First Year Not Over

i think i have post-finals depression. it's a head-achy, feeling like you're going to throw up, knowing others have repeated and you will most likely repeat, being sad at not not knowing but forgetting how to do almost every single exam. if i don't receive an email for any of my subjects about getting a supp exam, well i probably have failed this sem. now that i think about it, they only give supp exams for sick people/people who have done well during the semester, and with mid sems wasn't a good round for me either.

ahh, so, so angry at my stubborn brain that freezes during exams. it happened more this sem than last sem. i know something shouldn't be like that, but i couldn't think of it. it doesn't help that the person in front of you finished/left an hour early, then over ten people left more than half an hour early as well. if i redid the paper, i would be able to do most of it, but my brain just froze up. something to do with uni exams and the pressure i'm putting on myself, that if i can't get a credit, i've got nowhere to go...i don't even know why my brain stops working, like i do study...

they used some of the same questions as our practice ones, but i forgot how to do the first part, so couldn't do all the "easy" 4 markers they repeated, then all the "easy" stuff we learnt before, i forgot them. and what i'm scared about most is not even able to redeem myself with a supp exam, since i almost failed the mid sem. last sem, my optics got scaled to a distinction, but right now, i'm just hoping to pass first year.

impulse went to tom n toms because it was pretty hot in the arvo.

iced green tea latte large-$4.95

it's not that great tbh. way too much ice. not enough green tea, and a bit on the watery side. maybe because i got a large, but the flavour of the green tea was definitely not as strong/bitter as chanoma, and it wasn't really sweet either.

i actually have heaps to blog about, but i am actually worried sick about failing. my head still hurts ):

Royal Randwick Ballroom and Snag and Stand

didn't manage to get a pic of the exam room, but will try to on tues since i'm there again. it's sooo massive! it fitted 5 exams, and each exam had about 150 people. biggest exam room i've been to for uni, bigger than the halls at uni.

ahh, visn. i hope i pass. i know i didn't write enough, just like last time ))): sitting there thinking of what to write, while some people finished in an hour or left half an hour early. i only just finished, and my sentences were probs disjointed. and they mark harshly, like how can you explain why mid sem average was 50%? it was a doable test, but i just don't get how people can write a full page of stuff, and if i copied out my notes, it wouldn't even fit a whole blank page for you to fill up.

i think i'm a pro at getting to the racecourse and back asap. the trick is to run out of the exam room, and leave through the side gates, where it leads to the earlier bus stops, since even public buses get filled up by the time it reaches the second bus stop.

had to wait half an hour for my bus home, so decided to get lunch at snag and stand-first time. i wanted to get a beef sausage, but the other ones with fnacy toppings cost more and were pork/chicken, and i just wanted a beef sausage. and the other beef sausage had "super spicy" horseradish, not sure if i could tolerate it...

australia fare-$7.50

opted for the most basic cheese and tomato hot dog. tbh, this place is overrated. the sausage was lean but still had flavour and not overly seasoned, cheese was soft, but the bread wasn't toasted enough/had too much butter for my liking. prefer lowenbrau's sausages more.

7.30am in the city. that little guy on the right is jai.

thunderstoms are so cool on iphone! the lighting actually flashes like in real life. took me a good few minutes to screenshot that lightning, disappeared quickly as well. it was actually bright like a flash light/like real lightning, and as usual, heaps of rain falling on the screen.

bro gone to camp again. aww yeah, peace for the weekend to study the ever important optics.

