Feeling beachy

I thought Eddie would have gotten immune to my random compulsive ideas and suggestions by now, so I could NOT believe my ears when, after a long day at work being sleep-deprived in addition to a hardcore personal training session, my boyfriend said "Yes" to my crazy decision to skip sleep completely and drive 2 hours down south to catch the sunrise at Byron Bay.

I have been to beautiful Byron Bay quite a few times already; the last time I was there it was with [ Cakes ], Lucia & Yao-Yang for Lucia's birthday and we had the most incredible time, so naturally I was really excited about being able to go there again.

We refueled and stocked up on caffeine and junk food at 7-11. Eddie slept in the car while I drove past huge freight trucks lit up like Christmas trees, and karaoke-d to some of my old R&B CDs.

We arrived at Ballina lighthouse at 3am NSW time (they've got daylight saving!), two hours before sunrise. It was pitch black except for the powerful beam of the lighthouse, which came around every ten seconds or so and sliced through the thick darkness above us. We wound down our tinted windows to reveal an amaaaazing galaxy of stars (I counted 3 shooting stars!!! :D) and dozed off under the constellations.

Woke up at 4.30 and groggily set off towards the lighthouse..


Lighthouse in background, taken with a long shutterspeed thus the brightness and blurness. It was actually still quite dark at the time.

And behold, the sunrise!

I can never get sick of sunrises.



The sky lit up rapidly and we could see little dots of people kayaking in the sea, surfing, and even fishing on the rocks in the distance below.



We decided to trek down and get closer to the water.

On the way down we came across this and made up some morbid stories about a missing child...



The sun was warming us up rapidly, and the waves at the edge of the deep blue sea crashing against the huge jagged rocks was pretty spectacular.



Me! :)



BTW I super ♥ this windbreaker we got from last year's NCG. It's so lightweight and warm and versatile! I just can't do without it, especially when we go fishing.

Speaking of fishing..



There were quite a few people fishing on the rocks with their humongous rods. I wonder if they caught anything. I wonder how they even got up there in the first place.



We clambered out on the rocks as far as we dared to towards the edge, and chilled for a while before we decided to hike back uphill. OMG I was so out of breath during the climb up that I could've gotten an asthma attack even though I don't have asthma wtf. And all along the way, these old men and women were breezing past us jogging up and down and running circles around us while we huffed and puffed and wheezed like a punctured set of bagpipes! *shame*

After the horribly tedious climb, we finally reached the top again YAY



View from the other side of the lighthouse..



The sun was starting to heat things up. It was time to tan!

We got back into the car, drove down to the beach and stripped down to our beachwear.



I brought along my new book by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie which I bought yesterday (hooray for Borders discount vouchers!!)

I am going to sidetrack a bit and say that I loved this talk Chimamanda did a while ago about how important it is to know the different sides of a story before simply making cultural assumptions and stereotypes. I think it the video clip is almost 20 mins long but its well worth watching! [ CLICK ]

Apart from her writing, this book also captivates me because I've worked with quite a few lovely Nigerian refugee students during my prac year, and it kind of provides some valuable insight as to what the repressive situation must've been like for them back home.

Okay lah back to the beach...

The sun was gorgeous and the water deliciously cool! We splashed around in the surf for a while, and then while Eddie tanned and caught up on sleep, I alternated between reading and taking long walks along the waters edge.

By the time we decided we've had enough, it was only 10am. We walked around the little beachside town centre and checked out the shops, eating Baskin Robbins ice-cream which melted way too quickly in the heat and dripped all over my fingers and shirt.

I felt so damn sleepy driving home that I had to pull over at a resting spot. Tried to take a power nap with the engine turned off but it was too hot. Wanted to go to the loo but freakin hell there were like 5 humongous spiders hanging around the dodgy stinking shack waiting to pounce on me *shudder* so I held my pee in, splashed myself with some cold water from the tap to wake up, and hit the road again.

We stopped over at Anaconda and Eddie replenished some of his fishing essentials before we headed to Sunnybank for lunch. By then, Eddie had to take over and drive already because my brain wasn't functioning anymore.

Got home, took the nicest longest shower and scrubed myself down, and collapsed into bed happy.

I hope everyone's had a great Australia Day like we've had. :)

Food for the soul

I went for a walk.

Trespassed an apartment and sat down on a bench on a little rocky cliff overlooking the river.
Water lapped gently on the bank and a mullet flipped occasionally.

