望月怀远

It's Mid-Autumn Festival. Or rather, a couple of days ago. My first one in foreign land. Somehow you do miss the atmosphere and the celebrations back home. Admittedly, I never really did celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival in a big way but my family does make a point to eat some quality mooncakes (i.e. 荣华 or 奇华, and not the 冰皮s!) together with some tea from my Dad's collection. Something's obviously lacking this year. While the asian grocery shops do stock up mooncakes, there's hardly anything else to indicate the festival. I wanted to buy some 荣华 mooncakes but it costs a whopping AUD$38, which is about SGD$50-odd..

It's only at times like these that you can fully appreciate poems like "望月怀远" and "水调歌头".. The only time I managed to have a good look at the full moon was during my 10km practice run. Looking at the moon and racing through memories was indeed an interesting way to keep myself occupied during the 50-min run. Many of us here are already feeling the fatigue and can't wait to board the flight back already.. Recent chats circling around flight confirmations and bookings just goes to show how eager we are to return already, although perhaps I'm top of the list for that. I was disappointed to have been waitlisted on the 2 earlier dates which I would have preferred and some people do ask what's the hurry in going back. But seriously, I don't see any what's there for me to do here either.

Just 9 days to go to the Melbourne Marathon and the erratic Melbourne weather is certainly giving me good reasons to be lazy. Was due to run today as well but blistering winds and pouring rain meant that it was wiser to stay indoors. My last timed run was 50:27 for 10.5km, not sure how does that measure up actually but I'm looking to hit the 47:00s for the 10km run on the day itself. It's my first competitive run since the good ol' army days and the first "Long Distance" runnings since my JC soccer trainings when I'll never ever forget how I completed 20km, 50 laps around the running track, started with the sun still shining brightly and by the time we ended, the moon was almost visible already. I wanted to do the Standard Chartered one in Singapore as well but unfortunately, I haven't found anyone interested at all.. Kudos to Stan the Man for doing the Full Marathon... Melbourne Marathon 2008, 21km perhaps? In the meantime, Watch me -f.l.y-....

My jersey for the Melbourne Marathon 2007

Random

Not sure what to update actually. Quite a few things which I could have blogged about. Not quite in the mood though. Rather deflated by Financial Accounting. Consolidation is making Company Law look like Child's Play, and my lecturer/tutor isn't exactly helping to ease the situation either. -_- Am I going to see a 2nd Credit in my Monash Academic Transcript? 2 Credits amongst 12 units. Not exactly bad but no doubt has tainted my transcripts somewhat.

Mid-Sem Break is here. But yet signals the countdown to the Exams.. 5 weeks....

End of the Monash Hell Week..

What a week. 2 tests, 1 assignment due, 1 interview. I skipped almost all lectures and tutorials this week to prepare for the tests and assignment. I don't think it was a case of last-minute preparation 'cos if everything had gone according to plan, I would have had more than enough time to complete the tasks.

The main issue was Financial Accounting, Consolidations took up far more time than allocated... I could never have imagined prior to the semester that there would be a unit with such an intensive curriculum. It's just over half-way through the semester and we've had 2 extra lectures already. Apparently they actually added an additional chapter into the course this year without removing any. The Company law assignment... "Discuss and assess the regulations currently governing executive remuneration. Explain if reforms are needed. Why/Why not" -_-|| Finance test. In the end, I only managed to spend ONE day studying for it, and it's on the actual day of the test itself.

It remains to be seen how well I've come through this week. Cautiously pleased but things are certainly looking bleak at the moment... Lofty ambitions set seem to be fading into the distance.

Now that the Hell weeks are over, what does the future hold for us?

New Audi A4

The eagerly-anticipated new Audi A4 has finally been revealed and is due for its official launch at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Doesn't look too bad actually but design is a little conservative in my view. It looks more like a facelift from the current model and is way too similar to it recently-launched "elder Brother" Audi A5 Coupe. Maybe this is precisely Audi's signature style. Understated yet bold. Bring on the Mercedes C-Class and the BMW 3 Series.. Pictures courtesy of www.worldcarfans.com

Deja-vu? Presenting to you, Audi A5 Coupe.

As a comparison, the current A4.