Journey To The Center Of The Earth (Part 4)

I hope to go on the cruise again in 2009 when I am about to go back to Australia. The only thing I really need on that trip now is company.

I'm really looking forward to doing it again. I remember during the cruise, while I was walking down one of the corridors telling myself, "This has been so wonderful, I don't know if I can leave." Then I could picture a very disturbing scenario where my mum and grandma are calling me to come down from my bunk in the room because it's time to go. While they do, I'll be hugging the pillow as I whimper in the corner screaming, "Naaaoooo!!!!! I don't want to go hooooome!!! I want to stay herrrreeee!!!! NaaaaoooO!!!!"

Sadly, that didn't happen. Sadly, I willingly stepped off the ship without any hassle, and without any force exerted on me. Something that I wish I hadn't done. Maybe I should have just done the above and screamed my lungs off from the 11th deck. People would be so shocked, they wouldn't know what to do because this 17 year old boy, cowering in the corner of a room is screaming his head off, demanding that he must stay on the ship. That would have been interesting because they could resort to using some animal nets to drag me out of the corner. Then an angry mob might start protesting against the use of the animal nets and create a whole new dramatic scene. Riot police will have to come in and start throwing tear gas, and the SWAT team may have to ensure that the terrorists on board the ship don't steal the Queen's jewels from the Captain's hat. Then the NASA scientists on board the ship would have to be muffled from their constant pestering that the world is gonna end. And can someone get Stephen Hawking to stop screaming, "We're all gonna die! We're all gonna die!"!? How annoying.

I think it would be better if I had left the ship on my own.

__________________________

We had dinner at another restaurant that night called the Pavilion. They only served chinese food but we weren't too fussed. After what we had at the Bella Vista, I think chinese food would be a very good choice.

Fortunately, it wasn't to disappoint. That meal that night was the best meal we had since coming on. We were all very impressed with what they gave us. It was either because the food was simply delicious, or what we had for lunch completely turned our taste-buds upside down and was begging for any type of food better than lunch. However, I believe it was because the food was simply delicious.

We had deep fried squid, spinach with abalone and sea cucumber, stir-fried chicken with vegetable and cashew nuts, deep fried prawns with the shell pried open in some batter, and seaweed with wanton mushroom soup.

Ok, the only reason why you don't see any pictures of these delicious food is because of one reason. It's because by the time I finished eating, I realised that I should have taken photos of the food and by then, it's way too late. Usually when I see food on the table, I can't think of anything else but eating it up. Especially when I'm hungry, rarely does anything else 'run' in my head but the word 'eat. Eat. Eat! EAT! EAT!!!!"

Anyway, we were so full because, did I mention that all the food on board (all the inclusive restaurants) were all buffet meals? So we were just ordering anything that we liked, and I liked a lot of things =P After that, we decided to go upstairs on deck to take some photos of the setting sun.

I dunno why this one was blurry. I think I was shaking too much from all the food from dinner. lol You know, all the food wanting to push its way out of my stomach, so there was a lot of force happening down under.

We had actually docked in Malacca that afternoon at 2pm, but I forgot to mention it. Around lunchtime, the ship started to vibrate considerably hard. All I thought in my mind during that time was, "watch the staff. If they panic, I panic." I watched every single one of them, but none of them seemed to react when it started shaking. So I just calmly returned to carving my lamb.

What actually happened was (and this was what my grandma told me) that the ship was actually 'pulling into' the dock sideways. So it was actually moving sideways to properly align itself with the dock in Malacca. Not sure if that is true because I didn't actually see it for myself. But that's the best explanation I have now, so I'm sticking with it.

The night sky was actually much darker than it looks in the picture above. The camera must have brightened up the picture quite a bit, and I thought the picture came out quite clear. I also have to comment that these glass panels along the sides of the ship was really a nice idea. It prevents people from getting thrown overboard, but it also allows people to take pictures through the panels. Plus, it makes great pictures when some amateur photographer like myself take shots like these.


