Merry Christmas...!

Ok, so I went with a pretty ordinary heading for such a joyous day. What a tiring day! Had my (usually) annual Christmas gathering with friends at my place. Since I didn't have most of my friends' contacts, I could only invite a few by phone and hope they would bring others along (I contacted the rest via e-mail). I think I ended up with only about 6 of my friends coming. My brother had many more which was expected. It went pretty well. Managed to catch up with a friend I haven't seen in ages and also reminisced the past with the others. Life seems to be going pretty well for most people. Others I have lost contact with over the years. I wonder how they are doing?

It's funny how Christmas is looked forward to every year but then it comes and you busy yourself with preparations to the extent that the Christmas spirit doesn't sink in. By the time it does, Christmas passes and you start longing for the next one. Nevertheless, it is a period of great joy. Meeting old friends, going for midnight mass, receiving presents... All in the true spirit of Christmas!

Ok, I must admit that this post isn't going anywhere. I just felt the need to post; it being Christmas and all. Rather than rambling on, I'll just conclude with a simple, yet meaningful phrase. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

T'was the night before Christmas...

Ok, well not exactly night. Still, a few hours till Christmas! That most joyful time of the year. Christmas this year hasn't really sunk in yet. I mean, we're not really rushing around doing Christmas shopping. None of us have presents. All there really is to look forward to is our Christmas gathering tomorrow. Even then I know of only a few people who will attend. I lost all my old friends' contacts so I had to just send an e-mail hoping people would respond. Hopefully the turnout is reasonable.

I went to Peppercorn cafe today with my close friends. Been two years since I've been back to our "shrine". We used to love that place in college and ate there at least once a week. We even went one whole week eating in the place and are very proud of that record. Not only that, we used to have the priviledge of making telephone bookings during our break so that the food will be ready when we reached! The lady who owns the place still remembers us after all these years. After all, we were her best customers! It was good catching up and re-living the "good old days".

Routine for the day? Dinner at "The Ship" followed by midnight mass. Then it's off to bed to rest in preparation for the festivities of the next day. Despite the lack of "Christmas spirit", Christmas is still Christmas. The celebrations may not be extravagant but it is a celebration nonetheless. Can't wait till tomorrow!

Home again...

It's been almost two years... My flight touched down safely last night but I had to wait almost an hour before I could meet my family since the baggage delivery system failed for some reason or other. I could feel the warm, humid weather right after I stepped out of the airport.

Things have changed. Not in a major way. But still... New buildings and roadworks on the drive home. The dog has grown bigger. The house has new stuff. My room has changed. We have Streamyx as well (yay!).

The problem is... Rather than feeling at home, I feel like a foreigner. It feels like I am visiting home rather than returning home. It feels so awkward. As if this isn't my home anymore. As if this isn't where I belong anymore.

Still, it IS home. Time changes a lot of things. It shouldn't change things like these. Probably I just need time getting used to being home. Then things should settle. But by the time that happens, I'll have to leave again. Time passes really quickly.

Enough rambling. I should get back to enjoying being home. Home sweet home...

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Well, it's been two years. I finally get to go home in a few hours. It hasn't really struck me how long it's actually been. How much has changed since I was last in Malaysia? The years pass by so quickly. One year left before I graduate. I'm sort of packing but I have no clue as to what I should bring back. I've never been good with gifts.

I just had a short flashback today. A flashback of how things were like in my younger days. How I used to prepare to get ready for school every day. How I used to come back from school and have everything I need at home. How home was the place I spent so much time. How I used to go to friends' places for project work and play. I can't imagine how accustomed I have grown to my small little aparment here in Adelaide. Away from everything that brought me up through the years. I know, this is just another phase of life. However, it surprises me how much I've let go of since coming here. All the memories...

I remember when I was young, I couldn't imagine leaving my room. When I was small, I couldn't accept change. I was adamant that my bed should remain the way it always was and should never change. Now, I've been sleeping in a foreign bed for 3 years. How things change as you grow older. Change becomes something you get used to quickly. I wonder how much has changed? How does the dog, Spot look like now? Will he remember me when I get home? How much has the house changed? How much has my neighbourhood changed? So many questions that will be answered in a matter of hours.

I can't say I don't miss home. The thing is, I've always busied myself with things here. If I'm not playing I'm working or studying. I've never had periods where I could just sit down and reflect on home. Probably that's why I don't feel lonely. It was when I had this short period of flashback earlier in the day that I felt a sense of loneliness. Not loneliness from people. Loneliness you get when you've been away from home for too long. So this is how it feels.

I wonder how my family feels with me gone for so long? Would they have missed me? Do they think back on the days when I was always around? It's one thing leaving something behind. It's another thing altogether for those you leave behind. Time passed so quickly for me. Was it the same for those at home?

The time will soon come when I have to make a decision about whether I decide to stay here or go home. My emotions conflict so much when I think of both options. I have no problems staying. Besides, I've built a name for myself here. But if I stay, what about my family? If I go home, I have to start from scratch. Career-wise, it may be better to stay here. However family-wise, it may be better to return home.

Well, I need to make full use of my time at home. Hopefully my trip back home is worth the money it cost. I hope I didn't forget to pack anything important as well. Alrighty then, time to finish packing and get some sleep.

NUS hangover...

