Loser Like Me

Several years ago, Glee made its first appearance on TV.
The show was an instant hit!
By second season, it garnered up to 11 million weekly views in the U.S. alone (The Sue Sylvester Shuffle episode had a staggering 26 million!).
Many people considered the show a lifesaver, or at the very least, a decent, positive and entertaining musical.
Glee appeared. Glee exploded. Glee became a worldwide phenomena.
Teens were crazy for the show.
Heck, even the girls in my class tried to create a glee club (unfortunately, the school wasn't so keen on having another singing club).
Although the club never made it, it was still a pretty good indication of how influential Glee had become in the span of 2-3 years.
I mean, who could forget the end of Season 3 when [SPOILERS] the New Directions finally won Nationals and become popular at McKinley? Rachel going to NYADA and bla bla everyone else doing other stuff [/SPOILER].

Season 3: The New Directions celebrating their victory at Nationals, while "performing" Tongue Tied by Grouplove.
Taken from fanpop.

What happened after that was... less pleasant.
If I took a drink whenever someone said "They should've ended it at Season 3" or "Things have went down since Season 4", I would've been through countless liver transplants by now.
Viewership (again, in the U.S. alone) essentially got halved by the end of Season 5.
People attribute the show's downward spiral to the new (but uninteresting and unoriginal) cast members, affectionately known as the Newbies.
Not only that, the storyline was getting stale and writing got sloppier by the seasons.
Factor that in with the insane amount of screen time Darren Criss/Blaine got (he's sung almost as frequently as Rachel, the main girl of the show), and insanity ensues.
Oh and who could forget the untimely departure of Cory Monteith, which caused the story to be hastily re-written.
Yes, sh!t happened.
And fans think Glee just isn't good anymore.
At least that's the impression I'm getting from the community (bar Tumblr, because that place is cray).

Season 4: Finn (played by Cory Monteith) singing Don't Dream It's Over after the New Directions (seemingly) decided to split up after losing Sectionals. Taken from Metatube.

Okay, maybe my sources aren't that reliable.
After all, the only places I've been to are the Youtube comment section and Glee's fanmade Wiki page.
I wouldn't know why the show suddenly started to su*k.
If you don't know me personally, you wouldn't have known that I've never watched Glee.
If you DO know me personally, you probably would've thought that I was struck by the "Glee effect" too back in 2010.
I wasn't a fan of Glee back then.
Everyone was totally into it (well, just the girls actually).
I would've never watched a single episode if my brother didn't have a couple of episodes on his computer at the time.
After that, I kept track of the plot loosely.
Not the convoluted love stories, but major events that one simply cannot avoid, like how the whole world (well, just the girls actually) jumped up with glee when Klaine kissed or when Vocal Adrenaline finally got "pwned".
Ahhh good times.

If you're still keeping up with all these things after six seasons, good job!
Taken from Glee's Facebook Page (yup, even they admit things are all over the place).

The last time I checked up on the show, they were entering Season 6 - their final season.
"Oh dear" I said to myself.
The fans must be pretty sad, I thought.
Well, looks like it's the exact opposite.
The show's had its 15 minutes of fame, and now it's ended up in gutter.
Although stuff like this happen everyday, it really saddens me to see it happen to Glee.
Fans of the show hate it now. That's harsh.
I checked out the summary of the final season, which appealed to me.
Similar to how crap Glee has became in reality, almost everyone in the Glee-verse has hit an all-time low in their lives.
And you know how much of an underdog supporter I am!
I couldn't help myself. I started watching, the sixth season onwards.
And I loved it! (You can laugh if you want)
I'm not a big fan of the original cast, contrary to the rest of the fanbase.
But I really enjoyed the new characters that were introduced into the show, labelled the New Newbies.
Too bad the writers were still focused on the original cast and only used the New Newbies as seat fillers for the glee club.
Fortunately, this week's episode of Glee featured the New Newbies 100%.
To make things even better, Kurt and Blaine did not appear all episode!
Another thing I love is how the characters are poking fun are making meta jokes, like how Rachel knows nothing about the New Newbies (because the show's always too focused on her).
Too bad the show's only 4 episode away from ending now. *sad face*
I just really hope they don't screw up the series finale!