Sadly, this was the best sunset picture I could take during the trip. There were too many clouds that day, I couldn't get very good shots at the sun. So this will have to do.

After having taking all these evening photos, I headed off to the arcade again to kill time. The movie was at 9:00pm, and I think it was 8pm when we went back in. I think I really had too much fun at the arcade shooting animated figures that I had to do it again.

I went in, and bought myself another 20 tokens to play with. You know, going into the arcade all alone, playing with tokens by yourself, one would think it would be fun to be able to do that. Strangely, it wasn't satisfying. It just wasn't much fun shooting people by yourself. I even contemplated putting in 4 tokens for one particular game, just so I could have two guns shooting at the same time - like how they do it in the movies where the main character raids through the enemy's base with two pistols, shooting at all the bad guys without getting hit; except I could have played with two rifles.

However, I didn't need to do that. This time, I saw someone playing Time Crisis and I decided to make it really obvious that I wanted to play with him. Actually, I just asked him if I could play with him, but he said, "Oh, I'm playing solo. Maybe next game." When he said that, I just stood behind him and watched him as he got shot. And every time he got shot, I couldn't help but be glad. So I hoped that he could get shot some more so I could play. lol I seriously did. In my mind, I was like, "Die! Die! Die! Yay! ^^"

After a few minutes, I got tired of waiting for him so I decided to play by myself. I went to get another 20 tokens in case I ran out while I was playing and had 2 tokens slotted in. When the screen came up to choose whether to play solo or linked. I was surprised cause he told me it was solo. So I chose linked, and I joined his game. As I did, he died.

He quickly ran off, and went to grab more coins. We continued playing, until he eventually died too many times that he ran out of coins. I asked him to take my coins to continue, but he said that he played too much and is tired. So I had to play solo again. Nevertheless, I completed the entire game and was satisfied with my victory over the final boss XD

I had 20 tokens left over after winning the game, and realised that I didn't actually need to get those extra 20 tokens. "Oh well, I'll just waste a bit of it on this airplane game that costs 6 tokens." I think the main reason why it costs to much was because the seat actually moved left and right whenever you fly the plane. Other than that, the game was crap and I didn't last 5 minutes.

I thought the game was a complete rip off. Unhappy, I left the arcade to go to the cinema. In actual fact, the newsletter for the cruise stated that the show at 9pm was the Breakup, and in all honesty, I wanted to go see that. When I got to the cinema, they were showing the Da Vinci Code. Something I didn't actually want to watch. But it was too late now. I had opened the door to the cinema, and everyone was looking at me. I had to go in. "Oh well, let's just watch it for fun." I thought to myself.

It finished at 11:15pm and by then, I was pretty beat. I went to the gym, aqua pool, parthenon pool, jacuzzi, then climbed 10 decks for fun and for exploration sake that day, I was entitled to being tired. Out of my entire body, my chest was taking the most beating. So I decided to just take it easy and go back to the room to prepare to sleep.

When I got back, I stumbled upon a Malaysian TV channel that was broadcasting wrestling. WWE Smackdown! to be more exact. They were showing one episode 2 weeks back, so I kinda knew what was gonna happen. Not too exciting. Nevertheless, it was great to watch people mercilessly pound each other like a piece of meat. It has been a while since I last seen it happen in action. Awesome stuff.
It finished at 12am, and I decided to just surf the TV a little bit more. It flicked to Miss Congeniality 2. That went for 15 minutes as I got tired and had it turned off. Then, it was pitch black.

To be continued...

This is me doing the sexy.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl

Left and right, aunties are pouring in the ang paus. I am not hesitant to accept. Simply because I am running low on pocket money and every single one of these ang paus will help. Now, everything is 'ok' again. I should be able to live off these ang paus for another few more months. After which, I will have to start to eat into my bank savings again.

Overall, the CNY break has been pretty good. A four day weekend, spending it with family, it was nice. I guess the same will happen in another year or so.

