I'm currently chillin' in my friend, Amir's house after moving out from the Murdoch University Student Village, Flat 90, a place I've called home for the past 2 and a half years. And in less than two weeks, I will be leaving Perth for good.
The bitter and cynical part of me wanted to say 'GOOD RIDDANCE, I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH AN OPPRESSIVE ENVIRONMENT WITH LIMITED INTERNET CONNECTION AND RUN INTO ANNOYING DUMBASSES WHO HAPPEN TO LIVE IN THE VILLAGE TOO!'. However, that's the only thing I won't miss about the place.
Everything else about it is almost great. Here's a quick list of everything I loved about staying in the Student Village.
1) My Flatmates
Unlike Justin, I am blessed with great flatmates. The kinds of flatmates which make my flat a place worth staying in. Despite whatever stress and anger and pressure I would endure from either my filmmaking endeavours, my studies, or, ah, girl problems, I always know that there's no place like home where I whine and bitch about my angst.
One is Duane, whom I've mentioned sometimes on my blog.
Swifty With His Flatmate, Duane
Guy's been my flatmate ever since I came to Perth back in July 2004 (he arrived a semester earlier). Totally hardcore, goes to the gym and works out most of the time, knows kendo, and can definitely break anybody into half with his bare fists. Every Tuesday, whenever ticket prices are halved, both of us would go for a movie at the nearest shopping mall, Garden City. He drove, of course. In fact, he had always been only one with a car, and would very unfortunately transport me around for my grocery shopping and stuff. He was like Jason Statham in The Transporter movies, but more badass and cool.
Also a great supplier of anime.
Duane Is God.
The other two were Kyria and Simone, both moved into the flat this year.
From left to right, Swifty, Kyria and Simone
Kyria, from Canberra, immediately brought changes to the flat. Prior to her arrival, most flatmates who stayed in flat number 90 were usually more withdrawn, constantly hiding in their rooms, having their own TV sets, and having their own bathrooms, so it had never been necessary to actually walk out of rooms to interact with others. Kyria wouldn't have any of that, her door was constantly opened, the entire flat was decorated by artwork, plants and many other things she bought. She turned the flat into her home, and with that, it became more of a home for us too. Friendly, outspoken, free-spirited, sassy and also kickassy. My attempts in cooking (which nearly set fire in the kitchen) had always been a constant source of exasperation for her. But she had always been the best person for me to whine and angst about, well, my constant girl problems.
Simone, on the other hand, had always been mysterious. Very quiet and introverted, shy and reserved, she was always in her room. Sometimes an entire week would go by when neither of us in the flat would see her around, only to realize all these while, she was, well, in her room. Never got to know her that much until, strangely, less than two weeks ago, when I was on the verge of collapsing from the stress and exhaustion I endured during the production of my film, Girl Disconnected. And I was in my flat briefly for a quick supper before returning to the editing suites in university to pull an all-nighter. She came out when I was preparing my cereal, and I talked, she listened. I needed to talk, to let loose of things. And without hesitation, Simone just said that if I ever needed help, just knock her door. I never knocked her door, because by listening, she had already given me more help than I've wanted.
All these years, besides them, I had other interesting flatmates from different places, Theo from Ghana, Sarah from USA, Marlin from Norway and the likes (all of them are females!), all of them simply rocked in their own manner, just that their stay in Flat 90 were usually very brief. Just a semester and they would leave before I could know them more, much unlike those I stayed with this year. Strangely, this time, Duane, Simone and Kyria will be remaining in the flat for next year, while I am the only one who makes a move.
While neither of them are aware of the existence of this blog, I thank them for the fine memories they gave me. From a fresh Malaysian student who was just enduring the fresh experience of living in a foreign country, to a writer filmmaker intending to make a difference, I've underwent some changes in the past 2.5 years, but the one thing that was constant throughout my stay in Flat 90 was that the place had always been great.
Tags:
The bitter and cynical part of me wanted to say 'GOOD RIDDANCE, I DON'T HAVE TO DEAL WITH AN OPPRESSIVE ENVIRONMENT WITH LIMITED INTERNET CONNECTION AND RUN INTO ANNOYING DUMBASSES WHO HAPPEN TO LIVE IN THE VILLAGE TOO!'. However, that's the only thing I won't miss about the place.
Everything else about it is almost great. Here's a quick list of everything I loved about staying in the Student Village.
1) My Flatmates
Unlike Justin, I am blessed with great flatmates. The kinds of flatmates which make my flat a place worth staying in. Despite whatever stress and anger and pressure I would endure from either my filmmaking endeavours, my studies, or, ah, girl problems, I always know that there's no place like home where I whine and bitch about my angst.
One is Duane, whom I've mentioned sometimes on my blog.
Swifty With His Flatmate, Duane
Guy's been my flatmate ever since I came to Perth back in July 2004 (he arrived a semester earlier). Totally hardcore, goes to the gym and works out most of the time, knows kendo, and can definitely break anybody into half with his bare fists. Every Tuesday, whenever ticket prices are halved, both of us would go for a movie at the nearest shopping mall, Garden City. He drove, of course. In fact, he had always been only one with a car, and would very unfortunately transport me around for my grocery shopping and stuff. He was like Jason Statham in The Transporter movies, but more badass and cool.
Also a great supplier of anime.
Duane Is God.
The other two were Kyria and Simone, both moved into the flat this year.
From left to right, Swifty, Kyria and Simone
Kyria, from Canberra, immediately brought changes to the flat. Prior to her arrival, most flatmates who stayed in flat number 90 were usually more withdrawn, constantly hiding in their rooms, having their own TV sets, and having their own bathrooms, so it had never been necessary to actually walk out of rooms to interact with others. Kyria wouldn't have any of that, her door was constantly opened, the entire flat was decorated by artwork, plants and many other things she bought. She turned the flat into her home, and with that, it became more of a home for us too. Friendly, outspoken, free-spirited, sassy and also kickassy. My attempts in cooking (which nearly set fire in the kitchen) had always been a constant source of exasperation for her. But she had always been the best person for me to whine and angst about, well, my constant girl problems.
Simone, on the other hand, had always been mysterious. Very quiet and introverted, shy and reserved, she was always in her room. Sometimes an entire week would go by when neither of us in the flat would see her around, only to realize all these while, she was, well, in her room. Never got to know her that much until, strangely, less than two weeks ago, when I was on the verge of collapsing from the stress and exhaustion I endured during the production of my film, Girl Disconnected. And I was in my flat briefly for a quick supper before returning to the editing suites in university to pull an all-nighter. She came out when I was preparing my cereal, and I talked, she listened. I needed to talk, to let loose of things. And without hesitation, Simone just said that if I ever needed help, just knock her door. I never knocked her door, because by listening, she had already given me more help than I've wanted.
All these years, besides them, I had other interesting flatmates from different places, Theo from Ghana, Sarah from USA, Marlin from Norway and the likes (all of them are females!), all of them simply rocked in their own manner, just that their stay in Flat 90 were usually very brief. Just a semester and they would leave before I could know them more, much unlike those I stayed with this year. Strangely, this time, Duane, Simone and Kyria will be remaining in the flat for next year, while I am the only one who makes a move.
While neither of them are aware of the existence of this blog, I thank them for the fine memories they gave me. From a fresh Malaysian student who was just enduring the fresh experience of living in a foreign country, to a writer filmmaker intending to make a difference, I've underwent some changes in the past 2.5 years, but the one thing that was constant throughout my stay in Flat 90 was that the place had always been great.
Tags:
