Philosphy of Life.

Well, not exactly…but I’ve decided not to blog about my life anymore…I know you got your own problems and you don’t need to hear mine… Unless something drastic happens that I simply must share, I’ll stick to stupid lame but hilarious articles about stuff that I think about on a daily basis.

There was also a semi formal thingie where I took flirtish pictures with my girl friends…(note its two words, not one) I dun have ‘em coz they’re in another friends camera…I’ll post ‘em when I get it…Linzhi would NOT be proud…

Last thing before I sign off, notice I changed my blog description just under where it says "Great Minds Think Like Me"? Give it a read and tell me what you think? Do you reckon it adequately reflects me?

PS. I’ll bet you scrolled up to see the two knobs and the mug on the TV, eh? muahahahahahha…still haven’t lost my touch…

Yes, I know it’s Australia…but I caught your attention didn’t I??? I know ur just waiting to correct me…you bunch of kiasu people!!! anyways…

From left: Me, Andrea, Diahann, Yee Ann. These were my roomates so naturally we hung out together.

Diahann and I posing in the sea. Andrea took the photo and then I photoshopped it to give it more saturation and straighten it as well as a more panoramic shot…this is now my wallpaper!!!

SO WHO WANTS TO GO NEXT???

Ok folks, so heres how it is…There were plenty of boring orientation lecturers during the orientation. These are some of the topics covered but I won’t elaborate coz I nearly fell asleep at all of ‘em!

Day 2:
Boring.

Day 3:
Faculty Orientation, Multicultural Issues for International Students, Cultural adjustment, Communication Skills to Secure casual Employment. (See, told you it was boring…next time i won’t even bother you with the titles)

Day 4:
Boring stuff then go to Grand Central (the city centre) mall to open bank account and buy some stuff.

Day 5: 
Boring lecturers and then at night there was a bushdance and everyone joined in dancing to australian country songs and we had a blast! The best one was a progressive dance where you change partner every 20 seconds or so and you keep going until the music stops!

Day 6:
Boring stuff and then BBQ for all new USQ students…the BBQ’s here are the best!

Day 7:
Here’s where it gets interesting! We went down to Gold Coast to visit Dreamworld!!! To those of you how don’t know, dreamworld is like Genting but 3 times bigger and better! Entrance to Dreamworld is around AUD70. Transportation is around AUD60. We got the whole package for AUD56!!!

1830hrs:
lepak until sleep.

My Room:

My Room View:

0600hrs: Wakie wakie…forced myself up early in da morning…see. I made my bed!

0640hrs: Finish getting dressed and ready for breakfast!

0700hrs: Breakfast at Concanno College Dining Hall. I was the first to arrive!!! woohoo!

0740hrs: Go back to room, relax and lepak on computer trying to get online.

0900hrs: Give up trying to get online. Decide to go out jalan-jalan and met Denni on the way out.

0930hrs: Go into the Japanese Garden with some of my new friends after talking crap for half an
hour…

impressed with the Japanese garden and the ducks which aren’t
afraid of people.

1000hrs: New Hope Church starts and we happen to be at the right place at the right time so we go in and join worship.

1030hrs: BBQ in the outback! Didn’t manage to stay for the whole church
service because of orientation plans which involved taking a coach full
of international students somewhere in the outback near Perseverence
Lake. Also took a bushwalk where we saw kangaroos!!! No koala’s
though…*sigh*

Forgot to take picture of the Kangaroo but got a pic of a bird…

1350hrs: Head back to USQ

1500hrs: Go house visiting and look for prospective places to rent
because my current accomodation is only for the orientation period.

1800hrs: Meet up with Denni for going to a West Presbyterian (however you spell it) church.

1830hrs: Go scouting for church. Brought by Byron but the church he
attends started too early and we missed it so we look for any services
that start at 7pm.

1910: Give up looking for churchs…saw plenty on the way, at least 6
but all either started way earlier or doesn;t have eveing service.

1930: Go dinner instead at a chinese restaurant. Pig out and the bill
was 82 Aussie Dollars!!! Divided by 5 people was AUD16.60 per person.
*gulp*

2130hrs: Arrive back at Uni…proceeds to online after being given directions from Denni.

2300hrs: Fed up with trying to log into skype through the university’s
network. Can get thru to MSN but Skype seems to have problem.

2355hrs: Current time and done with online-ing. Going to sleep now because have to get up at 6 something again tomorrow…*sigh*

**reasons for trying so hard to log into skype was because wanted to
call my dad and tell him that everything’s gone alright and tell Linzhi
that I accidentally took the Touch & Go card with me to
Australia…hehe…I figured this will be the best way to tell you. If
you don’t read this than tough luck.

More Pics Here!