Last evening, Earl and I spent time with Florent as a final goodbye. We went to Earl's place to have dinner then we played soccer on the XBox. Initially, I was supposed to go down to Pastor's house for a CNY dinner. However, the dinner kinda clashed with our farewell dinner with Florent, so instead of going to Pastor's house, I chose to spend it with Earl and Florent. After all, Pastor's house will be here for as long as I'm here.

Initially, I was planning to go to pastor's house (which is approximately 1 hour from Earl's place), spend an hour or so there, then head off. We left the house at 3pm, got to the closest MRT station at 4pm, and took the bus that they told us to take. However, we didn't know where to drop off because they told us to look for this road which wasn't specified on the Bus Route Brochure. We sat on the bus, and waited and waited, eventually ending up at the bus terminal. By the time we were at the bus terminal, it was close to 5pm, and I was meant to meet up Earl and Florent at 6pm. No way was I gonna make it in time if I went to Pastor's house.

So I decided to take a taxi to the nearest MRT station and head back, as Amoz continued on to Pastor's place. Basically, I wasted my time and money going all the way down to Pastor's place and heading back. I didn't know that was gonna happen and if I knew we were not gonna find the place in time, I would have just stayed back. Oh well, things happen.

But I made the right choice. Going back to Earl's place was a choice I never regretted because I really enjoyed playing XBox and spending time with Florent and Earl. Maybe it was because I played pretty well and managed to beat the two of them in the closing stages of the night for the Konami Cup. In any case, it was very satisfying.

I can't help but start thinking about the cruise. It's so near. But I'm not focusing too much on the cruise because I know I have a few more days of work to go till I can actually leave the country. You could say I'm containing my excitement because there's no point getting all excited when I have to drag my so-very-depressed carcase through work first. One thing at a time.

In all honesty, I wasn't actually planning on bringing the camera on the cruise. I think I got all caught up by the thought of just wandering around by myself not having a care in the world of what is happening, I didn't stop to think about taking some photos during the cruise. But thanks to Sarah, she pointed out that I should take some photos during the cruise and I reckon it's a great idea! =P Thanks Sarah!

So hopefully when I return, I will have many photos for all of you to see!

I will try my best to take as many photos as I can. And I also promise that I will post a ridiculous number of photos on the blog so that you guys can be entertained. It will take a long time trying to get them all nice and pretty on the blog, but for you guys, anything. =P That is, provided I go 'camera-crazy'. ^^ Nevertheless, I reckon it will be cool!

I apologise for the very mundane blogging style during the last few posts. The reason being, there hasn't really been all that much to blog about. I try to blog about as many stupid and silly things as possible, but I think it's gotten a bit repetitive. At this time, I have to wait for the cruise to try to bring back some stories and then after that, it'll be another month of 'mundaneness', but after that, it'll be time for the army. I'm sure once I'm in the army, there will be very interesting stories that I can tell without breaching too many laws. I'll be crying as I get these stories for you guys to read because they'll probably torture us in the process. A great story right there.

But I'm sure there will be something more interesting to read than me retelling stories of having to control myself from regurgitating food from lunch and spewing it all over the work computer.

What can I say?

Around The World In 80 Days (Part 3)

I didn't think it would be this hard. Mentally, I was prepared to leave, but I wasn't prepared to be strong by myself. I imagined it to be a bit easier. I thought I would come here, and get enlisted in January and limp my way through the Christmas holidays. Sadly, since the announcement that I could only get enlisted in March, I went downhill from there.

My world went from bad to worse. My world came crashing down as I realised that I would be here for 2 years. I didn't know how to deal with this. So I went back, and contemplated on what I should do. And as a guy, I did some thinking by myself. As I sat in the living room area with my grandma beside me, I reflected on the situation as she told me stories about our family. I tried to pay attention to her, and responded with occasional grunting noises, but I was too distracted with the situation I was facing. Eventually, I managed to temporarily pull myself together. The only thing that kept me going was how I knew that Corliss, Sylvia and possibily the Tohs, would be at my parent's place that night, so if I called back, I wouldn't be so sad.

