A Crabbit Old Woman Wrote This

This poem was found among the possessions of an old lady who died in the geriatric ward of Ashludie Hospital, near Dundee.

What do you see, nurses, what do you see?
Are you thinking when you are looking at me;
A crabbit old woman, not very wise,
Uncertain of habits, with far away eyes.
Who dribbles her food and makes no reply,
When you say in a loud voice, "I do wish you'd try."
Who seems not to notice the things that you do
And forever is losing a stocking or shoe.
Who, unresisting or not, lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding, the long day to fill.
Is that what you're thinking, is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse, you're looking at me.

I'll tell you who I am, as I sit here so still,
As I do your bidding, as I eat at your will,
I'm a small child of ten with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters, who love one another.
A young girl of sixteen with wings on her feet,
Dreaming that soon now a lover she'll meet.
A bride at twenty, my heart gives a leap,
Remembering the vows that I promised to keep.
At twenty-five now I have young of my own,
Who need me to build a secure, happy home.

A woman of thirty, my young now grow fast,
Bound to each other with ties that should last.
At forty my young sons have grown up and gone,
But my man's beside me to see I don't mourn.
At fifty, once more, babies play round my knee,
Again we know children, my loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me, my husband is dead,
I look to the future, I shudder with dread,
For my young are all rearing young of their own,
And I think of the years and the love that I've known.

I'm an old woman now and nature is cruel,
'Tis her jest to make old age look like a fool,
The body it crumbles, grace and vigour depart,
There is now a stone where I once had a heart.
And now and again my battered heart swells,
I remember the joys, I remember the pain,
And I'm loving and living life all over again.
I think of the years all too few, gone too fast,
And accept the stark facts that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, nurses, open and see,
Not a crabbit old woman, look closer - see ME.

This poem was found in our community news. I think it speaks for itself.

Chilli Crackers and Diesel Go-Karts (Part 2 of 2)

Went for enrollment this afternoon and it was scorching hot! I'm so glad I had my sunscreen on otherwise I'd develop cancer already hahahaha. Sat in the lecture theater for about 1 hr listening to the unit descriptions. My confidence grew as the presentations went on- I now know what I'm supposed to do! After the presentations, we were told to go to the computer labs to enroll online. Finished that then had to get my Deakin Student I.D. card which was surprisingly quick; only had to wait like what? 5 seconds? On the way out I passed by the card reload station and attempted to load cash into my student card. FAILED horribly; the machine seemed pretty convinced that it didn't want to accept my card. GRRR..so I gave up and phoned dad to pick me up. I'll try again next time with someone more...knowledgeble.

OKay, part 2 of 2 (continued)

Australia Day (26th of January) was also the first day of the new Lunar Year. It was a while since we had a real family gathering so we came up with several ideas of how to spend the day. At first we were planning to go fishing where there will this guy who will teach us how to fish in a 4 hour long session (we get to cook the fish we catch for lunch/dinner) but that costs $75 per person. Too expensive; scraped that idea. Mum wanted to go to the beach to pick whatchamacallit? Pipis? Some kind of shellfish. But then we have to buy a licence to actually pick them. Sigh...Australia and her strict regulations. Dad cbb to buy one so mum suggested we go to the city to visit China Town and enjoy the festivities. Gave that idea a thought decided nahhhhhhhh, it's tiring getting there and there's bound to be loads of people. Plus it gets a bit boring and it won't feel like a family gathering. So last idea (our idea - the children) was to go to Adventure Park Geelong - this supposedly newly opened water theme park.

Fastforward to next morning

0700 hrs Monday Jan 26
Woke up, changed into our swimware, prepared food/drinks etc.

0740 hrs
In car ready to go. Dad setting the GPS.

0740 - 0945 hrs (approx 2 hrs)
I slept most the way there...dunno about the rest. Dad as usual...driving.

0945 - 1000
Arrived at the entrance. A queue has already formed. Had to wait a while for our turn to be admitted it costs $32 for an adult/child over 1.2 meters in height. I expected a paper pass (the ones where you stick in around your wrists but they gave us a stamp instead. I questioned the durability of the ink underwater and was told that the ink is waterproof (interesting~) *I still have the stamp mark on my wrist until now...it's faded though but still visible*

1000 - 1630
Sunny fun! I didn't manage to take photos of the wet rides...obviously it wouldn't be good for the camera to be in wet hands. There wasn't a lot of photos of dad and mum cos we went off by ourselves and I took the camera with me. Shame. I know.

Adventure Park Geelong

A very fine day indeed.

But what's up with Mark?

I think he was jealous of that guy's arm floats.

Don't worry, here's a yummy compensation :)

And look at our neighbors...

...and *gasp* what are you doing?? Trying to sneak more food?

Up and down. Side to side.
(The bridge was very unstable...it swings D: I feared for my clothes didn't want them wet again. Haha.)

But hey! Look at the fun they're having! Me likes those aquabikes.

Cue cue cue for archery!

"...could be dangerous" You don't say...

On to a safer pastime - Gol-!...putting...

Give your hair a flick

*Random shot insert*

And they yell, "Wheeeeeeee!"

My feeble attempt at kung fu. Haha.
(was actually trying to regain balance)

Maneuvering the waterways...

Contrary to popular belief, dad is actually wearing pants...really really short ones...

1630-1830
Home bound.

The most enjoyable rides for me were the Aqua Racer, Go Karting and canoeing. I think it's partly cos I like the adrenaline rush. However...Sunway Lagoon in KL is still much more fun. It's bigger and has plenty of wet and dry rides.

Hotest week in a century.

Tue (Jan 27) - 38°c
Wed (Jan 28) - 41°c
Thurs (Jan 29) - 40°c
Fri (Jan 30) - 40°c
Sat (Jan 31) - 40°c
Sun (Feb 1) - 31°c
Mon (Feb 2) - 30 °c

The temperature in Melbourne for the week ahead. Die.

Majors

I..have...to...pick...my...majors...tomorrow. Please pray that I'll have the wisdom I need to choose them.

Chilli Crackers and Diesel Go-Karts (Part 1 of 2)

Just came back from Geelong. It's about 2 hours drive from Melbourne central. My eyes are red and sore...I'm heavy-headed and tired...but in a pretty good mood. It's the first day of CNY and also Australia Day!

Happy Chinese New Year (or 'Bully' New Year according to Alan) and happy Australia Day!!!

Before I continue with events that happened today, I'll rewind back to yesterday's Chinese New Year Eve.

As usual we went to church. The speaker that day encouraged "BUILDing" people up. Be it through your Belief in them and their abilities; Understanding; Inspiring others; Loveing them and be ready for Danger that is having the courage to go out and serve God not being a mundane (means earthly/laid-back) Christian. A lovely acronym, don't you think?

After church we went grovery shopping then I had to return my 4 overdue books (that's -$3 from my wallet *defeated sigh* and I've only managed to finish 1 out of the 4 books!

Okamied at home, cbb to defeat the boss (I was pretty tired) then had to make salad to bring to Olivia's "tuan yuan fan" that night. The salad was pretty good - lettuce, egg, potato, chicken breast and a good dollop of caesar salad dressing anddd I forgot to add salt and pepper so it tasted quite bland. I had a generous amount of GOOD CHINESE FOOD.
Loved Olivia's mum's bee hoon; managed a few cups of sago and cincau (made me really full); tasted some jellyfish-like-substance made from rice (ewww); had a few forkfuls of mee goreng; tried to finish a cup of red wine but accepted defeat and gave the rest to dad; attempted a chicken wing but my stomach had other ideas and decided to reject it...so I ended up pleading Mark to finish it for me; had an awesome time taking photos with Olivia, Shi Wei and Esther;

Don't you want me to cut your hair??

I guess we were a teeny bit bored.

This is what teens do when they're bored. Tread with caution.

Note Esther's expression. Classic.

Mega punch (slow-mo)

laughed at the lengths people go to to win a game (make the longest line possible using anything found on yourself - shoes, socks, necklaces, etc.);

Line of shoes...

Dorama Panorama!

had a blast playing with chilli crackers...

Dandelion in the Night-time.

and cheered on Jelena Dokic in her quarter-finals qualification round.

Go Jelena!

A jolly good day.

Frustrated

Every time I start my post on my Malaysia trip the internet fails or my computer fails...and the thought of rewriting everything dissuaded me from continuing (for now) I'll try again some other day.

As for today I want to share with you this really interesting site Esther stumbled upon. It has a rather therapeutic quality with the combined nature of art and music. I recommend it for anyone under stress or just plain bored.

Play Auditorium

The aim of this whole thing is to manipulate the flow of light particles with given direction pointers to fill in the boxes. There is no true 'way' or 'answer' its up to your imagination and creativity."Winter"

"Spring"

There are 4 levels I presume since it started off with "Winter" then "Spring". I haven't had the chance to proceed to Summer/Autumn yet as the levels get harder and harder. Look at the art you create. Capital.

Btw, congratulations to Barack Obama - 1st African-American President. May God Bless you and your family (and Joe Biden and family) :D

I'll leave you with Rick Warren's inauguration prayer:
(Here's the text vers.)

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory.

History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is One.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now, today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hingepoint of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.Give to our new President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you. We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

Amen to that.