An innocent person crossing the street - as part of his quotidian lifestyle. Just stepping out of the kerb. And a van zooms by, at top speed...

BAM! It's over! The damage has been done. It is irreversible and there's, no doubt, nothing you can do about it anymore.

But at least have a heart - to take responsibility for what you've done. At least have a brain - to think rationally. At least have a sense of attention - for you are driving at night. At least know what your limits are, especially the speed limits on your van. And at least keep on a lookout - for whoever's crossing the road.

At least, at the very least, you should not have driven off. Where is your conscience?! Where is your soul?!

Your trip to the police station is not because you decided to take responsibility, but merely because you cannot escape anymore - too many people have seen what you have done and the catastrophe you have created.

You know that your arrest is inevitable. But you decided to turn yourself in anyway. To save yourself from the embarrassment? To save your dignity? Or to save yourself from being haunted from beyond the grave?

Nevertheless, you have destroyed someone's life. Just like that. You have robbed him of the chance to live to a ripe old age. You have robbed him of the life he has always lived.

Worst of all, you have robbed him from his family.

Let this be a lifelong lesson that will plague you for the rest of your life, reminding you not to be so impulsive, and reminding you not to be so indifferent. To teach you a lesson for not thinking about others. And to teach you a lesson for being such a thief - an irresponsible one too!

It is too late to repent. But it is not too late to learn.

It's week 12 - the final week of the semester! Gosh, semester 2 always passes so fast! And exams (yikes!) are in about 2 weeks' time! I should really get crackin' and start studying very very soon - I feel really prepared for my piano exam (thanks a billion, Anna, for your wonderful sound advice!) although I don't know the exact date of my exam, but for the other subjects...uh oh...... *plays opening to Beethoven's 5th symphony*

Exams aside...I just visited the kitchen garden again today, and our garden beds are looking really good! The veggies are growing really well, and some of the garden beds actually look really crowded! Ours isn't so crowded though, but it'll be, very soon.

Just a few weeks ago, our veggies were this small, consisting of just a few leaves and shoots here and there:

And when I went back to water them today, some of them looked like this:

And some even had fruits!

And of course, our dear college cat, Aggie, was lovey-dovey as usual. She actually went on one of the garden beds and had to be carried out of it. She wasn't too impressed, but was pretty ok about it later on. I've got lots of pictures of her.

I've also got pictures of our college production, Guys and Dolls. Guys and Dolls is a 1950s Broadway production by Frank Loesser, based on the book, The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown by Damon Rumyon. It's generally about a bunch of gamblers and mission dolls, betting and of course, love between a gambler and a mission doll. Other subplots also follow, such as crap shooters (dice games) and a couple who had been engaged for 14 years.

Setting the scene at the very start of the show:

The second guy on the right plays a local policeman, while the rest of them are gamblers.

The mission dolls and one of the gamblers, Sky Masterson - the main character of the show. Sky Masterson made a bet that he could bring "sinners" to the mission, such that the mission would not close down, but Sarah Brown had to go on a date with him.

Yet another main character, Ms Adelaide (a cabaret dancer) with her Hot Box girls. Ms Adelaide is the character who has been engaged for 14 years - to a gambler, Nathan Detroit. She constantly laments about his inability to quit crap shooting, and often gets annoyed at him for not quitting. But she still loves him nevertheless.

The mission again, led by Sarah Brown, the mission doll who fell in love with Sky Masterson. She did go on a date with him, and ended up drunk, and escorted back to the mission by Sky.

The scene in which all the "sinners" - gamblers, crap shooters, Hot Box girls and so on, turn up at the mission office, which was in danger of being closed down. Sarah Brown eventually realised that Sky Masterson was merely betting to achieve his goal, and was highly annoyed at him, refusing to see him again. However, they were both in love by then, and Sky had to make it up to her by fulfilling his part of the bet:

Ms Adelaide and Nathan Detroit finally tie the knot...after 14 years. And so does Sarah Brown and Sky Masterson, who eventually opened up to each other, and also married, with the help of one of the older mission dolls.

The closing scene for the night:

On a side note: a sculpture I made from clay quite a few days ago:

Right, I'm off to study now!

I've been seeing Aggie quite a lot these days, and these pictures were taken on Monday. Aggie was friendly as usual, saying her usual "meeeoooowwwww" when I called her name, but when she settled on one of the veggie patches (which she's not supposed to!), I couldn't even get her to move! She just sat there happily:

And she cleaned herself up as well. When cats wash behind their ears, people believe that it will rain the next day, but the funny thing was that, when Aggie washed behind her ears, it got really sunny the next day! Whooooopppppsssss......

I tried to get her off the veggie patch, and she gave me this look:

"Go away! I'm on my break!"

Wow, it's been a week since the opening of the kitchen garden! Our garden beds are growing really well, and some of the veggies from the other beds were even harvested yesterday!

Last week was really beautiful before the cold snap on Friday, which brought temperatures down to 15 degrees - something that we shouldn't experience in mid-October. And on the day of the kitchen garden opening, it was rather cloudy but still quite comfy.

Pictures outside the kitchen garden:

The kitchen garden itself. It was pretty quiet at first, but people started streaming in shortly after. We arrived pretty early and met Aggie along the way.

Our guest-of-honour - Stephanie Alexander. She was a resident of our college when she was in university, and she had always been interested in kitchen gardening, as well as cooking. She's one of the best chefs ever, and she's published lots of books. Oh, and not to mention, she has a really good sense of humour and has been travelling around the world, to many countries. I really enjoyed her speech, and was greatly honoured to be able to shake her hand after that.

