Greetings, or as the Australians say G'Day! Bernard Sam back on the blogspot in 2011 to bring you more exciting news on how my brain operates, so hang on to your eyeballs 'cause here it comes.
Well, first, good news: I created this post 6 days before schedule. Looks like someone's earned himself some waffles.
It wasn't easy, but seeing as I have 4 hours left before the next class I've become quite attached to this PC in the RMIT Swanston Library.
Little did I know though, that this blog post would need a lot more than 4 hours. But more on that later.
So the Summer Break.
First, big changes to my PSN Account. It's been bother not being able to change my region from Hong Kong to Australia, and an even bigger bother wondering why 2006 me even went with Hong Kong as my region. So this holiday, I pulled the plug off my old account and came up with bernS93 losing all my Trophies and Saves in the process. It was painful, sure, but at least I won't be getting Mandarin Mail anymore.
Next, probably the biggest highlight of the Summer, Joshua Lee staying over for a little more than two weeks. That's right, Joshua Lee flew over to Melbourne this year, and was his flight crazy? You could say that. In probably what equates to a one in a billion chance, his flight took 12 hours instead of the normal 8. On his flight one poor chap kicked the bucket (bless his soul), and they had to land in Alice Springs (a city in the Northern Territory of Australia). Before landing, naturally they had to spend one hour dispelling the excess fuel. Then after retake-off, five uneventful minutes passed before the next incident: a lady contracting a heart attack. Another hour was taken to remove the fuel, before relanding at the same runway. As the lady was seen to by medical professionals, another 60 minutes was used to refuel the plane. Fortunately the next take-off ended without any passengers falling to the clutches of anything. Plus, because the airport in Alice Springs was without any terminal, all passengers were to remain on the plane. Bummer.
We spent the first few days catching up. Joshua's expertise in advice was the conrnerstone of his plan to make me regret my not taking action in the past. I needed to talk to someone, person to person and he's always been surprisingly sensitive in matters of the heart. Unfortunately, I never seem to listen to him at the beginning. Maybe it's because of his tendencies to sock my family jewels.
One of the first trips we had was to Puffy Billy -- this train ride through the green mountains of Australia. Before he came I built up his anticipation for this train ride so much so that he claimed he would finally achieve the dreams of every Chinese boy: flailing his legs out of a moving train without anyone to stop him. He seemed to enjoy it as much.
During the days leading up to Christmas, Joshua and I headed out to explore beyond the boundaries of my neighbourhood. Of all the time I've been here, it never occured to me that there was a woods growing just 5 minutes of a walk from my place. We just found the very old-side of Merri Park, and we'd spend majority of the holidays here.
At first it seemed like the sort of place you'd run into in a Horror Film, but it turned out to actually be a really old park without all that pizazz. Despite its unsnazzy presentation it really was a great place to go and gain perspective. The river, the birds, the earth; it all felt so serene. We eventually made it to a bridge, a really precarious large one. Then, right on the other side was this entirely new park that looked better kept! After a bit of more walking we found a giant field that connected with the local highschool and it was amazing. This was the spot we'd bring everyone to in the afternoons and evenings. Watching the sunsets were breathtaking. On some days, the sky would be purple and on others it would be a blazing orange, setting fire to all the clouds.
Christmas this year was a little more special. It was the day my Dad and Grandfather touched down in Melbourne. It was great to see both of them again after so long. Right after, my dad insisted we open the presents he brought for all of us. Honestly seeing him again was the best gift I could have ever asked for. Ellya received a flash gun for her DSLR and an iPad, Joshua a pair of snazzy Shure Earphones and myself an iPad (an amazing device for web surfing) and wireless blutooth headphones my dad snagged from a Microsoft Convention in the States. We went for Yum Cha straight after.
Christmas was also the first day in our epic travels all over Melbourne. Over a couple of days, we had travelled down the entire line of Tram 109!
On the 30th of December, we heard Estee was in town and we needed to meet up with Bernard Keo, so to figuratively kill two birds with one stone, we decided to head to the Port Melbourne Beach. The sun was shining the entire day, but it wasn't exactly burning. We had lunch in Melbourne Central, hopped into a tram and went on picking out spots to camp at. We weren't the only ones making use of the good day, but it wasn't too packed. Estee and Ellya went to sunbathe or whatever girls normally do at beaches while us men went to build sandcastles and explore. There was a beached jellyfish that we refused to touch and sandcastle making was just too challenging. So instead we decided to bury Joshua and make a
Sunburns weren't exactly a problem. Joshua doused his face with the stuff but his face ended up becoming the reddest. All of us turned out nicely tanned, and I ended up getting sunburns on the tops of my feet. My feet. Incredible.
Eventually after loads of shopping and staring at weird T's, we bought ourselves a Disc Frisbee to help us reenact our dreams of being in Tron's Grid. Man, can this baby fly. We'd go to the field and park nearly everyday just to blow off steam or get out of the house. Joshua, Ellya and I climbed all manner of climbable things from trees to poles to jungle gyms.
Me: "WE'RE RUNNING AGAINST THE WIND. YOU'RE OF A LARGER SURFACE AREA. YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR ELEMENT"
We even have videos of each of us climbing three different mediums. Due to mutual understand, we will not post these videos. Trust me, it's for the world's sake. Joshua and I did even crazier things when it was just the two of us. Rolling down hills, fighting like jet planes with slippers on swings, anything you can think of. The worse part is I just know he videotaped me and he's great at exaggeration.
New Year's Eve was unbearable hot. With a high of 42ºC it was insane. The cooling nature of breezes was replaced with intense heat waves. Shade became essential. We all agreed this year's new year didn't exactly provide in the punches, but we still headed to the park to watch the fireworks explode above the treeline and against the skyline. Beautiful.
Oh and I'm not sure if you noticed it, but iPhone Alarms went ballistic. Refusing to ring, I wasn't the only one facing sleeping-in issues. Thank heavens it was resolved before school began.
This was the first in 4 years that I wasn't experiencing Cempaka School's first day of school. It felt odd enough, but Joshua, Ellya and I could all agree that the new kids faces were priceless; the things we missed. Hopefully they're having a blast with the new seniors!
My dad and grandpa left on the 2nd of January. But it's okay, dad's flying back in March!
The last trip we took with Joshua was to the Weribee Park Mansion. We've been here a couple of times in the past few months but it great to show Josh around.
Joshua left on my first day of returning to college. I woke up early (shocker right?) to send him off, returned home and zipped on off to college. I have to admit the house is a lot more quiet without the betch around but I'm glad I still have my mum and Ellya.
All I can say is, 2010 ended brilliantly and 2011 started on all the right notes. Here's to a brand new year to all who did (and didn't) make it to the end of this beefy post!
NOTE: This post was created a week ago, but finished today at 12:49AM, 12.01.2011 what with all the homework and studies (and Nazi Zombies). Examinations are in a week for a week, so I've been at hard work preparing. All in all, I'm hoping I'll be able to churn out more posts consistently this year! Cheers.
*photos above are courtesy of my mum & Ellya, with the exception of Port Melbourne which was of Estee
Foundation Studies Science, Engineering & Technology
17.01.2011 - 21.01.2011
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