Earth Hour 2009

Earth Hour 2009 @ Yahoo!7 Video

At 8:30pm on Saturday 28th February 2009, many of us will be turning off the lights, unplugging all the electrical outlets and reminiscing on simpler times for Earth Hour.

It’s a pretty exciting night for Australians. Earth Hour began in Sydney as an initiative by the City of Sydney Council and now it’s a huge global event with over 50 million people taking part last year. This year, they’re aiming for 1 billion people, which is a huge goal but if we all do our bit we can help make a difference.

(Yahoo!7)

P.S. Shouldn't be too hard. 60 mins.

My break of the week

I have a confession to make.

Today, I've stayed consistently in front of the screen (not including the moment I'm typing now) for approximately 8 hours. It might be a withdrawal syndrome for being deprived of cyber entertainment (blog-hopping/facebook/news etc) for almost a week.

8 Hours consist of:

• The Age online - first for weather forecast, then headlines
• which got me hooked on the case of Angie Belliciu where she enthunased herself, alone in her room (videos and media coverage)
• Facebooking - having discovered 72 unread notifications and replying wall posts/photo comments/notes/messages
• Blog-hopping (omg so many updates I've missed) and commenting in some (at least 3 hours) (picked up some economic views from Xuan's)
• [needs to justify my act badly T.T]
• Suddenly thought of Winnie the Pooh and searched thru its 85-years of history
• Searching for the Winnie the Pooh theme song "With a few friends" by Carly Simon
• Searching thru Carly Simon's webpage and her songs
• Watching Winnie the Pooh online (at least 4 episodes, GREAT, love Tigger!)
• Watching some African Drumming sessions (at least 10) and search thru related club in uni
• Thought of "The Reader" that Jian and Xia watched and search for its photos
• and end up going on "The Reader" marathon despite not watching it yet (cast interviews, casting sessions, biographies, sypnosis, awards, trailers, snippets, teasers)
• and of course googling hottie German actor, David Kross
• Got inspired by the word "holocaust" in the movie review and look it up
• and end up looking through the history of WW2 and biography of Adolf Hitler (since he commited similar atrocities of Hanna in "The Reader", but of course in tenfolds)
• which got me thinking, would Hitler resort to his sexual life to balance his INSANITY for commiting genocide of 6 million ?
• which got me to google "Adolf Hitler's wife"
• and came up with Eva Braun, (first mistress then wife) and I went thru a thorough search on her, as I was curious how a woman, in general, could fall in love with a man of such so I dug up some info including how they met, documented love letters, her hidden potrayal, and her ultimate suicide with Hitler
• and did the same for every other Adolf Hitler's women (3 others, inc his niece, URGH..disturbing much)
• which got me thinking, how would Germans think of the living people within his inner circle, and got me googling Adolf Hitler's family members (but failed except for his sister, as the others changed their names).
• Came up with important person - his secretary (who recently passed away, so she did contribute to many scholars regarding this issue)
• and in the process, goggling and wikipedia-ing "Jews", "Judaism" and "Judaism and Islam" and basically key words I don't understand.

Random much.

I'm freaking out NOW.

I'm SO GUILTY NOW. T.T

WHAT ABOUT THE TIMETABLE I MADE? The untouched schedule for today?

boo-hoo. Imagining the stuff I could have done (and should have).

**

But no doubt, it was a day of discovery. =)

P.S. Oh Wells. Time to make up for it.

Home

In retrospect, last week has been memorable.


Everyday, commuting is inevitable

yet as you walked up that stretch

and see the warm lights of your home from afar

and hear laughters from within

it puts a smile on your face

no matter how wretched you are

**

You might need to bunk together at night

having the tiniest spot to sleep on

while your granny snores (and rocks) the night away

your room is like a refugee camp

and you witness it shrink somemore from its already XS size


yet you listen to stories after stories before sleep

trying hard to surpress your giggles and never fails to fail

and have your mum come in to nag

only to have her hop in the bandwagon soon enough


I remember the distinct stillness in the early morning

when I had to tip-toe my

way thru the camp to go out

the quietness is not the one I'm usually accustomed to

as if you press your ears just gently against the doors

you'll hear some feet shuffling, some murmurring (definitely my sis)

and you'll set off to uni without further ado

for you'll want to get back ASAP


OH not to forget with a sandwich nicely packed

and a warm drink nicely tugged

by your grandma

who prompts you out of the house

before she goes back to more self-immersing house chores


**

and the routine repeats itself

when you come home and have your sister tugging at your feet

pleading to play hide-and-seek

only that she doesn't do either

but instead fills the house with shrieks

as she chases you around

while you play hard to get

**

And dinner comes

you'll cook rice three times the usual amount

and set the table with its full cutleries

and call out to the house

and you'll wash up later

with your granny watching over

eyeing the chance she could jump in and take over

**

and then you go out at 9.21 pm

all fit into a Tarago which fetches 9

and off you go for grocery shopping

and get stares from people

touring the supermarket, it's as if.