I just got back from Ballarat and Melbourne yesterday. Conference was hectic although nothing much really happened. After all, that's what the NUS is about. A waste of time and money. We left for Ballarat from Trades Hall in Melbourne last Tuesday and I let everyone in our faction know to go to the toilets before boarding as the bus would probably break down. Sure enough, the bus broke down at almost the exact same place as it did last year. Talk about deja vu. Or maybe I just jinxed it. Anyways, we eventually reached Ballarat Uni and were allocated accommodation in the dorms beside where we stayed last year since our faction grew bigger. We were also allocated a bigger, new caucus room. I volunteered myself as COG Co-ordinator; a position I was familiar with as I held it last year. Anyways, conference went on pretty much the same way it did last year. Sessions started late because of factions taking their own sweet time with caucus business, disrpution of proceedings by the Liberal students, internal splits within factions and many other reasons.

At the same time, VSU passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate within days of each other. John Howard made a comment last Thursday night claiming that VSU could not be introduced before the end of the year but in a whirlwind of events, VSU went on the agenda the next day in the afternoon and was passed within hours. The Coalition silenced dissent by putting a gag on the time limit allocated for debate. Ironically though, the person who we were lobbying to vote against VSU was not the one who got the legislation passed. Senator Steve Fielding from the Family First Party did a backflip and voted in favour of VSU. Obviously he was offered a deal but we haven't been able to identify what it could have possibly been. Rumour has it that he secured the Coalition's support in postponing the upcoming conscience vote on the abortion pill RU486. There was a lot of stir on Friday at the NUS as everyone was basically watching the Senate proceedings via internet stream and others rallied in the courtyard. Senator Barnaby Joyce crossed the floor to vote with the Opposition against VSU but Senator Fielding went the other way, effectively cancelling each other out and maintaining the Coalition's majority in the Senate. Upon confirmation of the news, a lot of delegates broke down into tears. Surely it couldn't have been that bad? Well, if you consider that some of them are looking at careers in politics it wouldn't be that surprising. The infuriating thing is that the Government just rammed the bill through, brushed aside the proposed amendments and gagged as much dissent as they were able to. The contempt they showed at such important legislation affecting thousands of people is absolutely disgusting. The Liberal students rubbed things in during the night session causing even more tension.

The NLC has never had good relations with the NOLS. This is because the NOLS have never acknowledged our right to exist as a faction within the NUS. Well, tensions boiled over and it reached its peak at this conference. The Friday night session began with some good speeches about how everyone should put factional differences aside and focus on the matter at hand. After 3 or 4 motions though, everything went back to normal. We then decided to COG our International Student policies and our International Student Officer's report. Surprise, surprise; it was NOLS that moved a motion and voted to put our policy to the vote right after the seconder finished speaking. We all screamed at them and managed to defeat the motion with support from other factions. After that, the rest of our International Student policies and International Student Officer's report were constantly being pushed down on the agenda list by NOLS. Eventually we decided to walk out on the session and quorum was lost when Unity and some others walked out with us. While in the process of walking out, the rest of the left-wing factions quickly moved and approved about 5 or 6 motions they knew we may vote against. How hypocritical it was that they were criticizing the Government for ramming VSU through when they themselves were ramming policies and Rule changes through. We were eventually persuaded back onto conference floor to accept the Queer and International Officer's report. When it got to Akshay's report, we all walked to the front behind him. He blasted NOLS and followed it up by replying to two of our questions with criticism directed at NOLS. The whole conference went into a "Shame NOLS Shame" chant and a number of NOLS delegates broke into tears. I must say it had to be the highlight of the conference and the first time all that pent up frustration built over all these years just had to explode. I'm sure we'll face a NOLS backlash throughout next year, especially during election time.

Anyways, we left the conference with what we wanted: 5 spots on National Executive. The after-party was lame but most of us were smashed after several shots of Sambuca and other drinks including beer and JD. We had to wake up early the next morning to check-out and catch the bus back to Melbourne. After lunch at the Dragon Boat restaurant, I headed home wile some stayed back for later flights.

All in all, the conference went as expected. There were a few interesting incidents along the way but nothing to really shout about. I'm really tired but need to get stuff sorted with regards to preparations to face VSU. I did very well in my exams and managed to get 2 Ds (equivalent to 3 since one of the subjects was double the normal units) and a credit. Hopefully that's enough for Honours.

Well, that's about it for now. Time to get back to work. Hopefully this is the start of better things to come...

The circus begins...

I'm leaving for Melbourne first thing in the morning. Perhaps a little too early. I can't imagine how I managed to get myself into a 6.05am flight. Utter and complete madness! Oh well, I have been looking forward to this. I think I'll need some shut-eye once I reach the accomodation. Then it's down to "work"; if at all politics is considered work. The WA gang is reaching at night from what I understand. Well, as soon as I get the chance I'm heading down to QV to drown myself in Max Brenner's. It's been a while. Can't get enough of the place. Hope my kidneys don't fail me! I'll be in Melbourne until Tuesday, whereupon we'll all be taking the bus down to Ballarat for the NUS National Conference. The way things have been developing, things should look pretty interesting. Not to mention fun. We're getting 10 of us from SA down there which should be a record for us. We seem to be getting a strong turnout for most conferences now with our strength at UniSA. I mean, we had 13 from UniSA attending the NLC Annual Conference. Strength in numbers I say (though Tiffy still thinks it's abusing student fees)! Well, if it was not us it would be one of the other factions. Besides, this will probably be our one and only chance to actually dominate so we'll strike while the iron is hot now shall we?

I probably won't get much of a chance to blog over in Melbourne/Ballarat but I'll see what I can do. I usually lose the mood to blog in these conferences. Anyways, I know this is a short entry but I need to finish up my packing if I want to stand any chance of getting a decent amount of sleep before the flight. Wish me bon voyage!