; Michelle and Christine. I wonder if I'll ever see them again =). 
Anyways, Dai Le received the most votes in our location but overall, it was Nick Lalich who won the seat for Cabramatta. Apparently, for this year's state election, Liberal won with 67 seats, Labor with 18 seats and others (Independent groups) with 3 seats. Bummer. Well, Labor has been running the government for the last 16 years. I guess people felt a need for change.

Monday 28 March 2011

it's raining candies and lollies =)

23O311 - Derek's 19th and Julie C.'s 19th Birthday.
24O311 - Jessica Tan's 19th Birthday.

 Derek, the birthday boy =).

On Friday night, we ate at Villawood's Killa Burger and bowled at AMF Bowling for Derek's 19th birthday outing. We were split into four groups; I was with Kelly, Wendy, Jessica T. and Minhky. Luckily, I didn't come last for either of the cames. I managed to get a strike, so I'm happy =) but I did worse in the second game than the first. I wanted to beat Minhky but I was too busy taking photos and socialising to bother with bowling anymore. Oh wells, there's always next time =). In our group, Kelly was the best =). There were quite a few people who were really good at bowling, or maybe I just suck =P. I'm happy to see Wendy improved so much in one game =D; she was last in the first one, but she went up to the 60s in the second one =D. Anyways, everyone was pretty much all over the place LOL taking photos and goofing around; I even learnt some dance moves from the guys. I think they were more like comedic dance moves than anything else HAHAHA. Mimi, Maxine and I kept on doing them for the rest of the night xD I had heaps of fun. I hope Derek did too =).

We loitered around the parking lot after the bowling. A couple of people left by then. We decided to finally play with the pinata that Kenneth and Rebecka bought for Derek. Derek destroyed it in one punch O_O and like Edim said 'The pinata is bleeding candy. Derek's such a brute!' HAHAHA It didn't matter because pinatas are meant to be destroyed/demolished in order to reach for the lovely, sweet goodies inside =D. We then moved to a close by maccas, but it was closed. Hence, after a good half an hour of thinking of where to go, Rebecka suggested that we went to her old house since she still had the keys for it. Since Harrison and Margaret left with his car, we had to squish 19 people into 3 cars *sigh* I was in Derek's car. We had to drive Jenifer home since she wanted to go home by then. So we drove all the way to Bossley Park and then back to Rebecka's house at Chesterhill. We didn't stay long at Rebecka's house; after about 20 minutes, we all went home. Again, Derek drove me home =). Thanks Derek! Anyways, I hope he had a heaps of fun =).

The pinata bled =(.

PS. Got home by around 12AM.
PSS. It was Jessica Tan's birthday hahaha. We wished her happy birthday as she drove away from Rebecka's house. 
PSSS. Thanks for the photos Derek, Sarah, Shirley, Jenifer and Jessica =).
PSSSS. Some of the people in the group sang Friday by Rebecca Black =____________=' NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Sunday 20 March 2011

RSA + RCG

After 2 weeks, I finally got both my RSA (Responsible Services of Alcohol) and RCG (Responsible Conduct of Gambling) at the Coffee School near Central station. Kelly also got her 2 certificates there; she said that it was the cheapest place she could find. All together, I paid $100 for it =) hopefully I'll be able to find a job easier, and hopefully I'll be able to work at an RSL club >.

It took 2 weeks because at first I only wanted to do the RSA but then I made a friend there and she said in order to work at an RSL club I need the RCG as well, and went I went home to book it for the next day it was full, so i had to wait for another week. 

I had a funny teach for my RSG; Mark Almond. He told us stories about all the jobs and funny incidents that he's been through, so it wasn't so bad. For RCG, I had Greg White. He wasn't as funny as Mark, but he tried to make the most of it, and he taught us quicker than Mark did; we finished an hour earlier. I almost thought I wasn't going to pass the test because the questions were worded weirdly and all, so I received quite a lot of help from the girl sitting next to me. I was also having trouble staying awake in class because I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before. It was also because it was raining; rain tend to make me sleepy. Who wouldn't be. 