Season 6: Introducing the New Newbies/New Direction. From left to right: Mason and Madison McCarthy (a.k.a incest twins), Jane Hayward (a.k.a token black female; no offence 0_0), Spencer Potter (a.k.a post-modern gay) and Roderick *last name to be announced* (a.k.a fat kid). God, I love them! Taken from Michael Hitcock's Twitter page.

To recap, I started watching Glee because:
a) I love/support the underdog.
b) The final season started with everyone leading miserable lives. #underdog
c) I find the New Newbies likeable (because they're underdogs?).

P.S. I ship Mason with EVERYONETHING!

Season 6: Mason McCarthy (played by Billy Lewis Jr.) being bossed around by a manic Brittany while helping her set up her wedding venue. He was sporting the same jacket as her twin sister, Madison. Oh look, my first GIF on this blog.
Taken from billylewisjrrps.

Listening to It Must Have Been Love - Glee Cast

Underdog since 1994,

TK

Staying After All

It's almost that time of the year again!
Chinese New Year!
Because a single new year is just not enough for us Chinese people.
Our egos demand a two new years.
Double the celebration, double the fortune, luck, money, prosperity (burger).
I really hope I don't get any negative feedback for writing like this.
But what can I say?
I've neglected this blog (yet again) and am in need of some venting.
And what better way to vent than to be completely polarising, racially-offensive and radical.

I've had lots of things to think about these few weeks.
My visit back to my hometown has given me much to feel joyful about.
Seeing old friends, driving my old (but trusty) car (which I've decided to name Vernie) and let's not forget about the one thing us Malaysians love the most: FOOD.
The food here is great.
But most of all, it's soooo good.
I mean who'd wanna pay $30 for a plate of roti canai when you can get it for $1 here!?
I promised myself I'd blog more frequently, now that I'm out of uni.
But it looks like I've let myself down...AGAIN.
Well, if you read my blog (and enjoy reading it), I must apologise for my apparent laziness.
May you and the rest of my readers have mercy on me.
Truth be told, I've been wanting to blog for quite some time now,
but we all know the hardest step to blogging is typing out that first sentence (or even the title)!

The reason for my absence in cyberspace is simply because... I was having wayyyy too much fun in the real world.
Spending time with real people, instead of hammering away on my keyboard.
Hopelessly wishing for more people to read my blog.
But enough about my selfish neglect, I've thought about some other stuff lately.
Malaysia (or to be more specific, Sabah) is such a great place to live in.
Sure it might still be a developing country,
with infrastructures no match for that of Australian standards.
But I've come to realise that I am Malaysian,
and like it or not, I've grown up in a Malaysian environment.
I live and breathe the Malaysian culture (subconsciously, of course).
When I landed here, I found myself alienated.
I felt like a foreigner returning to his favourite vacationing spot.
I couldn't speak their language, I just pointed.
I couldn't understand them, I just nodded cluelessly.
But with time, my (cultural) identity came back to me.
I guess I never lost it in the first place.
It just took some time and lots of confrontations to bring out my old self.
Not that my old self is someone extremely social and all that.
But its good enough to feel at home here.

So much so, that I've spoken to my parents.
I expressed interest in staying here.
Not for another week, not another month, not another semester.
I told them I wanted to move back here permanently.
I'll start all over again.
Do my A-levels here.
Hopefully do well enough to get into a university here.
Public? Private? It doesn't really matter.
As long as its here, where I belong.

