The amazing cost of living here

My grand plans of enrolling in a university with a seriously sprawling campus have been reduced to this...



Promise of a grand faculty has been swapped for a conference room in the city's Collins Street, why do I feel so cheated? =) Politics, they say, is the reason behind having classes in the city and not on campus. And the city, is yes, $9.90 away from home, and probably an hour's worth of travel.

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Also on the radar...

It's been a while since I've been here, and I'm quite quickly reminded to the rising costs of living on this behemoth of an island.

Just today I spent
$9.90 - Daily train/tram ticket to get to school
$13.50 - Cheap As phone I picked up from a Chinese discount store
$3.95 - For a telephone extension cable
$2.00 - For a telephone multi-adaptor
$5.45 - Cheap As McDonald's happy meal for lunch
$9.45 - for 5 stamps for regular postage back to Singapore

The train ticket just killed me. That's $13SGD to get from Pasir Ris to Jurong.

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Lastly, this country is crazy over Shrek.

Japanese dinner

Thing about Melbourne is, most Japanese diners are inconceivably run by Chinese. So I was skeptical when I walked past this joint (in Clayton town) on a number of occassions. "Jyu Jyu" it's called, and the signboard says they're famed for their sushi rolls. With my new found buddy from Sichuan, Ryan in tow, we bravely ventured in. But that's only because the nearby Malaysia Garden restuarant was closed (they close Mondays). And lo and behold - Authentic Japanese matronly chef and wait staff. And, with a kitchen that took up more than half of the floorspace, they had to be serious about the food.






I evidentally enjoyed my dinner very much - they took 20minutes to prepare my bento set consisting gyoza and teriyaki chicken which was massively tender. And it cost all of $7 flat. Not too shabby. Will definitely return. After all, it's "my favourite Japanese restaurant" as their banner suggests.

My Quarters

Pictures of my quarters. It's the smallest room in the house, but it's got an ensuite bathroom, so no complaints.





Thought of the day - "The world gets infinitely small when you behold the stars up above you." Now, go take a look. Oh wait, we don't see that many stars in Singapore do we? =)

Cooking over the days...

| Stir-fried beef |



| Beef Curry that went with prata |



| Mee Goreng with Egg |



| Black-bean fried noodles with Cuttelfish Balls, Tao Pok and Sliced Luncheon Meat. |

Evidence of my domestication over the days... All dishes came with massive amounts of carrots, lettuce and button mushrooms (cause nothing comes in small portions here, well most.) Total cost for cooking over about 4 meals? Thereabouts $15. Not too bad at all. Considering an average meal would cost from a cheapest $6 to $10 for an average meal with a drink.

It is day 11, and classes start soon on Tuesday!

Prata and Teh and the Tenth Day

So here I am. Day 10. And...Prata and teh makes a happy man. Prepared them for myself at home in anticipation of the Prata Empire I have been envisioning. Made some beef curry too, and boy was it hot. The sales assistant from the local Indian grocer was right - it was powerful. Be careful of this product - Laziza International's Karahi Fry/Paste. Very powerful. Brought tears to my eyes.

And, as I am typing this and doing the search online to find u the picture of the powerful product - I found this. http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2004/mar/laziza - traces of illegal contamination? Hmm. My melbourne adventure's certainly got no lack of zest. A daily update of my first coupla days to come soo!

And yes, I finally have internet connection at home. It's been a grand 10-day wait, and I hope my life will not deteriorate after this new installation.

This is also noteworthy. People love to hurl their old shoes onto powerlines high above. Not sure if it's clear enough, but that one lucky chap managed to get his shoes sitting nicely on the lines, like a high-altitude acrobat's sure-footed stance.

More to come folks. Will need some more time to settle down and begin writing music again. In the meantime, stay healthy, and keep breathing well.

alive.

am alive.

more to come. no internet access where i am at at the moment. need to make trips down to campus, which is a staggering 30-minute fast walk away! voluntarily bought a 'mandatory' monash t-shirt to mark my stay here, and it's 4 degrees in the day. quite hardcore. but nice. surburb i am staying at is like little india. lovely spices all over!

thought to share at the moment? "Keep your mind wide open".

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Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.

So. 2 more days to orbit.

Three times in a row, that's how many times I've caught transformers in just over two days. Once with the bassist, once with the old friends from secondary school, and once with the KC.

I want Peter Cullen's voice. I did not want Jazz to die. And did anyone notice that Barricade (the police car), went missing during the final showdown in the city?

It got better everytime I watched it. First I frowned on the infestation of humans, then I marvelled at the CG/Live Action wizardry, and then I realised what a good actor Shia Labeouf was. And then yes, I noticed Barricade went AWOL. And hardly anyone got the "More than meets the eye" dig. Darn! Also, loved Bumblee's protective blast shades.

Now, with a little bit of energon and a little bit of luck, I'll just about catch it a few more times to see where Barricade went off to.