After all the application processes and documents, it’s all finally done. I’ll be leaving Malaysia on the 15 July, 2006 at 9.40am. I will be taking a 7 1/2 hour flight to Brisbane and arrive at Brisbane local time 7.10pm (Brisbane is Msia+2). From there a coach will bring me and 5 others to the University of Southern Queensland where I will be exiled to for the next 12 months. There will be many new things, new customs, new challenges, new hurdles, new friends, basically a new life. I am definitely going to miss all my friends here in Malaysia and will never forget you. A special THANK YOU to those of you who have been with me through tough times. I will be calling some good friends throughout the week, those who have deeply impacted me and left an impression in my life.

In preperation for studying abroad, I have purchased a notebook PC. A pretty ASUS A8J which comes with a T2300 1.66GHz Duo Core processor, an 80GB HDD, 2GB DDR2 667Mhz, Nvidia Go7300 256MB, DVD Writer along with a wide array of built in features like webcam, microphone, speaker, Wifi, Bluetooth, and stuff like that. I bought it on Tuesday (4/7/2007). Four days later, it’s competely destroyed. It won’t even boot up Win XP. I’m heading down to the shop on monday to get a 1 to 1 replacement. If I broke it in 4 days, I have no idea how it;s gonna last me 1 year in australia *gulp* (wish me good luck!!!) I e-mailed my parents already…If they were here I’m sure they would kill me…*sigh*

Lastly, I am switching MSN Messenger accounts. The current one if getting kinda messed up. Please add me.

My new MSN address is: me@jiarenlau.com.

It will work, trust me. I’ll will be slowly phasing out from my current account and shift to the new one. Thank you.

-JiarenLau.

Hello everyone,

Sorry for taking such a long time to update my blog. Frankly, I was actually lazy to blog and was thinking of stopping liau…but it seems life has just gotten interesting…

This is just for your information in case you actually give a crap. I know I told some of you I would be coming back in June and others that I would also go back to Kuching. I regret to inform you that things have not gone exactly as I have planned. The original plan was to go to KL to visit my sister for a couple of weeks, go visit my parents in China for another couple of weeks, then come back to KL for a week then going back to Kuching before finally going back to Miri. I had to go back to Kuching before returning to Miri because all my stuff from college is at my auntie’s house so I have to get my junk out first.

Amendment 1:

Go to KL for a week, go to China for  fortnight, return to KL for Linzhi’s birthday before returning back to Kuching for a week and then finally go back to Miri.

Amendment 2:

Go straight to China until just before Linzhi’s birthday which of course I would return to celebrate. Stay in KL for a while before going back to Kuching and Miri.

Amendment 3:

Go to KL until Linzhi’s birthday, go to China to visit parents, apply to university, enroll for university, go back to KL then Kuching the go back to Miri and lastly go off to university.

Amendment 4:

Go to KL until Linzhi’s birthday, go to China to visit parents, complete application for university, go back to KL, meet back up with parents in Canada for cousins wedding, go back to KL, Kuching and Miri before going off to university.

Amendment 5:

Go to KL until Linzhi’s birthday, go to China to visit parents, apply for university, go back to KL to complete application processes, go back to Kuching then Miri before departing for university.

Final Amendment and story:

I went to KL for a month to visit my sister until her birthday then went to China for a month. As usual I waited until the last minute before bothering to apply for university. Finally, I decided to go to the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Australia. Unfortunately, I have to go back to KL to process my application and stuff so I had to cut my holiday short and I’ll be heading back to KL on Monday (26^th June) to do the processing.

Here’s where the problem starts:

The USQ semester start on the 24^th July. I have to attend orientation which commences a week earlier on the 17^th July. My flight to Australia on the other hand is two days earlier which is the 15^th July. I explained in detail for the retarded people reading this. I apologize to the intelligent people for wasting your time.

Solution:

Go back KL and complete application processes including medical, visa, and travel issues. I will therefore NOT be returning to Kuching OR Miri anymore.

If I promised you a present I apologize because I didn’t buy presents for anyone. Not that I’m stingy or anything but I planned to buy all presents in my final week in China. I was supposed to leave China on the 1^st July but I changed it yesterday(Friday, 23^rd June) to 26^th June instead.

Personal apologies go out to (in random order):-

Wong Sing Bih: Sorry I cannot teman you and Yie Chu to Coffee Bean anymore!

Foo Yie Chu: Sorry I cannot teman you and Sing Bih to Coffee Bean anymore!

Sobri Han: Sorry I cannot teman you to Coffee Bean either!

Melissa Sibat: Sorry I won’t be going back to Kuching to give you your present and get my present from you.

Ling Heng Wei: Sorry I won’t be able to hang out with you in Miri!

Azaylea Devong: Sorry if I spelt your name wrong, my hp has been off for the past month and sorry we can’t go watch movie anymore!

Cell Group: Sorry I won’t be able to join you one last time and I won’t be getting my farewell dinner!

Jeremiah Rais: Sorry I won’t be going back to see you guys at SIB Grace anymore!

