Okay, everything's finally sort of confirmed.

I'll be back to Brunei on Monday... my brother and sister are flying to S'pore tomorrow, and they'll meet me at the airport, or something like that; we'll be staying at a hotel, just us three siblings (woots, sibling bonding time? I'm very certain that they coming to S'pore is not just a case of "We miss Jie Jie"; come on, one's 16, and the other's 18 - they definitely have their own agendas =P. Yes, Karen. I know you'll be going on a shopping spree for two days.)

That aside, wow, finally! I'll be landing in Singapore late Saturday night; scheduled landing time is 9.30 p.m. I'll probably reach the hotel by 10.30 p.m. at the latest, and I'll see if I'm up to meeting you, Sherissa, and everyone else who I'd want to catch up with in S'pore. (I'll SMS you when I get there.)

And yeah, I could probably meet up with you too, Tiong, if you're reading this at all. (Even though you're still coming back to Brunei anyway, but heeey, at least you can be the first person to actually see me "officially" after... what, almost 10 months =P.)

I'll be leaving on Sunday night (with my siblings), catching the 11 p.m. flight to Brunei. So I'll be arriving back in Brunei officially early Monday morning. That means I have the entire Sunday in S'pore. Yay, spending Christmas Eve there.

Can't wait to catch you all! The next two days are full-on and busy for me as I settle last-minute things. Accommodation is almost settled. There's still many things to consider and do about next year. But anyway. I don't think I'll be posting as often during the next two months, so yeah.

See you all soon!! Take care, everyone.

The water lily lake, Royal Botanical Gardens, Tasmania (Day 1)

6 more days!! By this time next week, I think I'll already be back in Brunei. (I really hope so!) I don't think I'll stop over in S'pore for too long - once I land there, I'll be buying the earliest possible ticket out to Brunei. But I'll definitely stop over in S'pore for a few days on my way back to Melbourne in February next year.

Hm... Haven't been doing much... I've been watching quite a few movies recently though!

I watched The Prestige last Tuesday, and I enjoyed it, despite having to sit in the front row (bought the tickets too late!). Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman were stellar in their performances, and the movie is engaging, with all the twists and turns. I caught Charlotte's Web the week before as well, and it was very faithful to E.B. White's novel, so thumbs-up for that - plus, it has beautiful music scored by Danny Elfman (who has worked with Tim Burton on many of his films including Big Fish, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, etc. - he did the soundtrack for the first two Spiderman movies as well). It's not amazingly good, but it's a feel-good, family movie with cute animals that talk. I loved the book when I had read it some years back, and am glad with the movie adaptation.

One adaptation which failed, failed, failed was Eragon. It was a major, major disappointment. I contend that the film and book are two different media, and you can't always expect a totally faithful adaptation (especially not if it's in the fantasy genre, with tons of details that are impossible to fit in a movie) but still, for a movie which was only one and a half hours, they could have made it a 2-hour long movie. They could have done at least a bit more with that extra half hour, adding and fleshing out more details... I have too many gripes that I don't even want to get into it here, but I know that I'm definitely not catching the sequel (which was implied in the ending, and if they will do it). Anyhow, a sequel seems almost impossible, especially considering all the details and characters they left out from the book, some of which are essential to the plot in the second part. Not that the book itself was great great - it's a fun read, but unoriginal and derivative. If you haven't seen it - well, don't waste your money. I didn't have this many complaints watching Harry Potter or LOTR, despite the screenwriters throwing out many scenes from the books, but at least the main story was still there.

And while I'm still on the subject - why adapt Eragon, when there are so many better fantasy books out there!! (I'd like to see David Eddings' Belgariad series adapted, for one.)

I started watching Grey's Anatomy a week ago, and I'm hooked. I'm still watching Friends, and going on strong - on season 6 now, although I had to skip to it from season 4, 'cause no one has season 5.. someone lend me season 5! Lol.

Oh my gosh, I'm turning into a lazy TV freak.

