Stretch

Call it determination, stubbornness or insanity.

I carried a 5kg box of cherries and a 5kg leg of ham about a kilometer in the pouring rain today and then went on to jostle with rush hour commuters on public transport.

Probably need a trip to the chiropractor but it will definitely be worth it when I get everything safely home for my family. :)

Been so excited that I have been functioning mainly on adrenaline since Sunday. I even checked in online so I won't have to queue too long at the airport.

I love going home. :)

Am currently packing and listening to Michael Buble's Crazy Love album. Thanks Li Zie! :D

Sap

A romantic sap, that's what I am.

I really like Michael Buble's new song Haven't Met You Yet. :) It is just so happy and optimistic that it is impossible not to like it. Oh, and the hot girl in the video clip is Buble's girlfriend. :D So cute.

O.o

I just worked out that by February next year I will be aunt to fourteen nephews and nieces.

At the moment the oldest is about twelve and the youngest is two days old.

*heartmelt*

She doesn't know it yet but that soft spot I have for her grows every time she gives me that smile. She turns one next week. :) So fast. In March she was still such a tiny thing.

Archeology

I am a hoarder. My defence is that it runs in the family. :) I hoard everything from bank statements to bills, to grocery lists and takeaway menus. Sifting through the clutter is absolute archeology.

I just found my little black and white polka dot umbrella buried under some recipe clippings.

It is probably about time to start throwing things out and start filing properly. My any-available-surface filing system horrifies my very organised dad.


Update:

Its been a productive day. :) Bought the groceries, returned a library book, did the laundry, froze an ice cream tub of mangoes, fixed the doorbell, conducted a pre-emptive strike on the ants, tossed out some junk and did a year and a half's worth of filing.

Maybe I'll buy myself a Grill'd burger for dinner as a treat. :)

Happy

I've been feeling happier of late. I think it comes from the joy of being able to surprise the people that I love and care about with something nice.. like a tiramisu cake or mangoes. :) It feels like I am doing something right.. that I have been blessed and that it is only right to pass it on.

I also met an old friend for dinner tonight. We haven't met in almost a year so it was great to catch up. He is the only person I know whose enthusiasm for atoms and quarks is truly contagious. :) When he explains the science of it, he breathes life into the topic and makes it interesting even for someone like me who isn't into nitty gritty details.

We went to kay poh the Australian Geographic shop. It has the coolest stuff ever! There are ant houses, constellation globes that project onto walls, telescopes that are programmed to point toward planets and stars you want to see, metal detectors, plasma lightning balls and dinosaur skeleton excavation sets. The dinosaur skeleton sets are very cool. You chip away at red dirt plaster to reveal the bones. You can then assemble your very own dinosaur skeleton! Ooh! And I bought a friend's birthday present there. Since he does not read my blog, I can tell you that I got him a Galileo thermometer. It is incredibly cool. :)



As the perfect end to my evening, I saw a shooting star while walking home. The bright orange streak lasted for about a second but it still fills me with wonder when I think of it. I've seen shooting stars before but this was the biggest, brightest one I've seen yet.

We live in an amazing world.

Sugar

Last week I came across an absolutely fascinating book entitled Sweet Poison by David Gillespie. It made such an impression on me that I am curtailing my sugar intake indefinitely, which says a lot as I have been known to eat ice cream for breakfast and copious amounts of chocolate.

What struck me most was the fact that high blood-glucose levels have been positively linked to cancer growth.

Both sides of my family have a history of cancer and diabetes. I always believed that we had bad genes but reading this book made me think that perhaps bad genes may not necessarily be the issue. Perhaps over-consumption of sugar could be to blame.

I know that it sounds crazy to be giving up sugar but somehow it seems to be the logical thing to do.

Hm. I don't think I will be able to stay away from sugar when I go back to KL though. I am still looking forward to trying out that cendol place John used to go to when he was in high school.

