Today's random snapshots

Been blogging a bit more recently cos I've been stuck at home with nothing to do. Sien. Another stinkingly hot and lazy day...



无聊死.

Would love to walk around in the city and go to the museum or something, but they've jacked up the price for public transport again and I now have to pay a bleeping $7.80 just to get to the city, which is only 10 minutes away from my house!! O.o

Didn't feel like eating instant noodles either cos I'm sick of eating at home, so I decided to be naughty and splurged on my favourite lunch- Sushi and Boost Juice @ Indooroopilly. :D~



Ate in my car so that I wouldn't get distracted by the shops and go window shopping and fall in l♥ve with something and end up spending munny that I do not have.

MMSed kisses to Eddie at work..



Car park



Then went to Queensland Transport to put my renewed Malaysian drivers license in the system so that I can book in for my long-overdued driving test.

Drove behind one of these trucks again.
Look closer. SCARY CAN!!!



Bloody hell the first time I noticed these trucks, I almost shat in my pants cos I thought the truck was really facing me and we were going to collide head-on fml. I was about to jam my brakes in panic before I realized it was only a fucking picture of the front of a truck on the back of the (real) fucking truck.



Some innocent driver is gonna get a heart attack or cause a multiple crash by braking suddenly one day, and this company is gonna get sued their arses off I tell you.

Anyhoos. Today's word origin of the day is...


Christmas pressie from Bev!

And I'm halfway through this book which got me rethinking about the issue of bullying at school again..



No need to worry about that with my new workplace! :)

Meh too lazy to blog already. Off to play Zuma!

More job-seeking frustration

I've run out of potential schools of employment of choice to drop off my resumes at.

I think I'm just about to go crazy right now.

The jobs I want in Brisbane, I do not have enough experience for.

The jobs I want overseas, I do not have an Australian passport for.

The jobs I could've applied for in Brisbane, I do not want because it's not what I want to do (even tho the money is good T.T ).

The job I want in Japan, I've missed out on the application by months and will have to wait till September before I can start applying for 2011... and if I do get selected I'd need to fly back to Malaysia for the interview because my passport is Malaysian and that does not even guarantee I'd get the job FML.

I am eligible to apply for positions as an English lecturer with some colleges back in Malaysia, but as appealing as being called a "lecturer" sounds, I do not want to work in Malaysia.

Am I being too picky?

. . . . .

UPDATE: So guess what happened immediately after that little rant?? I got a call!!! :D Going off for an interview in an hour, wish me luck! *excited*

Doing the Karen Cheng with what I'm wearing to the interview. It's too hot for anything else -.-*

Today's healthy lunch: Jarlsberg cheese on Bürgen toast, icy-cold fresh pumpkin juice + orange/grapes/blueberries. Spot the Mickey!

Gotta catch the bus now kbyee~

Wide asleep @ 3.30am

Our biological clocks have been totally screwed up from our Singapore/KL holiday (during which we spent many sleepless nights either partying or pigging out), and it hadn't helped that both of us have been sick and drowning in phlegm, mucous, and each other's germs for the past two weeks.

Anyway.

Earlier on we went over to Bev and Bjorn's for a little get-together to farewell Darren, who will be leaving next week. The chef made us yummy onion rings and pulled-pork sandwiches for dinner.

I know you're gonna ask what a pulled-pork sandwich is. It is a sandwich. With pork. That has been... err... pulled. Youmaynowpresentmewiththemostuselesselucidationofthecenturyawardkthxbai.



More fun and yak afterwards, including a few crazy rounds of UNO...



INTERSECT!!!! *slaps down card* wahaha omg I have not touched those coloured cards since I was in primary school! And I won a round so everyone else had to drink!! bahahahaha.

(Now thinking of how I can modify it into a fun and equally crazy language-learning game hmm. Minus the drinking bit of course.)

Anyhoos, the boyfriend ended up having quite a few glasses of vino, and as I am typing this, I am enveloped by the soothing sounds of someone behind me snoring away like a buzz saw...


"Daddy? Daddy..??"

At least he won't be having trouble sleeping tonight ;)

She never learns

Mariah has a bad habit.

She loves scooping her food out of her bowl to eat.



Thus forever making a huge MESS on the carpet with her crumbs.

At first Eddie thought she didn't like the shape of her bowl, and that it might've been hard to eat from.

So he bought her a new bowl.

She still did it.
Turns out, she just likes doing it for the sake of doing it.



This afternoon, I sat next to her.
Reprimanded her and picked up all her food and put it back into her bowl, whenever she scooped out a pawful.

After a while she gave me the sien face.



But still did it nontheless.



And I kept picking it up before she had a chance to eat it off the floor.