I only just realized that there is a Warner Bros. store at Crown (a casino, hotel, movie, shopping, food, entertainment complex), and I love all the things they were selling there - brings back memories of the cartoons we used to watch when we were younger. There were movie memorabilia on sale, including animation cels and signed posters, etc., all selling for thousands. I would love to own at least one of those authentic items. There was a whole section of Simpsons merchandise - speaking of which, I can't wait for the movie next year! And oh, the final Harry Potter book will be out next year too, as well as the 5th movie (Order of the Phoenix, which happens to be my least favourite in the series actually). Spiderman 3 will be out next year too.

Okay, I'm rambling now, and I should stop. I have nothing better to talk about now anyway.

Hope you're doing well, Jerry. (When am I seeing a post from you??)

Looking forward to catching up with you all in Brunei soon...!

Home is where the heart is

Sigh.

11 more days. My entire family's in Sibu right now. Sibu might not be a very exciting holiday destination, but I haven't seen my grandparents and relatives in almost 2 years now. I always feel much more at home in Sibu than in Ipoh, language barrier being one of the reasons.

It's nice to know that you're still alive, Jerry.

Victoria has been having a spate of bushfires, and the city is again covered in smog today, from all the smokes from the fires. The weather's extremely eccentric. It can be extremely hot and dry one day, and the next day, it's winter again. Gah. I want normalcy ...

I want home.

A Quick Update

The last few weeks have been crazy, and literally a whirlwind of activities. Tasmania was beautiful, and I've got lots of amazing scenic pictures - looking at the pictures, it's almost hard to believe that I had been there. The second last day in Tassie was spent hiking Cradle Mountain, and I think we took on more than we bargained for; it was only after we finished this particular crossing that we realized it was actually one of the 'steep and difficult' climbs.

Anyway. That might not make much sense. I can't be bothered to make myself sound coherent at this moment.

Straight after Tasmania was the OCF (Overseas Christian Fellowship) Convention - it was great to see all the OCF-ers coming in from all the other Australian states, and so Convention was another 6 straight days of sermons, bible studies, workshops, worship sessions, etc.

I came back with a cold, and my voice has transformed, so yeah.

I still can't change my flight. All December flights are fully booked. My dad suggested upgrading to Business class, but I called Qantas, and it'll cost me a freaking $6000+ just for a stupid upgrade. And to upgrade to a different class, but still in Economy, will cost me $1350. Buying a single ticket back to S'pore will cost me $1250, and if I wait till 23rd December with my current ticket, it'll cost me nothing.

Okay, my frustration with that over and done with, I realize that I'm not feeling that frustrated over this whole flight thing. I guess I don't really mind staying till that long - okay, fine, I DO mind, to a certain extent. My family's going back to Sibu next week, for one week. I'm still here!! I haven't seen my relatives and grandparents in almost 2 years...! There's not much to do in Sibu, but still...!

And even after coming back from Convention, I'm still bushed. On the same day I came back, I went out at night again to the night market at Victoria Markets - it's an event which only happens every Wednesday in summer, so it was my first time. The next day, had dinner with Joan, who was on exchange for the past semester from the States, and she left today. After dinner, a bunch of us chilled at a friend's place, just playing cards the whole night. Tonight, had dinner again with Esther, who's graduated, and is leaving at the end of the month. Tomorrow, I think I'm going shopping.

A few friends are organizing an early Christmas party for us left in Melbourne, so it's not that bad, really, staying on for so long... and with a couple of movie outings planned for the next week, and just random things to do, I guess it's not that bad. And not to mention, I have yet to settle my accommodations for next year.

This post is turning out to sound rather messy and convoluted. I doubt anyone understood that whole ramble of text I just typed out. Ah well, never mind.

Seeing people leave Melbourne one by one for home makes me wish I was leaving on a plane for home too. This is the longest I've ever been away for home. I know it may not sound like a big deal - some people probably never go back at all, or they might have stayed longer than 2 years, but there's still no place like home.

On the other hand, not everyone will be there when I go back... Gosh, Ern, I have no idea when I might see you again. =( And I know there will be changes to face when I go back as well. But that's part of life, and it's inevitable.

Anyway, hope you all are doing great. Sigh... two more weeks.