Don't get me wrong.
I don't mean to diss Perth or Australia.
It's a great place.
My uni is awesome and all that.
I've met some really great people there.
And I do think I can experience the world better there.
Or at the very least, experience a different world.
But Perth is missing something, can't quite put a finger on it though.
Something that I can only feel when I'm back home.
There's just something about this place, I guess.
Not just the friends or food (though the friends part was a huge determinant).
I just feel more at home here. The smell of the place.
Waking up to a beautiful scenery.
Hearing my high school bell ring every morning,
followed by the national anthem being played shortly after.
That and so many other small things I barely noticed.
Things I think we, as Sabahans, take for granted.

To my utmost delight, dad agreed.
Mum was a little hesitant but I promised her I'd try hard to make this work.
This is where getting good grades really help with convincing parents.
Everything is set.
The gears of fate is about to start spinning again.
Looks like I won't be back at UWA for my second year,
though I'll probably still drop by around there to visit friends.
I'll head back to Perth as planned.
I'll pack up my stuff.
And leave after a month or so.
More than enough time to say goodbye to everyone.
And just enough time for the mid-year intake for A-levels.

Changes are scary, even when change is what you want.
I'm grateful to have a friend with me while I'm going through all this.
And just like me, it seems like she's changing a few things too.
I guess I'll leave things here for the mean time.
This is all quite a bit of news to process, especially for those who know me personally.
And ESPECIALLY to all the friends I made in Perth.
If any of you are reading is, it's not you; its me.
Perth is great and all,
but home is where the heart is.
And my home is here.

Menara Tun Mustapha a.k.a Yayasan Sabah Tower.
The tallest building and symbol of Sabah.
Complete with a restaurant on the 18th floor.
Did I mention the 18th floor also rotates around 360.

Listening to Tongue Tied - Grouplove

Homeward Bound: #obviouslie,

TK

Reading Weeks.

It's been a week now since I've landed on home soil.
(Well done if you've noticed my use of the word 'soil')
I am home. Back in the Land Below The Wind.
I don't know who gave Sabah that name, but I'm glad they did.
(Okay, I Googled. It was named by Agnes Newton Keith.)
Makes it sound hella cool, don't you think?
But let's be real, no matter how much "wind" we have here,
it's still not enough to stop me from hiding under a roof,
face glued to my Mac.
Only problem is, WiFi and Internet really aren't the best things we have.
Even more so for my house, we've been living off the cheapest package.
I wait minutes to watch a short Youtube clip at 144p.
Imagine the horror!

The Particle at the End of the Universe.
A book I borrowed from a Perth library,
and smuggled into Malaysia to read.
My interest in particle physics started with Year 12 Physics,
reignited after watching the film Interstellar late last year.

Fret not! I came prepared this time. With books!
Those who know me well (a.k.a been into my room) are aware of my (expensive) habits of buying books,
and never reading them.
Books are just such great things.
And I really do admire people who read.
Such admiration, yet the lack of any true desire to (actually) read, is what created this...dilemma.
Fortunately, I am now fully aware of this monster lurking deep within me.
I proudly resist the urge to buy just about any book I see.
(Yes, I judge a book by its cover. And then I buy it. Screw the summary on the back cover!)

So there's me. And my shelf of unread books.
Books that I'll probably never open.
I do occasionally pick them up though, just to show people that I'll never read them.
I've always wondered, how do people get into reading?
Why do they read, instead of watch TV?
I wish I could conclude this post with a miraculous answer I found, but I haven't.
I might have found the path to my destination, but I'm still nowhere near it yet.
A few years back, right after my WACE conundrum, I ordered a book online.
Just to feel something, y'know?
Months and months of studying for something can leave you a bit...dead.
And for the first time in (a long time) my life, I actually fell in love with a book.
It was such a page-turner.
The plot/theme definitely grabbed my attention.
It wasn't that predictable.
It was something not found on visual media.
And the best part?
It came in sequels! (Plural!)
I ordered the next one right away.
I fell in love with the characters.
It felt like watching the first season of How I Met Your Mother, then the second, and third, and fourth!
And just when things couldn't get better, the author announces an 'all-grown-up' series.

