blah blah blah on holidays, new hobby etc

It’s a public holiday today only in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Yup, you never read wrongly. And public holidays in Australia are really puzzling (to me), ever since I first came to Sydney about half a year ago. In Australia, some of their public holidays e.g. Queen’s Birthday and Labor’s Day etc can be on different days of the year depending on which Australian state one is in. That’s the thing! Since all of the different states are unified under the country Australia, why aren’t the public holidays etc be on the same day as well? Since it’s a joyful occasion, shouldn’t it be made a country-wide affair rather than just a state-wide celebration? Hmm… anyway, in essence one can celebrate the same holiday twice in a year! LOL… so no fear of missing a public holiday here in Australia since you can always check out when the same public holiday will occur in other states! LOL…

Anyway today’s public holiday isn’t because of some local festive celebration or of historical significance, but rather it is to coincide with the APEC meeting that is held in Sydney! Yup, and because of the APEC where leaders from 21 countries are meeting up, the Sydney city has been ‘locked down’ for the week. And probably to make the NSW state government’s life easier in managing the event as well as security issues, they decided to declare today as a state holiday! Yeah! But… I still went back to the lab to do my work! =( … That’s the life of a nerdy PhD student… there is no such thing as holidays and the only enjoyment we have is when our experiments worked! See my picture on the left? There I am wearing a mask because I’m preparing some solution (10% SDS to be exact) else my lab colleagues might find me lying on the floor when they come back after the weekend! LOL…

And speaking of nerdy PhD students and our limited enjoyments in life, Jorge Cham is the author of a PhD comic series, and he will be in UNSW to give a talk on the book, and on PhD life etc! Yeah! I so look forward to the coming Monday for his talk! And I planned to buy the whole set of comics on Monday as well! It’s gonna be hilarious! PhD – Piled Higher and Deeper! Yeah! LOL… for those who are interested but do not wish to get the book, you can check out his comics online too!

Anyway, I found that I have been subconsciously engaging myself in a new hobby! And my new hobby is to collect…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Fifty-cent coins from Australia! Coins – an everyday currency that people just dig from their pockets to pay for their bus fares or newspapers etc… but do you ever stop and look at the coins? I did, and I found that the image at the back of the fifty-cent coins in circulation comes in many different design (as shown) to commemorate events such as Australia’s involvement in World War II, and the XII Commonwealth Games in Brisbane! Cool huh! Yup… I’ve decide to collect fifty-cent coins of different designs, and who knows my collection could worth thousands in a decade or two! LOL… wishful thinking again!

Oh! I’ve finally register for the Canberra trip two days ago! Yeah! For just AUD$79 per person for a day trip, I think it’s pretty reasonable! And they will be bringing me to the Floriade – a huge annual flower festival where the theme of 2007 is Aussie icons, myth & legends. Hmm… so I think I can expect Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge then huh! LOL… Besides Floriade, the trip will take me to Mount Ainslie where I can get the view of the entire Canberra city! Let’s hope the weather will be fine on that day!

=(… my very last piece of my yummy snowskin mooncake… =(