Surprise!!! I got the official wedding invitation today from Mayu 🙂 So very excited! The wedding is going to be in Gold Coast. Yay!!!
I feel bad that I am not able to help her with the wedding preparation. It should be fun doing it, I suppose! Planning for a small and intimate wedding is much more fun than "mass wedding", as I call it.
So what about having a barbie this arvo? LOL. It sounds funny now since it’s been so long that I heard these words appear!
I got it!!! It was on SALE for 140 Euro (600 ringgit) including luggage, LCCT bus ticket, and taxes!
GRADUATE before August! The most important thing ever!
This is the apartment I shared with Jenn and Mayu, where we lived for 2 years. It was in this living/dining room that we constantly played poker and Big Two until late at night, watched a Korean drama series for two days non-stop, and had dinner with friends. A lot of memories here!
Exploring museums and having an afternoon walk on the banks of Brisbane River in South Bank with my housemates and Mayu’s mom. It was such a great weather!
This was taken at my farewell dinner in South Bank. I remember I had this farewell a week BEFORE exams, when I didn’t even know whether I would be graduating or not! Hahaha! I had no choice! Good thing that a lot of people showed up. It was one of the best nights!
One of the foods that I really miss? Definitely Nando’s! Well, true, it’s not an Aussie food, but I can’t find it in the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, or even in Indonesia!!! How sad! I have to go all the way to Singapore or Malaysia to eat this! Somebody needs to open a Nando’s branch in Jakarta!!! I’m sure we’ll love it! and… oh… they really should make an EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA HOT Peri-Peri sauce! Hehehe.
I was sent an invitation to attend the UQ Centenary Reception in London both via post and email. The event will be held to celebrate the 100 years of UQ. Too bad I can’t attend the event. The idea of applying a UK visa is already too complicated for me. And I won’t be in Europe during that time.
It’s just crazy how much money UQ has spent for these centenary events since the beginning of this year! The reception itself has been held in 12 cities in 9 different countries! It was even held in Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok all together. Sadly, I missed all of them and I’ll miss another event again.
Pizza Cafe, which served the most DELICIOUS Italian pizza I had ever tested! I couldn’t find the replacement of it, yet!
The cozy, quiet, and homey libraries scattered around the campus. My favorite was the Biological Sciences Library.
The ITEE (IT & Electrical Engineering) building! This was the place where I spent my sleepless nights with my project mates, tweaking codes and starring at the computer. My longest record staying in the building was 13 hours straight.
The lake. The parks. The green spaces. The scary birds that attacked my head :D. And definitely, The Great Court!!!
The weekly market which used to sell high quality & sweet strawberries!
I recently read news about the government’s plan to impose a 1-hour earlier closing time for pubs and clubs in the state of Queensland. Currently, a lock-out time is 3am (which means people cannot enter entertainment venues after 3am, even though they have been inside before) and shutting time is 5am. The proposed plan aims at reducing the risk of alcohol-fueledÂ violence, which is very common in Queensland by the way. But many young people oppose this plan, of course — and try so hard to stop the government not to impose it.
When I was in Brisbane,Â I used to live in the center, between the city center and the Fortitude Valley.Â I remember how unsecured I was to be walking alone at 9pm or even earlier during the weekends (and by the way, Fortitude Valley was the most dangerous place to be in Brisbane at night). People got drunk on the street. Screaming. Laughing. Threw stuff. Fighting. I heard and saw those. It was a scary scene. I loathe to take a night train or night bus because I can smell the alcohol from far away. It’s disgusting! Not to mention to hear those people screaming and swearing! For some reasons, when they got drunk, they became really crazy. And really scary!
How come I’ve never seen the kind of scene in the Netherlands? (Oh I hope I’ll never encounter this!). But still, I sometimes come home at 12am or 2am and I feel okay. I’m always careful, of course; but I’ve never seen such crazy drunk people on the street.
What is staring us in the face is the one thing nobody wants to address – Australia’s drinking culture.
It sounds scary I know, and even worse it’s not an issue reserved purely for the ‘apathetic’ youth. I hate to rain on anyone’s parade but Australia has a drinking problem and it’s about time we took a real hard look at ourselves.
The damage alcohol causes to Australians is all too clear, with 1500 hospital admissions each week and 3,000 deaths per year. Not to mention the increasing public concern of lawless cities spurred on by regular reports of alcohol-related assaults, knifings and glassings. I doubt that a lockout is going to fix these problems, nor will increased police presence. What we’re in need of is a big old shake up.
It’s a scary thing. 1500 hospital admissions each week due to alcohol damage?!?! That’s insane.
Well, I agree with the author; earlier lock-out doesn’t solve the root of the problems. And I bet thatÂ violenceÂ on the street will likely to increase if the premises are to be shut down earlier. More people will get drunk on the street rather than on the pubs or clubs and that’ll certainly create more problems!