Over halfway (already!)

so much has happened since i was last on here. time has gone by so quickly, already over half way through this semester.

basically since last Monday, i've had 3 mid sems in between doing one group presentation, one assignment, 2 homework tasks. that stress. cannot handle. even if i'm doing 3 subjects, it was all just crammed together. the assignments are weird since everyone has different due dates depending on when we presented. had another group presentation around 2 weeks ago where you had to talk in the tutorial for a whole hour, so my group ran out of stuff to say, so literally dragged it out...unfortunately that means the assignment for us was due in the midst of mid sems ):

about 2 weeks ago i was still wearing shorts. and apparently it hailed the other day, i think hail is one of the worst, since all the glass shattering if it's big...=/ didn't hail at my place though...

that weather last week. actually getting blown over and pushed by the wind. didn't bother using my umbrella, and wore waterproof clothes-just missing a waterproof bag. had to go uni all those 3 super stormy days. monday: had one mid sem, and wow, the lecture room was all filled. normally there's literally about 1/5 of people who turn up regularly. tuesday weather was the worse. was going to skip since we had an exam the next day. about a tenth of the class turned up. that night was when we got texts to say uni was cancelled at night, which didn't affect me ): actually, if uni was cancelled, then we would have to catch up ourselves...wednesday: was on the way to uni for a lecture in the morning, then mid sem later in the arvo when we received an email saying that the exam was post-pined to next week-which sucks, since we already have an exam that week, meaning two exams in one day (yesterday). i mean, at least send the email earlier, like how UNSW told people at 6am uni was still on. the night before we received an email around 7pm to confirm that the exam was on. was super pissed. trekked to uni for just an hour of lecture in stormy weather. wednesday weather wasn't even that bad compared to the day before.

well yesterday was the day with two exams. the original optom exam i was planning to have the whole weekend to study for it, but the postponing meant i had to split up the time. didn't focus much on diseases and regret it now. i was expecting the other optom exam to be super hard, but it was ok. the disease MC i literally died in it. answers in the MC included some diseases, so in the answer if you didn't know what the disease is, you have no idea how it links to the disease they are asking. definitely failed that ): which scares me more since finals is 60% of MC, short answer and essays, and you have to pass the final to pass the course (no surprises there). the mid sem content was technically only 3 weeks worth of lectures, but the end of semester, my notes are going to be more than 3 times what i have.

it's weird, we had mid sems before the break, but now next week we have a final exam for half a subject.

haven't had a chance to talk about Belle Gibson/The Whole Pantry which has finally been exposed. i actually have one of her books, so it does feel like i wasted my $20 for her to just go on a holiday. i was a bit skeptical in the beginning, since how can you actually recover from malignant brain cancer/tumour, and look that good and be so successful? it pisses me off how she gained money from real cancer sufferers who tried to take another approach rather than traditional medicines. there are doctors for a reason, whom I am sure are trying to find a cure for cancer. her stuff was a healthier alternative to eating, but to go so far into her lie is just simply crazy.

personally, i think those from the Bali 9 should have had a second chance. as Happy Apple said, we have all done wrong, but it doesn't give you the right to take someone's life. they made an effort to rehabilitate themselves and possibly help other people...

a lot more has been on my mind...but I was planning to sleep earlier tonight (ie. try to sleep before 12.30am...)

why must free things come during exam time?

so sad, missing out on free Ben and Jerry's. if my prac wasn't on, i might have gone to get some, but then again, lines would be so long, and more time studying lost...

there were also samples today from the winning Jetstar MKR airplane dish today, but i only had an hour break, so not enough time to go and try it, plus holidays so lines would be super long to try some...

yesterday I was so tempted to start watching s5 of Game of Thrones. watched the first 10min but then closed it since i know i would get hooked onto it...have to wait till July.

group presentation thursday, prac write up due, 2 midsems next week, another presentation, and assignment before thursday, with work in the middle, and still going to uni on every single day. fill like i'm still missing another assessment...

not enough time D= going to do so bad in these mid sems...

Dandelion's 20th

haven't studied/done any assignments since tuesday night since work and events at night, but I love parties, and couldn't miss this one especially since i didn't have work. last week had to miss out on a 21st because it was during the day ):

aww, Dandelion, you are so, so thoughtful, and love the effort you put into everything! so pretty and on point. didn't manage to get a picture of the cranes...hope you liked the presents! hehe. really lovely meeting your uni friends (:

lights

food

cake

i think Dandelion wins with the most consistent cake. so far, there's been at least 4 occasions with the tiramisu cake from the Cheesecake shop. hoping to see it for many more years to come! i'm one of those people who try to have a different cake each year, and order different stuff for my family. Connie's tart was so good as well! nice and surprisingly good bitterness. need to learn how to make good pastry.

polaroids!

haha, that one on the left...i've always wanted a polaroid, but the film is so expensive D=

Optom Cruise 2015: Disney and Animation

so after stressing about this for a few weeks, not being sure if the new manager would let me have the thursday night off, and giving a lengthy explanation about helping with something for uni (which to an extent i was), i went to the Optom cruise last night! i really wanted to go because it was Disney <3

after work, mad dash back home. it was super kind of my friend to come to my work to drop off the costume. i have no sewing/creativity skills at all. i think i got this from my mum since she can't sew either. whenever i had dance costumes which needed altering, or sewing sequins/ribbons etc, my dad would be the one with the sewing machine.