Eventually she gave up and just glared at me.



Angry face haha

FML.

Fireflies

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep
'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare



I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance
A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread



I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

Leave my door open just a crack
(Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
(Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep
(Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep



To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell
But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar



I'd like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams

- OWL CITY

ONE MORE SLEEP omg.

I woke up at 3am this morning with my tummy churning and gurgling like a Calcutta sewer. I wondered if it was caused by last night's dimsum supper @ the Manor.



Impossible; Eddie had eaten exactly what I ate, and yet he was sleeping like a baby.

And then I remembered the pan-fried scallops I had for a snack earlier on yesterday. There could be no other culprit; I recall that the center of the juicy scallops were still a little cold when I bit into them, and nothing else could've induced diarrhea as effectively as half-cooked seafood FML.



Half a dozen trips to the loo later, I finally felt better and dozed off for a couple of hours before having to wake up to send Mariah to the cat motel.

Eddie drove while I sat with her at the back seat.



Poor darling had no idea where we were sending her, and even though it was only for three weeks, it broke my heart knowing that this was the first time in her life she'd be spending the night confused and alone in a totally alien place.



You couldn't see in this picture, but behind the chalkboard there's a hole leading out to a private balcony where the kitties can sit and watch the birds and the bees outside. This was one of the features I loved about this cattery. The kitties also get to play in a communal play area for an hour or so every day.

I hope Mariah would be too distracted to miss us too much.


Mariah's beautiful neighbours!

Nevertheless, I still burst into tears upon leaving our babygirl behind, thinking of how she had refused to come out of her carrier and thinking of how terrified she must be of the foreign smells and noises and having to be left all alone for almost a month without her daily hugs and cuddles and treats :'(

Yalah I crybaby. I hate goodbyes. Even when parting with a cat also wanna emo.

. . . . .

After my sniffling and snuffling, we made a pit-stop @ Sunnybank. Even though it was already 11am, most of the restaurants werent open yet, so we opted to grab a bite at Malaya Corner.



Went shopping @ Indooroopilly for last minute pressies, then went home and attempted to start packing.

Eddie is officially on holidays already. He cut/punked up his hair this afternoon and dyed it in streaks; he looks like an ah beng now! Totally hot. x)

(not that I think ah bengs are hot OK, I meant Eddie looks hot with his ah beng hair. Must clarify!)

As for me, it's my last day of work tomorrow. Staff Christmas lunch, and having to return my teacher laptop. I felt a bit sad on Wednesday as I started packing my stuff up. Took a few pictures of my cosy little ESL room for memories as I won't be back next year.



I think I'll leave these students' scribbles on my whiteboard so that the new teacher can learn how to say "Hello/How are you" in Tamil and Arabic too :)



Poster of stars I made of our ESL students who achieved academic awards for 2009. It's been an awesome year indeed.



Sigh.

Okay I'd better resume packing, the bedroom looks like a disaster zone right now.

My Christmas wish-list

1. iPod Shuffle



My iPod is my running companion. So far I've coped with either holding the thing while I run, or stuffing it down the side of my shorts/undies or in my sports bra. 越极麻烦!! ... and yes it ends up wet and gross. I haven't bought an armband because I assume it wouldn't hold up on my skinny arm very well. I need something tiny that clips on and weighs close to nothing. Also, I seem to have misplaced my iPod this week... I can't find it anywhere. It's a sign muahahah

Eddie has said he'd get one for me when we're in Singapore. Thanks darling! ♥ :D

2. Bike



Been wanting one forever, but somehow have never succeeded in saving up for one :( Resolution 2010!! There's so much more of Brisbane waiting to be explored, and running can only cover so much distance.

Not that I've been having too much motivation to run these days either...

3. Wok



Like a nice, high-grade, non-stick, flat-based one, big enough so that half my fried-rice won't end up on the stove top! I think I shall ask my parents to get this for my Christmas pressie... Good quality cookware is so freakin expensive here in Australia. Besides, mom loves helping me shop for these things x)

I also need a nice little mortar, a new grater, and a silicone batter spatula. Hah! The aunty in me speaks.

4. Watch



The one I'm using now was given by the ex before my ex half a decade ago. 'Nuff said.

5. Sunglasses



I really should invest in a good, proper pair of branded sunnies. The one I'm using now (and have been using for ages) is a $5 pair I bought in a closing-down sale in China. It doesn't look too bad, but it's flimsy, doesn't sit well on my face cos it's too big, and I can't bring it anywhere cos it didn't come with a case and it doesn't fit in any of my other cases!

6. Mixer :D



Already sittin' on mah kitchen bench, baby!

. . . . .