So that night, I called back, and to my delight, I was able to talk to the two girls. After that, I felt much better and a bit more happy. I ended the night with a bit of tele and I went to bed at 9:30pm.

I told my grandma that I would follow her to the market to buy some food for breakfast. I woke up at 6am that morning, and we left at 7am. I had decided that I wanted to eat some Carrot Cake because I haven't had it in a while. For those of you who don't know what Carrot Cake looks like, it looks like this.

I had the white one because it has eggs and are usually crispy.
So when we got to the stall, there was this line of 5 or 6 people. Generally, when there's a line, it means the food is good and people are willing to wait in line for the food. And usually in Singapore, the stalls have really fast service cause they need to be fast to accomodate the large number of customers. So we decided to join the group of 'suckers' to have our Carrot Cake. Unfortunately, it took us more than 45minutes to get our food. Was it worth it? Well, considering I haven't had Carrot Cake in over a year, I guess it was ok. Nice to have it in my stomach again. lol

After my breakfast, I packed my stuff and took a cab to my other grandma's place. It was the first time I took a taxi myself. Usually it's with my mum, dad, auntie or grandma. So you could say that it was another step of independence when I took that cab.
When I got off, I met Amoz and we went up to the house. I unpacked my stuff and soon got bored. I then took out the PlayStation and started playing a bit. After that, I helped wheel my grandma to the dialysis centre. For the rest of the day, I just spent most of it on the internet, trying to come to my senses about this Singapore situation.


Sunday morning, I met Amoz at Tiong Bahru MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) Station. We met there at 9:30am and were on our way to Aljunied, which was where the church was located. There, we met up with one of Amoz's friend from his BMT (Basic Military Training) batch and went to church together. The service was very different to what I have been used to for the past year. In a way, it was good to be back in the presence of God among people on fire again; but I must say, it's gonna take a bit of getting use to again. Just gimme time.
That night, I went out at 12am to look for a coffee shop that had the English Premier League on the tele. My dad told me that the shop next to my grandma's dialysis centre has an all day-all night coffee shop, so I went there. However, when I got there, the tele was not on, and the place was also packed, so I didn't wanna create a scene, telling them that, "I wanna watch soccer on the tele, so can you please turn it on for me and by the way, I need a table and chair to sit on. Also, bring me a cup of coffee and don't be stingy with the sugar."
In the end, I wondered around a bit through the cool night in my sleeveless shirt and finally found this closed coffee shop with a plasma tv suspended on a pillar. The match ended at 1:50am, and I went home and slept.



The past few days for me have been hellish. I haven't been sleeping much, and I've never been so depressed. I've really tried to be positive about the situation, but I think it's going to take time. Time to get over Australia, and time to make friends. In the mean time, I'm trying to live through each day on the internet, talking to whoever comes online. At the moment, my dad is trying to find me a job so I'm just waiting.
During this waiting period, it's bad in the sense that I have so much time to myself to think. And everytime I do, I think about the wonderful memories of the past, and how I'll never be able to have them again for a very long time. Everytime I look back, it hurts. There's this pain in my chest that hurts when I recall the house in Geelong, the church, the people, the close friends, the life. It was a bad idea to look at the photos. It was a bad idea to think.

Around The World In 80 Days (Part 2)

I was given the aisle seat as she had the window seat; which meant I had to get up whenever she wanted to go to the toilet. Of course being the gentleman as I am, I graciously stood up and waited, as she took her feminine time in the lavatory. I waited because the toilet was directly behind our row, so you could say I had the advantage. I could easily just get up and lock myself in the toilet at any time I wanted.