On a completely unrelated topic, last night when I was walking through Chinatown I saw the funniest thing. There was a busker playing Theresa Teng's Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin on his keyboard and there were two young guys in business suits spontaneously dancing the waltz. They were definitely passersby as they still had their satchels slung across their shoulders.

:) I love Melbourne. The most random things happen here.

Oh-kay

I can't find the frozen marinara mix.

So if my bro did not cook it while I was away, then there is the distinct possibility that it could be in all the way in NZ in John's freezer.

:p

I suppose I'll find out for sure when my bro gets home.


Update:

Spoke to mom and she mentioned that she cooked the marinara. Quite glad that I didn't bring marinara to NZ. Though I think John and his family would have gotten quite a laugh out of it. :)

Shoe box (con't)

I hope it brings joy to the girl that receives it.



On an unrelated note, my friends and I spotted this sign at a shop that was under renovation.

Shoe box

Shoe boxes are not particularly exciting things. But when you can fill one with goodies and send it to an underprivileged child for Christmas, a shoe box becomes pretty exciting stuff.

I got my shoe box yesterday. :)

We choose the child's age bracket and whether the box goes to a boy or girl. Also, every box has to have at least one item that falls into the following categories:

- something to love (ie. teddy bear)

- something special (ie. necklace)

- something for school (ie. colour pencils)

- something to play with (ie. ball)

- something to wear (ie. t-shirt)

and

- something for personal hygiene (ie. comb)


The project is called Operation Christmas Child and it is run by non-profit organisation, Samaritan's Purse.

What I like most about the project is that although Samaritan's Purse is a Christian organisation, the boxes are given to children of all religions and ethnicity. The other thing I like about it is that there is no religious material in the boxes so there are no strings attached.

I will be filling my box up with nice, pretty things for a 10 to 14 year old girl. :)

Pauses

On Wednesday I received a call on my mobile while I was at work. I answered, happily thinking that it was my TikusfromPerth who arrived that morning.


It turned out to be my ex, who I have not spoken to in years.


The conversation started off with small talk about work and from that point plummeted into one of those dismally awkward conversations filled with pauses.

He kept asking whether there was anything new happening in my life. I got the distinct feeling that he wanted to know if I was seeing anyone so I responded with vague, evasive replies. He then went on to mention that he noticed I was no longer on Facebook and that he tends to use it to keep in touch with friends.

So he finally discovered that I blocked him.


Do I care?


Nope.


I don't go prying into his life. He shouldn't pry into mine.

Birthday

Parents and John visiting + 3 days leave + lots of ice cream = happiness :)

I want

a lime green suitcase.

Just saw this one. So pretty...




Unfortunately the price is not so pretty. :P

Eeep

As I was about to start packing for NZ, I discovered a tear in my suitcase.



I was hoping it was superficial but that is obviously not the case.




I guess all that country hopping I did last December has finally done my bag in. Still, I am very glad considering I got 7 years faithful service out of it.

Right now I am thinking of getting an incredibly loud replacement... *rubs hands together gleefully* ... like pink with purple polka dots!... something that would be so embarassingly bright that no one else would want to claim it as theirs. Being able to spot it at a distance on a packed baggage carousel would be a major bonus. :)

MUAHHAHHAAHAHA!!




Losing my bag for a week (it went to Dubai. you can still see the sticker on it) has made me realise that black, grey and red are incredibly common luggage colours so I am hoping to get something unusual.

Blue skies

are a-calling. :)


I'm off.. to church and to revel in the gorgeous weather.

Birthdays

I turn a year older in about two weeks.

Been thinking of what to treat myself to. I have been tossing up between a Antiques Roadshow DVD (Not a show a lot of people go for but I love it) and ...... a hula hoop. Also toyed with the idea of jewellery for a bit. Right now the main contender is the hula hoop.

And not just any hula hoop. I want one of those thick, heavy ones made out of rattan that you can swing around for ages. I actually have one in Malaysia and I used to play with it while watching tv.

The only thing stopping me from attempting to bring my hula hoop over is the thought that it might be confiscated by Customs. Plus getting it to fit through the x-ray machines could be an issue.

