*grin*

My parents are here! *GRIN* That means great company and plenty of good food! Oh!! And John is coming next week! Very excited. I'm impatiently counting the days! 

On a random note, I just realised how utterly smitten I am. Today someone mentioned NZ and I immediately associated it with John. Consequently spent the next few minutes trying to conceal my dopey grin.

Hahhaha.. gone case. :D

Division of duties

I cook dinner Monday to Thursday, do the laundry (the washing, drying and folding), mop the floor, deal with the garbage and do very once in a blue moon gardening.

My brother washes the dishes, vacuums, cleans the bathrooms and deals with anything car-related. 

Lately I've been feeling frazzled about the housework. It probably has to do with moving from an apartment into a house. More space, more to clean. 

Ugh. May I never be a housewife. 

On another note, my maid back in Malaysia is a domestic goddess.

No, wait. Scratch that.

She is THE domestic goddess. She is an amazing cook and an even better gardener. She can plant anything! Okra, chilli, tomatoes, ginger, banana trees, dragon fruit, lime, pandan, cucumber, bittergourd... if you name it, she can probably plant it. Oh, and she finds time to vacuum, mop, wash the clothes, manja the pets, wash the cars and everything else in between. She's the best and she is such a blessing to my family. 

Oink

The other day, I spoke to one of my oldest, dearest friends. Its always a treat to speak to her since we don't talk half as often as we should since I'm in Melbourne and she's in Perth. Anyway, here's how the conversation went. 

A: Anything planned for your birthday?

Me: Well, my mom and dad will be visiting this week and John will be arriving the week after. 

A: You piiiiig! You lucky pig! You must be as happy as a pig in mud! Have you any idea when I last saw my mom?! 

I know that I am very lucky to have my parents, brother and boyfriend celebrate my birthday with me.

Lucky. Blessed. Fortunate. Whichever you wish to call it. :)

So to my Addy, OINK! be my reply.

*grin*

:)

Daffodil Day 2008

Daffodil Day is this Friday!

I'm volunteering again this year. :) It is such a rewarding feeling to be involved in the fight against cancer. 

May we be a step closer to finding a cure. 

Suburban Humour

Classic quotes from the body corporate meeting

Neighbour 1: "Let's put it this way. If our road was suddenly made of gold and we were able to cart it home, she'd complain that its too heavy"

Neighbour 1: "She's crazy! ... But she's nice"

said of Neighbour 1's tenant who is currently living next door. She rings him every week to complain. 

Chairperson: "I thought you (residents) were supposed to top up the pool with buckets"

Neighbour 2: "It does get topped up ... Its called rain"

said of the communal pool

Library

I joined my local library!

My boyfriend comes up with the best ideas. :)

Now all I have to do is pick up my library card, which I might do tomorrow morning when I go for a walk. Then again, I just signed up five minutes ago via the internet so it might not be ready yet... but I'll try my luck anyway. 

Oh, and I've already placed a reservation for the God Actually!! *beams* Also discovered that The Last Lecture is available too!

I reckon this library and I are going to have a very happy relationship. 

Non-Fiction

I never thought I'd be saying this... but I think I've overdosed on fiction.

Right now what I want is a few solid, thought-provoking non-fiction reads.

I've been eyeing God Actually, The Last Lecture, Anti Cancer: A New Way Of Life and a book about the impact of GM food though the book's title currently eludes me. 

God Actually is the most tempting of the lot at the moment. I reckon I'll wait a month or two before getting it though.

 

Practice

My eyesight has deteriorated somewhat. Its become a bit more pronounced now that I realise that I can't see the pastor's face during sermon. 

After a few months of procrastination, I've decided to start using the contact lenses I bought. 

Its my third time putting them on. Okay.. second, if I don't count the day the optometrist taught me how to use contacts.

It took me about 3 and a half hours for me to get them in today. Also had a minor mishap where I thought I dropped one down the sink. Opened another packet only to realise the original one I dropped had fallen and was resting on the tap. Now I have two contacts for my left eye. -__- *le sigh*

I'm not sure how I'm going to put my contacts on in time for work. Maybe I'll stick to glasses in the mean time and practice with contacts over the weekend. 

Right.

Now the next major question. How long will I take to get them out?

Update: Answer to question above. 30 minutes. *beam* 

Strangers

I like Melbourne. There are so many friendly, colourful characters. You can strike up a conversation with anyone. 

• The intercom repairman. He holds another job in a supermarket and works seven days a week to support his wife and two young daughters. I quite liked him. He was earnest. He also gave me some insight into why some people enjoy getting drunk. He said that it gives him the opportunity to be someone else for a night. I thought that it was an interesting observation.

• Anna, the administrator from the counselling company across from my office. I shared my umbrella with her one evening as we were making a run for the train station after work in the pouring rain. It turned out that we were catching the same train. She's been to China more times than I have. I've only seen her once since that day. I think she's the one that has been kind enough to leave our newspapers outside our office door before we arrive at work. 

• Whenever I go to work in the morning, I talk to the same man on the train. We happen to take the same train at the same time every day and we always make that mad dash to our connecting train together. I don't even know his name. We just talk. He is from Sri Lanka and he works as the CFO for a nearby educational institution. He had his car repaired over the weekend. Something about his car consuming more petrol than it should. He has a dragon for a boss.

• I spoke to a lady while volunteering for Daffodil Day last year. She had bought some daffodils from the stall I was manning and as she was leaving, I wished her a good day. She looked me in the eye, smiled and told me that she was a cancer survivor and that every day she lives cancer-free is a good day. What she said really affected me because its true. It was a poignant reminder of life's fragility and how we so often take health for granted.

Wicked (Part 2)

I watched a documentary about the Australian making of Wicked and the lead actress Amanda Harrison (who plays Elphaba) said that the singers were required to practice singing while running on a treadmill to build stamina for the performance. How awesome! 

Oooh! Guess what I bought today? Now that my pay has come in.*beams*

I had been thinking of buying the CD ever since watching the musical... so I was very excited when I chanced upon it today in JB Hi-Fi. Bought it for $19. Later on, I saw that it was selling in Borders and Readings for $29.90 so I was even more gleeful. 

I love the song Defying Gravity best. Highly recommend it.

*sigh* Happy endings are ever so addictive. :)