Somehow, the flight didn't take as long as it seemed. Maybe because I was prepared, or maybe because I was older and could size up the long journey without complaining too much, or maybe I was tired along the way; seeing that I haven't slept much in the past few days, or maybe, just maybe, it was the girl in my row that kept me going. I had to be strong, and seem like I am able to handle a measly 8 hours of flight without groaning too much. Through it all, it was fun flying alone again. The only person you had to care for, is yourself. But of course, it would be nice to fly with someone else, just to keep you company. Then again, the girl in my row was company enough, if you know what I'm saying. ;)

I accompanied the girl all the way to the exit gate. Even though my luggage came first, I, being the gentleman that I naturally am, hehe, waited till she collected her luggage. I even offered my services in picking up her luggage, but she viciously refused me! She was like, "If you continue to follow me, I'll scream at the top of my lungs and hope the cops will take you down! ..... Ok, I've got my bag, let's go." lol, obviously none of that happened. She simply said she could handle it herself. As soon as she collected her single luggage, we went off. We said goodbye and went our separate ways.

My auntie and grandma from my mother side picked me up at the airport. They couldn't find me at first, and realised that I was already out and standing behind them. They said they couldn't recognise that it was me because of my short hair. I don't blame them. I myself don't recognise myself in the mirror with my short hair. When I greeted them, it was 11:30pm, Singapore time. Which meant it was 2:30am in Australia. I was sorta drowsy but after exerting a reasonable amount of strength on my luggage and posing, I was half awake, but at the same time, half asleep.

We arrived back to their place at 12:00am to which I was then shown to my room where I dumped my luggage, and washed up for the night. I crashed into bed at 1:20am and slept till 7:00am that morning. I woke up and prepared to leave for my medical test. Basically this test determines if you're fit for the full Military Training. If you get A or B, you're capable to take on the full training. If you get C, you get a lighter training course. And of course if you get D or E, you basically fail and they'll give you a desk job.

When Amoz did it, he went there at 8am and came out at 3pm. That's around 7 hours. I was ready to spend the same amount of time there, but to my delight, I was in and out in 4 hours. It was also good that Amoz's friend showed me where to go first. He brought me to the building, and accompanied me to the "Overseas" department. From there, I was on my own. It was there that the lady said that she'll enlist me in March. I was kinda worried that she would just slot me into March, so I asked her if there was an earlier date of enlistment. She said that the next earliest date was in fact that very day. The 8th of December was the starting date for the next earliest batch. Which meant that I went all the way here only to be told that I couldn't even have the slightest chance of getting in till March. I thought that there was an opening in January but there was no such thing. So now I've got plenty of time to spend with myself.

Anyway, they took our photograph with the army shirt, and asked us to move off to the medical centre. There, we had to go through a series of tests. The test were blood, urine, eye, hearing, dental, heart, x-ray, and just some physical measurements. I noticed that I got 'A' for everything, but during the final medical test, they determined that because I had a bit of 'flatfoot', I was given a 'B'. Just on the spot, they gave me a 'B' for one little thing. Disappointing.

After the physical check-up, they did a mental check-up, to see if you're 'sane' enough to be in the army. Basically it was a series of questions that involved funny shadings and shapes, mathematics (which I sorta struggled with because I was tired and hadn't done any mental work for a while), and just a whole bunch of reaction tests. It took an hour or so to complete, which to my delight, was 12:05pm.

I walked back and had Prawn Noodle. Hmmmm, yum yum. After I had finished my lunch, I walked over to the bus terminal to top up my bus card. I haven't used it in one and a half years, so I was pretty pleased that it still worked. hehe

As I walked home, it came to me, that this was it. This was gonna be my life for the next 2 years. From then on, I was never the same..

To Be Continued...

Around The World In 80 Days (Part 1)

I managed to type up two blog posts yesterday on my auntie's laptop while I was sitting alone with nothing to do. But after 'allowing the storm to pass,' I've decided not to post it. This is the reason why.

