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It has been 8 days since the last update. Reason? There's nothing to update. Been to the casino quite a lot the last month. Not much to gamble, but to see. There're lots of things to see over there. Human expressions and behaviours especially. The 'I won't lose the next bet' attitude.

There're lots of posters around the casino reminding patrons not to let gambling get over their heads. Helplines. Even in the cinema. Lots of familiar faces i saw, and lots of asian youths too! How much skill does it take to make a gambler successful?

There was once where i saw what i would call a hardcore addict. Its a pretty young caucasian guy playing "blackjack". Minimum bet was A$10. He was on a losing streak. Change for chips using coins and some notes. Lost eventually, but his fighting spirit was "commendable". Emptied his wallet of coins. It came up to a total of $9.90. Short of $0.10. Asked a fello caucasian man for 10 cents. Even the croupier shaked his head in disbelief. Asked the guy to go to the cashier to change the small change into notes before the croupier is willing to change for chips.

8035

Thats the number of days I've been alive. Not a number that I dreamt of, or some 4D number. You can try if you want... ;-)

Birthdays come to me just like any other day. Of all my 22 years, I'd only celebrated it say... 5-6 times??? Pretty pathetic eh?? To me, to be able to live a day happily is good enough ;-). Everyday is a birthday, if you're happy.

Rather idle these few days. There's only 1 thing on my mind right now is to get a new place for the next semester. Currently, units available are either too expensive or too far from campus. Got to wait till end of the month where there will be more units up for grab! Lelong ah! I hope ;-)

Hurts

Woke up at 5.15am. Meeting the tour guide at 7.20am at the driveway of Holiday Inn Hotel. Distance away from home? Less than 4km. Why the hell wake up so early? Got to take train to Roma Station, which is 3 train stops away, about 5-7 minutes ride. Here's the catch. The train we are taking leaves my station (Toowong) at 6.20am+, and the next train comes 30 minutes later, and we don't know where the hotel is. The 1st bus starts around 6.30am+, which we can't take, thats why the decision to wake up that early and walk to the station (20-25 minutes).

Actual timing that we were supposed to leave home was 5.50am. Due to some delays here and there, we left home late. :-(
Walked real fast. As we were about to reach Toowong Station, we saw the 6.20am+ train went past us. How? Wait for the next train and hope that the hotel is easily spotted, which we were told is beside Roma Station.

Next train arrived at 6.59am on the dot. + 7 mins max will be 7.06am. Still got time. Happily got onto the train. Guess what happened at the next station? "This train has experienced technical failures. Please cross over to Platform 4 for the next train at 7.20am"

KNN! We were like waiting in the train for about 8 minutes, thinking that it is a regular stop so that the train will meet the timing for the next stop. Damn the transportation system!

Friend A (Jerome) called the agent and told her what happened and hopefully can contact the driver/guide so that she can wait for us! No choice mate! spent A$99 for this trip already! Lan Lan have to go. Tried to hail a cab. Took us about 7 mins to get 1, and the cab fare was A$8.70. Ouch!!!

Got to the hotel driveway, saw the guide and the vehicle. A 4-WD Land Cruiser. Cool? Nah... What was supposed to sit 4 comfortably sat 8 uncomfortably. 4 on each side of window. ARGH!!!!!!! So had to tahan for about 2 1/2 hours on the road without stretching my legs.

Got off at out 1st attraction - The Natural Bridge. Had morning tea, which consist of urmm... tea and lamingtons - sponge cake coated with chocolate and coconut. Had a little walk in the natural reserve. Saw some trees, ferns, water lizards, birds, etc. Just like any natural reserve.

Next on was a 4km walk in the Springbrook Reserve. Waterfalls to add on to the list. And then lunch. On the table was rolls of different types of bread, tuna, 3 types of ham, salad, beetroot, tomatoes, cucumber, cheese, salt, pepper, 3 kinds of sauces, potato chips and a packet of tim-tam biscuits. Nice picnic................

Final attraction of the day was the glowworm "cave". Thought that it would actually be a real cave, but it turned up to be a artificial cave. Saw some green lights and thats it. Fed some parrots over there and there goes A$99.

Journey back was another torturous happening. Was actually looking out through the front windscreen all the time, hoping to see the skyscrapers in the city.

Hurt 1: Late, missed the 1st train.
Hurt 2: Brisbane transport sucks at the worst possible time.
Hurt 3: A$8.70 cab trip
Hurt 4: A 4-WD that actually squeezed 8 people at the back.
Hurt 5: A$99 not worthwhile. CHEATED!!!!
Hurt 6: My knees are giving way. Wobbling.

Hurt! Hurt! Hurt!

Movies

Casino Royale. Another James Bond movie. As you'd already know, its free seating in the cinemas, therefore, my fello Singaporean friends and I thought that we could beat the angmos by being there 1/2 and hour early. WRONG mate! By the time we were there, we were greeted by a long long queue. No more good seats. We were like 100m away from the 1st guy. But fortunately, we managed to get a pretty decent seat. It was at the side, on the upper tier, just above the entrance. Only bad thing was that there were lots of movement. People coming in late, stand there trying to find a seat while blocking my view.

Tomorrow will be a fun day. Going to the natural reserve "hike". Meals provided. Morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea. Niceee.... More photos! Keep a watchout mates!

Zoo

Australia Zoo - Home of the Crocodile Hunter. Too bad he ain't around anymore. Looks big on the map, but in actual fact, its kinda small.... not even sure if it's even 1/4 the size of Singapore Zoo.

Good thing good about the Australia Zoo is that it emphasizes on "conservation or the animals will extinct". It keeps the environment very natural, unlike Singapore where its sooooo nice and clean.

Only animals that attracted me are the Crocodiles, Kangaroos, and the Koalas! the rest sucks. Hmm.... maybe the Tigers as well... Koalas are soooo cute and soft to touch, and so are the kangaroos... felt like carpet... I've already uploaded the pictures from the zoo as well as from the fishing I'd talked about recently.

5

5 movies in 7 days.

1. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
2. Borat
3. The Descent
4. The Guardian
5. The Black Dahlia

Movies are priced at A$6.50. Student concession rate. Free seating, ample leg space, actual movie starts 15 minutes later. Free parking.

Going to the Zoo tomorrow, and some natural reserve on thursday, glow worm caves, waterfall, etc. Kinda looking forward to that. :-)

Looking Back

These few days have been very peaceful, nothing much, think i'm rotting... Had my maiden fishing trip, and it sucks. Fishing isn't for me. Starting fishing from about 2 in the morning till 6. Watched the sun rose. Would be a better sight if not for the dark clouds.

Started looking for a new place for next semester. Hope to get a new place before christmas...

Roughly 1 1/2 months more before I fly back to Singapore. Don't know why i'm doing that, but i'll be doing it. Singapore. Land of 4 million smiles.

Been thinking a lot about this word over the past few days. "Friends".
How important are them. How will they affect me. Am I what i think I am to them?

Do I need friends? I can't really figure them out. I can live alone. I'm a loner ;-). I'm perfectly fine with that. I don't like to be dependent on people. Sounds ridiculous though, but I don't really like human-networking. I don't like the idea of "because you are who and who's friend, that's why you are this and that". I believe in working to my ability, and not cut corners.

I am easily brought to conclusion on how friends treat me. I can easily categorise friends into many many categories with just 1 incident. I like to look at people, read their body languages and conclude. Once you're in the category, you will never move away from it. Scary?

Bloody lazy these few days to blog. Procrastination. Body over mind. Really hope my mind gets over my body tomorrow to blog.