Brian Chan: Sorry I won’t be going back to see you guys at SIB Grace anymore!

Norman: Sorry I forgot your last name and sorry I won’t be going back to see you guys at SIB Grace anymore!

You: Sorry for not mentioning you personally!

Jiaren feels his hands reaching for the familiar object that is the beloved QWERTY keyboard. Days has it been since he last felt this sensation but an eternity is what it felt like. His fingers shivered uncontrollably as they aligned to the position they had grown so used to over the last couple of years but somehow something seemed different this time. As he slowly caressed its surface to savour the limited time he had together with the keyboard his mind could not deny the fact. A truth so compelling that Jiaren did not think it would ever be possible. The reality hit him in the head like an off-target basketball that had been hurled full court in hopes that it would score and give the team a victory in the final seconds of the game. It was undeniable. His fingers had lost its touch. They did not align with the keys! This was bad. It would rapidly deteriorate his typing speed. His concentration would decline drastically and it would weaken the stamina of his fingers. What will happen to our hero…?

In a heartbeat Jiaren snaps back to reality. He looks at the time. It’s just passed 4.00am. He heaves  deep sigh wondering why he was not at all tired. Perhaps it was his sister that was still working just a few feet away. She was in her pyjamas - or more like an overworn t-shirt that had been stretched along with a pair of washed out tennis shorts. She was busy sketching buildings for one of the assignments in her Design 301 class, one of the subjects mandatory in her Architecture course.

"Go to sleep", Demanded Jiaren’s sister, Linzhi.
"Dun wan. Not tired"
"No wonder you always sleep in the afternoon…coz you sleep so late".
Jiaren discreetly rolled his eyes.
"I saw that!", Linzhi’s eyes were piercing hard into his own.
*Gulp* "Oops" thought Jiaren as he pretended not to notice. He was going off topic as usual.

His original plan was to update his blog which had been deserted for a long time. About 2 weeks to be exact. He was going to write about his adventures in Time Square and Genting Highlands and what he planned to do during the next few weeks that he would be stuck in this home away from home which seemed like an oversized hamster cage. He knew he wouldn’t be able to blog again for a while after this entry. Knowing this he reluctantly penned a few words before he had to go off to bed.

"Jia, C’mon", yelled Linzhi not looking at all amused as she dragged herself up the stairs.
Jiaren glanced at the clock. 4.10am.
"Okay, okay. I’m coming", Jiaren muffled back.

It seems this would not be the day that he would tell the world of his exploits in Kuala Lumpur. It was okay, there would be plenty of chances in the future. As for now, it was time for bed.

"JIAREN!", shouted Linzhi with a stern look in her face.

With that, He powered off the notebook PC and proceeded to the bedroom with 2 words in his head. CELAKA and SISTERS. You do the math.

First of all, I’m not supposed to be blogging…It’s 1am and I have an exam at 11am later…The subject is Cognitive Science(Artificial Intelligence) but I dun feel like studying at all…WHY?!

So anyway, back to Informatics…I was looking at the notice board and came across this notice:

BEFORE:

Unfortunately, I cant say that this was a recent notice. As a matter of fact, it was dated 17 December 2005. Luckily for me, I have an "after" picture as well…this one is dated 18 April 2006.

Check it out:

AFTER:

This notice was handed out a couple of days ago to the students so that the remaining students could either go to KL or I-Systems College in Kuching  using credit transfer.

I don’t care really because I’m gonna gradaute this term!!! The only problem is that I’m not sure how I’m gonna get my result transcript from the college…cacatz…anyways, my final exam is in a couple of hours and if I flunk I’ll be going to one off the above mentioned colleges…btw, tell me if the font in the letters are too small. It isn’t the whole letter coz then you wouldn’t be able to read it, I just cut out the important parts.

**edit: Actually if the fonts are too small just get glasses.

-jiarenLau

Remember those essays that we used to write in primary school or lower secondary school??? The ones that begun with something like "Jika saya sebuah kereta…" or "Saya sebatang pensel…"??? Well, I was cleaning up my computer and found this on it. I remember writing it but forgot when…Andy told me I should post in on my blog so that’s what I’m doing now. It was originally a file called "abtme.txt" on my desktop.

Enjoy!

Cons:
-Large size.
-Short battery life.
-Low credit.
-Bad navigation interface.
-Irresponsive functions
-No silent mode.

-JiarenLau

HE had no servant, but they called HIM MASTER.
No degree, but they called HIM TEACHER.
No, medicines, but they called HIM HEALER.
No army, but Kings feared HIM.
HE won no military battles, but HE conquered the world.
He commited no crime, but they crucified HIM.
He was buried in a tomb, but is ALIVE TODAY.
HE is humble, but will always be exalted.
HIS name is JESUS.
HE is our Hope and Guide.

Warm wishes especially in this holy week.
Happy Easter.

-JiarenLau

*edited from an sms I received from Mabel Ong.