I ♥ Shiok-turdays

Decided to take out the 'yaks again with Mark and Su. Weather was sunny, windy, and absolutely perfect. Hellooooo summer! :D



Going upstream against the current was a bitch though, and I learnt my lesson: Always remember to ADJUST THE RUDDER PEDALS before getting onto the water O.o



We paddled and glided and chilled on the river till noon, rocking like a 不倒翁 every time the CityCat churned past, soaking up the sun, occasionally dangling our feet overboard to dip our toes into the deliciously cool water.

. . . . .

When we got home, we were approached by an Indian lady who showed us her Telstra ID and whom I initially thought was out collecting data about our Internet services for a survey. We soon realized she was a door-to-door salesperson, and Eddie got sucked in because the internet package she was offering sounded too good to be true.

And because it sounded too good to be true (and the bit that sounded too good to be true wasn't stated on the contract she was trying to get Eddie to sign), Eddie insisted on speaking to her boss.

So she called her boss and passed the phone on to Eddie. Boss clarified the deal, which indeed WAS too good to be true, because it was totally different to what Miss Telstra India had been telling Eddie.

Boss, being very apologetic, said he would come over and explain the package to Eddie in person, since he was in the neighbourhood. So he did. Miss Telstra India kept quiet, having nothing to say knowing she had been caught trying to push people to sign up for a package SHE didn't know shit about.

Eddie didn't sign up, of course.

All the while, I was in the room listening to their conversation and admiring Eddie for his conversational/negotiational/clarificationing/whatever skills, because IF IT WERE ME, I would've just allowed myself to carelessly get sucked in by stupidly believing all the wrong facts!

I really should learn from Eddie to be more careful.

. . . . .

After the Miss Telstra India incident, we went to Coffee Square AGAIN.

I must admit the popular little eatery at Market Square is starting to grow on us. The food is affordable and pretty decent, servings are huge, food presentation not bad, service also pretty alright, and we never have to wait too long for our food.

This time I ordered the Diced Veal in Honey Pepper Sauce with Rice.



SHIOK~!! This dish definitely satiated the crazy pepper-lover in me, and halfway through the meal I could already feel the heat of the spice emanating from teh pits of my belly.

Poor Eddie on the other hand couldn't taste anything because I had passed him my germs and he's lost his tastebuds. Ooops.

After lunch, went junk-food shopping @ Yuen's.

After Yuen's, went for 豆花 (tau huay) at our favourite place @ Sunnybank Hills. We were ecstatic that they FINALLY had 豆花 with sweet potato dough, because for the past 5 times we were there, they were sold out!!

So we ordered two, of course...



... and were extremely disappointed because the balls of sweet potato dough were DIFFERENT! They weren't the same ones that we had loved so much. These were rather hard to swallow, not soft and chewy like the old ones (Eddie says it's like chewing old gum), and we could hardly taste the sweet potato. Bleh.

I really need to stop pigging out. My tummy is growing so big that I can't see my toes anymore.

Chicken rice @ Coffee Square

You know what my favourite thing is when I order duck rice/chicken rice/BBQ or roast pork rice in a Chinese restaurant?

The SOUP.



Whether it be watercress soup or carrots and kiam chai or chunks of juicy wintermelon in pork broth or stock, it never fails to make me homesick cos they taste so much like my mom's homemade soups :(

TOLERANCE, I has it... NOT

I find one certain group of people extremely exhausting- The ones who are about as consistent as Melbournian weather, but turn saccharin-sweet when...

1. Their birthdays are just around the corner (and they're subconsciously buttering you up leading up to the date so that you'd make their day)

2. They need you for your car- to pick them up or send them places if they don't have a car, to be the driver when they can't be arsed to drive, to pick something up, move stuff, deliver stuff, etc.- The list is endless

3. They have noone else to turn to- like when they break up with their boyfriend, suddenly you're BFFs until things patch up for them and then she ignores your calls and msgs and you never ever hear from her again.

I play along every single time. Don't get me wrong, I have never ever turned down a person in need of genuine help. But what irks me tremendously is when these so-called "friends" think they can use their friend status to wipe their feet all over me at their convenience, when in fact they have no idea they're about as see-through as a jellyfish. It is annoying and extremely insulting to assume I am dumb enough for you to do that and get away with it. The worst thing is, I do it again and again because I think these people actually mean something to me, when obviously I'm just tissue for them to wipe their noses on when their noses start dribbling. Or whatever, you get the drift.

These are tumours who cling on and don't give a shit if they hurt you as long as they get what they want, but boy does it feel good when you finally cut them out of your life.

. . . . .

People ask why I don't believe in best friends. To me, a "best friend" is nothing but a label- a concept of professed undying friendship, love and a tangled web of complicated unspoken obligations. It doesn't exist in my world (and if it does in yours, good for you).