So yeah. If I can find a rattan hula hoop in Australia, that will be my birthday present to myself. If not, a heavy hula hoop of any other material will also be acceptable.

Other than that, there is nothing else that I want. :) My parents, John and myTikusfromPerth are coming to visit very soon... and then I'll be off to NZ for a week! I am also very much looking forward to next year because... John and myTikusfromPerth are moving to Melbourne for good!!! *jumps for joy* :D

Dogs

On principle, I will never own a pedigree dog. Not when there are so many strays in need of a good home.

My parents look after a couple of strays in our area (we can't adopt because we already have the maximum number of dogs allowed for a place of our size). Recently a few of the dogs went missing so my dad went to the DBKL pound to look for them but did not find them.

He was told that dogs are put down within a week of being caught. The worrying part is that quite a number of the dogs there were wearing collars.

So if your dog goes missing in the W.P area, head to the DBKL pound immediately if you ever want to see your dog again.

I really hope our strays are all right. We have been taking care of them for more than a year and we watched all the puppies grow up. My dad especially loves dogs. He had our strays neutered, bought normal collars and flea collars for them and feeds them every day. On weekends the dogs even get treated to roti canai, char siew bao or roast pork.

I hope they are okay.

Temptation

Human nature is such that we are tempted to do what we are told not to.

Right now I am incredibly tempted to watch The Ten Conditions of Love that is being screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF).

Bizarre as it sounds, the Chinese government has been encouraging Chinese hackers to hack into the MIFF ticketing website because the Festival has chosen to screen the documentary about Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer. The site has been hacked twice so far.

I am sure the Chinese government's actions has caused the documentary to be more popular than it would have been if they had left it alone. Australians have a very "oh, up yours" attitude when it comes to external forces telling them what to do on Australian soil.


Update: Crumbs. I went to the ticket office this morning and the tickets were all sold out. :( Ah well, at least it reinforces my theory.

Religion

"It's strange that the both of you are together" a friend remarked the other week about John and I.

"Really? How so?" I asked.

"Protestants and Catholics don't usually date each other" came the reply.

That response stunned me somewhat. First off, this is in no way a criticism of my friend who is one of the best people you could hope to meet.

It baffles me that there should be a perceived animosity between the different branches of Christianity in this day and age. If my grandparents who were Buddhist and Catholic respectively could put aside their religious differences, surely it is not such a big ask for Christians to do the same.

So we have different ways of worshipping. But does that really matter? Essentially we worship the same God.

I suppose the only issue that might arise is in deciding whose church to attend when John and I eventually start a family. He is not comfortable in Praise & Worship and I find Mass intimidating.

Forays in gardening

Remember how I was talking about my potato and shallot plants? This is how they look now. :) The small solitary shoot in the front is garlic.



Considered planting herbs like coriander and mint but apparently they are not very hardy.

Ramble ramble

My cousin and I were wandering around the supermarket after dinner yesterday.. and in the meat section, came across a tub of.. duck fat. O.o Scary, right?

On a totally unrelated note, I worked out a system that has made week day dinner preparation easier. I figure that if I prepare and marinate the meat for the following week's meals on the weekend, not only saves time but makes the food taste better. :) Talk about a win-win situation.

I'm also learning to use the slowcooker more. I prepare the meat and veg the night before and then in the morning just before I leave for work, I put everything into the slowcooker with a bit of water and switch the setting to "low". It is so easy. Coming home to the smell of cooking is the best. :)

The weather has been relatively cold. I woke up this morning to the sound of the wind howling and rattling at the windowpane so I decided to sleep in till 11 in the morning. Spent the rest of the day doing laundry, washing dishes and mopping the floor while my bro cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed the carpet and did the groceries.

H1N1

Apparently two thirds of Australia's flu cases are swine flu.

While quite a number of countries are in panic about the H1N1 virus, I think Australia has been very lax about it. I can count the number of people I have seen in public with masks on.