*Phew* Gotta calm down a little.
I guess, for me, reading only comes when I find the 'right' book.
The book that connects, and resonates with me.
The one that I can easily relate to.
That will only be my early hypothesis.
Time to find more of these books and see if my hypothesis can be proven true.
But does my hypothesis only apply to myself? Do other people have a viable explanation for their bookworm-ish-ness?
P.S. You'll never guess which book I fell in love with!


Listening to I Apologise (Dear Simon) - Moss

Chilling Below The Wind,

TK

purpose'd

I know it's a little late.
But it's that time of the year again.
The end of 2014 (beginning of 2015), which means I need to look back at my 2014 resolutions and make a new list for 2015.
One that I'll hopefully keep and achieve.

Let's have a look at the 2014 Resolutions (taken from my previous blogpost):

• Get Good Grades in my First Year of Uni 

Well, I think its safe to say that I'm happy with my current grades.

Extremely pleased, in fact. 

I did work hard for it, and I think the final grade I got reflected my efforts accurately.

*wink wink*

First contact with a Japanese, Miss Hazuki-san from Gifu, Japan.
We met at my first Kaiwa Session with the UWA Japanese Studies Society (Japssoc).

• GET A JOB

...I did NOT get a job this year *pout*.

But I did sign up for some volunteering.

And as far as I'm concerned, I'm content with the "work" I'm currently doing.

Especially in the social aspect of things, because I got to network a bit and know some great (and wise) people!

Enjoying a drink with my friend at the Varsity Bar at Broadway,
after a long long day trying to get my Fracking report finished during study break.

• Don't Get Drunk

Guilty is charged. 

I must admit, when I wrote this, I probably meant "Don't drink".

But unfortunately, I did drink a few times this year (for good reasons!),

and I did get a little tipsy from some of those drinks (again, for some very reasonable...reasons).

But I'm happy to announce that no foolish deeds were done while in my slightly light-headed state,

which is the ultimate purpose of staying away from alcohol!

Joining the protest in Perth, hosted by the Friends of Palestine.
The protest took place earlier this year, shortly after the attack on Gaza Strip began.

• Actually Finish Reading All The Novels I Have

It's not really a new year's resolution if you don't break a few of 'em, right?

Uni has been insanely hectic for me and I barely had any time to do leisurely reading.

(Haha, this coming from a first-year)

I have tried to do some reading during the semester breaks (including now!),

so we'll see how that goes.

Quite unfortunately, I just can't stop spending when it comes to "intriguing" books,

so I got even more books to add to my collection of "Books I Need To Read".

When, oh when, will this tall stack of paper finally dissipate?

Outing with my church's youth group at BOUNCE.inc.
The indoor recreation zone involves a lot of....bouncing.

• Make New Friends in Uni

Firstly, I'd like to thank (a trillion times) UniSkills, because that's where I met some of my best uni friends.

In fact, I met all (98%) of my uni friends from UniSkills, one way or another.

I'm not insanely popular (and will never be), but I know enough people know, and I'm satisfied with the ones I have. This one's definitely a 'tick'!

A rare outing with my friends, to Fremantle.
The photo was taken while we were lost.
P.S. I want that beanie (without the whiskers, please).

• Retain Friendships

This has and will forever be the hardest challenge for me. 

But I believe that just because we don't talk or see each other everyday anymore, doesn't mean friendships end. There will always be those catch-up sessions where we meet again after a year or so and start unloading tons of things that's been going on in our lives.

Those will be exciting times that I'll be looking forward to!

My first soil processing workshop with MicroBlitz, before the semester started.
We were preparing soil samples sent back from citizen scientists for DNA Extraction a.k.a
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR; quite a mouthful) and soil moisture analysis.
The diversity of soil colour is fascinating!

• be happy =3

My life isn't perfect. No one's is. But I wouldn't do anything to change the things that's happened.

2014 has been a good year. Full of fun and surprises (and a whole lot of stress and anxiety!).