Call me a skeptic and/or a cynic, but sincerity is a rare gem these days.

I have close friends who mean more to me than a mere label, whom I love with all my heart, and as as cliché as it sounds, they are the ones who love me for who I am, not for what I can offer them. They have proven their worth through thick and thin over the years; they are the ones who tell it to my face like it is rather than sulk over petty little things and stab me in the back; they are the ones who give me wings and make me soar and fill my life with rainbows simply by being themselves.

And these are the people I miss dearly right now. Sigh. I'd give anything to call you and burn your ears with my emo rants but you'd probably kill me cos it's 4 o'clock in the morning. :P

OK slap me now and knock me out cos I've gotta be up for work in less than 3 hours.

Current addiction

*Somebody* set the toaster setting to 5...

I am now eating crispy BISCUITS of toasts.. Or what remains of toasts anyway, after having scraped off the layers of charcoal on both sides, which was so thick the entire plate was coated with black crumbs after I was done scraping.

Am not feeling too much better today, although the fresh air and panadol last night did do wonders...

Had tagged along with Eddie to watch the boys try out for the Singaporean soccer team for the ASEAN Cup. While the guys tried hard to impress the 'judges', the three of us WAGs sat on the side of the pitch and yakked about balls and *people* peeing in bushes and bullied Kaka and exchanged aunty stories hehe. I know you're reading this so thanks babes, u girlies make me happy! ^^

. . . . . . . .

Let me tell you how TERRIBLE I am at planning surprises.

I saw this in Myer's Father's Day catalogue last night.

It was a fragrance that Eddie had loved and wanted for light years, but had never gotten around to buying it because he wants to use up his current one first and he doesn't buy perfumes on impulse like me.



I was thinking "Eh, it's on offer for $99!"

Then I was thinking of how I could buy it for Eddie tomorrow before our lunch date and surprise him yadda yadda, before I suddenly realized I had actually spoken my "Eh, it's on offer for $99!" out aloud, because Eddie responded by saying "Yeah I know. I wanna get it. When does the offer end?"

Inside, I was kicking myself for blurting it out, because now if I bought it for him tomorrow it wouldn't be a suprise anymore, right? Cos he already knows I saw it in the catalogue.

While he was in the shower, I had a brilliant idea. I'll buy it on [ strawberrynet.com ]!! It'd be cheaper too. Boy will he be suprised when it arrives in the mail in a week or two!

Trembling with excitement, I went online and purchased it, clicking on "checkout" and printing the receipt the moment he stepped out of the bathroom. I was jittery with excitement, and I must have had the most ridiculously sheepish grin on my face, cos when he saw me he must have immediately known I was up to something. I felt like if I didn't show him what I was printing right then and there I would explode, so I did (show him what I was printing, not explode)

He was happy, of course :)

But geez, so much for wanting to surprise him.

It was like how I almost forced my sister to guess what her Christmas present was, and then just ending up telling her because I was more excited than she was, and couldn't wait for her to open it on Christmas!

Meh =.=

. . . . . . . .

What am I gonna do today?

I've decided not to meet Eddie for our usual Thursday kebab date, because I've got leftover pasta in the fridge and I need to stop spending moolah.

I thought of going fishing at Shorncliffe because I'd love some sun and fresh air, and there wouldn't be a lot of people on the jetty now (cos I hate it when it's crowded and all the good spots are bagged and there are kids screaming and stamping around)... but I'm a little hesitant about going alone because I secretly fantasize about hooking up some monster fish and there'd be no Eddie there to help me then I'd lose the fish because my tiny 6 pound line cannot handle it T.T

Hmm. The thought of having fresh bream for dinner is very tempting though. Can try using my Switchblade. Or can use bread on tiny hooks. I wonder if I use multi-grain bread, would the bream know it's good for them cos its healthier than white bread?

Summer blooms

I don't know if it's because I'm sick, or hormonal, or both, but there are some people who are really really starting to annoy the fuck out of me right now...

Miss Manja Puss

Suuuuke die when daddy sibuk main game >.<

A Tuesday unlike others

The school principal from a famous girls' school in Tokyo, along with her HOD of English and a few other Japanese agents, came to visit CSHS today as part of EQI's (Education Queensland International) promotion of Queensland schools for student exchange programs.

I don't work at CSHS on Tuesdays because I'm at Bundamba. I left work early so that I could meet our visitors and tag along on a grand tour of our school ^^

Upon arrival, the visitors were ushered into the Arts & Performance Centre, where they were greeted by the school's string ensemble at the door.

The principal gave a short welcoming speech...



Then the ensemble played another beautiful piece before the visitors moved on to the hall.



The Production students presented with a marvellous full-dress song rehearsal from "Cats"
It was one of my favourites from the musical, called "Memory" :)



Both performances were marvellous!