Yesterday, I was all depressed and lonely, so I took out a lot of my frustration and agitation on that blog post, which is why I don't wanna post it. I was pretty much sad that I was in Singapore and that I'll never see so many of my friends for a long time. I wasn't in a very happy mood. That was, until I called back home. It was so very nice to be able to call home. And to top it all off, I was so happy that Corliss and Sylvia was at my place. After talking to my parents, Chariz, and the two girls, I felt much better. It was really nice to hear their voices agian. I felt for that moment that I was at home for once. That I was with them for that brief period. It was very nice. I know you girls will be reading this, so I wanna thank you for the lovely chat :) I'm better now.

I think.

Anyway, I don't want to say too much about what has happened to me mentally, so I think I'll just blog on my journey here. But before I do, I'll say this. I remembered that Uncle Wesley blogged on his tendancy to view everything he did as a photograph. Like everything he does, he tries to find a 'good' angle to take a photograph. If you know what I'm talking about, I've recently caught myself doing the same thing. Or something like that; this time, it's with blogging. Everything I see, everything I do, I'm thinking of ways to blog on it. In a way, it's unhealthy because I can't enjoy the moment, but rather, my mind is constantly thinking of ways to blog on all the things I do. It's bad cause I wanna enjoy the things I do just as it is! So I've been trying to 'cut' down on what I view everyday as "something to blog about". In the mean time, I'll blog on what I should blog about; my journey here.

__________________

On the final day in Australia, dad woke me up as arranged at 6:30am to watch the Champions League; it was Man Utd v Benfica. After that, did some last minute file transferring on the computer and had breakfast at the same time. As soon as I finished, I quickly went on the PS2 to enjoy some last minute Fifa07 action. I had to swiftly complete what was left of the season, which meant skipping through many matches just to finish up. I played the last match in the ECC Finals, which ended 5-2 against Ajax. It was a thrilling victory. The match was at 2-2 for some time, until I finished them off with my 'skills'.

So after that, had lunch, and jumped on the computer to talk to some people for one last time. It's funny how there were so many things I did in Australia for the 'last time'. Like how I showered for the last time, drove for the last time, jogged for the last time, played for the last time, hugged for the last time, saw you for the last time. It all happened so quickly.

Saying goodbye to everyone, I decided to multi-task and pack all the left overs laying around in my room, like my soccer ball, documents, cosmetics, etc. I managed to pull everything I needed in time to leave at 3:15pm as planned. The flight was at 6:40pm, so I had a bit of time to spare. When we were going to the airport, there was heavy traffic on the highway. Everyone was moving at 20km/hr. Trucks, 4WDs, mini Getzs, everyone, all moving slowly...

In the end, there was no commotion. We simply crawled through the highway and gradually accelerated to 100km/hr again. It was not long after that we reached the airport at 5pm. The check-in line was really long. That was because I was kinda late. 2 hours till take off is not too good. My sis, mum and I stood in the line as we eventually reached the counter in 30 minutes. The lady then told me that I had to go to the boarding gate now. But my dad was like, "Nah, don't worry. Let's go buy some food first." We got a Bacon Deluxe at Hungry Jacks so that I could have something to eat as I am waiting to board. Unfortunately, I never really got the chance to eat. When I got to the boarding gate, I managed to make some final phone calls which meant by the time I finished, it was time to board.

I walked up to the boarding gate, and into the tube. Following the large crowd into the plane, I carried my two hand-carry luggage. As I approached the plane, I showed the stewardess my boarding pass and she directed me to the aisle I needed to take. I waddled my way to my seat, and when I got there, it was then that I realised, I was gonna be in the same row as this young lady which looked nice enough to try to act all cool. Sadly, my short hair gave me a disadvantage as I couldn't fling my hair as those cool people in movies do when they realise that they're in love. Anyway, I sat down, and tried to make it seem like I knew what I was doing. There and then, I discovered that this is all a part of growing up. Trying to make it look like I know what I'm doing when trying to impress girls. Watch out ladies! Here I come!

Oh boy.

To Be Continued...