Hmmm...maybe just less embarrassing moments from now on...

Taken at the very top of Winthrop Tower, UWA.
The tour was organised by UniSkills (Love them to death!).
On the same day, there was a "choir"-ish contest happening inside Winthrop Hall.

• Get At Least 100 Blog Posts Out Before 1/1/2015

I failed this one.

I failed very, very hard.

What was I even thinking!? Was I foolish enough to think I'd have the time to blog once every few days. 

I barely even reached 50 this year... Now that is depressing.

Maybe I should set a more realistic goal for 2015.

A trip with fellow MicroBlitz volunteers to the Avondale Discovery Farm at Beverley, WA.
We met up and had lunch with the Malleefowl Preservation Group.
It was also the last time I saw one of the volunteers, who completed her Honours degree in soil science.
ALSO the day I found out my lecturer was a fashion magazine editor before becoming a lecturer.

• Try More New Things

I'm not too sure about this one... Hmmm *flashback*

I tried staying at a college overnight, rock climbing, drinking with friends, going to a gay bar, conversing with Japanese people, volunteering, Bounce!, digging holes, writing a journal article, pulling an all-nighter (for an assignment), UniClub food (several times!), reaching the top of Winthrop Tower, extracting strawberry DNA, tin-rattling,  bringing underprivileged kids out on picnics (#Nightmare), travelling inland, citizen science, movie marathons, SciTech (#MindBlown), bibimbap, protesting, using an actual pipette, Jamie's Italian, economics, plant photography (with my phone, nothing fancy!), being hospitalised, going on a field trip, adopting an English name, attending a Ramadhan dinner, living alone, drinking coffee from a KeepCup, the  ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and living alone.

My second time meeting the ex-chief scientist of WA, Lyn Beazley (right).
I first met her at one of my science communication lecturers (she gives great "lectures").
This photo was taken after the MicroBlitz presentation at the UWA Research Week 2014.
Lyn is also known as the "mother of MicroBlitz", while W/Prof. Andy Whiteley (left) is the "father".

I reckon that's everything. 

Maybe it pales in comparison with other people's achievements.

But I'm quite happy with this.

Now time for my 2015 Resolutions (which probably doesn't deviate much from its 2014 counterpart):

• Get good grades (enough for Honours, I suppose)
• Stay healthy (No more than two fevers!)
• Volunteer more! (Because getting a job is still too scary)
• Stay friendly and make new friends (Just because I already have friends doesn't mean I can't have more)
• Be more active in academic (Talking to postgrads? Student mentoring? Anything!)
• Have a better work-life balance (I spent a lot of my time locked up in the library. Although it did pay off in the end, I wonder if it's possible to juggle things a little better?)
• Stay open to new things (Because it's nice to look back and tell yourself "I lived")
• be happy =3 (There's no point in doing stuff if I'm just going to hate it later! Besides, this resolution is almost customary to me now.)

Taken at the bush area nearby IKEA.
It's mindblowing how you stumble on things like this just by walking a bit and keeping your eyes peeled.

Listening to Make You Feel My Love (Cover) - ortoPilot

Happy 2015,

TK

An "Icky" Christmas

Don't ask about the title.
I got the idea from a friend of mine.
"Icky" because I'm sick...on Christmas week!
Great. Just great.
So, I guess it really is an icky Christmas for me this year.
Full of mucus and tissues.
Bounded to my bed for all eternity.

I won't say much in this short update, because:
A) I'm sick.
B) I'm sick.
Besides, it'll take too long for me to blog about something and get it out on the same day (Christmas).
But I do want to thank and wish all you readers a Merry Christmas.
I get most of my views from random innocent (or not so innocent) people Googling about stuff.
But I'm pree' sure I do have a dedicated reader base as well;
even if it's only a single person, it's still someone, right?
So, thanks for reading.
And have a jolly good Christmas *to be said in a British accent*!

*Credit for the font style used in the image above goes to Måns Grebäck.