I am SOO JEALOUS of our international kids... I wish I had gone to school in Australia!!! Here, I could've chosen my subjects and studied things I actually LOVED- like Visual Arts and Drama and Music and Language... instead of having forced down my throat boring useless science subjects (I'm not dissing the subjects alright, they're just useless to me), like Chemistry and Physics and Additional Maths :(

...And PENDIDIKAN MORAL!!! Who the EFF came up with Pendidikan Moral. STUPIDEST SUBJECT IN THE WORLD CAN!!! @!^#%&^*#$-!!

OK enough ranting.
I digress.

Here are our visitors with the principal, and some of our lovely 'Cats' :)



Moving on to check out the sports fields, where some boys were enjoying a game of frisby...



The [ Bell Shakespeare Company ] happened to be at school today!

They've got an educational program called [ Actors at Work ], where the troupe of actors go around different schools in the country to perform and share their passion + the awesome-ness of Shakespeare's works around the country.

They.are.SO.FRICKIN.AWESOME.



The students were mesmerized.
So was I.
I wished I could've stayed on to watch, but we had to move on...



We took the visitors on to different classrooms to see students at work
Music room, computer labs, Home Ec....



... and my little ESL room too ^^
Good thing I came to school a little earlier to tidy and spruce up the room!

After the tour, we had some morning tea in the conference room.



The principals exchanged tokens of appreciation, and took some group photos before they left



The rep from EQI (third from left) says they are trying to break into the Malaysian market and promote the program, because while we've got a huge intake of Vietnamese and Japanese and Chinese students, there are almost no participating Malaysian students at all.

I told her EQI would need to do a lot more promotional work at education fairs and such, because if I had known these programs existed, I would have loved to have studied at an Australian high school.

She handed me her card and said she'd love to keep in touch, and would keep me updated regarding any promotional work they might do in Malaysia in the future. ^^

Sekian.

Mooncake Festival

The 3rd of October it's gonna be on this year.

Even though it's still a couple of months away, pretty tin mooncake cases have already made their way to the shelves at Yuen's.

I'm not overly enthusiastic about mooncakes. The only things I like about them are the skin, and the yolks inside. The lotus paste in between is just too disgustingly sweet for me. Which is why I usually buy mooncakes with 4 yolks in one mooncake.

If I had my way, I would just wrap yolks in mooncake skin...
But since I can't have that, here's the next best thing-



A whole piggy made of mooncake skin
(at least that's what it tastes like).
YUM. ^^

Dumbadeedum

Me: Honey is this your towel?
Eddie: No it's not.
Me: It must be mine, then. Hmm I don't remember it being mine.
Eddie: You don't have a memory, remember?

. . . . *5 seconds later* . . . .

Eddie: HA HA HA
Me: What?
Eddie: If you don't have a memory, how can you remember???
Me: (-.-")

So after the Indonesian League finals yesterday...

We ended up NOT going to either Merdeka Night or Anand's Medieval themed house party.

Instead, we stayed home and had a nice simple dinner of instant mee pok, knackwurst, and Campbell's cream of mushroom soup over Ice Age 3 on the small screen. :)


Can you spot the kitteh?

Today, when the boys were playing soccer at Munro field, a little pigeon fell from the tree it was on (must've been spooked by the soccer ball or something) but couldn't land. It crashed through the brances and fell on the ground, and then it couldn't walk or fly. Eddie and I decided to bring the poor thing to the vet clinic at uni, and left it in good hands after filling in a wildlife admission form. I hope they fix the poor thing up and I hope it survives.

Oh my glider is broken. The wing snapped off when it nose-dived to the ground :( At least we got a few decent flights out of it...

OK gtg now, going to Coffee Square @ Sunnybank for chicken rice, upon Julia's recommendation!

Student-free Thursday

Not that it mattered to me, cos I don't work on Thursdays anyway.

Had a lunch date with Eddie in the city.
The kebab place near his office makes friggin good kebabs!



They were so generous with the filling that my "small" kebab ended up being a jumbo-sized one after they finished stuffing it!

After Eddie went back to work, I sat down in the sun at the Riverside to read.
It was so warm I had to keep shifting positions so that my bare legs got equal sun

I smell summer. *rubs hands in glee*

EKKA public holiday

Lunch @ Sunnybank

We were craving for duck rice, but after the boys finished playing soccer we thought it might be too late to go to Golden BBQ, cos they're usually sold out by noon

Couldn't be arsed to go EKKA cos it was already 2pm

I've already been there a million times

And Eddie wasn't exceptionally keen either

So we made a spontaneous decision to go to Gold Coast and....

I BOUGHT A NEW HANDBAG!!!!