The Lakehouse

This will be my final blog post from Australia. I have less than 6 hours left in Australia, and I have to say, I am a bit scared to go now. Time went by so quickly! I can't believe it's almost over! I'm recalling the time when I was in Myanmar and we were leaving the country for good. I was saying goodbye to our 3 good little dogs, the people, and the buildings. I'm serious. I was saying goodbye to the moldy green buildings. They were all very old and very disgusting. "Goodbye filthy things!" And I never saw one again..

Now, it's different. This time, I feel reluctant to go. The things I've grown to love in this country, I will have to leave. One thing I will miss dearly, is the cold. This morning, I woke up, and it was nice and cold. I took my blankets and pillow into the living room, and watched Man Utd and Benfica battle for 1st place in their Champions League group. It was nice to be under my covers. Something I won't really enjoy in Singapore :( Oh well, there will be different 'happiness' there..

Before I leave, I'll just say one thing. I've been in Australia for the past 3 years, and it has grown to become my home. It's where I grew up from a small adolescent child, into a bigger wiser person, not only in the world but also in God. And even though I may be gone for 2 years, I will always remember how lovely this place has been, and how much I've taken out of this place (and I don't just mean the amount of water I helped waste). I think I'll change again in 2 years. It's a very long time, and lots will happen. I know will be become stronger, more independent, more mature, and probably more patient. And also at the same time, I will become more asian, more rude, more arrogant, and probably more down-right irritating to talk to. All in the name of love.

This is me, signing out from Australia, till 2 years in the year 2009.

Boaz

Bend It Like Beckham

So basically, yesterday was my birthday. It was cool. Or hot. One of those.
We planned to spend the entire day with Tim and Corliss in the city which was really fun! In all, the entire day because a new record for me.

Never before had I spent so much money for my enjoyment, but I think I deserved it. After a year of intensed studying and having just a few hours with Tim and Corliss, I think it was worth it.

Coming back, we caught the last bus from the city to Grovedale which didn't exactly stop near my place. It ridiculous. Why do people stop working so early here in Australia? I was telling Tim and Corliss, "It's 6pm, I'm hungry and there's no food stalls open! See, if asians ran this place, it wouldn't close till late! Silly people." And the last bus we caught was at 7:35pm! grrrr

Anyway, I was asking the bus driver how close he gets to Grovedale, and he told me that his last stop is at Deakin University; which is approximately 10-15mins drive from my place. However, he graciously told us that we'll go as far as Waurn Ponds Shopping centre for us. That's around 5-10mins from my place. How kind, I thought!

So he drove to Deakin, and there was this one other guy. I think he didn't wanna go to Deakin cause he slept throughout the ride. The bus driver called out that this was gonna be the last stop. I think the guy was unsure where he was and needed directions to where he needed to go. The bus driver and the guy started talking and soon came to terms and had him dropped off just down the street from Deakin. After he went off, the bus driver asked us where we wanted to go.

I told him that anywhere along Pioneer Rd will do, seeing that this was not his usual bus route. Then he asked me exactly where I wanted to go.

I replied, "Well, just along Pioneer Rd and Torquay Rd."

He then said, "I'll take you there! Actually, I'm not supposed to do this but I will."

It was really nice of him to do that. I couldn't thank him enough for his willingness to drive us completely off his route. Wonder if he does it often. God bless him.

The time was 8:15pm when we arrived back at my place. The sun was still bright, and we went in for a quick refreshment; seeing that we've been eating and drinking unhealthy things the whole day.

After that, Chariz decided that she wanted to go out cycling. It was unexpected really; even after a day's worth of walking. However, they wanted to ride, so I decided to go jogging with them. I wasn't and still am not a hundred percent. I still had a small cough but I thought I was strong enough to go jogging. In all, I almost killed myself trying to jog the distance which is probably because of two reasons. I was sick and am still not fit enough. Just not good enough. It means, more exercise, and more jogging. I've also decided to do a bit of swimming when I get to Singapore. That should build my muscular endurance. Plus, it's hot there. hehe

I have one day left in Australia. I have to use this time to prepare, enjoy, breathe and play fifa. Go me! Thou shall not be disturbed.