Yet a trip you'll never want to miss


**

11 pm, night is still young

and you facebook the night away

and then your dad steps in and nag

and next your mum

and next your aunt

and finally your grandma

then you give in.

**

I truly miss that feeling.

Workshop 3: Visual Arts

This week has been a mix of work and play. Worked (and will still be) for the two deadlines this week and play, because that's what you do when your family is around =). Tiring nonetheless since play takes practically the whole day and work starts from 11 pm - 2 am. Lol.



Today's visual arts workshop was enlivened by a guest appearance - Leigh Hobbs, acclaimed writer and illustrator of children's books. His most well known book series are Old Tom and Fiona the Pig.

Leigh taught us how to draw Old Tom, and also the 3 basic skills on how to brighten up our characters. Old Tom is more of a sneaky and naughty one, and Leigh asked us to picture our brothers when drawing him. hehe.

For the last half an hour of the workshop, we did a collage on a character we created and it was sheer fun. And it now hangs proudly on my white blank wall. :D

Leigh said we all have creativity in us, and our very Old Tom portrays our individualism.

"Make the paper and pencils and everything you work with your slaves, and command them at once!"

I find today's session particularly therapeutic. Reflective, in many ways.

**

On another note, it was a shock to learn of Natasha Richardson's passing. I remember watching Parents Trap (which she acted as the twins' mother) when young and thought, she is elegant in such a simplistic way. Sigh. RIP.

**

P.S: Homely house.

Workshop 2: Music

Yay for Thursday! Today in our CPA music-themed workshop, we were introduced to African Drums, which we beat along the Calypso "Pay Me My Money Down". Interesting harmonization of sounds produced from different drums!

Also in smaller groups, we composed a "Soundscape", along the simple storyline about children marching to a festival. The process was spontaneous and we slowly improvised the composition and at one point, we were shouting and cheering when we reached the festival part. The lecturer applauded haha. "That's the spirit I'm looking for!" Rewarding. Got to know a few more new friends and boy were they creative!


Reminder to self: You're a commerce student, commerce!!!


On another note, my brother's convocation will be held this Saturday. Still can't believe that my whole family, well to be precise, the first batch of the group will be reaching tonight: Dad, Mum, baby sister (yay), granny and aunt. And the second batch: Aunt and another sister, on Tuesday night. They'll be hanging around for about 11 days in total.

Hmm.. maybe I should give the toilet another wash.

Anyway WHEEE!!! Though, not to forget that I have two assignments due next week which I have yet touched, hopefully I'll complete them ASAP with no less distraction!


WHEEEEE!

heehe.

Bye!


P.S. Saw "Chandler" on the bus again.

Moomba Festival

More pics from Jia Yen coming up.

Fireworks were beautiful.

***

You're a mystery =p
Thank you.

First Workshop: Drama

Today I had my first Creativity, Play and the Arts (CPA) workshop. Was thankful I didn't take too long to locate the Drama Studio, and like any new tutorials I stepped foot in, I was nervous and quickly took a seat in the all-chair-no-tables studio.

Turned out that all we did today was to play and create! For the whole two hours, we played children games and understand how children learn through them. Even the simplest Cops & Robbers (or what we call Ice & Fire) we used to play has its little role in children development. Goes along the line of triumphs against evil.

Had lotsa laughs indulging in Dramatic Play, where we imagined ourselves as agents of Super Helper Inc., an incorporation to help Fairy Tale characters in distraught. Snow White was our client and apparently she has problems with men. Haha.

We did some Improvisation too on role-plays and the situations were:


Case 1: Try to persuade your studious friend to skip lecture tomorrow. [I was the studious one haha coincidentally ok]

Case 2: Investigate if your best friend had taken your precious jewelry during sleep over with a non-accusational tone.

Case 3: Become all excited about a holiday trip you both look forward to. [haha I like this best]


Also, we played "Who are you and Where you're from" from which we learned that children actually enjoy playing by the rules/convention of a game.


Weekly workshops are rotational and next week, we'll focus on music and the week after next, visual arts! And the week after, site visits!


Basically, didn't expect to play games I usually play with my baby sister. On another note, feels great to be young again. TeeHee.

Phone inquiries

I tend to panic when I speak to strangers on the phone.


"Hello, can I speak to Megan please?"

"She's not around. How can I help you?"

"Erm, it's ok. Thing is, my FD account recently mature and I wanna withdraw my money out. But er, it's not exactly my account, it's my parents' but I was authorized to handle the account. Er.. it's due in February, it's been there for a year. But I need to take it out now. [omg what was I saying?] Er. yea. Oh so what documents will I need to provide?"


"Er. This is a video store here."


"Ohsorrybye"


P.S. Phew.