Anyways, it was sunny again by the time I took the train. It became cloudy again when I reached my stop *sigh*. I really don't like the weather =.=. Autumn's all over the place.

"can I have the red slushie with an umbrella on top please?"

Andrew was about to say that, seeing that neither of us knew what the drink was, before Long stepped in and bought the drink for me instead =). Before I get to that, I'll talk about how my day went.

Just yesterday, I drove to Parramatta, with my mum, for a job interview at Michel's Patisserie. The one I went to was level 5. At first, I couldn't have the interview because they were just too busy so they told me to come back an hour or two later. Mum and ! went shopping for Paz's earphones before stopping at the food court for lunch. 

I decided to have Subway for lunch and guess who I saw? YIBO =D !!! Actually, when I saw him in a distance I thought he looked familiar, but when he was serving I was thinking 'what... is that who I think it is?' I didn't say hi because I was too surprised and I wasn't 100% sure if it was him either. Previously, I mistaken a stranger as a friend, so not wanting t embarrass myself, I just kept staring at him. I'm pretty sure he knew I was surprised too, from my face, because he said 'yeah' which sounded like it was short for 'yeah, I work here.' But after that, he asked me what i wanted, without saying hi, so I thought I got the wrong person. But throughout the whole process I kept on looking at him to see if it really was him. At the end, before I could even ask if he was Yibo, he went to serve another customer (it was pretty busy after all), so I asked his work mate instead. "Excuse me, is that Yibo?" "Yeah" *gasps!* So I didn't mistake a stranger for him =). When I was about to pay, the work mate said that Yibo would should me =D !!! THAT'S SO NICE OF HIM !!! I said my thanks and ran back to my mum to tell her about it. But when I started eating, I started to doubt if I heard wrong or something =S because I didn't think he would treat me seeing that we don't talk to each other that often. Either way, I was really grateful =) it was the best turkey foot long subway I've ever eaten xD. THANKS YIBO =) !!!


After lunch, I went back to the shop and the manager came out to talk to me. Apparently, they didn't call me in =S. IT WAS THE WRONG SHOP >.< !!! I quickly called back the number and asked what level they were and they said they were level 1 *sigh* so mum and I quickly went down to level 1. When I did my job interview, all they asked about was what nationality I was and what days I could work. The manager also asked if I could work at 6AM =S feeling kind of desperate, I said yes *sigh*. So now, he's going to call me in for a trial. I really do hope I don't seriously have to go to work at 6Am if I did get the job.

We went home afterward. Half an hour later, Andrew and Adrian came by to pick me up for dinner. They said that they wanted to catch up with me, and seeing I haven't really talk to them in a while, I said yes =). Cassandra was supposed to come too, but she never replied to their text messages. We went to Mounties and then later down to the bar and pokey area. Both Adrian and Andrew bought me drinks for the entire night =) I was thankful for that. 

 Adrian and I.
Andrew and I.

I had 2 beers (both different types of beer) and a raspberry vodka with slushie, strawberry and zest pieces. I like the raspberry vodka because it tasted fruity and it had strawberries in it =). And like I said earlier, we didn't know what it was called, so Andrew was about to ask for the 'red slushie, in the martini glass, with an umbrella' or something like that LOL! But in the end, it was Andrew's friend who bought it instead since he knew what it was called. Andrew actually caught up with a group of friends at the bar, coincidentally, so we all conversed for an hour or so before splitting up. Andrew, Adrian and Andrew's friends went to play this Gladiator game where you just knock off your opponent off the stand. Andrew kept on losing =P. It can't be helped since he was the shortest out of the guys hahaha. 


I got home at 12AM. Many thanks to Andrew and Adrian for driving me home. I had a great night =).

Thursday 10 March 2011

'Blue Valentine' under the stars

1OO311 - My Linh's 18th Birthday.

Yesterday, Derek invited us to eat pizza and watch a movie together =). It was the first outing, of the year, where I get to see most of my friends again =). Thank you Derek for inviting me =).

But before that, I had a great time exploring the university and taking photos with MG =). We didn't have to go to the main campus yesterday, but we went to get our NURS5081 books. We went taking photos of the university; went to get our books from the copy centre; and talked to 'The Wilderness Societyand the struggles of the Western Australian Kimberley ecosystem against the government plans for a gas station. I wanted to join and donate every month, but their donations only received debit cards, not cash, so I couldn't join. I have a debit card, but I've never used it before; mum always look after it. We met up with Wendy and caught up a bit before she left for her tutorial and we left to go to the park. The Victoria Park was near the university; I think it's now one of MG and mine favourite places in the university =D. We had heaps of fun playing on all those strange looking playground equipments. There was the miniature flying fox; this circular spinning thing; this miniature cone looking swing where it's big enough to even cross your legs on it; there was this S-shaped balance beam which I tried so hard to walk along it (I accomplished it, but I ended up falling right at the end =.='); and then there was also this big soccer ball looking rope thing which MG and I have reached the top of. I had quite a few injuries but it was fun =D.

The doggy helpers of 'The Wilderness Society' =).
Victoria Park, the park that MG and I now like =).

After and hour or so, MG went to the library while I went to meet up with Wendy. I was supposed to study as well, but I didn't have the time too =( I brought my heavy NURS5002 book to uni for no reason T_T. Wendy and I took the train to Bondi Junction and met Edim. Since everyone else was late, we decided to meet them at the restaurant instead. We went to Svens, a pizza restaurant, for dinner; it was Derek's recommendation. The place was designed to look like the Viking era; even the menu and toilets were in some kind of Viking/Swedish language LOL =D. The pizza was great; I especially like 'The World Tree' because it had prawns in it =D. Maybe because the glasses looked intriguing, we drank more water than usual =P. Sarah and I ate the most salad; I don't even know what it was. A Viking styled coleslaw? I thought the vinegar (balsamic vinegar?) was extra strong, but it was still delicious =). It was also funny to see Sarah and I both taking photos of the food hahaha. I couldn't help it; it's been a year since I last had a camera =P and I really like my latest camera too =D.

Svens, the pizza restaurant.
'The World Tree,' my favourite pizza =).

After dinner, we went to Centennial Park where the Moonlight Cinema was. When we got there, half of the group decided to go buy some ice cream. After a while, we bought the tickets and Edim, Thanh and Derek went in to rent the bean bags while Sarah, Vicky, Eric and I stayed back to give the others their tickets. We were so bored that we started irritating one another; Eric was mostly the victim =). It was about an hour later when they came back with bags and bags of junk food. They even bought juice O_O but we end up not having any. 
Blue Valentine is a realistic, melancholy movie about a couple on the road to divorce. Directed by Derek Cianfrance; the movie compares the past and present of a couple, played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, the changes in their romance, their expectations, their lifestyles and their goals. By the end of the movie, I think the most upsetting thing about the movie was how realistic it was; it's true that the rates of divorce is increasing every year. I pitied the male protagonist more, but I believe they're both at fault. It seemed that the female audience was more likely to pity the male protagonist, while the male audience was more likely to pity the female protagonist. In the end, I think the child was the most innocent and most pitied person in this broken family. The female protagonist made me think that love and romance didn't exist anymore. I'll never want to have a family like that. I do admit that their acting was really good though. I think I would rate this movie a 7/10; the plot and ending lost the points. The plot was good and all, but I just don't like sad movies/stories in general, especially this movie because it reminded me a lot of things I didn't want to remember.

After the movie, it took us a while to leave because we were enjoyed relaxing on the bean bags too much; we almost wanted to take them home with us. When we did, conversations about the plot continued on. Everyone had strong opinions about various things; I think Shirley had one of the strongest ones - she strongly thought the female protagonist was weak even though she did empathise with her. Anyways, Shirley's dad drove Vicky, Mimi and i home. Thanks Shirley's dad =). I got home by ~ 12:30 AM *sigh* it's been a while since I went home this late.