A woman glided past on her kayak while a CityCat churned past in the other direction.

Kookaburras and crickets started to orchestrate their mismatched symphony as the sun sank.

I took in the cool evening summer breeze, the sunset hues painted on heavy clouds that hung mid-air, and the faint musty smell of the river.

I was at peace with the world, and it felt good.

Sunny Saturday adventures

Eddie and I thought we'd take the yaks out since it's been a while.

We cleverly picked two Fire Ant TKs from the boatshed cos they were such pretty colours—I took a pink one while Eddie took the red—without reading this sign first:


(Specific words we should've taken note of : UNSTABLE, FRAGILE, and FOR EXPERIENCED FLATWATER PADDLERS!!!)

These TKs were narrower and so much lighter than the ones we normally use, but it didn't really occur to us that this would have its consequences...



It didn't take long before we realized that aesthetics was a price not worth paying for. As soon as I got onto my little pink floating slipper, I immediately panicked because it felt like tipping over. I couldn't control it at all! And then, to make matters worse, a CityCat roared past and big treacherous waves started rolling in.

Which was when I heard a big *SPLOOOOOOOOSH* and I knew Eddie had capsized. He was yelling at me to come back and help him cos he couldn't get out of the water and his yak was sinking, but I was drifting off and struggling so hard to keep my balance I could not even turn my head around to look at him.

So I grit my teeth and clenched my paddle as I bobbed along with the precarious swells from the CityCat, fervently praying that I wouldn't hit the rocky bank and capsize too.

As soon as the waves passed, I painstakingly manouvered my wobbly yak around and fought my way against the current towards the jetty. My heart was racing at 1000000 beats/second as I reached out and grabbed onto the pontoon and held on for dear life. Thankfully, Eddie had already (somehow) managed to hoist himself and his yak up; he helped me up too and flipped his flooded yak on its side to drain.

I wasn't getting into my Fire Ant again. No way. It was time to change boats.

We were lugging my pink yak up the ramp back to the boatshed when *SPLASH*.. we looked down and to our horror, saw the red FireAnt drifting merrily away from the jetty. We dropped the pink yak and bolted back down the ramp at lighting speed, but we were too late- The boat was already beyond reach. I was about to dive in when I heard Eddie yell at me not to. Seconds later, he was in the water again, towing the yak back to the jetty.

FULL ON DRAMA, can.

After cleaning the TKs and sticking them back into the boatshed, we decided we'd stick to our sea kayaks. This time I didn't complain about how heavy they were; I now know that I would choose these big sturdy yaks anytime over those light skinny ones that tried to drown us! NEVER AGAIN!!

It wasn't over yet.

My pedals had to be adjusted. It took Eddie nearly half an hour to undo and re-tie all the knots on the cord connected to the rudder. Then on the water, one of the knots slipped!!! My boat kept spinning to the left and I almost died trying to get it straight.

Eddie got behind me and propped my rudder up. It made life a lot easier, but it was still extremely strenuous fighting the outgoing tide without a rudder as we were heading upstream.

I was so exhausted, my left arm was falling off and I almost gave up.

We had to park at someone's jetty so that Eddie could have another attempt at my rudder.



And so I had some time to whip out my camera and take pictures lalala...



After about five or ten minutes, the darling had fixed my rudder! OH the RELIEF of finally having my boat go where I want it to go was UNBELIEVABLE :D



:) We paddled on and decided to turn back at the Eleanor Schonell Bridge.

A bit of trivia about this bridge: "The Eleanor Schonell Bridge, also known as the Green Bridge... is the first bridge in Australia exclusively designed for buses, cyclists and pedestrians, as well as the first public transport bridge built in Australia since the early 1900s."
(- Wikipedia)

Also, barely three months ago, some drunk UQ student had jumped off the bridge and killed himself because he wanted to be on YouTube -____________-"



Going in the opposite direction was such a breeze because we just relaxed and drifted along with the tide instead of fighting it.



UQ CityCat stop from the river...



Okay blogged too much, time to eat. Eddie has cooked kangaroo roast for dinner YUM.

Possibly going fishing tonight too, excitingness ! :D

Muses

I am not one to blog about feelings, but I shall try to get these thoughts off my chest.

Sometimes I worry myself tremendously when I think about friends. To cut a long story short, there was once in time when I would give up anything for my friends. People whom I loved with all my heart to the point where I was willing to be a doormat and take shit as long as everything was okay. Sometimes it was upsetting and depressing, but I stupidly thought tha by making an effort, it would be appreciated. Eventually I realized that people ultimately prioritized themselves and you know what? Nobody really gives a shit about you, as long as they get what they want from you.

