Supa Dupa Girl-Kae

2 weeks and counting...

2007-10-01T13:48:00.000+08:00

For those of you who don't know, I resigned from my current position 2 weeks ago which means i have exactly 9 working days left until I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee (yes Hao, free like youuuuu!). It's not that I dislike my job - quite the contrary actually - but it has come to a point in my life and career where I had to make decisions about my career and my person life. Since giving notice, it has been a very long two weeks of waiting and i'm sure it'll be an even longer two weeks extra of countdown.

I do have three more assignments left on my postgrad before I finish up and am done and dusted with postgrad education for the time being (I know, for some reason I feel I should continue to subject myself to the torture of going on and doing a Masters) but besides that, I'm just looking forward to doing nothing, to lounging around and to catching up on all that I have neglected of late. My room is a mess, my body is aching and needs a break, i'm constantly tired, and I just need to spring clean for awhile - but until those 9 days are over, I'll have to wait patiently.

But anyways, last night I went to see Varekai, the latest Cirque du Soleil show to come to town. I have previously seen Alegria, and while I did enjoy Varekai, I just didnt feel the same "wow" as I did when I saw Alegria. I think a lot of it had to do with the story - the fallen angel was beautiful and the forest creatures interesting, but the story didn't seem to conclude the way I would've liked it to.

We also went to eat at Villa Rustica where I ordered Chilli Mussels and Quan had the Chicken Risotto. The Risotto was disgusting, and the mussels were "okay but a bit too salty". The service was tardy - a waiter came up to us 10 minutes after being seated asking for our order to which I replied "we haven't even gotten menus", the food came out slow given the restaurant was quite empty last night, and the till lady was very abrupt. Not recommended.

Okay, hope you're enjoying your long weekend :0

Snow Patrol Concer

2007-09-23T13:24:00.000+08:00

Last night, Quan and I went to see Snow Patrol at Burswood Dome and I thought it was great! The venue took a little while to fill up while Snow Patrol's support acts came on - Iain Archer, and Silversun Pickups. I myself LOVED Iain Archer's music - very mellow, folkish rock, just the way I like it. But once Snow Patrol came on, they put on a great show and played all the necessary songs that HAD to be included, and they knew how to interact with the crowd. I would have liked to have a longer show given the support acts were a 1.5 hour show and snow patrol a 1.5 hour show as well, but nonetheless enjoyed it. Some piccies (I promise they won't give you epilepsy this time, unlike my photos from Kylie last year).

On Crutches

2007-09-16T08:56:00.000+08:00

I spent the last few days mainly confined to my bedroom, or when hungry/needing to go the toilet/needing to clean , I spent it hobbling around on a pair of crutches. Some people might say that it was bound to happen. Some people might've even said that it was way overdue. But regardless, it has neither been a fun nor convenient way to get around :(

While I worked from home on Thursday, I needed to go in on Friday because I had a whole day blocked out for a media training course. Because it's confined to my left foot, I was able to drive my car to work (automatic) without too much hassle. The hassle however came when I had to cross the road from the Perth Concert Hall Parking Lot (underground) to my workplace across the road on St Georges Tce. Usually it takes 2 minutes. This took 22 minutes.

Then when I drove home, I needed to fill up on petrol. Unfortunately, motorists driving home in peak our traffic are not the most patient or understanding. This particular petrol station in East Perth is under going some work at the moment, so the exit is limited to one lane. Unfortunately for me, my car was the very first one there and also, the one at the front of that "one lane". Getting petrol, hobbling on crutches to go pay, and then coming out to see all the other drivers in their cars waiting with grumpy faces is not a rewarding experience :S

It's been 4 days now and my ankle is much better. I can now hobble without my crutches though my ankle is in its least stable condition.

Backkkk

2007-09-08T09:05:00.000+08:00

So. It's been awhile. I've had to make some decisions about what I want to do, and where I want to go. I think for now they're settled. Done and dusted. But 3 months down the track, i'm pretty sure they'll come back and ask me the question "what now". But we'll answer them when they come around.

So... what's been happening?

Well, last weekend, we went to watch the Eagles last normal season game against the Essendon Bombers. For those that have known me for a long time, they will know that Essendon was my team of choice.. back before they started losing. And most people know that i'm quite competitive, so with a losing team came lost hopes.. and eventually, i jumped the bandwagon and started to support the team that I *should've* supported from the start - my home team.

But that did not stop me from farewelling the great man of the match - Brownlow medallist James Hird, and of course, coach Kevin Sheedy. *wipes a tear*

And in more recent games, we got together at Larry's place and watched the Eagles lose to Port Adelaide. You could definitely sense the feeling of loss in the room at the end of the match, and ESPECIALLY when Cousins went down. Ohhhh the calamity....

Anyways, i'll leave it at a footy post for now - will update on the 'decisions' later :D have a great weekend.

Off on a break

2007-08-09T20:23:00.000+08:00

As you can tell, I've been neglecting my blog.. and I probably will for awhile. Life is hectic, crazy, stressful and full on necessarily "important" decisions and pathways to choose. So, rather than disappearing forever, I just thought i'd let you know i'm taking a break and when everything's clear, i'll blog again.

Tarts

2007-07-28T15:57:00.000+08:00

Last weekend, Mish, Jess and I were supposed to go to Tarts Cafe on Lake Street but Mish was struck down by the dreaded food poisoning bug so we weren't able to go.

So... being curious and incredibly excited by the Tarts Cafe website, Quan and I ventured to Tarts for a little lunch/coffee today.

My thoughts? I thought it was a bit pricey for what it was - you get a tiny slice of Quiche and Salad for about $13-$15 and you can get a little Patty and Salad for about $15-$17.

Anyways, we opted for a little Lemon Tart, Quiche, and being the boy that he is , Quan picked out the most sickening looking cupcake - a vanilla cupcake frosted with pink icing, nerds, and chico babies :S Enjoy ;)

Weekend gone past

2007-07-15T20:12:00.000+08:00

.. Apologies again for the lacklustre posting of late - work has been hectic as always and not so fun lately, and life has taken a bit of a slippery slope but we'll deal with that away from the public domain of blogging eh ;)

Anyways, Quan came back for the weekend (and is back out tomorrow morning). Yesterday, we were dying for some good sushi - especially Quan since there is no sushi in Kalgoorlie - and so we discovered Edo Shiki in the City. Well, I lie a little - I have been there in the past and didnt find it so good, but we decided to give it a shot again since I wanted some dimsum and he wanted some sushi.

All in all, I think the food is below average, if not average at best. I say that because the sushi was not cold, and the dimsum wasn't as warm/hot as it normally is. There wasn't much range in both the sushi and the dimsum , and the sushi was fairly dry and lacked flavour. The service was also questionable as we were greeted with a girl who obviously hated her job, and a waiter who didn't think to give us any chopstix to eat with.

However, in terms of kaiten sushi, I think it is reasonably priced, and I like that you can get the two (oddly matched) varieties in one place.

At night, we also headed out to Lanna Thai in Subi with Quan's family. I really enjoyed the tom kha soup, and found the rest of the food quite enjoyable although not amazing. The service was very patient with our millions of questions, although at one stage, the waiter took away ALL our cutlery before we had finished and we were left to ponder how to eat the rice. When I eventually did ask for new cutlery, he came back with one set for me and I politely asked if we could get a set for everyone and he looked completely puzzled as he noticed that NONE of us had cutlery. He must've had a pretty blur moment. The restaurant itself is quite thai styled with the traditional gold cutlery, buddha statues and lots of intricate carvings. Conclusion? An enjoyable thai restaurant tucked away from the busyness of mainstream Subi.

And today? I headed off to the WA Kung Fu Championships where Chinwoo did some amazing Wushu and Yaolin took out a bunch of medals.

Everyone did super well in keeping up their energies throughout the entire day, continuing if there was a stuff up, and getting fantastic high scores. Special mention to Small Alan for taking out "State Champion" and to Jason who was the day's overall highest scorer and winner of many medals. Great job guys!

The cutest puppy in t he world

2007-07-12T18:48:00.000+08:00

... The 5 footers lost the grand final against 4 guys and 3 girls.. Thanks to Tricia for filling in for me, and well done to the fab team for getting this far ;)

On another note, can someone please fly to Japan and get me one of these?

Pretty please?

We're finalists, baby!

2007-07-05T18:10:00.000+08:00

Three seasons ago, we were stepping everywhere, getting called for obstruction and contact, and getting suspended for threatening to stab umpires (well... that's another story).

In three seasons, we've made the semi finals each time, only to lose and not be able to progress. But come this season, and we've made it to the grand final having beaten arch-nemesis evil people to get there... !

After a bit of a violent push and shove, we surged our way from even scores at half-time to beating top placed team 18-12 *woot*.

Unfortunately, I am in Kalgoorlie this weekend so won't be able to play in the grand final, but I'm sure our very highly analysed replacement WA will kickass anyways.

So Five Footers, as my director goes, think "Mugsy Bogues" and you're sure to win!

[ Our star shooters Jess (GS), Pete (GA), our awesome defenders Hong (GD), Thao (GK) and our important middle line me (WA), Will (C) and Taz (WD) ]

Three things

2007-07-02T12:34:00.000+08:00

Taking a leaf out of Michelle's Blog:

Three things I would sell a limb for:

To be able to drink even one glass of alcohol without passing out (a necessity in the corporate world!)
To be an effective public speaker (damn that red face, girly high pitched voice and random hand movements)
To have more annual leave without having to sacrifice career development and salary

Three things I am eternally grateful for:

Family , friends and a great bf and their good health
A relatively smooth life so far
Living in Perth - I would never have had the same opportunities if my parents had decided to stay in Malaysia

Life in slow motion

2007-06-25T19:50:00.000+08:00

I've always been a bit of a floater - never really knowing what I wanted, always happy to take life as it comes. I floated through uni - switching degrees numerous times and ending up with four different majors, only to then work in an industry and role that took me somewhere else and to a post-graduate qualification in something different.

But life at the moment has frozen. I am at a stage in my life where I am ready to take on the world, and I have been househunting, and I have also just bought myself a little car. Despite these general goals, I don't have the certainty to which I had always been quite adverse to.

You see, most of you know that I am planning to move at the end of this year. But because I am not planning to move for at least another six months, I cannot buy that house that I want (because I want to buy a house in the area that I am moving to), I cannot apply for other jobs (what's the point of staying in a role for 6 months only to move again?), I cannot join the gym (well I can, but I'd have to pay exorbitant 6 month rates over nice 1 year rates), I cannot do a lot of things.

Life is in slow motion and I'm floating at the moment, but I just want to fast forward it and take on that certainty that I never used to want.

Guess what arrived today?

2007-06-18T18:20:00.000+08:00

*ta-da* my long awaited Snow Patrol tickets... (and Will knows how excited I was to get these haha)!

They've been kissed, they've been hugged, and they've been put away in a nice safe place until September..

For your amusement

2007-06-13T20:32:00.000+08:00

I just got off the phone with Jess exclaiming to her that I just finished knitting a pair of socks. haha yes, socks. It took me hours and hours and the yarn cost more than a few pairs of socks (though I didnt pay for the yarn), but for your viewing amusement, I thought i'd show you how much of a granny I am.

This is my first and only pair of socks I will ever make. I'd much rather go to David Jones and pick out some cute socks for $5 a pair (and sometimes even $15 for 5 pairs!!) haha.

Go on. Giggle and Laugh.

Jess came up with the idea of putting a sole on them so that I could have pseudo-booties similar to the ones that Paul and Thao now have.. *lol*

Happy Engagement!

2007-06-10T11:06:00.000+08:00

I'm having a very lazy day today. My car's indicator lights are out (and no, it's not the bulb). It looks like the relay switch might need to be replaced, and I need to call RAC to come look at it but I just can't get out of bed :S

So, a mini photo-blog post to make me feel better about being lazy this morning. A couple of piccies from Paul & Thao's Engagement Party..

[The Happy Couple - Congrats to Thao and Paul! *hugs*]

[Pete, Me, Taz, Roy, Hong, Jez, Will and Thao]
[Go the 5 Footers!]

[Will was more than a little drunk , and Pete looks like he's bowling a cricket ball in the background?]

[Hong and Pete.. err.. looking hardcore?]