Oaks Lawn Marquee

i don't even think i'll be eligible for a supplementary exam. couldn't even do half the paper. most people just can't do one question, which is expected of in physics. 

and if i do get a sup exam, then i have to study again ): the only comforting thing is that i think phys isn't a prerequisite for my subjects next year, so provided i do alright in both my visn subjects and chem marks nicely, then i can continue on to second year...but i don't want to repeat physics.... =/ or maybe phys has a summer course, like if normal chem has one i hope phys has one too. but i don't do normal chem, so i really hope i didn't bomb out too badly on mc. or else 50/110 marks gone...

i saw two people leave early. how is that possible!? you know, even if you gave me a month to do the paper, i still wouldn't be able to do it, since i just don't know how to. the mechanics lecturer sucked, don't think i even learnt anything from her properly. also, some business taxation thing was on at the same time. they had an OPEN BOOK exam for finals! i will never, ever experience an open book exam. it's times like these i wish i did an easy degree, like commerce, but the hard thing is the amount of competition when you graduate. never had an open book exam in high school ):

the oaks lawn marquee is the worst. horrible lighting. i sat in the middle, and there were no lights, only yellowish orange light on the sides of the room, and not much natural lighting flowed through since it was still cloudy, but it was pretty warm by the time we came out.

next to the race track

Dance Pointe Concert 2013

yay dance concert! (: smack bam in finals ))):

this year it was at hillsong, since the hills centre has been demolished ): i quite liked this stage since it was closer to the audience. it was wide but wasn't deep enough. except there were no wings.

third time going to hillsong. first time was seeing bear grylls. second time was at a wedding, but it was in the smaller church, not in the main auditorium. they have so many dance studios and rooms at hillsong!

the saddest part was that i didn't get any photos. i was late to rehearsals, then left early, then a bit late to the concert (well the time students were supposed to get there). and when people took photos, i was late and couldn't take any. then i was rushed during the concert with costume/hair changes, then i left early, but i didn't get any study done even though i left early. usually when i get home, i still take photos, but cause of time constraints, didn't take any either. and since this year for advance, we didn't have a dress rehearsal, so no photos of costumes etc. ahh, so sad.

there were heaps more dances this year. i left at 9.30ish and there was still the combined show pieces and finale and awards to go.

don't think i'll continue troupe next year, so much time.

Skyline Room

wasted about 15minutes walking up and down escalators. i found the room, just that the entrances on the other side. so i followed people up the middle set of escalators, then the people told us that the entrance was on the other side. walked up the escalators on the right side of the building, 15mins before the exam they said the skyline room entrance is somewhere else. turns out it was on the far left. i saw a sig there an hour before, but no one was walking there...and couldn't see a door. turns out the door is glass and it slides lool, but if you're just walking past, you can't see the escalators and just see a glass wall.

i really like the new randwick race course building apart from a million escalators. it's airconned, and has bigger seats. but they didn't have free water like last time, and i couldn't find any non-coloured bottles at home ): the skyline room is just one of those function rooms where people watch the races from above. if you didn't know, i use to love horses. should've taken a photo of the race course...

sat near the front again =/ could see the menu at the cafe. obvs they closed the restaurant.

nice view outside the exam room (:

i love heights, especially heights with views.

multiple choice for chem was so hard ): what's worse is that they're two marks each. and i kind of guessed all of them...so that's like 50 marks gone. there were only 10 questions/20marks out of 110 for the babs component, even though babs was supposed to be 1/3 of the subject. 

i would much rather easy mc and hard written. at last for written, you get marks for attempting/working out some of it. 2 marks each of mc is so, so bad. last time babs mc was 0.5marks (and i know i bombed out on mc last time).

too hot to study.

Study Habits

my brother had his accelerated HSC geo exam today. he said it was alright. i had never seen him study so hard before. well, just the week before. like, i went on fb more than him =/ just over a week ago, he was still chill. i remember when i finished chem, i had heaps of work to catch up on, and so should he, but now he's clicking on this thing called "take me to another useless website". wow, that is the biggest waste of time.