Listening to Girl Almighty - One Direction

Merry Christmas,

TK

my *biology* experience

Biology was my "thing".
An interested browse through my high school results yielded some interesting data.
As a trend, Biology was my worst science subject (more times than not).
Physics was my best, and Chemistry was somewhere in the middle.
I guess Biology really was one of those subjects where you had to devote a fair bit of time into memorising content.
Even if you did understand the concepts well, it still wouldn't help unless you knew the complex names involved.
Yes, that's what I'll go with.
I did bad in Biology because I was too lazy to read anything.
It definitely didn't help when I chose to pursue Physics and Chemistry in Year 12,
but not Biology.
So I thought it would be interesting to see how my experience was with Biology
when I decided to take it up (again) in my first year of uni.

An Australian Magpie (Cracticus tibicen) wandering around,  foraging for food.
It's aggressive, territorial and Oh my God those bloodshot eyes!

As part of my Environmental Science degree,
I undertook two Biology units this year:
Frontiers in Biology and Plant and Animal Biology.
I was nervous.
My very first uni lecture was Biology...
and I was late for it.
I sat at the left end of the lecture theatre because the place was packed.
I couldn't see half the screen and I didn't know anyone.
Scary.
I went to my next lecture, trying to remain optimistic.
And that definitely backfired.
Note to self, casually taking notes in lecture is not what it looks like in videos.
Let's just say, I walked out of the lecture feeling like I'm an imposter at university.


Okay, that's enough depressing stuff.
Biology actually turned out pretty good.
It was interesting (wow. why didn't I study back then?).
But most of all, the units were really engaging.
There were guest lecturers (researchers at the top of their respective fields).
There were fascinating labs (my very first DNA extraction from strawberries).
And the projects were fun (writing our first journal paper after analysing citizen science data).
We also covered biodiversity, cells, DNA and evolution in our lectures.
These concepts got progressively more complicated,
but I've had some great friends to help me get through it.
All the way till the day before my finals.
And I did quite well in it.
So overall, I was really happy with it.
Even better, my team's journal paper got published on our mini-journal, Cygnus.
Now it's online for future students to read and plagiarise.
This will probably be my only 'publication'.
But it's definitely better than nothing.

The Gymea Lily (Doryanthes excelsa) standing tall outside the Ken and Julie Michael Building, UWA.
I wrote a journal paper with my team in BIOL1130: Frontiers in Biology, analysing the reliability of D. excelsa sightings
submitted to citizen science project, ClimateWatch.

Here is a video of my lecturer, Prof. Nicki Mitchell, explaining the journal project we did.

In my second semester, I continued with Plant and Animal Biology.
After doing well in my previous semester, I was quite excited about this.
Its Biology, only more focused on parts that I was interested in:
flora and fauna.
Two words: Difficulty Spike!
There was definitely a whole lot more memorising.
So it's a bit of a trade-off then.
I get to learn stuff I'm more interested in,
but I'll have to memorise more stuff as well.
It's a good thing the unit coordinators decided to spice things up.
We got to build our very own animals (Build-A-Beast), field trips, there were so many lecturers involved (7 lecturers in a single unit).
My personal favourite would be W/Prof. Kingsley Dixon,
who works over at Kings Park and Botanic Gardens.
He gave incredibly cool lectures, and brought tons of different plants to show us.

It didn't stop there.
The unit organised various events and activities to get us interested for postgraduate studies in Biology.
There was the Postgrad Cameo, where a PhD student comes in and give a short presentation on their thesis every lecture.
And the Careers and Social Night, where...well, the name is quite self-explanatory.

The world's largest seed, from the sea coconut a.k.a Coco de Mer (Lodoicea maldivica).
It can weigh up to 20kg, and takes seven to ten years for the seed to germinate.
Brought to our BIOL1131: Plant and Animal Biology lecture by W/Prof. Kingsley Dixon.