[The little old souls in their fabulous corner haha]

All in a day's work

2007-06-06T18:06:00.000+08:00

A look at my schedule for tomorrow:

0615 : Check in to flight
0700 : Flight departs and lands at 0820
0900 : Charter Flight to Port, Foreshore Re-Development, Oakajee, and Southern Transport Corridor
1020 : Port Authority Presentation and Tour
1200 : Lunch at Port Authority Boardroom
1245 : Bus tour of Mid West
1315 : Charter Flight to Dongara Oil and Gas Areas, Morawa, Kooloonooka, Karara
1510 : Bus tour to Geraldton Airport
1700 : Flight back to Perth

Yup - what a hectic crazy day. Lots to see and do, and all in a day's work. *phew*

Quarter way to a century

2007-06-03T13:27:00.000+08:00

My good friend Tuan turned 25 last night (well technically, today, but we counted down to midnight last night) and looking at what everyone else had written on his birthday card, it was all of the "you're halfway to 50" "you're quarter way to a century" and even a stab at miss Jessica Simpson with her "halfway to 30" comment.

While 25 is by no means old in the larger scheme of things, it seemed that the conversation at some points in the evening were bordering on "omg we're so old" and "i dont want to turn any older" and "what's next in life".

[ The birthday boy - sufficiently drunk by midnight, loving the microphone, and too oblivious too care... Happy Birthday buddy!]

It seems that as children, we were all conditioned to come up with our checklist of life, and if you were anything like me, this checklist all had to be done by 25. The checklist went something like this:

Go to university and graduate (Tick, done that)
Fall in love (Tick, done that)
Get a good job (Tick, done that)
Get married by 25 (well.. that's not a tick.. haha but i'm only 23 so that's okay lol *no pressure*)
Buy a house (well.. i'm looking, and i'm pretty sure i'll have one by this time next year if not earlier and i'm not 25 so that's okay)
Travel (I have travelled, but haven't done as much as I hoped I would've done by now but that's okay)

Now for some of us, we're quite lucky to have ticked quite a few of these checkboxes. But for others that haven't, it seems that there is a rush to get all these done by the time we're 25.

Not in a relationship? *panic - gotta get a girlfriend, ANY girlfriend*
Not buying a house? *panic - gotta buy before i reach old age*
Not married ? *demand a ring - even though u dont want to get married*

.. While I'm quite lucky in that I've ticked most of my checkboxes or will be able to, there are some that seem to take the checkbox thing too seriously, and who feel as if they've achieved nothing if they haven't checked those boxes.

When did it become illegal for us to not to reach these milestones? Can we not just take life as it comes and see where it gets us?

Tell me - do you have your checkboxes, and do you put pressure on yourselves to tick those boxes by a certain age?

Talk about sexist...

2007-05-29T19:07:00.000+08:00

Following on from my last post, I went to buy some boxing gloves today for fear of having to use those awful smelly ones at the Academy again this Saturday. Bumbling into Jim Kidd Sports, Rebel Sports and A-Mart All Sports, I was excited and confused by the myriad of red boxing gloves there was... bag gloves, competition gloves, sparring gloves, open mitts, you name it!

Anyways, in the corner of my eye I managed to spot what was unreservedly LADIES GLOVES. All bright pastel pinks, pastel purples and baby blues.

I asked the Sales Assistant whether I could get plain red ladies gloves, or if small normal gloves would be okay. He looked at my hands and told me I needed the ladies ones and no, they were all pastels.

Heartbroken, I went into the next shop.. and then the next.. and then the next.. only to be confronted by scores of pastels and only pastels.

Now, I'm all for colours and I especially love pastels, but in a sport like kickboxing, I just wanted plain red ones. It's enough that ladies have their own class, and that they're often excluded from many sports because of a perception of weakness, but do we really need to further distinguish ourselves by our pastel boxing gloves??? I'm appalled though by the stereotyping that is out there when it comes to simple things like colours. When it's mother's day, all you ever see is pink phones, pink toasters, pink pink pink. Granted, some of it is pink because it is for breast cancer, but the majority of the time, it's pink just because it's female. Why don't they offer the choice of pastels, AND normal colours. Why must it be one or the other??

In the end, I ended up with the baby blue ones because blue was the most "non-sexist" colour there was.

What's next?

2007-05-27T10:17:00.000+08:00

I woke up this morning barely able to move. Like Shaz (hehe sorry babe), I had over exerted myself the day before with physical exercise and movement of muscles that I don't usually use. I rolled out of bed and fell on the floor, only to hit my arm on the side of my bed (which mind you, certainly woke me up) and I got up and limped around my room before deciding to sit just outside my door for a rest. haha yes, I had gotten all of 4 metres from my bed before I needed a "rest".

Why all this pain? I had my first kickboxing class yesterday. I have always loved body combat and sports that involved aerobic exercise. Oh, and I must admit, years ago they had a carefree ad where the girl was REALLY carefree and was kickboxing to lyrics about being free and doing whatever she wanted.. (that really was the catalyst for my kickboxing days). But yes, doing drills of 1 minute focus punches, 10 situps, 1 minute jabs, 10 pushups for a total of 10 minutes really kills.

Besides kickboxing, I am going to be signing up for fencing classes at the end of June.

Someone asked me the other day why I was signing up for all these things and trying to keep myself uber busy when I already am?

While I have always wanted to do the things I've signed up for, part of me is trying to fit it all in before the move intrastate, and part of me is just trying to keep up the achievements/"been there done that" list going.

Ever since I got back from Nepal, I've found myself flittering a litte. Wondering what I should do next. What great adventure beckons me. And while I'm still figuring that one out, why not go and do all those other things I've always wanted to do?

So yes, it's a busy week. *phew*

Shaz's Farewell at (a)lure

2007-05-20T10:46:00.000+08:00

Dinner last night at (a)lure at Burswood for Shaz's farewell.. Yummy food, great atmosphere and decor, not so good service (just very busy that night I suppose).

Best wishes miss Shazza !

More money for us!

2007-05-08T19:26:00.000+08:00

Yay! I'm pleased with Peter Costello's latest budget. Apparently, us average people will get an extra $16 per week! *woot* Sure, I see it as a bit of an election year bribe, but that extra $64 per month could mean the difference between guilt vs non-guilt over a shopping purchase :) So Hurrah for that!

On another note, I haven't yet heard anything about the superannuation bonuses as expected, so i'm looking forward to that. I must admit though, i've never really paid attention to my superannuation due to the simple fact that you have to be 65 years old to access it and well *morbid thought* but I dont think i'll make it to that age! :) So putting away money when I could use that little extra for a flight somewhere seems a little bit of an unbalanced affair.

Ermm yes, nothing else to say. Yes Yes I'm boring - but I've also got an assignment due so am rushing to do that.

Lazy and busy

2007-05-01T21:00:00.000+08:00

Yeah.. i've been slack :s but i've had a bit of a tough adjustment back to life in Perth. I miss the waking up and eating breakfast, then going for a walk (or shall we say trek) around the mountains, and then coming back for some cards, reading and worldly chatter..

Back here, I have experienced a bad haircut, an eye infection, a weekend in Kalgoorlie and a lot of decisions to be made about my future. I have also discovered that Shaz has decided to pack up and go join Kean over east, and that perhaps I can survive out away from the city.

So in between the things that have been happening, I've been too busy and too tired to blog. Apologies, but i promise to get back into the swing of things ASAP>

We made it!

2007-04-21T08:37:00.000+08:00

*Namaste* (hello in nepalese). I know a lot of you have heard me tell the Everest Base Camp story a few times, and some haven't so I'll just do the big mandatory post and that should do it :p hehe

Anyways, I got back on Tuesday evening only to have to go back to work on the Wednesday. Not recommended after 3 weeks away. So I haven't had much of a chance to do anything with my photos etc and I've got an assignment due yesterday which I need to work on and hand in Monday, so it's been a tough little transition back to Perth life. Anyways, I'm not going to be able to cover the entire trip detail as one blog post won't do it justice, but here are some snippets.

So, how was the trip?

Kathmandu

The journey itself started in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, where Bryan and I had two extra days up our sleeves before the start of the journey. Kathmandu, and in particular, Thamel, is a chaotic, dirty, poor city with lots of beggars and absolutely no road rules.

[ Not happy in Kathmandu!!]

Having reached Kathmandu after coming from Bangkok, I was sent into culture shock overdrive. My first day, Bryan looked at me concerned and asked "Are you ok?" after he noticed me clutching onto the chair in our dodgy hotel room with clammy hands. However, after walking around a bit and after the beggars went to sleep, Kathmandu opened up and I actually enjoyed it (it's sort of like walking through the Parsamalam in Malaysia where people hassle you x 10).

While I started to enjoy Kathmandu, I was really only there to see the Himalayan mountain ranges, and so was extremely happy to be leaving the city and to start our journey to Base Camp.

Journey to Everest Base Camp

Base camp for those that don't know is the camp at which the Mt Everest Summiters (those that climb to the very top) set up and live for 3-4 weeks to acclimatize to the high altitude and thin air prior to climbing to the very top. Base Camp is situated at about 5400m metres (18000 feet) altitude, while the summit of Everest is approximately 8850 metres.

[ Everest Base Camp ]

[ The group on our way up ]

[ Ram (Guide Leader) and Me ]

At lower levels, the trek isn't so bad - just lots of walking done in warm temperatures, and up till Namche, there are facilities such as hot showers in the teahouses that we stayed in (although you do have to pay for them). At higher altitudes, and certainly from Phortse onwards, the facilities dry up and with it, any resemblance of a hygienic self.

[ We made it to Base Camp!!! Smiles on our face hide our sheer exhaustion. A few people are missing from the photo because while they made it, they were quite affected by Altitude Sickness, and had to descend to avoid getting worse]

We went for about 10 days without showers, using wet wipes to clean ourselves the best we could, but even then the grime and the dirt built up and no doubt, caused some people to get rather sick.

The food was repetitive everywhere we went, with garlic soup, sherpa stew, fried eggs and dal bhat being the norm. However, as we got higher up, we started to lose our appetites (a side effect of high altitude) and started eating only for the sake of eating. Besides that, each of us were armed with a high supply of chocolates and peanuts as they are high energy foods. In conditions where we were using thousands of kilojoules each day and not having much appetite, the chocolates were definitely a salvation.

[ Kae and Eva . The poor girl was sick almost every day yet she still made it !! ]

Did people get sick? Everyone was sick at some point in the journey. For me, it was battling the cold and developing a cold/flu rather than altitude itself. Bryan got a few symptoms of Altitude Sickness early on but was pretty good for the best part. There were people who were consantly nauseous or vomiting, those with bad food poisoning, and there was one guy who passed out twice and his heart stopped one time.

I was also susceptible to getting frostbite due to my low blood pressure and poor circulation, and on our way up to Gorak Shep walking through the snow, I almost did get it. 4 pairs of gloves, and one or two persons warming each of my hands managed to just save me. On the way up however, we did meet the Korean Expedition team whose leader had lost all fingers due to frostbite. Amazing feat if he does manage to climb to the summit!!

I think one of the best parts of my trip is the group of people that came with it. We came from all walks of life, and from all parts of the world. There were doctors, there were lawyers, accountants, but what worked well was that everyone got along and were so considerate and generous with each other. Mike really looked after me that almost-frostbite day and made sure I was sufficiently warm with my three beanies and 4 gloves, Drs John and Eva (even though they were sick themselves) made sure everyone else was okay by taking their temperatures and pulses and taking care of Adam when he passed out, Silvi was always there to vomit with you or to give you hugs if you weren't feeling well, and Team Omar showed that perserverance gets you there. I dont think this trip would've been what it was if the weren't there.

[ The Boys celebrating with a beer]

Afterthoughts

They say a trip like this doesn't leave you unchanged, and I agree. I think having roughed it for three weeks and being privy to the way the Nepalese people live (and in particular, the mountain people), it really has made me appreciate everything I've got and am able to do.

For the Nepalese, they aren't even allowed to holiday in another country without a sponsor. Privileges like freedom of movement are something that we take for granted. But seeing Deepak (an assistant guide) get really depressed over his life and wanting to visit other countries really opens your eyes.

I'm really glad that I did this trip, but in all honesty, I dont think I'd do it again (although, I would definitely still be interested in doing Annapurna Circuit or other treks, just not EBC again). It's one of those things that I'm proud to say i've done but for a myriad of factors of factors, am okay with putting it in the "been there done that, wont repeat" pile.

8 hours to go

2007-03-28T18:21:00.000+08:00

In my last minute desperate bid for being prepared, I went out and bought myself a brand spanking new digital camera. I had seen the Finepix Z3 on the DSE website on sale for $199 (down from $400ish) so i ran in to grab it. Unfortunately, the man disagreed with me and we stood their with our price showdown for one hour whilst i argued that the website price should be honoured, and he argued that there "must" be a mistake given that the cost price of the camera was $300...

I stood my ground, told Hao about my ordeal (he had earlier gone to check the cameras out for me), and I won.. WOOT

Anyways, I'm a TERRIBLE backpacker. I will never fully be a backpacker because I love the comforts of my wardrobe, my bed and shopping too much. I am having lots of trouble compromising on what to bring and what to leave behind.. my backpack is just not zipping up :( boohisssssssssssss

Anyhoo, hope you have a great easter break.. will try and take happy snaps on my way to everest! ta-ta!

