Ben Tshin

Why I couldn’t sleep: A hypothesis

Last night was troubling in retrospect. I only slept from 1am to 3:30am and I woke not feeling particularly tired. Perhaps there was anxiety concerning my recently laid mousetraps. Sure enough, I awoke 15 seconds before hearing a loud whack. I should notify his next of kin to inform them that they are next. Not able to sleep I decided to remove all evidence of his passing: I ran into the cold to dispose of him. Then for the next four hours I could not get back to sleep; I should’ve been quite tired yet no sleep crept into my eyes.

Maybe I’m making up reasons where none exist, but I think God had had enough of my morning laziness and said “Look at all the time you have in the morning: spend some time with me.” Well, I had a full breakfast and finally broke open the good book. I’m still on the spiritual journey, albeit that I’ve taken a *long* break just relaxing (or more accurately, lazing around). So my breakfast reading this term will hopefully take me through John and Acts and onto Revelations.

Now its onwards and upwards…

I arrived back in Canada just two days ago and I’m already back into the nitty gritty grind of Waterloo life. Things are a big mess in my house (5 guys living in a space for 4 people) and jet lag has been getting the best of me. I have just begun to forget the bureaucracy and stupidity of administration and paperwork and I had a full day of it yesterday running around trying to get things done.

Work (or research or co-op whatever it is called, I’m not too sure at the moment) has been very relaxing so far (as I’m writing this in the “office”). The project looks to be very interesting and I have lots to learn and catch up. It looks to finally be a co-op term where I’ll be really stretched with my skills.

*barg* We’ll, back into the grinder…

Well it’s the new year here already.. haha!! It’s very nice here in Sydney. It’s been an awesome trip so far.. The weather has been great, except for today… rain! *gasp*

Anyway, I want to wish everyone a great new year. Too bad you can’t be here in Sydney. Great weather, great food and beautiful people. It’s almost as if they locked up all the ugly people in the basements! Anyway, I’m heading out to Jervis Bay to go diving in just a short while. Can’t wait to get out into the sun again!

Cheers, OI!

Lap of Luxury
Well, Cathay Pacific Business Class is quite the way to fly. The seats recline almost horizontally and there is so much good stuff they serve you. I tried Cathay Pacific Delight: kiwi juice with coconut juice and mint; and I tried the Pacific Sunrise: chapagne, drambuie with the zest of orange & lemon. Both were very nice! Then brunch was just great: fresh assorted fruits and great sticky rice. Food doesn’t get any better in the air since Cathay Pacific is near the best, and Business is another step up too! They serve it to you on real plates instead of those tin containers like in Economy Class.

The transition to Indonesia time was a cinch. Not much of any jet lag, except that I couldn’t stand the long days. And yah, the wedding was one long day. We started at 11am with lunch and then the service in a HUGE church, battled horrible Jakarta traffic and then the reception at 7pm ending at 12pm. The reception was sheer madness; the hall was big enough to play football. 2500 guests were invited but the total was nearer to 2100 at the last count. But imagine shaking 2100 hands, for 3 seconds each. My cousin estimated that would take up 2 hours of his life just shaking the hands of people he didn’t really even know. And the sad thing was that most people were only there to SMP (or Sudah Makan, Pergi) translated as: Eat enough, and then leave. Really, they were only there for the food. As well, there were ballet dancers, red carpet, the whole works. On the menu they had sushi, sashimi, soto mie, salmon en croute, nasi liwet, sate, roast prime rib, everything you would want, it was there.

All in all, a very tiring and fun filled few days. Even met some pretty perempuans (ladies): most notably pretty Leia and her even prettier sister Laina. Too bad that Leia’s godfather is my uncle, although I’m not sure what that means for my relationship to her sister. “kekeke,” as the Malaysians say.

Well, lots to do here in the lap of luxury. We are royalty and this is our kingdom. To be treated like this is just great… for a short while until it gets tedious. Hopefully things will slow down in the next while so we can finally relax after all this running around.

Well I have arrived finally. What a long flight. Sleep, wake up and only 30 mins pass. BAH! And no, my flight was not totally uneventful. Grr…

To start, after check-in they asked to search my luggage. Well I guess that’s okay. I was there early enough that I didn’t have any rush to be anywhere quick. Sure, checked, no problemo, and off I go. So I’m waiting in line to board my flight when I get asked to be searched AGAIN! So now they search my carry-on baggage and well of course, nothing. Anyway, it’s good that they are being vigilant but do I really look THAT dangerous that I need to be searched twice? Perhaps I’m a single male traveller, around the ages of 18-25 which would be the stereotypical category for someone with evil intents.

The flight was good. I had the first row of Economy Class so it was nice to have LOTS of leg room. I stashed my shoes behind a seat in Business Class to have even more room. The problem with my seat was that the flight attendants kept walking past me and brushing my arm and thus waking me up from mildly restful (and much needed) sleep.

Anchorage was boring, but I got off quick enough (being the first row) to get a Business Class re-entry pass. That was nice so I got on within the first 20 people. Nice perks to booking early and sitting up near the front.

Well I arrive in HK and guess what? BUSINESS CLASS!!! Yep, I’ll be flying business class to Jakarta. I dunno why, but sure! Must be those frequent flyer miles. I think about 6-7 people were upgraded on their transfers. Nice thing they did. If you’re travelling with a group of people, don’t book together, just book separately and there will be a chance that one of you will be upgraded. They normally don’t upgrade groups of people. So, NO, your whole family can’t be upgraded and they definitely won’t split you up either. Travelling the world is awesome! Travelling the world alone is better… but the conversation on the plane was sure lonely (like talking to myself or my Clie).

So I’ll benefit from the luxuries of Business Class again. *sigh* Nice BIG seats, great food. AWESOME! Anyway, for those who are stuck at home for the holidays, this is just throwing insult to injury, salt on the wounds.

Big family dinner tonight. Don’t think I’ll survive. Cousin’s wedding tomorrow… hahaha, better have English translation or I’m *Zzzzzz* It’s 8:30am in HK but it feels like 4:30 in the afternoon. Which reminds me…

My fellow 2B SYDE classmates just completed their Fluid Mechanics exam less than 3 hours ago. Congradulations, although I know that you guys are all partying right now and going to be piss-drunk by the end of it. You all survived, or at least I hope you did. It would suck large to leave some of you behind, especially after knowing you guys for almost 3 years.

Anyway, time to fly. Literally, this time.

Finally got all my stuff together and leaving for a long awaited and much deserved vacation. 2B was tougher than I thought, but in hindsight, the exams were easier than I anticipated. Then again, maybe busting my butt for two straight weeks, 12-14 hours studying each day would be a reason for my new found confidence in my exams.

But of course there is still Fluid Mechanics. Apparently I’ll be writing that in January, what a waste of three days study. I could’ve studied something else but looking back now, it doesn’t really matter. The sad reality is coming back to the cold Waterloo winter and an exam after all the fun in the sun.

*sigh* Anyway, can’t wait to meet up with Mad, Kylie, Paddy and Caroline in Australia. My cousin’s wedding in Indonesia will be quite a spectacle too. We’ll see if we can post some pictures (with our newly bought digital camera). Check here or on my brother’s blog sometime after the 20th.

Time to grab a bite of home food for the last time in 2002. I bid good luck to my unfortunate Waterloo friends who will be battling wind, snow and exams.

Meanwhile, I’ll be on the other side… of the world.

What? Incredulous! A week has already passed and I didn’t notice a thing. Well I’ve written three of five exams and I’m looking at good +80% marks for those courses. But the biggie is tomorrow: Linear Signals and Systems. Since I’m writing this blog, the studying for it is going better than expected. It actually looks passable, which means the course is passable.

Well, in 19 hours from now, I’ll be finished my exams for this month of December 2002. I’m writing my Fluid Mechanics exam presumably in January since the prof decided last minute NOT to let me write it (after he had said he WOULD let me write it). So in about 48 hours I will be boarding an Airbus 340-300 bound for Hong Kong, off that plane and onwards to Indonesia. I can’t wait to get this term over with (altho the Fluids exam technically finishes my term in January).

deh dah dah dah… singing and humming apparently alleviates stress, hence the mindless sounds emanating from my mouth.

Oh, the days drag on. I was going to get a coffee at the Engineering C&D but I met my friend who pointedly reminded me that the C&D isn’t open on weekends. “Weekend?“, I asked myself. (Doh, I just erased 2 paragraphs by accident.) Yup, the days have all blurred together into one long and tiring review of the past 3.5 months. The only breaks are eating meals (which I can finally cook once again), watching my dreadful Fatboys in the hockey pool, and checking email to see if my prof finally scheduled my Fluid Mechanics exam. (I’ve asked him every week since the beginning of November. This is procrastination at its WORSE!)

Anyway, I’m up at 11am, cook lunch/brunch, eat and out the door by 1:30. And then studystudystudy. I finally bike back home in the horrible Waterloo weather (which has been -10C for the past week).

*sigh* I’m just waiting for December 17th, 10:20pm, when I’ll fly away from 2B, and from -10C into Christmas in Indonesia and New Years in Sydney (on the beach!).

Patience patience patience…

Oh yeah, my brother’s in Shanghai again. Lucky bastard.

Did you see anything? I didn’t notice anything different today. What’s the big hype with birthdays? Well I definitely didn’t notice anything over the past hour but then again I wouldn’t expect to. Thinking back, I haven’t changed too much since last year either. Or the year before.

Okay, there are somethings that do change but apart from that I don’t feel a year more mature than when I was 20 nor do I feel 2 years more mature than I did when I was 19 either. Stunted progress, it must be Waterloo.

Note about Waterloo: Don’t send your kids here and don’t tell your friends to come here unless they want to learn and suffer (just like me).

HA! Life continues in Waterloo; the soldier trudges along in through the mud. Of course my situation isn’t all that rosy, but then again it isn’t all that bad. Luckily I’m doing okay in all my other courses but still, I believe that NHL2003 will be the end of me. So that’s why I’ve chosen to exile myself on campus.

Ironically, the Three Sisters of Fate decided to crash my computer yesterday in hope that I would study more and use my computer less. Unfortunately, the first thing I reinstalled was NHL2003. *ben hangs his head in shame* Yes, it’s true. But I’ll work my exile. I have an academic term to complete and complete it well I will.

“Do or do not, there is no try.” -Yoda

To take the spotlight away from myself for a moment, my brother just returned from 3 months in Yunnan, China and it was refreshing to see his farcical stupidity punctuate our reasonably sane family. Anyway, check out all his stories and pictures at passion + reason.