Two.

And they were both Asians. Maybe Australia's tidak apa attitude is the reason the flu spread so rapidly over here.

The only main worry about this flu thing is the risk that the virus might mutate into something that present medicine cannot treat. Other than that, swine flu is nothing compared to SARS.

Close encounter

My boss has swine flu.

He came in to work today and at around 10am, suddenly said that he had to leave. His doctor had called to say that he tested positive for the virus.

After he left, the rest of us looked at each other with expressions that said a collective "Oh-crap-we-have-been-exposed-to-swine-flu".

I have made it my mission to disinfect the things we touch the most in the office. Door knobs, the photocopy machine, the printer, the fax machine etc etc. You get the picture. I also arranged for hand sanitizing foam to be sent to us as soon as possible.

Apart from my boss, three of my colleagues are sick. I don't know if they have swine flu. Hopefully they are well enough to come to work next week because we already run a tight ship as it is.

I have been a bit under the weather too though I think taking vitamins and dressing warmly has helped keep me relatively healthy.

Anyway, the fact is I may or may not be carrying the virus right now. Symptoms take a few days to show. If I develop a high temperature, I'll be off to the doctor. Not overly worried about the whole thing but it has somewhat put a halt to my plans for the weekend. Probably best that I stay at home in the meantime rather than risk infecting the rest of Melbourne.

Yayness!!!

It has been a fabulous start to the weekend! Yesterday morning my cousins texted me to say that we have a new baby niece. We all plan to meet tomorrow for yum cha first and then visit her and her ecstatic mummy and daddy at the hospital. That is not the only good news I received. After a year of waiting... John got his PR yesterday !!! We are very happy and relieved. We are also feeling very blessed because we were not sure whether John would get it because the Aussie government has halved the skilled migrant intake due to the economy. We are very very relieved. The news gets even better. One of the conditions is that John has to make a trip to Australia before a certain date... which means we get to see each other again sooner than expected! How wonderful! We are indeed very blessed. *beam*

I went for a walk this morning and decided to take a different route. I love morning walks on still winter days just as the sun is rising. It drizzled just for a little while and just as I was thinking that it was a slightly crummy way to end a nice walk, the drizzle stopped and I saw a rainbow in the distance. :) Ah weekends... what's not to love?

Oh! And here is proof that my gardening skills are all right. Meet my potato plant. Unlike the weed that remotely resembled a potato plant, this is the real McCoy.



And meet my shallots! They are looking healthy, no? :)



Wheee~! Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Bliss

These past nine days have been bliss. Being with John always is. :)

Usually whenever we are together the first place we tend to gravitate to is the city. We love the food, the shops and the sights and sounds of city living. This time however, we chose to avoid the city as much as possible because of the threat of swine flu. Victoria has acquired the dubious honour as Australia's swine flu central with a total of 874 cases as of Friday.

Instead of heading in to the city, we have been exploring places we seldom frequent like Chadstone Shopping Centre and Camberwell Junction. We even went to watch Star Trek. Loved it. :) I just watched Terminator Salvation yesterday and I can tell you that I definitely enjoyed Star Trek more. Can't wait for the new Transformers movie. The trailer looks awesome!

Other things John and I did include going on a ferris wheel ride, going to Victoria Market, shopping for baby items for my nephew and niece and hanging out with Dennis, Li Zie and Joshua.

I was a bit on the mopey side after seeing John off at the airport yesterday morning. It takes me at least a day to get over the emo mopey feeling. On the other hand, we know that we are blessed. We only have roughly six to eight more months till we are done with our 3 years of long distance. This is in camparison with my parents who were in a long distance relationship for 6 years. A three minute phone call to mom used to cost dad $6. That was half a day's wage at the time so they depended mainly on snail mail and had to resort to numbering their letters to know if a letter had gone astray.

Couples in long distance relationships today are extraordinarily blessed. We have mobile phones, relatively cheap international call cards, MSN, Skype, Friendster, Facebook, Twitter, email, webcams in addition to the traditional snail mail. Plus relatively affordable airfares are making a huge difference. :) Nothing beats face-to-face conversations.