he's the complete opposite of me. he can't study at home, and has to go library/study groups. i have to study at home/can't study anywhere else, and if i go to study groups i ask more than help (actually, i only ask for help...). he wastes money on transport going to places to study. i tried to not even use the car during finals. during the HSC, living room was mine, during his HSC so far, the dining room+table is his. that's cause dad and him bought a crap corner desk from ikea a few years ago, which mum and i always compare to my pretty decent non-corner ikea table. he listens to music whilst he studies, i need complete silence (hence i can't study outside the house). he still wastes time eating slowly during exams, i try to eat faster than normal. he "indulges" himself in outside food before exams, i eat whatever is at home during exams, and "indulge" myself after. (the foods before don't count since my uncle came over. now he's off on a cruise to NZ, and coming back on the last of my finals).

and he got his jersey already! it's pretty good, apparently his friends thought of it for him back in yr7-Anjolina Joeli, something along the lines of that. his nick name is "jolly joel", and yeah, i think you can figure the rest out. i remember getting my jersey in may of yr 12...

i don't feel that stressed about finals...yet. chem's first up. i remember feeling so horrid/counting pages of marks lost last semester, but it turned out to be one of my best subjects, since they obviously scaled it. not sure if they'll scale this sem. for mid sem, average was 10/15, they didn't scale that either. i missed out on some of the most important organic chem lec, nts: never skip organic chem. finding intermediates with random stuff is annoying. so glad we don't do normal chem since theirs is harder. sometimes you can just see the isomers, other times you don't. it really depends on the day. and the babs component of chem is mc, but it's going to be so tricky...

i'll feel stressed on saturday. i know it. a whole day gone to dance. from 12pm to 10pm. i think one year i tried to bring notes to the dance concert, yeah, that didn't turn out too well.

congrats again Ophelia! ahh, i regret going to other fellow blogger's baptisms. don't know why i didn't...i think this was my first time going to another Church's baptism. it's interesting to see how things are done slightly differently, but when it comes down to it, they all have the same purpose (:

Jamie's Italian and Gelato Messina!

first of all, had the most pointless lab ever. our whole table did it wrong, and the demonstrator kept us in for over half an hour, and didn't really explain the questions. i actually woke up and made it to the top of the campus before 9am, since if i stayed in my normal lab, then i would've ended at 2, and no good food): also, before i start talking about food, so glad i have a bank card (well i've had one for a few years, but with my bank, money only goes in...) stupid printing at uni, no cash. and accidentally printed double sided..and heaps of other problems...but i think i'm ok now.

yes, my first exam is next week, but i couldn't resist going out for food! it's quite rare for a relative to come over and for me to pick the restaurant. usually my cousin picks since she's been to almost every restaurant in the city, but i got to choose this time! obviously i couldn't choose fine dining, since that'd be a waste, but they wanted a nice restaurant (chefs gallery isn't super good, neither is chat thai, and according to my cousin, mamak isn't that great....).

if you didn't know, i have a thing with Masterchef guest chefs and judges, and also celebrity chefs, so i course i picked Jamie's Italian. it's decent pricing for a celebrity chef. also have been watching Jamie and Jimmy's Food Fight Club show, it's pretty funny and interesting. also, their cafe is another place on my list of places to go overseas to eat. at the end of one of the world's longest jetty is pretty awesome (: too bad it's a pop-up cafe ):

so glad we made a booking. arrived at around 1, and it was packed! it's a super long, narrow-ish restaurant, quite packed, and has a rustic feel (: we sat on the second level. the tables are quite small, and their plates are quite big, luckily the plates they gave us to eat from were small. don't have a picture, but when i first saw the small plate, i thought it was dirty, since it looked like it had tea stains, but that's part of the design.

and i could choose the dishes, since my cousin has tried almost everything in this restaurant as well. btw, it's pretty dim in there. luckily our table had a spotlight, but the light didn't reach the very edges of the table, since the light was angled.