Suddenly

Today I attended my first lecture for Creativity, Play and the Arts. It's my elective this semester, a subject of the Faculty of Education. Basically, it focuses on the integral connection between creativity, play and arts in childhood and beyond.

I'm not really sure of what to expect from this subject save for the major assignments (involving site visits) and group involvement in the final project/presentation (50%). I don't know a single person from the lecture - which by the way was mostly filled with the locals - I feel so introverted. Can I even speak of creativity? I'm starting to feel the jitters. Xenophobia settling in.

But I think I will stay on.

"We know that when kids play, there present no obligations, because they are naturally compelled to do so. As we grow older, most of us become more and more reluctant to play, when playing in fact improves our well being."


"Let's have a look at this picture of a playground. Parents often associate play with risk, and will try to remove any possible risk from their children play sites. Yet, without enough risk, there is nothing much play for children. Food of thought for today."


Hmmm.. ought to give it a try and get the most out of it.

Ah Kor ar..

'We're not crying wolf' : fires, high winds to hit state tonight

Reko Rennie, Larissa Ham
March 2, 2009 - 4:29PM

Victorians close to fire-affected areas have been told to prepare for a "danger time" of severe bushfire weather tonight, with strong winds expected to hit the state this evening.

The SMS urged customers to listen to local ABC radio for emergency updates. During a briefing this morning, Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin warned Victorians that the next 48 to 64 hours were crucial, comparing the conditions to Ash Wednesday and Black Saturday.

Mr Esplin said if people are intending to leave tonight or tomorrow, to register their details and movements with the Red Cross.

Bushfire Hotline: 1800 240 667
Latest local Weather updates
Updates from the CFA
More coverage Australia's worst bushfire disaster

"It's time for the community to be prepared," he said.

"Don't be fooled by cool weather, the fire risk remains and emergency services are extremely concerned."

CFA chief officer Russell Rees said up to 4000 firefighters would be on the ground by tomorrow.

"Let me assure you we are not crying wolf.

"Let me assure you if we do work together we can survive and we can come through this.

"We expect with this these winds comes the risk of fire.

"Our worst situation is fires starting in the night and it's very disorientating for everybody."

Mr Rees said firefighters were preparing for worse conditions from 8pm tonight and he urged the community to be prepared.

He said it was important for Victorians to take notice and plan early.


WEATHER
TUESDAY: Minimum 21 degrees, maximum 32

- During the day: North-westerly winds reaching speeds of 60- 80 km/h, with gusts above 100 km/h in many locations.- From 4pm: A strong cold front will move across Victoria from the west, hitting Melbourne about 6pm, bringing very high winds and a wind change.- After the change: Winds will shift south-west to speeds of 50-70 km/h.

WHAT YOU NEED
- Bushfire survival plan
- Torch
- Radio
- Batteries
- Water

WHAT TO DO
- Be prepared to activate bushfire survival plan if necessary
- there may be little, if any, official warning of a fire's approach
- Decide now if you are going to stay or go.
- It is very dangerous to leave late with a fire in the area and road use will be extremely hazardous due to low visibility from smoke.
- Watch out for fallen trees, power lines, abandoned cars, wildlife and emergency services vehicles.
- Don't park vehicles under trees or other structures that may collapse or fall.
- If you plan to stay, remember to seek shelter from radiant heat.
- Wear appropriate protective clothing.- Should the fire reach your property, close all doors and windows and stay inside the house while the fire passes.
- Remain alert, extinguish any small fires and, if necessary, move outside to burnt ground once the fire has passed.
- Drink plenty of fluids to avoid dehydration.


Make a Bushfire Plan
All people who live in a high bushfire risk area need to develop a Bushfire Survival Plan. A Bushfire Survival Plan is a well thought out plan about how you will prepare and respond to a fire in your area.

People should implement their plan each Total Fire Ban Day or on other high fire risk days when temperatures rise, the humidity is low and there are strong northerly winds.

You should decide well before summer whether you intend to leave your home on high fire risk days or stay and defend your property should a fire threaten your area


Your first decision is leave or stay

will you:

• Stay and actively defend,
• or Leave early

If your decision is to leave early, your plan needs to include:

• When you will leave
• Where you will go
• How you will get there
  
• What you will take with you
  
• What you will do with your pets
  
• Who you have told about your plan
  

If your decision is to stay and defend your property, your plan needs to include:

• Where you and other family members will be
  
• What you will do if your children are at school when the fire starts
  
• Who will look after your pets
  
• What you will do if you have elderly relatives or young children living with you
  
• How you will protect your property
  
• How you will protect yourself
  
• How you will know what is going on during the fire
  
• What you will do to patrol your property after the fire front has passed through
  

A well thought out bushfire plan should address all these issues. Make sure everyone in the household knows the plan and what their roles are.

And remember: stick to your plan!

Credit: The Age Online, CFA

P.S. Zap bao fuk?