Tag!

2007-03-25T09:02:00.000+08:00

Just because I like to play along and because It's a lazy Sunday morning and my body clock is overly confused by the end of daylight savings!:

Four Jobs You've Had in your Life:

Child labour at my parents' deli (a characteristic of most asian kids childhoods)
Seafood Assistant at Action Supermarkets (Gosh , I stunk daily)
Sandwich Artiste at Subway (Yes Jason, I was an Artiste!)
Glorified admin assistant at an Insurance Company with a smart sounding title

Four Films You'd Watch Over and Over:

The Last Samurai - that last scene where everyone dies is a tearjerker for me
Sweet Home Alabama - How lucky was Reese Witherspoon ? McDreamy AND Mr Rugged Blue Eyes *drools*
Batman Begins *sheepish smile*
Ghost - Because I like to cry and weep

Four Places You've Lived:

Malacca, Malaysia
Puchong, Malaysia
Perth, Australia

Gee, I haven't lived in many places.. :(

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch:

Grey's Anatomy
Prison Break
Desperate Housewives
One Tree Hill

And every korean drama series there is :)

Four Places You've Been Away:

Thailand
Malaysia
Singapore
Blue Mountains

(and lets not forget where I'm going this Thursday *woot*toot*woot*)

Four Websites You Visit Daily:

The Book of Bunny Suicides

2007-03-20T17:19:00.000+08:00

My sister has always been a little strange. She's one of those people that comes across as a little bit eccentric and perhaps a bit nutty. People say that i'm bubbly, and Chris once told me that I was a bit too much sunshine in his day... But when they meet my sister, they often think twice about their evaluation of me. In Andy's words, my sister is like me, but high on caffeine.

So it was her birthday last Friday, and the girl decided to throw herself a party on the weekend. Strange as she was, stranger was her friends.

One of the gifts?

"The Book of Bunny Suicides" by Andy Riley. On the cover, it says "If you are a bunny contemplating suicide, then this is the book for you". I don't know, but if you substituted bunny with "person" then that book wouldnt be so funny. Actually, the book is bizarre to say the least. But I thought i'd share it with you! I mean, who would I be to not share such interesting things?

Not like in Grey's Anatomy...

2007-03-17T06:52:00.000+08:00

My dream of hospitalization dashed

For the last few days, I have been rather sick and have had to even spend a bout in hospital. Previous to this, the only time I had ever stayed in hospital was when I was a wee bub and was hospitalized for eating too many lychees. Almost 15 years later, I had to spend some time at Sir Charles Gairdner, where I was being treated for a virus/infection in my colorectal area. Basically, I spent my time nauseous, vomiting, and passing out blood.

For the last 15 years, I had always thought it would be great for me to go to hospital. I wanted to have a nice little room, to have lots of visitors, lots of cards, flowers and bears, and lots of little gifts. Nope. I hated it. I spent all my time on my back, and when I was cold, the nurses wouldnt let me have extra blankets (I was running a bit of a fever, so they said it was so that I could cool down). I did gets lots of messages and lovely thoughts, but it just didnt feel the same as what I had imagined hospitals to be like. It was really boring more than anything.

Finally, I decided to pretend I was getting better. I told them I wasn't hungry (i was STARVING but the thought of waiting more hours for food just deterred me), I told them I could get up and about (despite the fact that each time I got back, I almost blacked out), and that I had no nausea or pains left (eek lie). Eventually I got discharged, only to be bedridden again at home because I was so iv-ed and doped up I couldnt do anything at home. *sigh*.

One thing good came out of it though! I met my mcDreamy. haha. His name is Mark, he was tall, rugged and an emergency department consultant. I pointed him out when my brother came to visit, but my brother shook his head,laughed at me and told me I must be really drugged up because Mark wasn't rugged at all. If anything, he was dirty. Oh well, happy to have the drugs lie to me at that instance. Hospital would've been an entire waste of time if my mcdreamy didnt surface.

Also, thanks to all those messages, phone calls and sms i got over the past few days. I was pretty doped up and spent most of my time sleeping so wasn't able to answer or call or sms everyone back. But I love that you love me *grins*

Ode to work emails and forwards...

2007-03-08T20:00:00.000+08:00

BEIJING -- For years, foreigners in China have delighted in the loopy English translations that appear on the nation's signs. They range from the offensive ("Deformed Man," outside toilets for the handicapped) to the sublime (on park lawns, "Show Mercy to the Slender Grass").

Last week, Beijing city officials unveiled a plan to stop the laughter. With hordes of foreign visitors expected in town for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing wants to cleanse its signs of translation nonsense. For the next eight months, 10 teams of linguistic monitors will patrol the city's parks, museums, subway stations and other public places searching for gaffes to fix.

Already, fans of the genre are mourning the end of an era, and some Web sites dedicated to it have seen traffic spike. The bewildering signs were "one of the great things we want to show people visiting us," says financial-services consultant Josh Kurtzig, a Washington native who lives in Beijing. Correcting them is "really taking away one of the joys of China."

(sourced from: The Wall Street Journal, 2007)

*sheds a tear* god i love those signs.

Far and away

2007-03-05T08:46:00.000+08:00

When my boyfriend moved out to Kalgoorlie, there was always the comfort of knowing that he would be out there for a limited amount of time and would come back to Perth once that time was up. The plan was for him to come back, do a FIFO job, and we could live happily ever after.

Sometimes though, life throws you a few quirks along the way - quirks that force you to re-examine what you want and where you're going.

I always knew in the back of mind that him being a mining engineer would perhaps require me to make sacrifices on my behalf, as the scope of a mining engineer is limited to, well, a mine more or less.

But when I was asked if I would consider moving to Kalgoorlie (nothing confirmed, just a passing remark), I baulked at the thought. For one, I'd be giving up the life that I have here - great friends, an established job, my routine basically. But at the same time, I am not against moving to Kalgoorlie - I think it's a cute little town, but I just don't know how my city-girl influences will go living in a mining town. It's okay for me to go out there for work, but to live there?

I suppose i"m just scared - scared that I wont fit in, scared that I won't make any friends, scared that life for me there would consist of hermitting and not having a life outside...

So people that have moved or ever considered it , what was the defining criteria that tilted your answer? Was it hope of a more busier life (I suppose Melbournites differ here to Kalgoorlie-ites), was it a chance to start afresh, was it a move for love?

Ups and downs

2007-03-01T20:10:00.000+08:00

Well, I disappeared again - but for a good reason. The last few days have certainly been scary to say the least. My dad, as most of you know, is my only living parent. My mother passed away when I was but 12 , and really, my dad is the only one I have left. My closest older relatives are in Malaysia , Singapore, New Zealand - and while my makeshift uncles and aunties and close family friends , they're certainly no replacement for a parent.

My dad fell in on Tuesday. He woke me up with his vomiting, and after I tended to him, I left for work and my brother looked after him thinking it was just food poisoning. During the day, I called back home to ask how he was and my brother informed me that an ambulance had been called but they said he would be okay and didnt need to go to hospital.

So I settled a little after an initial panic, and then went on to play netball for James' team. Coming home, I noticed missed calls and sms' on my phone telling me that he was in hospital...

I didnt have my keys so I had to ask Jess and Stophe to drive me to Charlies... there, we waited for 6 hours till we got some news and he had to stay in..

Waiting for news on someone who has been admitted to hospital has to be one of the excrutiating waits there is... you have to wait hours, with others that are also worried and "in line" to find out info... the fact that other people are crying, yelling, or just worried makes u feel even worse...

But anyways, it's now Thursday and my dad has been discharged and is resting at home. It's been a relief because on Tuesday night he couldnt open his eyes without getting sick. He can now walk a little (but is still wobbly), and we are making sure someone is home to look after him.

So there's the rollercoaster few days that we call life.

Back!!

2007-02-25T09:07:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the Missing In Action week off from blogging. It's just been absolutely busy and life seems to have escaped me in the last week and a half.

I'm going to be lazy and just dot point what i've done! haha no photos either =D

The boyfriend blew in on the Friday
Family Dinner on Chinese New Years Eve
Chinese New Year Festival and Festivities - a 15 lion bash is quite a sight!!
Following the Yaolin Lion Dance troupe around on Chinese New Year
Dinner at Jacksons Restaurant. We had the degustation menu and the 15 courses were all delicious (except maybe the cheese), and the service impeccable, but I dont think I'd go there again for the dego. Maybe for the a la carte'
Going to see Hannibal Rising
Going out to Greenbushes - a beautiful little town, and a lovely scenic 3 hour drive. If you're out that way, I recommend stopping in Donnybrook for some fruits and scenery before proceeding to Greenbushes / Bridgetown.
Riding the Yaolin bus for 8 hours to all their liondancing spots yesterday (phew I'm exhausted from all the observing hehe)
And i'm starting uni again tomorrow!! Well not really, I'm starting my postgrad course tomorrow - one year of full time work and part time study... EEK

And in other news, there's just 5 weeks left till i'm on way to an altitude of 5600 metres!!

Valentine's Day

2007-02-15T17:26:00.000+08:00

Having written off Valentine's Day this year because Quan was in Kalgoorlie working and I was supposed to be in Perth working, Feb 14th was just any other day. But on Monday, my boss asked me to go out to Kalgoorlie for work and so I was able to have Valentine's Day for 2 whole hours.

When I got there, I got given given the mandatory "rose" hehe .. Unfortunately, I was due to fly out to Perth within 30 minutes and wasn't able to bring it on the plane so had to "cut" a single rose to a tiny little snippet..

When I got back to Perth, I met up with Jess and Thao - two other girls singled out because of their oil/mining boyfriends, so we had our single left behind girls pizzas.

Returning home, I was greeted with a beautiful bouquet of pink lilis and a more beautiful bouquet of bacis waiting in my room....

And before you say that Valentine's is all too commercialized and cheesy, I have an excuse - It's also our anniversary (4 years + 2 depending on who you talk to heheh).

For your eating pleasure (and yes, I did eat one):

So unorganised!!

2007-02-12T19:59:00.000+08:00

Following on from my previous post, I was told to send in a whole bunch of boring documents for pre-approval.. I had thought myself as pretty organised until now, and now i'm really struggling !!

- Pay slips showing YTD of last three months, and salary.
(I managed to find my last three payslips - all of which were unopened!!)

- Bank statements of last six months showing savings.
(The only statement I could find was September 2006, and June 2005).. HMMMM

- Passport or Birth Certificate
(Phew - lucky i'm going on holiday - at least I had ONE item on the list!!)

- Letter of employment stating salary and end of probation period.
(Yay, i got this!!)

- PAYG Certificate of last financial year, or Tax Assessment
(Found a tax assessment from 1999 HAHAHAH and a PAYG from 2000 - can't find anything else).

Gee, this is going to be tougher than I thought :S

The struggle for independence

2007-02-07T18:15:00.000+08:00

At the moment, I am trying to decide whether or not now would be a good time to buy my own place and move out - and its a decision i'm both struggling, and excited about.

All perthies know that the situation for first time home buyers here in Perth is quite dire. The prices have skyrocketed in recent months, and most people are unable to afford anything decent (or anything at all).

I am fairly independent - I pay for all my expenses, I pay for all the bills in my family, and I don't rely on credit at all. The only thing missing is my own space and my own place to call my own.

I am however, caught in between that struggling "should i stay and save a bit more, or should i move out?" phase. I have been to a few mortgage brokers recently and have been given quotes for the max loans that I can take out. I could probably afford a decent apartment in the city, but if I do, my quality of life in terms of my penchant for life's luxuries and goodies would decrease.

But isn't that part of growing up? Learning to take that responsibility and putting money towards your own place... ?

Most people tell me to wait until Quan gets back then we can buy a place together.... but 1. I dont want to rely on anyone to buy my apartment or to be the reason I can afford something better.... and 2. It's not going to be for another 12-18months, and I really want my own place now..

So where does that leave me?
* 12 -18 months of more saving but a nicer place in the end..... ?
* Purchasing something quite decent and having a place to call my own.. but saying no to nice clothes and nice shoes?
* Renting - That's a no for me. It's money wasted and I wouldnt want that..

So friendly people - what are your opinions?

Happy Birthday

2007-02-04T09:13:00.000+08:00

I dont have much to blog, but just wanted to say Happy Birthday to miss Kees :D

A rather strong case of "What the!?"