boat!

this boat was better than 1st year's cruise. didn't go last year since it was my "super saving money" year for America. this year more people went which made it even more enjoyable. there were unlimited drinks, it was only a tiny shot of vodka/bourbon in the soft drinks, which makes sense since alcohol is expensive. even cheap alcohol is expensive when you have heap of people...there was also pizza provided in the ticket cost. it was more of a game of "spot the waiter" who carried 1/2 boxes at a time on the 2 levels, and the pizzas were coming from a direction, but when you got there, the waiter already disappeared. so at first, it was so cray with everyone lunging on any slice they could find lol. music was alright, some weird remixes...the night wasn't too cold so could still enjoy the view (:

the theme also meant you don't really have to wear heels. i was going to wear 4+inch high boots, but then again, i was standing up at work the whole day yesterday, then work today and i know i didn't want to kill me feet the day after at work, so decided for just normal boots.i calculated the past 2 days i've been on my feet for over 12 hours. on holidays i was on my feet for more than 12 hours at a time, but i wore sneakers and you walked, which is different compared to standing and walking small distances in flats. no wonder my feet still feel tired...this also means i haven't done any study, and super screwed for exams and the group presentation that no one has started makes me even more stressed.

purposely slightly blurry photo-alien from Toy Story!

(so you can see the outfit without really seeing my face). the headband was handmade with felt pieces, and the pizza logo with the dots/bits and pieces were all individually cut and sewed on. also the material for the belt was sewed. costume making skills-on point. there were also aliens there that night, but they were in a onesie.

Heston ice cream!

because i didn't manage to get a booking at The Fat Duck in Melbourne, this is second best at the moment. Heston branded ice cream at coles. first saw it in the catalogue, and new i had to get it. it's currently $7 for 473ml (normally $9.90), which is more expensive than Connoisseur empire collection at $8.79 for 470mL, most likely because of the brand attached. i opened the salted caramel one today, and it is so delicious! the actually ice cream has a nice subtle salted caramel and not too sweet. if you scoop the actual salted caramel sauce, that it quite sweet and with some saltiness (and i have a sweet tooth) but it's balanced perfectly with real whole bits of nuttiness from the pistachio. even connoisseur King Cyrus of Persia pistachio (which i just polished off a tub 2 days ago) doesn't have whole nuts, only bits and pieces. the whole sized nuts in Heston are not massively sized so you don't have to chew as much compared to a big pistachio haha. will try the range of Heston pies (which sell for $30/kg), popcorn, sausages and different types of marinated meats when/if they go on special. in terms of woolies and their celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, i have tried his sausages, but the marinated meats are just not worth it because of the name labelled on it.

Easter Sunday

baptisms are so lovely, i think i said that last time where we had a Baptismal service at church...

so thankful that my God is a God who saves (: Jesus did die and rose again (:

since i go afternoon service, normally it's very quite and not many people, but today there were so many people! especially this guy had almost his whole cumbo campus of friends come (and I also saw one of Happy Apple's friends i met the other day at her party). since he had way too many friends, he had his own private dinner back at his house lol.

then had pizza for dinner. going to have more pizza on thursday night....didn't even know this place existed, and the sign was weirdly upside down on purpose. the inside is quite nice since they have the super olden day train station signs, and they have a brick wall which used to be part of an super olden day train station. we fully booked out the restaurant, some people couldn't have dinner here since there weren't enough seats =/ pizza was alright, probs could be cheesier. the base wasn't too floury, and the toppings weren't too overly salted. good fellowship and just general chatting with people tonight, even if it does mean i'm super screwed for mid sems/assessments since i have no time to study...

first pizza, then totally dug into the rest and no time to take photos...

i was thinking this past week how as you get older, you won't receive those easter eggs just for fun. but then yesterday at Plus, we had an easter egg hunt around church, where you find eggs and depending on what colour you got and how many, they were used to complete other challenges/games. actually have heaps of chocolate at home, like stuff we bought from New Zealand last year has yet to be eaten. and i'm still not supposed to eat chocolate...

thanks for visiting Happy Apple! even though i only saw you super briefly. the cookies were really good! and those chocolates/lollies helped us get through the afternoon lectures.

then at work, the manager left me an easter bunny (which was Cadbury and not those unbranded lollies they usually give). first time working a thursday night during semester. even though i'm only doing 3 subjects, i have a feeling my wam is going to plunge down like it did last year first sem where i literally scraped through...so screwed for mid sems, i have literally no time to study before my mid sems and during the break, unless i wake up before 7am to squeeze in two hours before heading off to work...did not realise how understaffed we were...like how did they survive beforehand when i was just working once a week? really wanted to say no i couldn't do both weekends before most of my mid sems....it's weird, the previous manager didn't want me to work a lot, but this manager wants me to skip some uni and work ): no time to study ):

i feel like this year's april fools jokes on social media are becoming more and more creative and sound more realistic lol.

also, at the end of march, Zumbo's macarons finally increased in price to $2.80. at the beginning of march when i walked past, they were still $2.50. probably used all the easter chocolate specials to cover up the increase n price. but i have to say, his macarons have been that price for the past 8 years, so it took a while for inflation to affect it...

every year Easter is so commercialised. behind all these chocolate and hot cross buns, the real meaning of Easter is the death and resurrection of Jesus.