|
|
Moving on!| | I finished Honours year yesterday!!! hooray!! It's been a tough, long and teary journey but I made it through because the Lord brought me through countless of times... New Hope's current series is 'God of 2nd chances'. I've been given alot more than just a 2nd chance. God promised to nor forsake or leave me and He didn't.
The friends He blessed me with stood by me all the way from KL, Perth and Adelaide. Not to mention those over here in Brisbane too.
Bec, Sarah & I at Cafe 21...
Bec and I had lamb shanks with pesto mash, Sarah had seafood paella.
Then we had brownies for dessert and lots of shopping after (window, that is)
I miss Sarah!
She helped me so much with my thesis, proofreading it and analysed it like hers was done by her supervisors. She even helped me with printing which was so terribly slow... took us about 2 hrs to print 3 copies because I had tonnes of immunofluorescent images in it; binding when the office at IMB closed, we had to run to bldg 76 to get it bind, without her (who worked at 76), I wouldn't have known to go there to get my thesis bound. She also then ran with me to the Biotech office to submit it...
She's now in cold cold wintry Canada... excited about white Christmas.
Bec's gone for a holiday in Melbourne but will be back to graduate with the rest of us.
They were among the handful who understood what I was going through... many thought Honours is just Honours year without realising how much tears shed and the sleepless nights/guilt-filled sleeps we had. Praise the Lord, we finished this journey!
Although I nearly gave up so many times, I finished it! I've learnt how important it is to set my priorities right, to manage my time well, to break large tasks into smaller manageable chunks, to keep fit, to attend lab meetings although it doesn't seem like i'll learn anything but i actually do, to do things in parallel instead of finishing one task before moving onto another, to constantly bug my supervisor and people in the lab, and most important, to TRUST in the LORD nomatter how gloomy everything seems. I believe now that there is a silver lining in every cloud, the right angle of sun ray shining on the cloud will reveal it... and that sun is God.
The ray shining upon the cloud revealed its silver lining.
Aaron and I saw this on our way back from Cleveland.
I've learned that I need to face Him, talk to Him... i used to talk to Him like a crazy woman talking to herself... then that faded when I had an iPod. But my iPod has been helping me worship God too! So i've also learned to balance everything I do, I need to talk to God, i need to worship Him... there is a very fine margin there.
I thought I'll be aimless and mindless for a while... but nope, I have tonnes of things to do starting today.
Saturday 2/12 and Sunday 3/12
- MAJOR house cleaning and mow the lawn
Monday 4/12
-go to the immigration and find out about PR applications
Tuesday 5/12
-go to SSS, start writing my resume
-clear out my freezer space in the lab... (distribute my frozen cells around, give Richa DEP-1 antibodies)
Wednesday 6/12
-get my resume proofread
-do some PR application paperwork
-Send my resumes (hopefully!)
-attend friend's graduation
Thursday 7/12
-Shop for something to wear to graduation
Friday 8/12
-Clean the house again
-attend friend's graduation
Saturday 9/12
-someone very important is arriving from Adelaide in the morning... just for my graduatioN!!! so exciting!
-catch up and do some grocery shopping
-dad arriving at night
Sunday 10/12-12/12
-travel with dad, catch up with special friend
Wednesday 13/12
-Graduation...
Thursday 14/12-15/12
-more travelling
Saturday 16/12
-morning flight to melbourne
I will not be going home this year although dad bought my ticket... we just found out from some bossy singaporeans that I won't be able to enter Australia if I leave on my student visa. They questioned me like I'm dumb. It started like a normal conversation, "are you going back for holiday?", "are you still studying?", "are you applying for PR"... they asked all this... and I answered yes, no and yes. Then the bombardment came, Why are u going back? you cannot come back on ur student visa!! Another then repeated "yea, thats why i was wondering why are u going back!"... for one, I really WANT TO GO HOME after 2 years! secondly, I just finished my honours, i didn't bother to look it up at the immigration till next week. But thank God, we met them anyways... or I would probably have gone home happily to only realise on the way back here that I cannot come back. As painful as it is to swallow this, it would be painful then too.
In need of a rant space:
At the moment, we're in deep shit. He expects us to cook for him, but when we were too busy, he cooked only for himself and sometimes, his gf. He is capable of cooking, why can't he help us out? That's alright. So we just continued to cook for him till his exams finished, hoping he'd help us after that because we still have ours to do. Nope, computer game was his priority, days and nights. Next priority, his gf. People often use the excuse that they're busy with uni work to do housework or cook etc... it's not valid when on holiday! It's not even valid when not on holiday! we are all busy, life is busy, that's the balance we need to juggle with living healthily with good hygienes, which will improve our work!