2007-01-28T18:03:00.000+08:00

I was browsing (yes browsing, because I can't read very much Chinese!!) through my dad's chinese newspapers and came across the above photo/article...All i knew was that there were lots of cut off hands and a torso of some poor victim, and I asked my dad what the article was about..

well.. it seems that that HAPPY looking lady in the photo is making BREAD ... bread shaped like cadavers and dead people's hands... what the indeed :S

in love

2007-01-26T16:48:00.000+08:00

I picked up my backpack the other day!!! It's a beautiful red caribee 65L travel pack , expandable to 75L, hydration compatible and with a detachable day pack.. God I am in love with it!

When I picked it up , there were no new red packs left - only a blue/grey and black/black - but I desperately wanted the red (I didnt tell him the reason why was half because "if" I get lost out in Nepal, I would be MUCH easier to find with a red pack than a black or blue pack) and so had to settle for the display model which had a few marks on it but was also cheaper because of the display status.

I also picked up my sleeping mat and inflated it (well actually, I opened the valve and it inflated itself - somewhat slowly might I add) and then tried to deflate it and roll it up... Poor Quan had to witness my lack of outback survival skills as I sat on the mat, rolled it up, unrolled it, sat on it again, tried to deflate it , rolled it, unrolled it, and then eventually ended up ripping my mat cover because I tried to squish it in half inflated.. *sigh*.

But anyways, Happy Australia Day! Hope you weren't too sunburnt ..! I spent my day indoors but am going out to watch the fireworks.. Gosh i LOVE Australia Day !!

Week 1 Piccies

2007-01-21T15:29:00.000+08:00

My first week of Project 365 went okay. I carried my digital camera with me everywhere and I tried super hard to take interesting pics of things that occurred during my day, but I failed because 1. I was embarassed to take out my camera every single time, and 2. because there just wasn't that many interesting pics to take.. (that and the fact i'm a bad photographer so when i did try to take pics, they turned out terribly anyway).

Anyways, this is a shortened week of piccies too because my sister had to borrow my camera for camp on the weekend, and I haven't yet found an SLR camera that was under my budget and must be from David Jones (I have a gift voucher to use so I refuse to buy it from anywhere else - too bad all the SLR's in DJ's are 1000+ or over!!)... SO here they are (and the stories to go with)...

So, the weekend started (and ended) in a pile of heat and sweat. It went from very cool during the week, to very hot during the weekend. Luckily for my oily skin, my sister went a little crazy when I asked her to buy me a couple "J&J blotting papers" ... no no, she decided that I needed about 16 to get me through the next 6 months or so (they aren't all in the photos - some are at work, some opened already).. I think she's trying to tell me my face is too greasy :(

Weekends are also an excuse for me to bake some treats for the week ahead - little cupcakes that we can nibble on during the week, and some that we can take to work, to school or just to play. This week, I attempted the ginger and rhubarb cupcakes from my trusted 500 Cupcakes book... it was supposed to look like this (below).. unfortunately, it ended up in the bin due to ginger overload - you could cry eating my ginger cupcakes :S

Thursday 18th was also my daddy's birthday, and that meant lots of yummies to eat! We went out for chinese food that night, and gobbled down a variety of noodles and drank good ol' fashioned coconut juice to cool us down.

"prosperity cakes", and there was the always trusted, always yummy My dad also got a whole bunch of cakes - the coffee torte from his girlfriend is pictured below. I love pretty cakes with lots of nuts and goodies to crunch on , but unfortunately, this cake just tasted like cream.. (as you can tell by the photo). There were asian little desserts, and asiancorica apple strudel - which I am not proud to say, but of which I have eaten approximately 1/2 of it since thursday. Everyone else managed to savour the other cakes, and watch what they ate :S

I also took a picture of my knitting... A lot of people know that i knit (and they aren't ashamed to giggle and snicker at me either ! *ahem* hehehe), and have asked me what i've been knitting etc... So I thought i'd take a picture of what I'm currently working on - this cute little cardi.

I'm not sure if the cardi will even be flattering (it goes halfway up my waist), but I am the first to say, that that girl in the picture is hot - and perhaps I'm hoping that the finished cardi will look half as good on me as it will on her.. hehe

So there you go - week 1 of project 365 completed. It's been fun, and it certainly helps me see what I've been up to, and helped me blog a random blog.

Still blogging

2007-01-20T06:55:00.000+08:00

Apologies for the lack of posting recently - I don't really have an excuse except for just being busy and lazy.

Since the start of the year, it's been a little hectic. With my job, I have been given a lot more responsibility with the committees. In addition to the three that I am currently overseeing, I have been gradually taking on the responsibility of two extras, and because of that, I've just been flat out..

Besides working, life has been busy - but as always, when i look back, it hasn't been terribly exciting. My days after work are all filled with Monday SnB and workmates' walk, Tuesday Jacobs Ladder (although I didnt do that this week from lack of energy), Wednesday Netball, Thursday workmates' walk, and Friday Jacobs Ladder... As you can imagine, the now heavily scheduled activity days have left me rather tired on weekends and too lazy to bother with anyone else but sleep.

As for my new years' resolution of doing nothing? Well.. I have to say i'm already failing that. However, after Nepal, life should go back to a bit of planned nothingness, and I'm actually looking forward to that.. :D

Project 365

2007-01-14T08:51:00.000+08:00

I thought i'd better let you know that I'm participating in Project 365 which requires you take a photo for everyday of the year. So, if i start posting random photos and bringing my camera around everywhere, please forgive.

Two little things...

2007-01-10T20:26:00.000+08:00

It's funny how two different circumstances can mean such different things.

Perth weather has been strangely peculiar to say the least, and on the way home today, it started to sprinkle and then pelt little cats and dogs. Being the ever so unprepared person that I am, I was caught out in the rain without so much as a jacket, let alone an umbrella or a rainjacket (oh, how i wish I could put on my rainboots !!!). So there I was on Wanneroo Rd cursing the rain because I wasn't too happy to be wet . Oh how I hated the water!!! All i wanted to be was dry and pretty.

Fast forward to 9pm when I get home from our weekly 5 footers netball game. Having run out my little cramped legs (Bryan and I did Jacobs ladder last night so I'm now paying for my lack of stretching) and played a full game on funny little sore legs, I arrived home all wet and stinky. I get out of the car and my friendly neighbour asks me whether there's any water coming out of the taps. As I'd just gotten home (and because we had water prior to my netball game), i smugly smiled and said to him "i'll go find out for you" - of course, i was snickering thinking that my house was lucky enough to have the water and for some reason he must've forgotten to pay the bills hehe - but alas, no water!!! Apparently a main had burst on our street and was being prepared... boohissss

No water = No shower = Stinky smelly kae.

How ironic it is that when I was pelted with water, I cursed it. Now that I'm smothered in my own sweat, I'm begging for water. BOOOOOOOOO!

Doing nothing

2007-01-06T07:52:00.000+08:00

Looking back on my 2006 resolutions and being somewhat smug about how much I achieved, I've decided 2007 is going to be an all encompassing reason to enjoy life. So here it is , my two resolutions:

Learn to do nothing.
See more of the world.

Why? well because people (me included) try to fit so much into their lives - in between work, errands, plans, relationships, sports - they hardly get time to really relax and do nothing. And I mean do nothing . For me, scheduling a weeks worth of things ie. Monday SnB, Tuesday after work walks, Wednesday netball, Thursday after work walks, Friday weekly shopping, weekend catchup plans etc is actually more exhausting than relaxing. I realize that as workers, we don't have the luxury of time to do all these things - but when I pack it all in for a week and given that this year I will be commencing my post-grad studies, I often feel (and know I will be) exhausted as the year goes on from not actually having RELAX time that is - have no plans, and take the days and weekends as they come.

So, resolution 1 is my attempt at actually taking time out to relax.

And seeing more of the world? That's just a standing resolve for me every year.

Happy New Years!

2007-01-03T20:01:00.000+08:00

Well, it's that time of the year again... new year resolutions and all that jazz... rather than make my resolutions for this year, I thought i'd take a look at what I achieved and didn't achieve in 2006 and build from there. So, where were we this time last year?

*Career:

~~Move from the insurance industry into the resources industry~~ Achieved
~~Get a job that actually uses my many talents (hehe), and keeps me sufficiently busy but doesn't stress me out too much~~ Achieved
~~Get a payrise - a BIG payrise!~~ Achieved

*Life:

~~Stop dwelling on things that "could've been" or "should've been" and move forward in all aspects~~ Achieved (or so I like to think)
~~Enjoy it~~ Achieved
Lose that stupid 5kg that is still haunting me from last year's holiday! Failed haha instead I put ON extra kg's! No worries, my trek to everest should do the trick!

Love:

Compromise - Quan to judge hehe
~~Don't get frustrated and angry because Quan is a whole 6 hours drive away from Perth~~ Achieved I think
~~Head to Kalgoorlie as often as possible~~ Achieved given that I had to build my annual leave, but I also got to head there for work.

Finance:

Continue saving for house Ongoing
~~Stop spending excessive amounts on clothing and shoes (you do not need that much!) Achieved (HA! to all those people that didn't think I could do it)~~
Write up a budget for 2006, and stick to it (stop getting tempted to have "just a little bit more)
Failed. Something always came up.

Relationships:

Catch up with fabulous girlies more often Somewhat achieved through weekly netball games, but would like to see them more!
~~Catch up with friends forgotten~~ Achieved as much as possible
~~See or talk to at least one friend each week!~~ Achieved

Hmm, didnt do too shabbily (but don't you love how I use the words "as much as possible" and "somewhat"). ehhe but I managed to get more than 75% of it so that's good. And for 2007? Well, I haven't resolved anything yet, but I will do now that I've looked back on 2006.

So.... have a happy new year and I hope that you manage to stick to your resolutions!

A week in photos

2006-12-30T23:32:00.000+08:00

It's too late to blog properly so I thought i'd just post some photos of my week that's has passed. My Christmas week was spent out in Kalgoorlie with my boyfriend and his housemates Jie and Jess where we ate too much meat, drank too little water, and dallied the hot summers' days away too easily..

No trip to Kalgoorlie is complete without a site visit - this one is a visit to Kanowna where Quan works..

My Barrick boy and I sharing some alone time

And then I had to cut my holiday short to come back for Theng's wedding. Theng and David have been together for as long as I remember - probably since the start of uni - and have lived together for most of that time, so it was no surprise and very expected that they would eventually marry!

Together with family and friends, they exchanged their vows in a sunny outdoor ceremony at Caversham house, and then proceeded to the traditional Jade Dynasty reception where we had a fantastic time boogie-ing (yes, boogie-ing) the night away...

Uncle Sam walking his daughter down the aisle... Uncle Sam looked so cute!

The Groom and Bride during the ceremony

The beautiful bridesmaids - Ella, Michelle, Peng and Jinnie

My now strangely honky looking sister, me, Theng and David

The gorgeously happy couple after the ceremony

At the reception, I saw people that I had grown up with and haven't seen for years - people like Uncle Peter and Aunty Lesley, Margaret, Euhin , Ewen.. the lot.. golly it was great to see everyone and I realized how big a part they had in my life when I was growing up!

And to end...

Congratulations also to Angela on her engagement last weekend!!!

Merry Christmas

2006-12-22T20:25:00.000+08:00

I am going to be away till about the 30th Dec (have only bought a one way ticket - date of return unsure), so I just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and silly season!

Someone's getting married!!

2006-12-17T08:03:00.000+08:00

.. No, not me... Sorry about the lack of posting recently - have been trying to do all kinds of things before the christmas holidays begin, so have had very little free time. I'm even behind in my downloading of tv dramas which is by far the worst thing that could happen!

Anyways, amongst the busy-ness, I managed to get myself to my dear friend Theng's (prouncing "ting") Hen's Night. This was a peculiar hen's night because the groom and the BOYS were actually there for 3/4 of the night!? I think everyone was like "ummm.. theng, they're not supposed to be here!!".. but anyhoos, after they got the groom david super drunk, they scurried off to the dollhouse or whatever "gentlemen's club" there was :)

[The bride to be.... and her suspect sipping straw]

For the girls, we had a nice little bbq together at Theng & David's place out in the whoop whoop area of Ellenbrook , then we had a lingerie party... unfortunately for us (and the lady selling it), she had no idea that every single girl in the group was about a size 6-8 with much less than a D cup.. the lady had brought a bunch of size 20 type clothes out (I assume because she does a lot of bigger women parties??), so all the stuff that might have looked nice in the catalogue looked not so nice in real life....

After the lingerie party, we played the mandatory games... and then the girls scuttled off to a bout of karaoke and attempting to get Theng drunk (to which I was unable to make this part)..

