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=

skipped uni yday, didn't go for a one hour tute. no uni today since lec finished. not going uni tmr, even though i have 2 hours of lec.

wow, i am panicking. already.

it's ridiculous. taking one hour to do one question, when the exam is only 2 hours. or doing a paper in 4 hours instead of two. and then not doing stuff without answers ): nothing is sinking in D= having a dance concert smack bam in the middle of finals doesn't help either. the worst thing is that i'm close to failing my subjects (well i'm not the only one), but the reality of repeating first year is frightening.

even though i'm Christian, it's just sometimes so hard not to be jealous. i guess it's part of human nature. especially with those stuff that "money can't buy". like all those people who can talk over others, or know what to say when put on the spot. and those people who can make an awkward situation not awkward. and those who have a social life yet can still understand everything and not study so much.

or that kid whose 5 who's dad bought him an apartment in the city, or the uni student whose parents bought her a 1+million house. like i will have to make my own, long, arduous way. you can tell quite a few of my parents will buy/have bought their children houses already.

i just have to focus on the bigger picture, and remember all things here are only temporary.

i guess i won the competition for last person left on my table. i left with 4 min to go. there were about 80ish people in the lab, by the time i left, there were less than 10. its one of those tests where you have time, but you still don't know how to do it, and if you try, you're still not sure. always 2/5 options which are close. not sure how accurate my guesses were. i actually didn't bother putting in heaps of effort, and in finals, the babs component in the chem course is MC as well. i can't memorise stuff these days...

i find it funny how prince george had to wear a dress.

there was a fire truck on the street just outside my street today. it was really smoky in the arvo, so they were obvs doing back burning, but its weird how the truck was pretty close to houses...

also, a random dog went into a driveway today. it was a big-ish golden retriever, and it just sat there. never seen that dog before, i know every single dog in my street and the houses around my house. obviously someone left their gate open. and the other day, our neighbours rottweiler went all the way up to our front door. it looked calm, but whenever it's in their backyard barking, it's ferocious. after all, they are the "dangerous dogs". (the neighbours also left their gate open, first time ever that massive mean looking dog crossed the border/fence into out property).

busiest 1pm 1hr break

busiest day by far. 

normally i have a 9-6 day on thursday, but skipped a tute (no one knew it was one/no one went, since there were tute class yday, and people put up the sheets, so i could skip it). this meant i only had 2 breaks between 11-6.

normally in my 1pm break, i only had one thing. all of a sudden this morning, i had 4 things to go to in 1 hour, ie impossible. so couldn't go tbt this week ): and even though Better came, couldn't meet up with her (sorry!). and we had to practice our group presentations as well, since it was on at 2pm, and we did not rehearse it even once. then a friend surprised us after phys with max brenner, so how could i not resist the offer!? haven't had it since their opening. so in my 1 hour, i split it between eating and rehearsing. didn't tell my group since they probs would've killed me if they knew i was eating instead of rehearsing (luckily i didn't have many lines..)

don't know which photos to delete from my phone! btw, the new nokia phone has 41mp. that's crazy! like 6 of my photos almost equals one of theirs. i already have about 1/4 of my phone gone to only photos/videos.

she ordered three choc-banana pizzas, and three strawberry dips. 

i would have like variety, but hey, i'm not paying. had to eat quickly to practice..

the group that won had a really good video with funny sound effects, but the other half of their presentation was normal. last year they had an arvo tea after the presentations, this year the co-ordinator couldn't find a room. bull, they probs just want to save money. and first prize last year was $50 each in cash, this year probs the same, but no runner ups...

ah, stupid 45min exam tomorrow. 3 hours travelling time for a test worth about 5%. then again, every mark counts. i'm literally just passing all my subjects D= (but i'm not the only one...) not good at babs, even through it's mc. pretty sure i bombed out in babs last sem because of mc, had to guess so much =/ 

iPad air and Mavericks

i kind of like the ring to the name-ipad air.

a few weeks ago, i was thinking how ugly the previous ipads looked compared to the ipad mini since the border was quite thick, whilst the mini is quite thin and sleek. well, after today's (yday for US) announcement, the ipad air is so much more thinner and lighter, and the border is thinner as well (: i've thought about getting an ipad, but i haven't come up with many uses for it, so for now, i will save up that $600+. prices of everything have gone up compared to past release prices, usually prices stay the same, and old stuff go cheaper, but not this year.

and yay mavericks! and it's free! so glad i didn't update to lion or mountain lion. i was sooo close to paying the $20 to upgrade to mountain lion earlier this year, but then our itunes account has only a few dollars left, and i ceebs to top up, so i just waited for this year's new software update (: haven't updated yet, don't think i will, no time to wait for the few gbs to download and install (not sure how long it'll take/can't waste time playing with the new software). and now if you buy any macs, you get ilife and iwork for free. i had to pay for those (but i got them for a discounted price back then...)

as always, go to the apple website for specs. i would say more about what i think about the new stuff announced, but no time. i am so screwed =/ actually failed a 25% exam... ): i now understand why over 6 people repeated first year...it feels like commerce is an easy degree where "everyone passes and no one fails" but i don't do commerce. how to pass finals?

dad's birthday today, but he went on a business trip. he whatsapped me photos of nice cafe food ):