Unpaid leave~

John is with me!!! :D He arrived on Saturday morning and we have been eating heaps of food. We have already had our Vietnamese beef noodles, salmon sashimi and chicken katsudon and pizza fixes! :D

We might need to cut down on going to the city though.

Victoria is fast gaining notoriety as swine flu central. We now have 300 cases. That's more than anywhere else in Australia.

Far out

96 cases of swine flu in Victoria?! We have the most cases in the whole of Australia! \(O.o)/

I think I shall continue expanding my mini stockpile of food, thank you very much.

Miles

John is in Samoa for work this week. Samoa is in the middle of nowhere and consists of two islands. Why it is more expensive to call the island where their capital city is is beyond comprehension. I thought it would have been the other way around.

We are really feeling the distance due to three factors.

1) Time difference. Samoa is 23 hours behind Melbourne.

2) Prohibitive calling cost. Phone calls to a landline cost $1.50 a minute.

3) John's mobile hasn't got roaming. That means no texting either.

We are so looking forward to the end of this working week.

Swine flu

The swine flu has already hit Australian shores. I suppose it was inevitable given the amount of Australians that travel abroad. The worrying thing is that now even those who have not travelled out of Australia are being diagnosed with swine flu and authorities are stumped as to why that is the case. It is unlikely that the Australian government will declare a state of emergency but I have been stocking up the larder just in case.



This was a portion of my larder yesterday. It is a lot more crammed this morning because I just did the grocery shopping. :p

I think

That it is safe to say that the mystery plant is not a potato plant.

Mystery plant

I was going to plant some shallots in my backyard today when I stumbled across this plant.





It is growing right in the middle of what is going to be my vegetable patch. I can't decide whether it is a useful plant or not. It doesn't look like any of the weeds that I massacred last month... and I've ruled out onions, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes as possible options.

What do you reckon? Do you think it's a vegetable? I doubt that it is but I thought I'd ask anyway.

Dinner

First homecooked meal in a week and a half. Whenever my brother doesn't eat dinner at home, I don't cook. Somehow cooking dinner just for me seems to be such a chore. Preparing a meal for two people is definitely more of an incentive to cook.

Beef rendang



Broccolini, yellow capsicum, carrot and mushroom with garlic and oyster sauce

Facebook

My grandaunt just asked me to add her to my Facebook list. o.O

I could be wrong though. She could be my dad's cousin, which would make her my.. aunt? Second aunt? I'm not sure.

That would mean.. I have four aunts, one uncle and possibly fourteen cousins (or more) on Facebook.


Update: Just checked with mom and dad. She is dad's cousin and therefore my aunt. Whoops.

Work

Has been moderately busy of late. I've been enjoying it even though I seldom admit it. :)

I was discussing work with a colleague via webcam when he was in Hong Kong on business. Keeping a straight face was a bit of a challenge because both my bosses were standing right behind him waving enthusiastically at me and giving him donkey ears.

The bosses got back from Hong Kong on Wednesday only to discover notices on their doors reading "Attention! You have been quarantined as a suspected swine flu carrier. You must remain in this office until further notice." There was even a cartoon of a pig with an umbrella and another picture with a pink van with a pig snout and ears.

I do work in a mad little office. :)

Oh, and we went away for a work conference about two weeks ago and we just received the reward results from our bosses. Our company has a points based rewards system where we are awarded a certain amount of points for good performance, birthdays, employment anniversaries etc. One point is worth one dollar and we get to spend those points with any of our many suppliers. Keep in mind we deal with a multitude of things ranging from clothing to tech gadgets to wine glasses to executive gifts. Its a great job. I get paid to browse through catalogues!! (well that's not entirely true. browsing through catalogues is one facet of the job. it really taps into my "kay poh" nature).