Initially, he helps out with some of the house chores... then, mr slacker came along and we've been doing everything. Why does he need to be told what to do and when to help? He's this big kid who needs his mum to even remind him to renew his visa. We've been taking care of a child. We need to feed him, clean up after him, make sure things are in order because he is just plain irresponsible! We've found entire bottle of milk left at room temperature for hours countless of times! Some people just never learn to not storm up the stairs or through a wooden house, to leave slippers strewn across the top of the staircase as hazardous material, to leave wet dishes on the bench tops (which never ever dries! because water just accumulates under and seep into the crack between the top layers, not to mention the hard-to-clean watermarks!), to hang dry a wet cloth to prevent it from becoming a cesspool of germs and bacteria on the bench, to wipe the table after eating!, to rid the smell in the toilet after a big business (we bought candles, air fresheners!), to just simply help! We've told him nicely over the few months... it helps shit!
He was going to stay till end of January when my cousin comes over early Feb. God certainly heard me this morning when I said 'i can't wait till he moves' because we set this weekend to clean, he said he has to send his gf somewhere today... and to leave whatever that needs to be done for him... great! how could we leave things behind for him to do.... that's not nice, how do we even judge what tasks to be left for him?... nvm, so in frustration, aaron and I set out to clear and clean the kitchen and living room... These spaces first because Su Hung is arriving tonight and will be sleeping in the living room. Anyway, he came home to find his stuffs (luggage bag, laundry bag, stereo box, fan box) in his room. We arranged it nicely... it fits behind the large space behind his door that he doesn't use. We moved our stuffs into our rooms too, so it wasn't directed at him.
Then, he made a phonecall, and then he told Aaron that he's moving out TOMORROW! Frankly, we don't really care about the day he moves, just that he should be responsible for his words. Now, he has placed a huge financial burden on top the ones we already bear. Aaron discussed with him to possibly pay till end of Dec... although I really think he should pay up till end of Jan because that's the agreement. But Aaron being nice Aaron, told him to just pay till end of Dec with the same reason that he said he'll stay till end of Jan. But no, he refused! I dare not think of my capabilities if i were there! I'm furious now! So is Aaron. Just another one of his irresponsible acts! He's working and his parents send his thousands... my dad sends me hundreds, aaron has to work! It's not that he cannot afford it... and it is rightly his responsibility! Sadly, we only have spoken agreement... friends, why do we need written agreement?!?!
As much as we want to stay friends, it's not getting easier. Now, we have all this cleaning to do... he said he'll help... nope, he's been moving his things into his car over the hour. We'll see...
We do appreciate the help he gave with driving to the markets... and sometimes, to the supermarkets, and sometimes, when we're late to uni or aaron to work. we do appreciate all that, but I guess he expected too much from us, and we from him. I remember the heavy burden I had when Aaron went to Heron Island for a week. I had to take care of another person! I had alot of experiments to catch up on, my PDP to write, and I had to come home and cook for him. A few people knew how I felt those weeks. Then Aaron came back and took the burden upon himself. We've been thinking of telling him that we'll stop sharing groceries for convenience sake, but I guess we don't need to worry about telling him anymore.
We should have made a roster when he moved in... but he was okie those few couple of weeks! so we thought it'll be alright. How wrong of us. Oh well.... not a problem anymore..... though we still need to clean the hse, our rooms, the blinds, the fans, the windows, the garden, mow the lawn, by tomorrow because Monday to Friday are fully scheduled for paperwork and office visiting.
We just prayed. We always have housemate problems. We probably are terrible housemates. What is wrong with wanting a clean living space? I think the problem is that, the burden was put upon two instead of being carried by three. We're already very 'chin chai' ok! The last major house cleaning was during the mooncake festival in September, which Aaron did most of the cleaning when I had to take lots of microscope images for my lab talk on the next day... so I thought he'll help Aaron... he did with a little here and there, then sat down and played with his computer game. Aaron and I have been cleaning bits and pieces of the house e.g. toilet, sinks, shower, kitchen, vacuum and mop the floors ever since September. The worst bit is that he just sits there and watches tv or play his computer game... then he'll come and ask "need help?". Duh! You're an adult, don't just sit and wait for us to ask, which isn't very nice too!
Ironically, things always break when we live with others. My cake pans scratched and rusted, shower door dislocated, toaster stop toasting, floors scratched even though we warned and stucked sticky cushions under the legs of the metal chairs he found, Aaron's Tefal pan scratched with the scourer, ice cube trays broke, glasses, mugs, plates and bowls broke...endless list that i don't bother to remember. All happened within the 2.5 yrs we lived with others. How I yearn for those times in Altitude, where there were only me and Aaron and our functional items and problem-free lives. Now, we can only hope he'll finally come to his senses and help with t he rent... or hope that I'll get a job soon, even that can only start in January.
| | | Posted 12/2/2006 5:04 PM - 17 Views - 2 eProps - 1 Comment
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
|