[Some of the girls I haven't seen for yonks!! The theme being schoolgirls, Ella, Theng, Me, Angela and Jennifer in our obliging outfits (except for Jenn who decided to go the schoolteacher look hehe) ]

But anyways, the wedding is at the end of this year, and I'm off to Kalgoorlie and Esperance for my xmas break, so I will need to come back just for miss Thengy... *woOT*

(now to find a dress to wear.... )

Holiday booked and ready

2006-12-12T19:28:00.000+08:00

OOOH i'm so excited!! I've just paid my deposit for my adventure trip next year - am trekking Base Camp Mt Everest in Nepal... *woooT*.. Now I have to train for the trip - foodwise, basic amenities wise, and exercise wise.

*wooT*

https://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/nxe

On a night like this...

2006-12-07T23:51:00.000+08:00

Tonight, Jess, Taz, Pete and I went to see Kylie's Showgirl Homecoming show at Burswood Dome... and she definitely knows how to put on a shot :) The lights, the dancers, the effects, the costumes - all fantastically choreographed into an amazing show.

One of the things that I was pleasantly surprised about was how good she sounds live. Many artists sound really bad live, and I had thought that Kylie would be one of them given the rather robotic sounds that are characteristic of her newer music. However, she sounded just like that, and maybe even better - to hear her raw voice rather than a systematically synthesised voice was unexpected but very welcome.

Anyways, won't bore you with the details except to say THANKYOU to miss Jez for the ticket and that I had fabulous fun at the concert, the wind tunnel, and of course, the joyride free bus :)

And some rather blurry shots of the night:

Boys with tight pants

2006-12-06T17:11:00.000+08:00

As a city worker, I don't have the luxury of driving into the city and paying for a whole day's worth of parking. So... I catch the bus (as most others do).

My workplace is on St George's Tce, but as Perthians know, the Terrace is a rather long strip, and sometimes when i'm uber lazy, I catch the red cat bus into the city (yes, i'll admit - it's one stop hehe).

But anyways, Perthians will also know that the Cat buses have been designed with extremely minimal seating room, and very maximum standing room.

As my lazy bum rushed onto the cat, I was feeling uber lazy and rather rude as I proceeded to sit down and steal the potential seat of someone who may have actually needed it.

To my horror and shock, a young man (who was not too bad looking mind you) stood just in front of me (I was in that seat where there's room for a guy to stand and face you). Unfortunately for my eyes, this young man had on very very tight pants. Extremely tight. So much that he suffered from VPL (yes, that dreaded VISIBLE PANTY LINE that girls hate).

His VPL stared me in the face and as he swayed back and forth struggling to grasp the little stander-uperer-handles-to-stablise-you-things, his VPL and rather small bum kept being shoved in my face.

And even worse... he then turned around so that his CROTCH faced me - and oh boy, did those tight pants say "hellO"... :SSSS

Luckily for me, I was only there for one stop and I got up and ran off.

So moral of the story : Please boys, do NOT wear tight pants :) Or at least have the decency to ensure you're not STANDING in front of a girl's face :)

How many of me

2006-12-03T10:50:00.000+08:00

Having an asian name has always been an internal battle of positives vs. negatives for me.

Ever since I was little, I hated people calling me by my full first name (and nope, Kae is not it hehe). They would often pronounce it wrong (as in Hi Kai, or Hi Key), spell it wrong ("Kaye, Kay), or just get it wrong completely (for awhile in year three, I let them call me "Choo" because they decided to be clever and reverse my surname with my name and I was too scared and intimidated to speak up).

Since growing up, none of that has changed. There have been a million times where people just call me "Kim", or where people have stopped trying and now call me "KC" (not that pronouncing Kae is very hard - it's just pronounced like the letter "K).

Part of me however, love that my name is spelt the way it is. It's not the boring old english lady way of Kay or Kaye, and the K-A-E makes me feel like i'm from an exotic hideaway branching into society (well... not really...).

According to this, there are zero of my in the USA (and that's okay, because I dont particularly like Americans hehe).

HowManyOfMe.com

There are:
0
people with my name
in the U.S.A.

How many have your name?

So , given the rarity of my name, whenever I see parts of my name printed elsewhere, I get doubly excited.

During my irc days, there was someone online called "kaede" and I used to stalk this person just to find out if they were anything like me.. (yes, rather sad).. hehe

And the other day, I found a box of peanuts by a label called "poh-kae" .. I made a mental note to take a photo of it for keepsakes, but the peanuts were finished and thrown out by the time I got to them.

And the best find of all ? My friend in highschool saved this little wrapper for me, and I have since saved it for future reference.. It sums me right up - I'm quite a Banana, and I'm definitely SUPER :)

Does anyone else have identity issues like me?? :) hehe

My pre birthday weekend away

2006-11-28T20:33:00.000+08:00

My boyfriend is starting work on the 4th of December out in the mines, so he won't be able to make it for our birthday celebrations this year round. Given that he wont get time away, and Christmas is a fair while away, we decided to do a pre-birthday weekend away (or shall i say, long weekend) to celebrate instead.

It all started on sunday when we checked into Joondalup Resort on a very hot summer's day. Unfortunately, being the boy that he is, the boyfriend forgot to pack one VERY important weekend away item - boardies / swimmers. So, there we were in the 30 plus heat sweltering away whilst walking pass the giddy children in the swimming pool. Not too worry, we decided to stay in and just sit under the air conditioning.

For dinner, we went off to Char Char Bull in lovely Freo for my brother's birthday (pics up when I find my brother's digicam). After dinner, we decided that we wanted to get active so the boys whipped out their cricket gear (as you do), and we played cricket out on the esplanade at approximately 10pm (as you do). hehe nonetheless, I think my efforts of bowling out Coombsie (i think it was Coombsie) and scoring what seemed like a century (ha!) was well deserved :)

After dinner, we trekked all the way back to Joondalup - yup, freo to joondalup is one heck of a long trip ... 45 minutes later, we collapsed (or shall I say I collapsed) onto the bed and fell asleep.

Now.. my bf has the strangest sleeping habits. We assume this was brought on because a little while he decided to be "clever" (rolls eyes) and instead of taking a nice eight hour chunk of prolonged sleep (like normal people do), he decided that he would make the use of the day by taking four two hour naps to equal 8 hours. (Who does that?!) But anyway, because of this, he can no longer sleep like normal people do. So, he tried his best to keep me up all night by flicking my noise, pinching my cheeks and being annoying at his best ...

So, monday started off with two very tired people having breakfast at Hillary's Boat Harboir... but it became a day of birthday shopping for gifts and pressies...

This is a dangerous sort of shopping. There are two types of people when this occurs - there's the greedy-rub-your-hands-eyes-glisten type who blow budgets and pick up each and everything they want, and the i-dont-want-to-spend-too-much-of-your-dollars type person. Unfortunately (or fortunately!), I fell in the second category and so did he. So we were rather restrained with our purchases, with books, bags, knitting stuff (hehe that's mine) and shoes amongst the goodies.

After shopping, we were supposed to go to the winery but failed to get there because of sheer exhaustion so instead went to Portofino's for a very yummy dinner and then back to the hotel for sleep. This time, I slept and he read books all night. (silly sleeping habits).

Tuesday was Il Padrino's for pizza , a bit of shopping and a nice rest home.

So, we didn't get up to too much, but it sure felt good to take a few days off work and head off for a getaway with the boy who comes up once a month. I'm looking forward to christmas, where we will be headed off to Esperance *woot*.

:x

2006-11-23T18:41:00.000+08:00

This is what happens when alcohol starts fueling boys' love for each other :
(courtesy of bjorn)

[Bjorn giving Ducki some loving.. much to the dismay of ducki and giggly of me]

Salary reviews

2006-11-20T18:04:00.000+08:00

The other day I came across a document that was part of the executive meeting, and it said something like

"Salary reviews are scheduled to take place in December. In order to inform the decision , *** is currently undertaking a review across industry. As these results are not due until end of December 2006, a rate of 5.0% will be applied to all staff salaries".

Does that mean I only get a 5.0% payrise regardless?!?!?!? STINGY~~~

I am hoping for 5.0% in line with CPI + Performance of 10-15%... we'll see.. HMPH

Artrage Awesome Festival

2006-11-16T22:00:00.000+08:00

One of the perks of my job is that I get invited to lots of very interesting events (and sometimes not so interesting events).

I was invited to the Aarena event by Allens Arthur Robinson tonight, which was the launch of the "Awesome Festival" by Artrage, held at the Artrage Bakery Complex, and may I just plog that it really is an awesome art exhibition. I had a lot of fun with the lawyers playing on the interactive arts exhibitions they had, stomping on people, burning retinas and turning lights off at the exhibition. May I just plog that if anyone is in Northbridge towards James Street, I highly recommend going to the Bakery to have a squiz.

Anyways, as part of my job, I also get to meet a lot of interesting and not so interesting people. Besides other mining types, I tend to meet quite a few lawyers and accountants. In the past, I must admit, the accountants have always been extremely dull networking types, and more often than not, the lawyers too.

But I was pleasantly pleased as I was being intro'd to the others at the Launch by my AAR contact, that AAR lawyers are by far the most interesting types I have encountered (and yes xin, that includes you haha). They had fantastic sense of humours, yapped for so long, and the best part? They didnt tell me all about their work, or ask me all about their work. They knew how to build rapport, and really engage with people.

So yes, double plog tonight for the lawyers at AAR, and for the Awesome Arts Festival.

My crafty swappy

2006-11-14T18:19:00.000+08:00

As a craftster, I participated in my first ever craft swap - theme: Japanese Round 2 :) And boy did I get spoilt!! Look at the amazing goodies that my swap partner crafted/got me!

The whole package

The very very cute crafted felt cakes and desserts - MMMM

Stickers and stationery - yes, im still a kid at heart and love this stuff!

My most favouritest gummies in the world!

Crafted kanzashi (Dont know if i spelt that right) flower pins...!

Woot did I get spoilt!!

Damage with Jess

2006-11-11T16:19:00.000+08:00

Jess and I have been avoiding going shopping with each other for a few months now because we know that when we're in each other's company, we always go a little crazy because we always manage to find fabulous buys for each other's tastes...

So anyways, today we got together (with Mish for a short while) to go shopping. We were pretty good at the Alannah Hill sale , although i can't say much about Mish - though i'm sure she'll post about her crazy "im not trying anything on just going to buy and alter" spree heheheh..

But anyways, I ended up buying the Alannah Hill "Dancing Up a Storm" Dress - Pure silk, very sheer and very much like this.. (someone is selling the same dress on ebay). Anyways... it's a little bit big for me , and it's also very sheer. I have no idea what type of slip to wear with it, and whether I can alter it...But anyways, should I keep it or should I sell it ??

We managed to get a few things each today, after travelling to Subi and Garbo to complete our shopping day. All in all, pretty satisfied, but once again, realize that Jess + Kae shopping = giddy grumpy girls if nothing is bought hehehe

Anyways, on another topic, sorry for lack of photos lately. Here are a few from underground last week:

[ Nice dark and humid ]

[and you DEFINITELY want these guys above to save you...]

[.. when you're stuck here as a fire breaks out]
Have a good weekend ;)

$36 richer baby!

2006-11-07T18:12:00.000+08:00

Because of that cute non english speaking little japanese jockey and his Japanese horse, I am now $36 richer! hehe actually, I came both 1st and 2nd in the sweepstakes, but because I only entered the $2 draw as opposed to those people that entered the $5 draw 10 times.... i only won a little bit..

A picture since my blog seems to be all text :

But... shopping here I come!!! (hmm what can i buy with $36??)

scary choices

2006-11-05T17:58:00.000+08:00

A bit of a pointless post really...

It often surprises people when I tell them how much I love it out on site. The dirt, the remoteness (but only for awhile!!), the vast expansiveness of the red sand, the fantastic comraderie between each mine worker - i love it all, and I love being able to get away from the office and out on site.

The things I love about site however, are all limited to what we call "surface operations". Things that take place above surface , and in the bright lights (unless of course, you're on a night shift), and where that expansiveness and red dirt just go on forever.

These things however, don't exist in the underground. Dark, humid (think 30 degrees and 90% humidity), and lacking in that openness, it really is an experience that is unique by all means.

The dangers of underground are at a scale a notch above that of surface - what happens if there's a rockfall (rescue teams can't get to you quickly), what happens if there's a fire, what happens if you need to stay in that underground refuge chamber with 5 other big blokes, not knowing when the rescue team is going to come?

I don't understand why anyone would willingly *choose* to work in such an environment. Except of course, my significant other. Out of all the places in the world that he could freely choose to work, he wants to spend his time underground.

It bugs me, it frightens me, and it gives me wrinkles. But I suppose that's something I need to come to terms with, being the significant other of a mining engineer :S

5 Footers

2006-11-02T18:35:00.000+08:00

I wish to advise that the 5 Footers netball team's season has come to an end, with a semi-final defeat to the top team.

That is all.