I know I had probably hung out with some wrong people but as a result, I remember that specific point in life when I told myself I've had enough, and I started to learn not to care anymore. I became guarded and skeptical and cynical with everybody and anybody. I keep in touch with few, value those who have stuck by me, meet new people and gladly embrace those I deem trustworthy, but I have long stopped making an effort in starting or maintaining friendships.

Right now there are many wonderful people in my life who I am letting slip away because of this fear. The shell I have created for myself is so thick that it is almost impossible to penetrate. I try so hard to not get too attached to anybody. I am so scared of that feeling of being let down or trampled over, that I would rather be the one who tramples first. Yes it is very childish to think like that, but so far it has been effective in maintaining my sanity. I don't worry about what anybody else thinks of me because I only think about myself. I have become selfish, independant and self-centred, I have been for quite a while now, but that's the way it is and that's the way it probably will be for a while.

I've moved on. I am happy. I feel happy. But am I really?

Once in a while I have old memories of certain people I've let slip, and I think of them fondly. I itch to send them a text or an email, just to ask how they are, how they've been getting on, what's new with their lives. I want to tell them how much I miss them but I am chickenshit and scared and so I don't.

One day I will be left alone with nobody to turn to, because those I could have turned to, I have turned away from.

OucH

These shoes will be the death of me.



I bought them in Singapore for S$20 I think. Very versatile and fairly comfortable to walk in.

But today, I discovered the hard way that the bloody soles do not have enough grip.

I was walking to Toowong train station and I slipped. Luckily there were not many people around and nobody saw, so I straightened up, pretended nothing happened, and continued on my way.

Then after work in the city. Peak hour. I was squished amongst a group of mostly professional-looking people, waiting to cross the road.

The pedestrian light went green. Everyone started to cross the road.

I was halfway across when I slipped again. In the middle of the road. In front of four lanes of cars and shitloads of people watching FML MAX. I had flung water out of my uncapped water bottle too as I fell, and I wasn't sure if I had drenched anybody because I was too utterly horrified to notice anything else.

I quickly picked myself up while concerned pedestrians asked if I was OK, smiled and salvaged whatever dignity I had left, limped to the other side of the road and inspected the damage (some small scratches) on my stupid shoe. Luckily I wasn't hurt (apart from my dented ego) and in retrospect, I'm really glad I hadn't worn a skirt!

. . . . .

On another note, it's my second day on the new job and I'm enjoying it. I have a class of bubbly elementary-level students from different countries including France, Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Korea, Saudi Arabia and New Caledonia who, instead of listening to me speak, have no qualms about chatting away merrily to each other in class despite their very limited English.

I'm only relief-teaching for the moment so I'm not sure what will happen when the other teacher comes back. Hopefully they'll let me stay cos I'm lovin it- The college is great, my new colleagues are lovely, and I'm having heaps of fun with the students!

. . . . .

On another-nother completely unrelated note, meet the latest additions to the family:



My beautiful new granite mortar & pestle (which are so heavy I cannot even lift 'em with one hand), and a flour tin haha. Goodbye unglam ziplock bags for opened packets of flour! :D

I did some baking that very night and used my new tools to crush the biscuits for the base of my NY baked cheesecake slice. It came out too brown on top, but was yummo nevertheless. I am becoming quite the domestic goddess *beams*



It was Mervyn's birthday too so after the boys played soccer, Julia & Brenen came over as well to have dinner and stayed to watch Paranormal Activity: Uncut.

I'm not a big fan of scary movies but this one was pretty good. None of that gory crap and lots to the imagination. Seriously guys. You should watch it. *Evil chuckle*

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Aaargh Mariah was playing with a big fat cockroach and has left the thing under my chair and now it's crawling up my printer and the dumb cat has gone out EDDIE SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEHHH :( :( :(

Good vibrations

My natural highs of the day!

1. Waking up early after a good night's sleep

2. Getting to know new people at the new workplace

3. Donating the $5 I saved from not buying coffee to the lady with the charity box at the traffic lights and seeing her eyes light up with gratitude.

4. Seeing a wrinkly old man kiss his wrinkly old wife on the lips and tell her he'll come around later when she's done browsing at the shops

5. Bumping into an old friend :)

Last but not least- Getting a new housemate! *somersaults*

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.