Back to my story about the award results. One colleague was rewarded for (in my bosses' words) "being an absolute disgrace". She happily drank two bottles of wine before one of the bosses escorted her safely back to the room she shared with me. Another was rewarded for drunkenly proposing to his girlfriend in a crowded pub.. using another colleague's wedding ring. And I was rewarded for nodding off to sleep during a colleague's presentation. Hehhehehe... Awesome. :)

Winter 09

I have made it my mission to be as warm and toasty as possible this winter. Living with numb fingers for the most part of 3 months of the year cannot be good. I figure that if I keep the rest of me toasty, my hands will follow suit.. and if this works, it will be the first winter where my fingernails don't turn blue. :)

Compared to previous years I am relatively well-prepared. I have invested in merino thermals, a beanie, a woollen scarf and a windproof jacket with a hood. Heee.. :)

Tomorrow is going to be the real litmus test to see if my theory works. It is going to be a windy, rainy day with a top temperature of 14. Then there is also the promise of hail! Awesome, no?

I am looking forward to it already.


Update:

4 layers of clothing, a scarf and gloves.

Are almost enough.

Says the girl that sleeps with two duvets and two blankets.

Fractions

Sometimes I feel like I'm spread too thin... like I'm living in three different time zones. My parents are in Malaysia, John is in NZ and I'm here in Australia.

Where do I see myself in the next few years?

The truth is I'm not sure. At this point, I am just waiting for John to join me. We plan to try out working in Melbourne for at least a year. Whether we will remain in Melbourne after that or go back to KL is undecided.

Do I want to return to Malaysia?

Yes and no.

Yes, because I miss my parents. Family is the main factor that draws me back to KL. The second factor might be career prospects.

No, because KL feels almost alien to me. It's weird how I am so much more familiar with Melbourne than with KL. John is not too keen to go back because of the crime rate and political situation. I can deal with the political situation being what it is... but I would be lying if I said I'm unperturbed by the crime rate.

I guess things will become clearer nearer the time.

Baby talk

My cousin and his wife are expecting their first child in June. :) We spent most of last night talking about baby-related things like cots, car seats and the variety of prams on the market. Exciting stuff. :) We don't know the baby's gender yet. It is going to be a surprise. I'm wondering whether I should buy the baby a soft toy or something more practical like clothes. On another note, I think that it is great that we don't know the baby's gender. The boy-blue, girl-pink thing is very stereotypical.

Random dream

I seldom dream. Even if I do, I hardly remember them when I wake up. Last night I had the most random dream though. I dreamt that John and Andrew pakated to get tattoos together. John got tattoos on his shins that had to do with Liverpool and of all things, The Sound of Music (he doesn't like musicals so don't ask me why). I don't know what tattoos Andrew got.

Oh, I also dreamt that John had a brother named Mark. O.o

And that we were invaded by murderous aliens who could only see humans if we used our voices.

Hm.. and I dreamt of washing plates. -___-

This totally reminds me of the time a certain good friend in Perth texted me about her random dream. Apparently she was trying to convince me not to buy a $100k garden and I was convincing her against flying Thai Airways.

Heh. If I had a $100k, a garden is the last thing I would ever think of buying. Plus if I was going to convince anyone against flying with a particular airline, it would have to be Vietnam Airlines in monsoon season. Truly a near death experience.

Ada Cerita

About 6pm today, I was standing on the platform at the station waiting for my train home when I saw something interesting. The train before mine had stopped at the platform longer than usual. Just as I was wondering why, I saw a teenage boy in the train cussing and trying to lunge at a bespectacled, sedate-looking man in his thirties. The teenager's two friends kept pushing him back against the train door to keep him away from the older man.

The teenager had a small, deep wound on the left side of his cheekbone. It looked like he had been punched by someone wearing a chunky ring and there was blood running down his cheek. I think the man wearing the black and yellow Richmond scarf punched him earlier. The man (who had obviously attended the Geelong VS Richmond AFL game) was ignoring the teenager and keeping his distance at this point though.