Our kitchen garden was named after her, and here she is - cutting the ribbons to unveil the sign.

After that she signed books and spoke to many people. We spoke to her too, and she was really pleasant and friendly.

After that we basically mingled around and spoke to other guests. We just happened to speak to one of the academic visitors here in college, and their son was busy posing for the camera. He wasn't even camera-shy at all:

Finger food that we had during the gathering:

After that we hung around, played with Aggie, while the rest of the guests left. It was a rather simple gathering, but we were so honoured to be able to meet Stephanie Alexander - a really pleasant, yet superb celebrity.

Right, that's about it for now! Thanks lots for viewing and I might put pictures from the production up pretty soon!

We had our kitchen garden opening the other day in college, and the guest-of-honour was one of our college alumni, Stephanie Alexander. Stephanie Alexander is also a celebrity chef, and she's earned a really good reputation throughout the years - she has travelled around the world, written many books and so on, and she has a really good sense of humour! Our kitchen garden was also named after her.

And of course, we had a special guest - Aggie the college cat! I did an entry on her a while ago, and now I've got even more pictures of her!

Before the opening, we actually found her sitting on one of the cars, looking adorable, as usual.

So we went up to her and she said "meeooowwww" - her typical "hi". We tried to get her off the car, but she stayed there for awhile, before jumping down to join us.

She was in a really good mood that day, and she hung around us for a while, then rolled over! And we gave her a good rub on the belly, and on her back. She's really soft and fluffy, and her fur's just so comfy. I really love combing my fingers through her fur! Oh, and she's actually not black and white - the fur on her back is actually dark brown, but the fur around her eyes is jet black. I really love her goatee (the black patch under her chin) and her black nose - it makes her look really, really adorable.

She really loved lying on the ground and doing big stretches that day...

And she continued rolling over after that. When cats roll over, it probably means that they're in a playful mood, and they usually love a belly rub every now and then.

She didn't really join us during the kitchen garden opening, but hung around the garden, in the carpark. Later, when the gathering ended,

Steph and I: "Aggie...Aggie!!!"

Aggie: "Meeooowwww..."

She responded to us, and began to rub against Steph's legs, going all lovey-dovey and affectionate. We gave her the usual belly rub again, and a tickle behind her ears and under her chin, and hung around until she wasn't interested anymore. She's really lovable! Oh, and today, she was really affectionate - responding to her name with her usual "meeeooowwwww", and being very lovey-dovey with Steph and I. She makes me enjoy kitchen gardening even more, and I simply love her company!

Yet a few days ago, before this cold snap, she was super lazy, lying lazily in one of the vegie patches. She didn't even want to say hi, but did not hesitate when I approached her.

"Go away! I'm on my break!"

I found her sleeping in the same vegie patch the next day. When she saw me, she opened her eyes, stirred a little, then put her paw over her eyes and went back to sleep! She looks really, really cuddly here!

Oh, and did I mention - Aggie had a rather tumultuous past before she was picked up by one of our tutors. She had been abandoned in an aga-patch (I don't remember how to spell it), and when they picked her up, she was really traumatised, and was meowing away. Our tutor named her Aggie after the vegie patch they found her in, and "adopted" her, but when our tutor moved out, we've been keeping her company, and the kitchen staff feed her. She's a really lucky cat - big compound to hang out in, lots of company etc...and she's really loved by all of us too!

Will probably post pictures of the kitchen garden opening soon! And of course, more Aggie pictures!

Rest in peace, dear Dame Joan Sutherland (1926 - 2010)

Picture credit: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/opera/farewell-joan-sutherland-the-grandest-dame-of-australian-opera-20101012-16g8a.html?autostart=1

So here's part 2 of the Tulip Festival:

The entire field was just packed with so many people viewing the tulips, taking photos, and even picking some. Of course, there were stalls outside the main field, which had tulips of different varieties and colours - here's one of them in the background, with some tulips displayed in the foreground.

These tulip beds were located just at the entrance of the main field. They were in a better condition compared to the ones in the main field, but were less colourful.

View of the main field from a higher point. The main field was on undulating land.

Sculpture amongst the tulips in the main field. I think it had something to do with Marxism or something - not very suitable for a tulip field (which seems to have nothing to do with politics), but oh well...

Parts of the main field, taken from a higher point. It was just massive...!!!

Tulips - I reckon they were in one of the aisles towards the side. The middle aisles seemed more colourful.

Most of the tulips were closed/starting to open, but there were some that were fully open...

The ones that were partially open looked a little ruffly...

I really like the multi-coloured varieties, especially the pattern on their petals.

Yellow tulips amongst other colourful ones...

A massive variety of colours in the middle aisles - and these aisles were where children loved to frolick and hang out. Some tulips got trampled, unfortunately.

A dandelion sculpture towards the lower end of the slope, near the middle aisles.

And a flower sculpture, which children climbed on. Unfortunately the seat was filled with heaps of mud by the time I got there...

A flame-shaped tulip which Ben spotted...

And we headed out of the main field after that. Had some good Dutch pancakes and then proceeded to make some clay figurines. It was really worth it - we paid $4 for a massive slab of clay and we could do virtually anything we wanted with it. I made quite a number of figurines but some have fallen apart :( I've got Superglue though...

We had to leave the festival grounds by 5pm (because of closing times), and here're some pictures of the main entrance:

And after that we took a bus back to Lilydale (the tulip farm was located in Silvan, a town about half an hour away from Lilydale), and a train back to the city.

Right, that concludes the entire picture collection for the Tesselaar Tulip Festival! I should really go again next spring!

Thanks lots for viewing and seeya in the near future! :D