HALLOWEEN Halloween party was great... awesome... but oh my gawd.. the mess.... argh!!!  ¶ 10:53 am 0 comments

  Settling in... I think I am finally settling in... not so much of trying to get my room and my flat and my food to be exactly like Singapore's... Having more fun with my flat mates now... went to see HOGWARTS... well the castle they filmed HARRY POTTER 1 & 2 in... and had Canadian Thanksgiving dinner last night... cooked a ROAST CHICKEN WITH STUFFING! It's amazingly easy... AND going to have a HALLOWEEN party later this month... am so looking forward to that! =)

Still having the same amount of assignments though... there's another one added to the pile just now... argh... sigh... Good thing is... This term we are covering statistics... something which I am very interested in and have some experience... so it's not SO BAD doing my stats assignments wahaha...=)  ¶ 12:31 am 1 comments

  STRESSSSSSSSSSSSS GAWD.... FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL AND OUT POPS AN ASSIGNMENT... to write a 5000word literature review on any topic we want to related to TROPICAL COASTAL MANAGEMENT. It sounds cool but it's so STRESSFUL - especially for someone so indecisive about things. I can't decide WHAT TO DO!!! THERE'S SO MANY THINGS!!! Should I play it safe and go back to similar topics I've worked on previously? Or should I go and venture out and do something totally different and explore! MAN... It's so ARGH... I DUNNO WHAT TO DO AND WHERE TO LOOK FOR!! Everyone else in my class seems to have like a set goal and focus... and a nice cool cheam sounding project... Haiz... I lack confidence to venture out of my comfort area but I feel like if I don't do it now, I think I might be stuck with it for some time... haiz... well, I could get this MSc done with and then move on to something else for my PhD... but what are the chances right? ARGHHHHH DECISIONS DECISIONS...

The worst part is... I spewed out 3 ideas for projects yesterday and I told my lecturer I didn't know which one to pick. They were:

1) Factors involved in measuring natural coral reef recovery
2) Comparing various reef restoration techniques (cost-effectiveness, suitability etc)
3) Impact of the dive industry on coral reefs

My lecturer point blank said "it's not a coincidence that the first 2 project topics is related to your boss is it?". HAIZ. He suggested I do the third one. I guess it is interesting enough... COMMENTS COMMENTS???

Then this guy came up to me after class today and asked which of the 3 I was going to do, because if I'm not doing the diver impact one, he wants to take it up! I was like... errr errr errr... I haven't decided yet... and told him I'd give hiim something maybe by tomorrow... ARGH... STRESS. But there's so many things to do! Like I can't decide whether to do projects on:

- factors involved in coral settlement and recruitment
- sedimentation and loss of corals
- impact of dive resorts on marine conservation
- conservation of urban reefs (e.g. like singapore's reefs... hongkong's reefs, some of australia's reefs etc)

Haiz, so many things HOW... input input anyone? Suggestions? Should I do on something I already know about and familiar with and already for sure know I am interested in or should I try do something new and novel and I am interested on from what little I know?

Sounds like a dream assignment but I have to figure out a FOCUS. Something which I have never really been good at.

Help.  ¶ 1:19 am 1 comments

  SHOPPIINNNGGG!!! & Giant mushrooms First shopping trip to Royal Quays, at the outskirt of Newcastle... COOLS... look what I bought! I know I know so sinful... But I have not spent much on food nowadays (especially with the free food we've been getting hur hur hur):

1) BOOTS


2) DRESS


3) SHOES


4) NICE FLUFFY SLEEPING SOCKS (reminds me of Dr. Seuss!)


Also MUSHROOMS HERE ARE SO CHEAP!

I got 1 crate of GIANT WHITE MUSHROOMS FOR 1 POUND! They taste exactly like white button mushrooms only they're a tad larger than normal... ah who am I kidding... they're HUGE!!





And here's a photo of my flatmate and another innovative use of giant mushrooms besides EATING them (they taste great the normal BBQ way... I put them in the oven instead and they're WONDERFUL!!! mmmMMmmmm). I still have like a whole bag of them still... the crate was about 40cm by 30cm? Cheapest thing I can think of here are mushrooms for now... I mean compared to Singapore! WOW! Amazing!



WOW... MUSHROOMS... Haha... CHEAP CHEAP!! MMMMMM They're cheaper than... CARROTS... and cheaper than GARLIC... and cheaper than TOUFU~! (2 squares of toufu costs 70pence).  ¶ 8:05 pm 6 comments