Just my luck

2006-10-30T21:41:00.000+08:00

Last week at a staff meeting, my director announced that my supervisor would be going on leave. Being a friday arvo, my director and I joked about how the OHS portfolio was back in our hands, and how the days to come would be filled with sickies and pub visits... *jokes*jokes*

Unfortunately, I *actually* fell sick. I was so sickly this morning - i looked like a flattened reindeer with my red nose and sleepy look, I sounded like a trannie with my not quite manly not quite womanly voice, and I felt like crap....

But it was just my luck that I had joked about chucking a sickie last week.. because when I actually needed it, I couldn't for fear of being known as the girl who ACTUALLY takes sickies when her supervisor is away... *cryyyy* pain of meeee

Lacking

2006-10-29T20:43:00.000+08:00

Apologies for the lack of posts and the impending lack of posts... i'm sick and everything's stuffy. My brain isnt functioning, my body won't move... so yeah, it will be blank for awhile :)

Racism is rife

2006-10-24T19:13:00.000+08:00

A large part of my day today was spent at another mining conference. During break sessions, they had set up an exhibition as well as a mini aboriginal art gallery.

One of the stands at the exhibition was put together by one of the world's leading petroleum companies. As part of the exhibition booth, they had put up pictures, paintings, and drawings that little children aged 9-10 had done.

The theme was to draw a picture that showed how bad sniffing petrol was.... There were some very cute pictures with people on the floor, very bad spelling, some crazy robberies occurring.. then..slowly, i noticed something rather amusing (but very very indicative of racism at such a young age)..

... every single person that was depicted in the drawing as a petrol was coloured in .... (wait for it) ... BROWN or BLACK....

RACISM MUCH!?

Working late

2006-10-23T19:52:00.000+08:00

.... i had to cancel coffee because i'm working late .. :( CRY!!!

CPR with the smelly boy

2006-10-19T21:38:00.000+08:00

s part of my job in health & safety, i need to be a qualified first aider. And so, my company sent me off to the St John's two day first aid course.

Today's lesson was the very important - DR ABCD - recovery position, and CPR. Whilst I have always learnt first aid on those special annie dummies, today I had to do my recovery position work with real life people.

Being small and the shortest person in the entire group of mining giants, I was naturally paired up with a super duper tall guy, who wasnt too skinny but not too fat (just... right.. + a little pudge).

Anyways, for the recovery position, you need to constantly check if that person is breathing by putting your head close to the nose/mouth area, whilst your hand is on their forehead and abdomen. And so there I was hand and head in the right area, when "poooo-ieeeeeeeeeee", i caught a whiff of the guy's really awful breath :S At first I thought, maybe it was just a whiff of something else, so i kept my head there, and again, i was mortified by the smells coming out...

And then i noticed the hand on his abdomen was getting a bit clammy - was i so nervous that I was sweating?? nope, it was his sweat purging through his polo... and again, when i had to turn him over to the side - besides the fact it took a little effort (but that's natural given most people are bigger than me), I had to put my hand under his neck to support it.. and ooooooph, it was sweating... EWWWWW

Poor me had to endure a day of this , plus when i attempted to avoid putting my head close to him, my instructor kept telling me otherwise..

so PLEASE PLeASE PLEASE - if you do a first aid course, please DON't RUN to the centre, drink water and eat mints...!!

Asian girls

2006-10-16T18:16:00.000+08:00

Q: How come so many asian girls (read: mainly international asian girls) have nobbly knees that bend inwards, and they either hobble or walk pigeontoed?

Fashion Forward

2006-10-14T13:00:00.000+08:00

Last night at dinner, Peter asked the group what the most fashionable item we've ever had was...

Having grown up in the 90s, I admit to being a child of the hypercolour era but who could forget

Owning a michael jackson jacket (haha yes pete, your secret is out)
Cross Colours - any boy who was cool had one of these
Spotty leggings with baggy jumpers (oh how cool i was!!)
26 Red items (The downgrade in coolness has certainly been noticed. Back then, you could buy 26Red in Myer - nowadays, it's Target teehee)
Those fluoro arm bands that girls used to have - the more the better. I think i had about 20 arm bands on each wrist
Scrunchies - I confess, even in year 8 I thought "more is better", and used to have about three-four scrunchies in my hair .. ohh the memories

So tell me, what were some of the most fashion forward items you've ever worn?

Nyet Nyet

2006-10-11T20:02:00.000+08:00

I need a computer geek *nyet*nyet* to answer some computer questions for me please...

* Why does my computer turn off without me asking it to? It just shuts off in the middle of emails, surfing, videos...

* Why does my computer NOT turn off when i tell it to? It just freezes

* I have about 10 drives on my computer - some USB, some disk drives, some hard drives. When I go to my computer, it lists everything from A: to O:... is there anyway I can rename it so I can tell which one is which without my having to go through all of them?

That is all :) And FYI - my computer was only bought this year.. and it's a desktop, not my laptop. Thanks :)

Lessons from today

2006-10-07T20:39:00.000+08:00

It's good to have your friends experience certain parts of life before you do. That way, you can learn from them and find out things you never knew.

This week (and last week) has been filled with wedding related things - A friend of mine from Uni just got married today in a gorgeous little church wedding whilst my netball (sometimes) team member got engaged and had a little engagement party last night. And amongst the weddings and engagements, there has also been the experience of an ex-loved one (no, not me - a friend of mine's ex) leaving for good... and what have I learnt from all these?

* Do not allow little kiddies aged 1-2 years old to a wedding. They will make lots of noise and scream throughout the vows. If you need to bring them, take them out of the church/venue when it's time to exchange vows

* Never wear mascara to a wedding. You will look like an H-addict when the bride walks down the aisle, and you start bawling for no apparent reason.

* Always let your heart heal before moving on.

* Food and spending money makes the depressed happy (even for that short time)

* Friends make life all the more better

Someone's out to get me

2006-10-04T08:07:00.000+08:00

This month, I have been ultra good and have been trying to kerb my spending after a horror run of silly purchases :) Anyways, I did really well, and last night, received my credit card bill - $18.05 ... *Hi*5*

Unfortunately, with that credit card bill came a little letter from my credit card company...

"We have noticed that you have not used your credit card in some time. (In actual fact, I haven't used it for a whole two weeks...)

Whilst we understand that it makes a great coaster on your coffee table, we would like to give you the opportunity to increase your credit card limit from XXXX to XXXX , which we believe is the real reason why you haven't used it".

Did I miss something here? I havent used my card because I want to kerb silly spending, and they're offering more money? .. *ouch*.. someone's out to get me!!

In other news, I went to the Official Reception of the Japan-Australia Guest Nation thing for the Royal Show last night and met a sweet (and pretty good looking!!!) man who turned out to be the Managing Director of Japan's #1 Beer Company...

... too bad i don't drink beer :(

Asian Backstreet Boys

2006-09-30T11:36:00.000+08:00

Love this :

Kitchen appliances starting with k....

2006-09-29T16:25:00.000+08:00

A friend of mine is getting married in two weeks, and having her bridal shower thing this weekend. As guests, we have been asked to bring along something starting with the first initial of your name, and it must be for the kitchen.

Since i'm a "K", the only two things that I managed to think of was a ... kettle... and a ... knife. Unfortunately, i feel at odds with presenting my friend with knives (even though they're really important and all) , so I ended up buying her a kettle..

Now that I think about, I'm pretty sure that there are going to be other "k's" at the bridal shower (think Kate, Katherine, Katie, Kelly, Kim, and all those other K names).. so should I return my kettle and find something else starting with K...???

FYI - I walked around the kitchen area and couldnt find any K items that wasn't a brand name (ie. Kitchen-Aid, Kambrook etc)...

Can anyone else think of a k kitchen appliance??

Sugar Overdose a la Choc Mint Cupcakes with Choc Mint Ganache Centres

2006-09-29T16:20:00.000+08:00

My boss decided that I had been working super duper hard lately, and so decided to give me a day off :) *wooT*. Anyways, I love to bake, but I rarely get a chance to in the hectic life that is kae, so took today as an opportunity to bake something new.

And what did I decide on? Well, I was flicking through my Biscuits and Slices Book, my Cupcakes Book, my Cheesecake book, and decided I wanted to make a cupcake with a little bit of everything... and so i bring you..

Choc Mint Cupcakes (with Choc Chips) and Choc Mint Ganache Centres... mmm. Chocolate overdose galore :)

Anyways, the recipe was a bit of a mix from everything that I just put together but it turned out pretty well:

Choc Mint Cupcake

1 1/2 Cups Self-Raising Flour
1 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/3 Cup Dark Choc Bits
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Water
1 tsp mint essence

Preheat oven to 180'
Mix all ingredients till smooth (its quite a thick mixture) and bake for 20 minutes. If you have an oven like mine where the back is hotter than the front, turn your tray around at 10 minutes.

Choc Mint Ganache
1/2 Cup Dark Choc Bits
1/2 Cup Cream
1/4 Cup Butter
1tsp mint essence

Heat the dark choc bits and butter until melted, and add in cream. Cook cream over low heat.

To make 'em

Take the cupcakes out of the oven and wait till cool.

Cut centre bit of cupcake out

Fill with ganache.

Put centre back in.

Decorate as you please. (I concur that my decoration skill is lacking.. but it makes up in taste)

... Chocolate overload, but OHHH SOOOO GOOOD!

Gemma Ward -Young Achiever of the Year?!

2006-09-26T21:00:00.000+08:00

So I heard that supermodel Gemma Ward was awarded (abit of a tongue twister isn't it) Young Achiever of the Year or something similar, and given that she's a model, there was no doubt a lot of debate and discussion around why she did or didn't deserve it.

I personally don't think she's actually ACHIEVED anything. I concur she is wildly successful, but in terms of actually getting out there and doing something to be awarded that achievement award, I am on the negative fence for this one.

A lot of people in my camp would agree that standing tall, being blessed with model features, and walking down a catwalk do not equal effort or achievement. It does however, pay well, and grant said being with lots of attention and publicity. But does that mean she's achieved anything?

Well, on the extremely academic radio station that is 92.9 (*cough*cough*), the same question was posed to the listeners, and many of them said "yes, she has achieved something". Of course, Em (the announcer) was in the negative camp, so she pressed these callers to explain WHY Gemma deserves this young achievement award...

And the results?

"... because she has to stand up straight all day" .. - You've got to be kidding right?!

"... because walking down the catwalk is hard work" - granted, walking up and down might be exhausting on the stiletto clad feet, but there are plenty of other people that walk or stand on their feet all day... builders, athletes etc...

".. because they need to go to castings and be selected" ... Right... I have been to castings before (not for me), and the girls simply turn up, do a few walks or take a few photos, and the designer basically decides whether or not you are what they want.. yup, hard work at its peak there..

"... because you always have to look good.." - I think models are already blessed with their good looks. I don't think they have to work too hard at all.. most of them are disproportionately lanky anyways, and I dont think their figure is actually the result of hard work and exercise. Heck, normal ppl have to go to the gym too...

And *no* i'm not jealous :)

Woot Woot

2006-09-23T17:26:00.000+08:00

Hoooorayyyyyyyyyyyy the eagles won.. Sydney here we come (for revenge!!)

Edited because im dyslexic

An Exchange with my dad

2006-09-17T18:18:00.000+08:00

This afternoon I was lounging on the big soccer ball beanbag in the living room when this exchange occurred:

Dad - "What are you watching?"
Me - "Initial D - it's about car racing"
Dad - "Is that Fast and the Furious?"
Me - "umm.. no, it's Initial D.. its based on a japanese anime"
Dad - "Is it based on Fast and the Furious?"
Me- "No. It's Initial D.. nothing to do with Fast and the Furious"
Dad - "I think it looks like Fast and the Furious"
Me - "umm okay"
Dad - "Do we have Fast and the Furious?"
Me - "Only the earlier versions, not the Japanese one"
Dad -" I think we need Fast and the Furious"..
Me - "okay"
Dad - "Make sure you get Fast and the Furious"
Me - "umm yeah"

Hmmm .. someone doesn't listen ;) But at least I got his hint :)

Btw, if you haven't watched it - don't bother. Up there on my terrible movies list. And whoever thought Jay Chou could act.. :S

My scraped off face

2006-09-16T07:11:00.001+08:00

Last night , I decided to do something drastic about the pimply scarred horrid face that has been reflected in my mirror for the last 3 months or so. Granted, I never did have perfect skin but ever since I tried trialling a new face product, my face has become overly congested and just plain disgusting.

So anyways, I went to get a dermabrasian which essentially requires a small rotating sandpaper type thing and the girl slowly scraped off layers of my face (or shall we say, SANDPAPERED it off) - as explained in this picture:

It was a horrible experience, and even she sayed that it was only the mildest setting (she actually recommended a much higher setting that was designed to scrape of 2.5mm of my skin - ZOMG!? but I decided to be a baby first). But anyways, the process apparently sandpapered off 3 layers of my skin, leaving it raw, red, exposed and bleeding.