Maannn I've officially screwed up my bioclock.
And I'm not even on holidays yet :(

Three more sleeps till we fly!
Sleep goddamnit.

And I judged a book by its cover again

*edited*

On Friday night, we went fishing at Shorncliffe again. Eddie caught another stingray, and as usual, people crowded around to check out the catch.



Two swaggering drunks joined in the commotion. One of them hung around Eddie and kept talking to him.

A group of friendly Serbian youths packed up and gave us a nearly-full bottle of Ricadonna they couldn't finish. I took the big bottle, gulped a mouthful, swayed around and said to Eddie, "Look, I'm an alcoholic!" (intending to be comical, not to offend the real drunk in any way)

The drunk snorted and muttered something along the lines of "Pfft right. If you're looking for a REAL alcoholic, here's one for you."

God, he reeked of alcohol.

"I've got a bigger bottle than you," I smiled back, while at the back of my head thinking- At least I'm not you, you sad fella. How can people like you be so stupid and choose to piss their lives away like this?

I put the heavy bottle of sparkling down and continued to busy myself trying to get a nibble from something other than a puffie or an eel-tailed cattie.

Anne and Afiq and their friends arrived shortly.

Now I have always admired Eddie for keeping an open mind, unlike me being skeptical of everything and everybody. However, I was starting to get a little annoyed at the hovering drunk because we had come all this way to fish, the tide was high, and my boyfriend had stopped fishing because he was sitting on the bench at the end of the jetty yakking away to the smelly drunkard like old friends.

The drunk guy hung around, plastic cup of wine in hand, all the way until we packed up. As we left, he waved us goodbye. "See ya Eddie!" he beamed, and to me, "see ya babe!"

I looked at Eddie and screwed up my nose, repulsed. "Did he just call me BABE??"

On the road home, I asked Eddie why he had kept chatting to the drunk guy.

So he told me his story.

The man had just come out of jail only two days ago. He had been in jail for six years for accidental manslaughter. He got into a fight at a pub, and because he knew muay thai (Thai kickboxing), his moves came out and he elbowed a guy. That guy slammed into a pole nearby and died. The drunk was sentenced to ten years, but he got out early. He had never meant to kill anyone, and Eddie said, "You could tell he was definitely not the sort of person to kill someone". He was out on the jetty drinking by himself to celebrate his early release, soeaking up the fact that he was free again, and was excited about going to visit his son the next day.

I burned with shame.

Here was an innocent man holed up for more than half a decade, who was celebrating his newly regained freedom alone, and I had looked down on this poor man and labelled him a smelly useless drunk without knowing anything about him.

Here was a man eager to share his story and celebrate with anybody who would share in his happiness, but people don't want to have anything to do with him because they see him like I see him- a smelly useless drunk.

And if Eddie hadn't been there, maybe he would've been convinced that the world had turned its back on him.

Sigh.

I have so much to learn. And more than anything else, I need to remember that people are not always who they may seem to be.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

the courage to change the things I can;

and the wisdom to know the difference.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

Feeling restless UGH

Haven't gone for karate training for more than a week already. It just takes sooo much effort to muster up enough motivation to drive all the way to the dojo, especially after a long day...

Anyhoos, I went to the city today for my Thursday lunch date with Eddie :)


Christmas tree in the city

After our yummy kebabs, we went to Mont Blanc to get Eddie's Christmas pressie for his dad.

We loved SA Lyoko, who was bright and chirpy and extremely helpful! And nice too... she even chucked in a refill for free :)


Lyoko polishing the precious pen to its blingest, before putting it in its box and giftwrapping it beautifully


This one pen can probably buy a thousand million kilometricos...

After Eddie went back to his office, I stayed in the city and walked around a bit to scout for Christmas pressies.

As usual, got distracted and ended up buying stuff for myself :(

Top purchases of the day!



Crocs Santa Cruz in white/berry :D
I bought the size 8 rather than my normal size 7 cos it fits much better. (Are my feet getting bigger?? O.O ) It looks kinda big on my feet, but it fits nicely and is super comfy... I hope it stays that way and won't stretch too much.

Also...



A bag of JellyBellies in Strawberry Cheesecake and Buttered Popcorn from Darrel Lea. (Buttered Popcorn rocks!)

. . . . .

RIP to Daph's chihuahua [ Pumba ], who died suddenly of unknown reasons (but suspected heart problems).

And it seemed like only not too long ago, that poor [ Twistie ] had to deal with the loss of New York.

