Bit by bit leading to my farewell in Perth

#Farewell dinner :( 26 Nov 2011, Sorrento Restaurant - Northbridge

I knew cellies coming and a few close friends like peiwen, but kinda surprised that 20+ of you turned up! I feel veryyyy lovedddd! :)

Many photos from this post are from peiwen's cam! Thankssss.

Weijing, arnold, bryan

The people who came for the dinner, much love ;)

I believe she did a lot of planning with steph, thankyouuuuu! :]

shareen, me and lee mun

hitomi, isabella, me, ivan, ben and colin

Also, didn't expect to be showered all these for my leaving. Love each and everything. And the fujifilm instant cam, must be pw's idea tooo! hee. I secretly read the purple photo book again and again, all the messages so touching:(

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24 Nov 2011

Met my cellies right after my last paper @ Utopia, Northbridge, some of them are leaving on that day too

East perth to have tea in The Royale, chcolate drink and cakes, yums

steph, me, venny and yihlim

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3 Dec 2011

First wedding in Perth attended - Max and Jacquelyn's from church :) A very interesting ceremony @ Wesley Uniting Church, Perth CBD.

Leonel, me and khang wee

Fei, Yihlim, Felicia, me and Venny

# My last usher serving in church :(

My usher team! :D

when peiwen and me wore the almost same shade for usher :)

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Ex-cell photo!

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1 Dec 2011

Ex Georges College Mates in Garden City Mall, got a farewell card from them :)

Shan, Debbie and Me

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1 Dec 2011

AIESEC Finance team chilling in Bryneleigh bar, Hampden Road!

Ivan, me, Laura, Weigen and Ross

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Steph's 21st @ Cafe Valentino, Northbridge!

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25 Nov 2011

Breakfast @ Shafto Cafe a day after my final paper with peiwen, stephanie and rachel

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Last dinner with Soo Shan & Sheryl @ Matsuri Japanese Restaurant, Perth CBD

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Last gathering @ my room in St Georges College, I've forbid them to visit my room for the year, so I made an exception since it's our last night there! :P

They have been great buddies to me, college meals will be soo loner and boring without them :)

Adrian, Me, Ming and Andrew behind

I misss all of youu! Cliche-y but soo great to have known them which made my Perth stay of 2.5 years very memorable. ;)

Jurien Bay 27-30 Nov 2011

# Day 1

I was very looking forward to this after exams. 16 of us went. Quite a big group but we knew mostly everyone so that's fine. We departed right after church service and lunch in Maccas.

My car mates at the back!

1st Pitstop, they were throwing stones and see who throw the furthest. Back to childhood.

quadruple piggyback

Our holiday home! Some of them helped out to cook dinner while the 'younger' bunch went out to play! Haha. Dedicated Arnold and Christine prepared all the food and ingredients beforehand, masterchefs indeed.

We were running to the beach to catch a glimpse of this amazing creation

peiwen and my room! attached bathroom too!

#Day 2

Since we're just chilling by the sea, the boys decided to dig a hole as self entertainment! And Ivan was buried vertically.

#Day 3

peiwen, me and pauline around Lake Thetis, those you see beside are bacteria formation! Not rocks.

Pinnacles Desert!

Trying to smile like peiwen :P

Me, Arnold, Ivan, Pauline, Khang Wee

The convoy of cars

Loving the jump shot :)

Boys and girls of this roadtrip

Icypoles for dessert after a longgg day

# Day 4

pretty beach

<3

playing with wildflowers

pretty boys? Bryan, Arnold and Ivan

Another beach :)

So we ended our 4 days 3 nights trip wonderfully with the natureee! And the awesome company. I very very love and miss all the roadtrip moments. Wii Just Dance game had become my favourite game now but don't have the gadgets to play here.

So long peeps! :(

Last 3 weeks in Perth!

I still have 2 more heavy papers to go, Banking Theory Practice & Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets. Procrastinate a bit. So long since I wrote.

Awesome semester actually despite the load of units and work. Enjoyed the new cell group lots, knew quite a few new people. Did fun stuff together.

It'll be sad to leave all of them to go to a whole new environment and study by myself. These 3 weeks will be super precious! Butttt. . . I have so many things after exams to deal with, seriously, A LOT.

Yea, I finally got my University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign letter. That means enrolment from 21 Nov, seeking unit approvals from UWA, visa, flights, shipping my 2.5 years worth of life back to Malaysia, lots of exchange paperwork, travel insurance, etc etc. It's overwhelming.

Grateful to be able to go on exchange, yet it's an absurdly tedious process to withstand.

Update more after exams!

Swooosh! Winter break's over?

Main Highlight of Winter Break - Roadtrip to Kalbarri, Up North from Perth, 8 hours drive.

My first ever roadtrip! Sleeping with horses! :D Just gonna be a photo post. Me lazy.

Beside the hostel are home to the horses

Some park I forgot the name

Sitting on the 'Nature's Window'

Yay, riding a horse by myself! No trainer leading your horse. We have to learn some methods to turn left/right, stop the horse etc. It lasted an hour, scary experience at one point, my face almost got damaged, true story, no exagerration as the horse decided to go astray the normal path. But was blessed enough to just get cuts on my lips and forehead.

I kinda like this. :P

Untouched beach

Love sunset!

The Roadtrip Gang!

Pink Lake

#2 Shan's belated 22nd - Olivers Restaurant, Northbridge

First pumps I got from the gift card given during my birthday months ago.

I've got mail! Sooo happppy. From my darl peiying. :)

When Would a Mediocre Shine?

Randoms :

Recently results are out, 2 units are not satisfactory, the other 3 are alright, not as fantastic as those people who can get straight HDs. Just a thought, how can a mediocre like me since like forever, can breakthrough and be as smart as others?

People might say, you can do better, or, you've done your best, or results is not everything. I do agree to all statements, yes results are just a fraction of your life, but it seems that, I don't have an area, which i am specifically good at, for others, they might be mediocre academically, but they excel in piano/guitar/violin/dance/sing/drawing/sports etc etc. I do not have any of those artsy talents.

I am definitely envious of people with these criteria. Then we often heard, don't need to always compare. Sounds familiar, eh? Yet, I would want to keep up to the standards that the world as a whole set, eg. you have good merits, you'll succeed. I think around 2 years back, I saw a video about a graduate from US giving an inspiring speech, it was about 'average is the new exceptional'.

However, in this society made of all sorts of hierarchies, merit based 'cast system' and so forth, would a mediocre ever be appreciated or feeling good when surrounded by elites?

On a side note, God should be the centre of our lives, not what we do, what we achieve and what we have. It is still a barrier for people like me to let go the earthly measures and just focus on Him.

I still need to learn how to. I am not super disheartened, or grieving over it, it is just that being a mediocre, is not good enough.