PS. The weather was kind of hot during the day but by evening, the weather felt nice and cool =).It felt like Autumn.

Wednesday 9 March 2011

a picky family?

Last Sunday, the family went out to celebrate my cousins' grandma's birthday at Cabramatta. Initially, we were going to eat at Super Dish, the newly opened restaurant, but they were really packed, so we decided to eat at this other restaurant on John St.; a restaurant we haven't eaten at in years. It was a Vietnamese restaurant near a cake shop; I forgot the name ^_^', 

Anyways, apparently, one of the conversation topics was about the family being a bit too picky, either with the food or the services, and have pissed quite a few restaurants off. I have a feeling that it was my uncle who did most of the complaining since he's the most meticulous with things *sigh*. On a happier note, I felt that I bonded with Andrew a bit more that day. I guess he's just trying to get along with my cousin's family; he's her boyfriend after all. Oh, and I also had fun listening to aunt talk about Marina's old habits when she was a child hahaha =D.

The food was good, as usual. The service was good too, but according my cousins, the head manager looked as though she was forcing a smile, but she gradually became happier. I guess it was because we weren't that picky that day. Aunt and I shared a 'banh hoi nam neng,' which is kind of like a wrapping your own Asian wrap. I ate majority of it because aunt didn't feel like eating that much. I also had this 3-choices drink. It was odd, because it would've been one of the last drinks I would've ordered because of the red beans - I don't really like beans or nuts in general, besides bean sprout =). 

Maybe because I'm not a teenager anymore, maybe I became more talkative or maybe I learned to be closer to my family but I find family dinners more enjoying than before =).

Wednesday 2 March 2011

even hand hygiene has a technique to it

O2O311 - Mikky's 19th Birthday. Happy Birthday =D !!!

I had my first nursing clinical simulation laboratory (NURS5081) yesterday and I thought it was pretty interesting, so I'm going to post up some of the notes I took in class =). 

Hand Hygiene (HH) or washing your hands is the single most important practice to reduce transmission of infection by reducing the number of micro-organisms on your hands. There are 2 types of soaps
  1. Antimicrobial - hand rub that doesn't require water.
  2. Non-antimicrobial - where soap and water is required.
There are 5 key moments where hand hygiene is required:
  1.  Before touching a patient.
  2. Before a procedure.
  3. After a procedure / body fluid exposure risk.
  4. After touching a patient.
  5. After touching a patient's surroundings.
There are 4 different types of hand washes:
  1. Routine / Social Hand Rub - when your hands aren't visibly dirty.
  2. Routine / Social Hand Wash - when your hands are visibly dirty; wash with water.
  3. Aseptic - when you're trying to be as sterile as possible; when washing, the entire process should be ~ 60 seconds.
  4. Surgical.
I'll won't blog about the other topics that I learned about because I found hand hygiene to be most interesting, besides Sim Man and the simulation mannequins used for practice. Now, they're just disturbing, especially the ones in the classroom because they actually have their eyes open. The ones in the simulated hospital rooms had their eyes closed. They're disturbing because they're made to behave just like how an actually human being would behave in that scenario. With just the press of a button, you can make them breathe heavily, quicken their pulse, moan in pain and even vomit! Very disturbing indeed... I wouldn't want to be near them alone, at night >.> ...
 
Anyways, back to hand hygiene. I found a moderately detailed video that shows you how to properly wash your hands. We actually had to do that in class. We would first use the 'glitter bug' cream to rub our hands in; then we would wash our hands, with soap, and then by using a UV light, we would see how well we washed our hands. The first time I washed my hands, it turned out pretty bad =S I had a lot of white patches (bacteria). The second time I did it, it was better, but I need to remember to wash my wrists and my fingernails better =.='. 

Hand Washing Technique.