I hate it when these things happen. Why do pets have to die? Some might think, Mehh big deal, it's just a dog/cat/rabbit/bird/mouse but somehow these small creatures quickly find a way into your heart and become such a big part of it. When Rocky died, I cried for a week, and (embarrassingly) burst into tears at Cakiepoo's potluck party when someone brought up the topic of dogs (much to everyone's alarm). I was just as depressed when I lost Elvis (my guinea pig). Just thinking about having to go through this pain every time a pet dies is almost enough to put me off getting another one.

:(

Almost.

Stay strong girls. You know you've fed them and spoilt them silly and loved them with all your hearts; your four-legged darlings would not have wanted to live their lives any other way.

Acceptance

You don't question, and you don't hate
'Cos that's not gonna change the way things are.

A little surprise

... waiting for Eddie to get home ;)

Lazy Sunday

After an absolutely awesomely fun-filled day yesterday (see [ Facebook album ], I is too lazy to upload those photos again), we're spending today sleeping in and just chilling at home :)

Am now listening to smooth jazz on [ di.fm ] while having Eddie's yummy charsiu for lunch. Got started on reading/am lovin The Little Prince (by Antoine de Saint Exupéry) which Bev lent me last night (♥_♥)



Eddie came across this charming li'l fella while hanging out his laundry earlier this morning

Ain't he ADORABLE?!?!! I wish we could keep him (but of course, we let him go lah :) Hope he stays away from the predators and grows up to be a big healthy skink!

Gosh summer is really starting to heat up. I think I still have some vanilla ice-cream in the freezer and a nice ripe banana in the fridge...

Going to watch Brisbane Roar vs. Wellington Phoenix @ Suncorp Stadium tonight :D

Okay I'm off to make myself a banana split and go watch the boys play soccer in the park.

Happy hair day!

After the last few horrifying experiences of having my long flowy hair butchered into a motorcycle helmet, I decided I've had enough of angmoh hairdressers.

So today after work, I went back to Fabulous Guys and Dolls @ Indooroopilly. I love how Sunny (the Korean hairdresser there) always pays meticulous attention to my hair, and god knows my hair deserves a bit of meticulous attention after all its been through. (btw Sunny's cute too ^^ But he's married I think.. alaaa). On top of that, a ladies' haircut costs only $25, compared to the freakin $79 I had to cough up for my motorcycle helmet!

Sunny wasn't there when I got there so I had another hairdresser, Young, do my hair. I like her! She's been hairdressing for more than 10 years in Korea before she came to Australia to study English (like my other Japanese hairdresser, Miho, from Topics Hair in the city). And she gives a pretty awesome head massage! (unlike those Aussie hairdressers I've had, who knead my scalp for like 2 seconds and call that a "head massage". Bah.)

Anyway I got a haircut + fixed my regrowth + had an intensive treatment + bought 4 organic hair products in a Christmas pack. All for only $165! OMG I is happy.


Bye-bye regrowth

Click [ here ] to check out the organic hair products they used/I bought.



Yes I am a sucker for all things organic, if you didn't know that already :) Plus it's probably about time I upgraded from the $3 shampoo/conditioner I've been using for the past 2 years.

Anyhoos later loves, I'm off to meet the girlies in the city! ♥

So.

I just wrote a whole long sololiquy and then decided I didn't want to post it up, so I deleted it.

Envy

I've been obsessively following [ Jessica Watson's blog ] on her mission to be the youngest person to sail solo around the world.

When I first saw it on the news, I was a little skeptical and thought it was silly of her parents to so easily let their 16 year old daughter embark on such a dangerous voyage. It looked like it was all just a publicity stint to gain attention from the media. However, from reading all her blog updates, this young lady has not only proven her maturity and capability to take care of herself, but has also earned my utmost admiration and respect with her ambition and determination. And I'm obviously not alone either, judging from the huge amount of support by the horde of other followers on her blog!

This was exactly the sort of thing I had wanted to do when I was 16. Alas, I was only able to fantasize. Damn.

Feeling the pinch

Ying and Yi have moved out. Eddie and I are now covering for her rent, because we haven't been able to find a new housemate.

I am starting to feel the burn because my teaching contract ends in a couple of weeks, and I am a little more than worried about how I can continue to pay for this unforseen hike in my rent if I remain jobless. Eddie had of course said he would cover for me if I cannot afford to, but heck, as if the darling doesn't have enough financial concerns already. It'd be my absolute last resort to have to depend on anyone!

First thing I'm gonna do when I come back from holidays is to look for a job with a private language college. How the fuck does Ed Queensland expect its new teachers to be the lowest paid in Australia, survive for months during the holidays without pay, and still stay on for the job?! (...and THEN they make a big fuss over registered teachers going 'missing'. Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit.)

OHAI

I IZ IN YOR KORRIDOR...



KILLIN YU WIF KIUT-NESS

Nao yu not brings me to vet? Plizz??