This morning I woke up expecting my skin to have settled down, but it's still red and raw... and bleeding.. I think the bleeding part is the worst - it's not big sections , just small ones.. but because there's lots of little sections, I'm walking around like a walking axe murderer victim :S

Anyways, she said that after 2 days, my skin may darken a little and then over the three days after, would peel ... all in the hope of better skin afterwards.

So I thought i'd share my scraping experience and let u know how it goes later.. :S

In the meantime, if u see me (and yes, I will be at Toan's farewell tonight, and Xin's return tomorrow night, and prolly meeting up with Mish this week) please don't run away or look frightened like me sister did :) I'll try and wear a balaclava in the meantime.

Turning teeth into earrings

2006-09-11T21:33:00.000+08:00

I was surfing around on craftster.org when I came across this idea for turning pulled out wisdom teeth into a pair of earrings .

[Someone's wisdom teeth - would u turn THESE into a pair of earrings? eww]

Now I don't know if i'm just being a bit too *straight* here, but does anyone else think that it's just plain disgusting?!

A little bit of sillyness

2006-09-09T19:15:00.000+08:00

A bored saturday afternoon resulted in a new layout - probably because Alan changed his :) Anyways, I realize it's super bright and silly.. but well, i think it sorta reflects my personality! I designed it to show the sillyness and kookiness of me, and my love for all things colourful :) The left *thing* is a felted jelly donut which i chose because it was funny and cute, then there's the rainbow just to brighten up even the worst of days, and the cloud, because umm.. i felt like drawing a cloud ? hehe

Anyways, back to the eagles game!

[Edit: Ohhhh how depressing was that one point loss!!!]

More tales from the outback

2006-09-08T18:06:00.000+08:00

Just got back from my trip to Kalgoorlie/Leonora/Gwalia :)

In Leonora, I met with some of the mine managers up in the north eastern goldfield regions (think Murrin, Leinster etc) where we had our meeting at Hoover House - an amazingly historical building, built by the ex American president, Herbert Hoover when he was a mine manager.

Hoover House stands on the edge of the old Gwalia minesite (now St Barbara's Mines). The site is amazing - his house was built literally on the edge of the site, so that as a mining manager, he could walk straight to work. It's a fascinating sight to behold - he's got the house, the white picket fence, and then the site right next door. One can only imagine the amount of noise, dust, etc that Hoover had to contend with! I tried to capture the sight with a photo, but nonetheless, pictures have failed to tell the story here :

And yes, being an asian tourist type , I took pictures of myself in every single room of the house "this is kae in hoover' bedroom, this is kae in hoover's kitchen, this is kae in hoover's dining room etc" .. even Mathew looked at me a little weird and even told my supervisor "kae took a LOT of photos" hehe :)

After that, we had a look at the Gwalia, which is a ghost town nowadays given that the old miners have moved on . They have the old miner's camps out there, and it looks as if during dinner they all just got up and left. There are remnants of their old cultlery, broken down cars and bikes, and everything else that is part of the history there.

Then it was a two hour drive back to Kalgoorlie with the minister , and then back on the plane to Perth.

Leaving on a jet plane...

2006-09-03T19:55:00.000+08:00

I know it's really corny and boring when people just put song lyrics on their blog, but I really felt that this one in particular is summing up my private life at the moment.. :

All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go
I'm standin' here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn
The taxi's waitin'he's blowin' his horn

Already I'm so lonesome I could die
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane ....

And there goes the life of a couple who flies in and out of each other's daily lives...

What my boyfriend loves most

2006-08-31T18:02:00.000+08:00

Yesterday on Em Wippa and Ollie's breakfast show, the topic of "what does your partner love more than you" came up. It was hilarious listening to what the listeners had to say - some love their cars (obviously), some love their backyards, some love their sports..

The common theme was that for years, their significant others have long chosen to adore something other than their boyfriend or girlfriend at a level that has induced either tension, heartache, suffrance or just plain humour.

Well, I (and no doubt plenty of other girls out there) have had to endure having their partner love something equally or even more than me (actually, sometimes it's just more laughable than anything else).

The object of my boyfriend's affections? World of Warcraft.

Yup, that oh so simple game that reduces grown men to forget to sleep, forget to eat, and really, forget to exist and live in the *REAL* world. Nope, for these boys (and inevitably, some girls), their everyday lives consist of instances (these can last anywhere from 15 minutes to hours), raids (when this occurs, dont expect to talk or see them for the whole day), grinding honour (whatever that means), and botting (that is, when you're doing something else but you still want to gain experience or honour or whatever it's called, so u have to sit and move your character every 2 minutes - tedious and disturbingly obsessive really)...

There was a time when WoW (as it is affectionately known) took up most of his time. There was a time when I would wonder to myself "will he choose wow, or will he decide to come see me".. and there was even a time when I joined up the now infamous "World of Warcraft Widows" club. The club was supposed to be a forum or outlet for people whose significant others have neglected them for gaming. However, after a day of being part of the widows club, I quick unsubscribed as I came to realize they had:

1) serious issues ie. divorces, forgetting to pick children up from school, telling people who needed to go to hospital that they would have to wait until the instance was finished. Nope, these were serious crazy issues which were very unlike the little funny ones I was dealing with. And;

2) way too much time on their hands. I think rather than being WoW addicts, these widows became ... widow addicts. In the one day that I was subscribed, I received something liek 100 new messages... ARGHHH... time to get out...

Luckily for me, my boyfriend is no longer *that* addicted to the game. He does still play quite a bit, and when I'm at his place, I am sometimes asked to do the "botting" for him, but at least I no longer have to wait patiently for Tuesday nights when the server was down - which was historically, the one day of the week that you could guarantee yourself some love and affection.

Derby weekend

2006-08-28T20:08:00.000+08:00

Yup Yup we all know how derby weekend went... a day at trev's place for a derby bbq turned into a day by the quarters:

1st quarter : everyone gathered around and watched the game in excitement, eating hello pandas, even naomi and jess were in the room watching (or half watching)

2st quarter: sheer frustration, a little disappointment. The boys started to gather around the table tennis and foosball tables instead... they intermittently came in and out, screamed at the teevee and went back to being distracted. Naomi started to read the newspaper around now, and jess half disappeared.

3rd quarter: all hope was lost. We went home.

Working and shopping

2006-08-24T19:05:00.000+08:00

There's something strange happening in the world of work and shopping. I'm not sure if it's just me, but i find that now that I am working, I spend half as much time shopping and thinking about shopping as I did when I was in uni.

Back then, I could easily have spent enormous amounts a pop and be extremely gleeful about how fabulous my purchases are (even though inside, I know I might never wear it). I would go shopping about 3-4 times a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday were mine and Jess' designated shopping days), and in between that time, I could've easily ordered a million things from online stores, browse at new catalogues and dream about what my next purchase would be.

When I first started working, I would treat myself to either a designer bag, electronics, furniture etc with my paypacket. Nowadays however, I don't. I dont know if it's because

... the amount of time that I actually have for shopping includes 1 hour during lunch, half an hour after work, a few hours on late night shopping and well, dont even think about the weekend cause im too lazy to devote shopping time to that especially after a week busting my ass at work

... or perhaps it might be the fact that I actually know how much I have to work to earn that money and therefore know the work/clothing value

... or perhaps it might be that I don't have any time to really wear any of the clothes i love? No longer can I make an excuse to have more two hands work of jeans, sneakers, ballet flats etc... nope! Now it it all formal wear, blouses, pencil skirts, smart looking pointies.. sigh.

A year ago, I would've been devastated at my lack of shopping and lack of new clothes/shoes procurement.. But now, I think i'm at a stage where I just buy things maybe once a week (maybe a few things at once), but really think about what i'm buying rather than "don't worry, i'll sell it on ebay!".. hehe

Dress woe

2006-08-18T22:38:00.000+08:00

Today, Mei-Yan and I were in total and utter dress heaven. Whilst she drooled over her beautiful stella 50s wrap, i drooled over the gorgeous things that is nicola finetti, country road and stephanie conley..

The very very beautiful nicola finetti dress

Mei Yan decided that the red and white nature of her dress would make it a perfect dress to wear for Christmas lunch and Chinese New Year.

Meanwhile, i was faced with a challenge that many girls face. The horror of buying gorgeous items, only to have them hang in wardrobes for years, collect dust, and later sold on ebay with the caption "brand new with tags, never worn"..

So i ummed and hmmmed for what seemed like eternity, then cara asked if perhaps i had any weddings to attend. And *voila* the impending sum+wong wedding has given me the perfect opportunity for pretty clothes buying. It doesnt matter that i will only need one dress... i will use the wedding as the perfect excuse to buy a million and one dresses.. *just in case*.

Oh miss tingy, how i love thee for giving me the perfect excuse to shop ;)

make it stop

2006-08-15T16:17:00.000+08:00

so... i just spent four days in kalgoorlie (plus last week) being sick :S Nice way to take a break isnt it.

I hope my intestines are okay :S

Hypochondriac

2006-08-10T18:27:00.000+08:00

[div align=justify] For the last few days (since Monday 3.30am to be precise), I have been suffering from a really bad stomach bug which has resulted in me failing to keep the majority of my food in and my energy levels down.

Given my many previous experiences with food poisoning, I know that this certain bout cannot be just that... So, being the researcher that I am at heart (market research, psychology, health and safety), I decided to do some googling of my symptoms... *bad idea*.

I went from diagnosing myself with gastroenteritis, or more commonly known as the stomach flu or stomach virus which in itself is a rather tame little condition, to having complications due to meningitis, and then to an intestine infection, to having a tumour, and then to having rare infectious blood borne diseases from Africa!

Each time my condition got worse, I panicked a little more, until i actually convinced myself i was dying :S Luckily for me, my workmate was there to put some perspective, otherwise I'm sure i would've induced a panic attack and died anyways...

Moral : Leave the diagnosis to your doctor

Discovery Week

2006-08-06T11:56:00.000+08:00

In the last week, I have discovered a few thinks

* Being a girl is very expensive:

Between clothes shoes haircuts , facials, beauty products, sanitary products and all that jazz, being a girl costs a lot of money!

* Some grannies are just horrible:

You know how we all think little grannies are sweet, baking, knitting types? Well, I have discovered that many grannies are indeed not of that stereotypical view. In fact, in the last week, I have discovered that many grannies are pushy and rude, and often will snap back at you when you get up and offer them a chair..

"I can do it myself - I dont need your chair" snaps a granny

"Im not old" snaps another granny

"Get out of my way" snaps the third..

* Weekend buses stink:

My brother recently went on a camp from thursday-sunday and took my car with him. On this particular weekend, I needed to head up to Osborne Park, so I decided to catch the bus. Amongst my 5 buses there and back, I discovered that people on weekend buses stink of alcohol (possibly remnant odours from the night before), body odour (same excuse, and probably hadnt taken a shower since friday or saturday night clubbing) and salt (I had to catch the beach line, so many smelt very salty)...

* Friends make life all the better:

The other night, I headed out to metros with "oldskool" crew, and discovered that despite not liking hip hop music, despite not enjoying being in a 100% asian crowd, and despite being old and tired, friends make the night all the better.

For the first time in ages for many of us, we stayed out till 4am at karaoke and clubbing. At any other given time, I probably would've whinged and whined by 1am that i should go home, but that particular night amongst the oldskool crew, I could've stayed out all night and even become the subject of someone elses' post on weekend smelly people :)

My taxi affairs

2006-08-02T19:42:00.000+08:00

Last night I went to have dinner at Joe's Oriental Diner at the Hyatt Regency Hotel - it was a little dinner that my workplace decided to throw. At the end of the night, I caught a taxi from the front of Hyatt who proceeded to turn on his meter, and head towards my home.

At about wellington street (and most people in Perth will know wellington street is VERY close to Hyatt), my taxi driver received a phone call from someone who wanted him to pick him up at James St in northbridge. Unfortunately, I was already his passenger, so in a sneaky way, my driver started to mutter about the dilemma he was in and how it would be really inconvenient to come all the way back to northbridge to pick up his next ride.

A little shocked, I sort of mumbled back at him that he was obligated on accepting my request to drive me to my destination. Again, he started muttering about how inconvenient it was. So, being polite, I asked him to drop me off at the taxi rank (and not request payment) that was at the Wellington St Train Station.

The stupid guy had the nerve to say that it was inconvenient for him to drop me off at the taxi rank because he had to do a U-Turn and asked if he could drop me off in northbridge. Being 9.30pm at night, and a sole girl wandering the streets, I said no - I would really appreciate that at the very least, he could drop me off at the taxi rank so I could just hop into another Taxi.