(with a huge handbag loan from theBoyfriend ^^)

♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ 8D ♥ *LOVES*

Tried to extinguish my excitement a little with ice-cream from our favourite gelato spot

But I got even more excited because they'd come up with a new flavour which I absolutely loved...

RED BULL ICE-CREAM!!!

zomgwtfbbqdvdsmsajinomoto

Eddie didn't like it though.

He stuck with his cookies n'cream.

We wandered into DFS Galleria

Eddie bought some yummy kangaroo jerky

Felt like we'd had enough so we started heading back towards Brisbane.

Heard on the radio that there was going to be a hailstorm which was heading north

Got a little worried but we were lucky... we caught the tail of it and ran into a bit of rain, but no hail :) Thank GOD.

When we got home, Eddie's precious fruit (which we got from Yuen's earlier on @ Sunnybank) had thawed

Just in time for supper!

This thing cost $6+, which was super expensive cos it was so tiny!

But Malaysian D24 k, dun pway pway... not those big tasteless frozen Thai durians



It was so small that it only had 3 seeds
One for me, one for Eddie, and one for Benjamin!

SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD

FedEx guy called me at while I was at school...

to tell me that I had a parcel from Sydney.


Ohai. Wat dis?


:D

Voilà! My tiny little heart lock pendant on a chain

...With my initials engraved on the back! *hearts*

Saturday.

We were brimming with excitement as we drove across the bridge and spotted the row of overturned red tinnies on the shore, waiting to be hired.

I looked at the few boats bobbing on the water.
"Uhh.. Honey, the water looks a little choppy today..."

We stepped out of the car and were immediately greeted by a blast of chilly wind.
Eddie dialled the number for the boat hire while I bitched about not having enough layers on.

The boat hire was closed for the day because of the 30 knot wind.
DAMNIT
Why didn't we check the wind when we checked the weather??

With fishing gear and no destination, we drove/walked around the island.
The beaches were beautiful, and the water was super clear and so tranquil!
It was pretty peaceful for a weekend
So quiet, in fact, that it almost felt like a ghost town
We loved it!
Nothing like Shorncliffe or Redcliffe where its always so bloody jam-packed

We stopped at a jetty and went down to have a look
Bagged a spot on one of the pontoons
It was low tide and the current was still running out pretty rapidly, but since we had the rods in the car, Eddie thought we might as well give luring a go



Played with my TT Switchblade while Eddie used his poppers
We both gave up after a while cos there were too many bratty kids running around and anyhow casting their lines, and Eddie was worried I might get hooked :P



So we put the rods aside and just lay on the pontoon soaking up the sun

The kids left and it was peaceful again

The wind stopped and it was so beautifully warm, I regretted not wearing a bikini top!



One of the Japanese guys who was fishing with his friends (on the same pontoon as us) bent over and dropped his car keys into the water O.o

I wonder how they got home that evening.

We then drove to the other side of the island

Went for a walk on the beach but promptly turned around and jumped back into the car because it was freezing!

There was a lone old man happily splashing about in the icy water
I could see that the lifeguard on duty was keeping a sharp eye on him, what with the gigantic waves and crazy winds
Crazy bugger

. . . . .

Got home around 5-ish.

Eddie got free tickets again to the Brisbane Roar vs. Gold Coast United match

It was GCU's debut match!

We lost to Gold Coast 3-1. (-_-)

Bumped into Ven & Andrew & Andrew's friend Andrew (same name haha!)

So we all took the train home together.

. . . . .

Gave clubbing a miss; had enough action for the day :)

Goodnight, loves

If I were a McDonald's burger, I would be a...

Gotta love Facebook quizzes.

Speaking of cheeseburgers, I'm craving for a triple-cheeseburger now...

Zoom zoom zoom

Had wanted to go for Kandy since it's been a while since I've been out with Cakes and Yao
But it sucks that Kandy is always on a weekday
Bloody cheapskate Asians (as in renting the club weekdays cos its cheaper)
Ppl got work/classes the next day how :(

So I thought I'd be good and opted for the sensible option of not going.
Besides, it's the second day of my period and I feel too sticky squishy and disgusting to go anywhere

Had Phở for dinner with the boyfriend and the housemate
Then went to Bunnings to looks for a BBQ grill
Bought one YAY
BBQ party soon! :))

Also bought a Balsa wood glider kit, happily thinking it was child's play to assemble

Almost fainted when I saw the plan O.o

In the end I didn't even bother with the instructions cos they didn't make sense to me
Anyhow whack
Didn't have dope
Couldn't be arsed to sandpaper
No proper cutting knife

But somehow, still managed to make it LOOK like a plane...



Kitteh curled up on my chair, watching me at work :P



Luckily I still had some paint left



TAA-DAAHH :D



Plasticine on the nose to stabilize... and my baby's ready to go!



Can't wait to fly it at the park this weekend :D