FRIED THREE-CHEESE GNOCCHI $9.50 Delicious crunchy gnocchi with a fiery arrabbiata dip

AKED MUSHROOMS $14.50 Swiss browns with crispy “music bread” & smoked buffalo mozzarella

one gnocchi for the each of us. yum (: the dip had some chilli in it, but it was ok for me. i now understand why people say that chilli gives it a "kick". this balance of chilli actually made it go. (basically, for most of you out there, you won't think there's chilli, but there is, since it's not overly hot but has a nice intensity for me)

mushrooms were yum, but the bread was too burnt for my liking ): other people had the bread though.

CRAB & AVOCADO BRUSCHETTA $16.00 Grilled sourdough topped with blue swimmer crab & avocado, with apple matchsticks, chilli, mint, lemon & olive oil

good balance of flavours! quite refreshing, not overly seasoned at all. wasn't even spicy.

my cousin was right, the mains/pasta/risotta did take their time. waited over 20min. but we had to separate the entrees from the mains, since the table was quite small.

BLACK ANGEL SPAGHETTI-$24, WILD RABBIT TAGLIOLINI-$26, WILD TRUFFLE RISOTTO-$25

we started with the risotto first, i mean, who doesn't like truffle? it was quite an intense flavour, some of you may think it's salty, and it would be if you had it to yourself, but sharing a plate between 6 people, then the flavour is so good! 

all main sizes, and yes, the pastas are smaller than other places, but for these types of celebrity chef places, they are alright serving. the black angel had chilli in it as well, but it really gave the dish depth. the spaghetti had a hard-ish elasticity to it, and the scallops were so soft (:

rabbit was surprisingly tender. pasta was alright. i don't know why, rabbit reminds me of tuna.

ITALIAN FARM SAUSAGE $23.00 Grilled pork sausage flavoured with red wine & spices, served with sweet & sour capsicums, capers, chilli & garlic.

i liked how the sausage was served (: again, it was a good spiciness. there was also some fried bread which gave it a nice crunchiness (: it could have had more flavour.

PROSCIUTTO, PEAR & PECORINO $19.50 Salad of prosciutto, rocket, crisp pear, toasted pine nuts & pecorino with an olive oil & balsamic dressing

this side of the table had dim lighting. loved the plaiting of the dish! twas so gooood.

APPLE SLAW $7.50 Radishes, walnuts, candied beets, mint & lemon with yoghurt (behind). not as great as the other salad, but still refreshing.

the service was good, despite what other people have said. when the guy serving us was going to go on lunch break, he explained another person was going to take over. and yeah, they were pretty nice. like my uncle's friend wanted their wifi password...but they explained how their wifi was only for their hand held ordering machines. and pretty friendly (:

i was planning to get home after lunch, but they said they were going to get dessert, and my uncle shouted gelato messina! first time!

i got ginger and dragonfruit, salted caramel and white choc, panna cotta and fig amaretti

the cup wasn't branded since it was three scoops ): but 3 scoops was the cheapest. lighting was weird.

so we shared the flavours. only double upped on ginger and dragonfruit since it was that good (: my favourite so far. ok, not going to do full names (no time), other flavours were: elvis the fat years (peanut butter and other stuff), leaf leaf bang bang (mango, coconut + stuff), breakfast of champions, two stroke (hazelnut + stuff), come chocolate one, pear and rhubarb (pretty good as well), tiramisu, and another flavour. sorry, usually i remember everything i eat, but i need to save some brain space for exams. salted caramel was on the salty side, and even the white choc didn't balance it out much.

i think with three scoops, it's not good, since helato melts quickly, and the bottom two flavours melt a bit together, so some parts/bits of ice cream such as pandan jelly, brioche etc was hard to detect in the flvours. i think two scoops would be better, but sharing with people is the best! had over 12 flavours (:

also taste tested apple pie. i think i should've gotten that instead since the fig wasn't prominant enough. 

overall, messina is good. defs go again. i wanted to try their red velvet... and some other time...oh, and will defs try the yogurt ones (:

aaand, no study done ): really badly formatted post, but no time D=