The stupid guy again muttered how inconvenient it was, and then dropped me off in JAMES STREET NORTHBRIDGE at 9.30pm at night ... and left me to walk from there through both the bus station and train station. Perthians will know that northbridge and the train station is feral at night, with druggies and all kind of bad inhabitants, and there I was stomping through it all to find my taxi.

I have never had that happen to me, and the next taxi driver even expressed his shock and disgust as it gives all taxi drivers a bad name. So next time people, make sure you get your taxi number for complaints just in case!

END RANT

Lack of traditions

2006-07-29T06:35:00.000+08:00

I have been up since 5am this morning with huge stomach cramps :( I'm all tired and sleepy but cannot go to sleep.. This morning I have an appointment for a massage, and I'm utterly worried that I will actually fall asleep :S *Eeep*

Anyways, last night I went to Coco's for coffee with a good friend of mine who is rather Malaysian, and loves to tell stories about asian ghosts, traditions and ceremonies.

And then it occurred to me that my family does very little in the way of Chinese traditions. Having lived and grown up in Australia, I sometimes miss the traditions that I get to experience when I go visit family in Malaysia. I miss the two weeks of chinese new year celebrations, the huge family dinners that it affords, rolling glutinous rice balls in anticipation of the winter festivals, playing with lanterns and firecrackers, and getting ready for the autumn and moon festivals.

Whilst I'm rather anti-asian in some respects, I think that they're fabulous when it comes to enjoying and preserving traditions. There's always a big hoo-ha when I'm at my Aunty's place, and family really get into the spirit of things there.

Pics from a previous entry showing liondancers.. Trev - know where this photo was taken? =D

Here in Australia, these traditions rarely warrant more than a passing comment, little mooncakes (without really knowing the significance of the day), getting ang-pau but not understanding why, and definitely no rolling of glutinous rice balls in my home :(

Even more so, I feel as if we don't really have any traditions here in Australia. Sure, on 26th of Jan each year, my friends and I make our annual mecca to the foreshore for a day of good ol' aussie beer, face paint and fireworks, but that's really it isnt it, and on the 25th there's the annual Anzac day parades. But beyond that, what does LAbour Day, Foundation Day and Queen's Birthday mean to me? To be honest, it's just an excuse for a public holiday and a long weekend (but hey, id still love more!), but where are the special days that make Australia - well, Australia?

Teeth dreams

2006-07-26T19:27:00.000+08:00

I know - i broke my promise to blog on the weekend... but I hope it's no biggie ;)

Anyways, today I got a call from my concerned boyfriend whose housemate has the same problem as me - grinding teeth in my sleep as if i'm strangling someone. His friend Brett's girlfriend is also a dentist, and warned Brett that if he continued to grind his teeth and did nothing about it, his teeth would wear out, he would required dentures and implants, and it would never be the same again.

Normally, if my boyfriend warned me of a similar situation ie. if i dont stop wearing heels, my feet will get sorer as time wears on (umm.. sorry, can't do that.. heels are a must for shorties), i would normally have waved it off.

However, this particular issue hits pretty hard with me.. you see.... teeth are the subject of my recurring nightmare..

I know I know, most people have really scary recurring nightmares of monsters and stalkers and stuff like that.. but my recurring nightmare is my teeth.

It is a very short nightmare, but always identical in content but over time, seems to have grown more sinister in nature. In my dream, i just run my tongue over my teeth and each one falls out individually onto my hands. As I stare in shock that I've lost all my teeth, I try to put each one of them back into the gum sockets, but as I try to eat things, they all fall out again... and this cycle occurs over and over again in my dream.... And over time, I have actually noticed that in my dream I tell myself "wake up kae, it's only a dream", but I never wake up. It's my subconscious living in my subconscious..

But anyways, when i dream, i usually grind my teeth at the same time (or so i think)...

This dream was the catalyst for me to go out and get private health insurance.. and it's also the dream that will catalyze me into going to the dentist and asking for a plate to sleep at night with.. :(

You're probably thinking im strange... but do u have weird recurring dreams too ?

...hangs head in shame...

2006-07-18T19:44:00.000+08:00

I realize i haven't blogged for ages, nor have i caught up on everyone's blogs. Promise i will this weekend.. :)

Post match 1

2006-07-12T21:38:00.000+08:00

We came, we played, and we lost :(

Our netball team - the 5 Footers - played our first game tonight and whilst we had lots of fun, we lost... Unfortunately, many of us haven't played netball before, or haven't touched it since highschool, so it was a game filled with stepping, contact, obstructions and replay. There was definitely some talent though - with Pete being the kickass player, Roy an excellent defender, Hong a very zippy little centre, and the girls - well, we were just filling the spots.. hehe

Simon watched from the sidelines and commented that we were a "very good team.. just makes a lot of silly errors", and I suppose that could be said given it was the first time that we all met, the first time half the guys got told the rules, and the first game.

Unfortunately for me, I ran smack bang into Hong's head eheh which afforded me a nice little bruised swollen left side of my cheek/mouth, but luckily for me, I won't be in the office for the rest of the week so no one will see my funny face :D

Definitely looking forward to playing the next game though - should be lots of fun :)

la la la

2006-07-10T19:31:00.000+08:00

Sorry - have been very busy so a quick post for the last (almost) week...

- My supervisor has left for a month long holiday, so I have now assumed the roles of two people and have had all her phone calls forwarded to me, and have access to her mailbox. This has resulted in an extremely busy Kae, juggling the work of two people, organising all my "to-dos" and assuming the position of someone who is an expert on the subject matter and pretending to know what I'm talking about.

- Went to the Brisbane on Saturday night to watch a comedy fest, but unfortunately, due to "i'm-sure-we'll-get-in-so-don't-need-to-buy-tickets" bright ideas, was left cold and dirty on the streets. No, i exaggerate. It was true that we weren't able to get in to see the comedy fest, but we made do and drank a bit at the Brisbane before making our merry ways for the night...

- About to start netball on wednesday - have no yet met half the team, but that sort of makes it all the more interesting ;)

- Have been polishing up on my sewing skills and made two skirts for work. Rather proud and joyful :)

- Have eaten way too much - sushi, icecream, cakes, muffins... ooh the fatness...

Adios :D

Wheelie bin mayhem

2006-07-06T19:01:00.000+08:00

Today on the way home from work, I noticed two teenagers doing the whole "wheelie bin" riding.

It looked like fun, until i remembered that bins are full of grotty leftovers, dodgy mouldy food, and all kinds of disgusting infested maggots stuff...

And i came to think that perhaps these boys:

1. had no sense of hygiene

2. had an incredibly laid back personality

3. was just into having fun

or 4. plain stupid...

(i think i'd like to go with 1 and 4)

Has anyone out there done these wheelie bin rides? do you use old dirty bins for it?

And just to prove my point (stolen from a UK government website):

Goodbyes and farewells

2006-07-04T07:17:00.000+08:00

Whilst I had noticed a mass exodus of friends and uni pals moving east, I particularly noticed it last night at Trevor's birthday dinner. In a group of about 12, almost 30% of them were leaving and joining the exodus out of Perth.

In front of me was Gavin leaving for Melbourne in two weeks. On his right was Trevor (the birthday boy - Happy Birthday - again), who is off to Sydney next year. On my left was Quan who lives out in Kalgoorlie. On my right diagonal was Richard, who works a FIFO roster out in West Angeles. And down next to Trevor was Philbert, who is off to China next year.

Gone are the days where people grow up and stay in one city :( Instead, everyone grows up and people move away. Sure, there's the bright side of seeing a new place, having freebie accommodation when visiting, and of being more "worldly", but at the very core, is the fact that these are the people that have shared a part of your life, and may never ever come back and see it through - and i think that's the saddest part of it all :(

*wipes tear* hehe

Soccer gasps

2006-07-02T12:43:00.000+08:00

*gasp*

France beat Brazil !!!

*gasp*

My team (Portugal) will be playing France in the semi final... oOooOH-errrrrr

That is all :)

More bruises from the clumsy klutz

2006-06-29T07:32:00.000+08:00

The other night, Olivia and I decided to go for a jog around her place. Unfortunately, she lives on the main road, so, just as we were about to finish up on our jog, clumsy me decided to trip over my own feet and went flying across the pavement on the mainroad. Millions of cars streamed pass, and i could feel them just laughing inside at the little asian girl who couldnt stand up straight.

Tasty isn't it ?

Measurements of age.

2006-06-27T07:32:00.000+08:00

Recently, I have become startingly aware of how old I really am...

4 years ago when the Fifa World Cup was on, I was a uni student and very capable of staying up late and watching games.

Nowadays, I'm a little old 50 year old at heart, who goes to bed before 10pm (notice how i said "before" rather than give you an actual time.. the latter is too embarassing hehe), and who has not yet managed to stay up for a weekday World Cup game.

Oh, woe is me.

Last night, Taryn, Jess and I went out for coffee at 8.30pm. I had to leave at 9.30pm to get up this morning to go out on-site. I had a one hour catchup with friends that had been stolen away by exams.

Oh, how sad.

Yesterday I sent my boyfriend off to spotlight because I had to work and wasn't able to make the spotlight 20% off one day sale. I sent him to buy some knitting wool because I hadn't bought enough to make my VogueKnitting project.

On discovering my little hobby, his brother offered to buy me a rocking chair. Even he told me that the only people at spotlight were little old ladies.

Sigh.

Funny the things that show how old you are. Physically and chronologically, I'm still very young in the midst of things. But within me, I'm just a little old granny trying to break out...

Sydney & The Blue Mountains

2006-06-25T07:25:00.000+08:00

Back already :) Unfortunately I am still on Sydney/NSW time so am waking up awfully early and falling asleep at crazy 7.30pm times! hehe.. but anyways, a quick photo-blog will make up for lack of blogging i think..

Between my crazy travel plans (12 hour journeys etc!!), I managed to sneak in a little bit of sydney time throughout my trip to the Blue Mountains. Overall, I found Sydney rather messy, dirty, chaotic and overall just ugly. Besides the harbour/coastal areas, Sydney to me was a rather poorly planned city, with modern high-rise apartment blocks built in the middle of old suburbs littered with dirty streets, and graffiti-d walls. The only thing that I enjoyed about Sydney was the variety of shops... Unfortunately I didnt' buy anything because I was too tired from lugging around my luggage and couldnt be bothered trying anything else.

The Blue Mountains however, were a story to write home about. I stayed at the Peppers Fairmont Resort in Leura which is apparently home to the world's most beautiful golf course, and whilst I didnt play golf, the resort was stunning. Mornings and afternoon walks were greeted by beautifully fresh crisp air, fantastic townspeople, and stunning views...

Above: My hotel - Peppers Fairmont Resort, Leura...
I could get used to hotel life - buffet breakfasts, buffet lunch, dinners, room service, no cleaning... mmm

Echo Point Lookout over the Blue Mountains .. in particular, the Three Sisters rock formation

Useless freebies from the real reason I was there -
Caps, keyrings, thermos, post-it notes, pens, drink bottles, satchels, golf balls, stress balls, sports towel... all with their company's logos on them.. anyone want them?!!?!?

Katoomba Falls

And in other news, my trusty little hairdryer caught on fire... the insides completely fused out and little flames came out of the end. Because I haven't had time to buy a new hairdryer, I have been drying my hair by sitting in front of the heater for 20 minutes.. Funny how much we come to rely on things like that... :S

Apologies!

2006-06-16T18:17:00.000+08:00

Sorry for the lack of updating (and for the impending lack of updating)...

I have been sick, and I'm off to the Blue Mountains in NSW... Adios! I'll be back on Thursday 22nd :D

The power that they have..

2006-06-10T08:39:00.000+08:00

The other day, I went to Armada Bar & Grill for lunch and ordered a rare steak. When it came out, the steak was cooked medium (not too much a problem, just have to eat it), but it was cold. A bit puzzled but not wanting to kick up a fuss, I rationalized that perhaps the medium was cooked very quickly on the outside and the insides left cold (... knowing however , that hog's breath never gave me cold steak)...

Andrew ordered a Steak & Sea combo, with his steak well done. When it came out, the steak was cooked medium (the second time that they failed to cool it to his liking), and cold. Again, he continued to eat it without kicking up a fuss.

Rosey ordered the snapper, and it too came out cold...

However, despite all this, the three of us just sat there and ate our meals somewhat begrudgingly, and when the staff came round to ask "how's your meals", we all just smiled and nodded.

We didn't want to kick up a fuss for fear that when our meals were brought back, an angry waiter/cook's saliva would be constituent to it.

Looking back, there have been countless times when I have failed to let someone know that their job was sub-standard just because I was worried that they would spit into my food..

I wonder if anyone else has the same problem ...