Our Build-A-Beast Cephalopod, the Moody Quad-beak (Orthoceras mollibus).
It belongs to the extinct Order, Orthocerida.
We found him frozen in an iceberg and conducted some molecular tests (such as PCR)
to better understand its taxonomy.
*Note that the above description is completely fictional for the purpose of this project.

What can I say?
I had a really good time with Biology.
It was a good and priceless experience.
I really liked how the unit was taught and conducted.
And my lecturers are great.
Gosh I love them to bits!
I did find the Animal Biology exam to be a complete nightmare;
and the Plant Biology one to be the exact opposite.
But I really shouldn't be complaining.
They're successfully piqued my interest in both zoology and botany.
I'm grateful.
Biology is great.
Biology is life.

Yellow Kangaroo Paw (Anigozanthos pulcherrimus) basking in the sun at the UWA campus.
These pretty plants are endemic (native) the the southwest region of Western Australia.
One of my Plant Biology lectures, W/Prof. Stephen Hopper did his Honours thesis on Kangaroo Paw.

And I'll end this with a quote by my lecturer:

"It's never too early to start looking into postgraduate studies and future careers."

Nicki Mitchell, on my birthday.

*Update: My new layout looks rad! And I like the header art, even if I do say so myself.*

Listening to Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran

Biology for Life,

TK

why i chose to study *this*

After another extensive period of neglect,
I am "officially" back to blogging.
I have finished the first year of my degree and
successfully discarded the title of "Fresher".
This semester (my second one) was definitely hectic.
But I managed somehow,
at the obvious expense of halting all blogging activities.
A solution that I AM trying to put into practice is micro-blogging.
No, not Tumblr.
But just shorter blog posts.
Random articles on Google told me a normal blog post should be around 500-800 words.
A norm that I've never adhered to, apparently.
BUT I SHALL ATTEMPT TO!
From now on!
#promise
Oh and I might also change the design of my blog
to something more....boring.
(The good news is larger fonts *yay*)

So, today
I thought I'd write a bit about why I chose to study my current major.
For those who clearly don't know me very well,
I'm studying a Bachelors of Science degree,
majoring in Environmental Science and Natural Resource Management.

This is a funny choice,
considering how I wanted to do computer and IT-related courses back in high school.
I made this decision to change my field when I was on my first trip to Australia,
when I was 16.
My parents got me a course guide from my now-university (UWA),
I looked through the large, cool array of courses available.
Oddly enough, the prospects of me studying codes and whatnot
did not excite me as much as I had thought it would.
I was indecisive.
I knew that computers were more of a dream,
than a realistic life decision.
So after ignoring all the IT courses,
I focused on looking for "the next best thing".

Environmental Science sounded promising.
A major about helping and conserving the environment.
How "noble".
The notion of studying something "noble" appealed to me.
The fact that its a new field of science also got me excited.
It wasn't Biology, Physics or Chemistry.
I've never taken Environmental Science before.
Thus, I've never "failed" Environmental Science before.
I could start all over again.
On a new, clean slate.
Yep.
I'll take 1 Environmental Science please,
thank you very much.

After picking Environmental Science,
its possible to have a second major.
I didn't want to throw thousands of dollars away
doing pointless, easy electives,
so I thought investing all that money into a second, complementary major
might be advantageous.
Science was a horribly underfunded industry,
I later discovered.
So having some knowledge in
environmental "business" and "economics" was bound to help!
After all,
money does (unfortunately!) make the world go round...
And luckily for me,
there was a Natural Resource Management course available.
So, I took it.

Although I picked those 2 majors to study,
I've went through day and night,
unable to decide on whether I should really stick with them.
Now that I'm entering my second year,
I'll really have to make that decision.
We'll begin studying our specialised subjects.
No more of those "general" units.
But I believe,
or at least I like to believe,
that I probably made the right decision.
Besides,
what's the worst that could happen, right?


P.S. Its working! A SHORT blog post! Finally!


Listening to Hey Ya! - OutKast

It's Summer Time,

TK