About five minutes later, some Connex inspectors appeared and escorted the teenager and his friends off the train. As he was led onto the platform, he turned and spat at the man. I think he missed. Anyway, as the train was leaving the platform, he punched the shutter door of a closed cafe and left a huge dent in the metal before storming off.

I suspect the teenager might have been trash talking the man over Richmond's 20 point loss against Geelong.

All the while I was wondering whether I should be taking photos of the whole incident. Common sense won over and I decided against it. Especially since the teenager was about a meter away from me when he punched the cafe's shutter. He probably would not have taken too kindly to having a camera flash go off in his face.

Ah, the drama of taking public transport.

YESSS!!!!!!

I woke up this morning and realised that... the tenants next door have finally moved out!! :D Talk about the start of a brilliant weekend.

The shreiking dragon lady, henpecked husband and kids are gone! Yesss~ I don't have to worry about not being able to get out of my driveway anymore. I can only get the car out of the driveway by doing a three point turn and in recent weeks haven't been able to do so because this inconsiderate family parked their huge SUV in the way.

The rest of the neighbours are going to be thrilled when they find out. These tenants (dragon lady in particular) have been very rude and not at all easy to live with. Good riddance!

:)

Woohoo!!!~ What an awesome weekend. :D

Insomnia

It is 2.10 in the morning. Can't sleep. Been kept awake by the humid weather and mosquitoes.

Ah well. I've had some alcohol, tuna and crackers and am about to give this sleep thing another shot.

Generally sleep better in cold weather... I am so ready for winter.

Productive weekend

This weekend was absolutely fantastic because I got so many things done. :)

- Did the laundry

- Dropped some old clothes off at the local charity bin

- Bought some merino thermals on sale at Kathmandu (I won't freeze this winter!)

- Got a haircut (about time too)

- Bought a mango sponge cake from Breadtop (managed to get it home unsquished)

- Visited my godmother before heading to church to give her aforementioned cake (she is having a lot of mouth ulcers from chemo so I was really happy that I got her something she could eat)

- Went to church (nearly made it on time despite taking the train, tram and walking part of the way!)

- Had lunch with friends (my regular bunch of kakis)

- Bought myself a bottle of wine (was going to drink it today but I got distracted)

- Decimated weed population *insert evil laugh here*

- Did the groceries

- Experimented with new salmon teriyaki recipe (success!!!)

- Called Poh Poh :D

I love productive weekends!

Urk

Meet my garden.



We need to do some serious weeding.

Mom and dad arrive next week. :p

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Update:



Two hours worth of tugging at weeds and digging out roots with the garden fork.

To be continued next Saturday.

Need to cook dinner. If the salmon still hasn't defrosted yet I'm telling my bro we are eating out.

Random

I found this as I was browsing through the vast collection of photos on my computer. I take so many photos that I had forgotten about it. It is a newspaper clipping from The Star. I took a photo of it to send to John. :)

It still makes me laugh. :D

Happy thoughts

I love the thought of having John with me next year. :) I'm so excited that I have been looking up the rental prices in my area so I will be able to help him choose a place to stay. It would be nice to be staying within walking distance of each other. Actually, it would be fantastic to be living in the same time zone. :D

I have even been buying him stuff like pillows and blankets... things he will need when he moves into an apartment on his own. :) He definitely won't need to buy a bed and mattress. I have a spare under mine that he can borrow. Oh! And better yet, John will be able to join my brother and I for dinner every evening after work! :) That would be really nice. Maybe we could even catch the train to and from work together. :D The best thing is we'll be able to spend our weekends together!!

:)

So much to look forward to.

Earthquake!

Okay. So it only lasted a few seconds and it wasn't that strong. But still.. at least now I can say that I've felt an earthquake! :D

It happened at around 4.30pm today when I was still at work. I was at my desk when suddenly the whole building started shaking. The experience was a little bit unnerving now that I come to think of it. I reckon if it had lasted longer than it did, we probably would have thought to panic. But it didn't and it was gone just as sudden as it came.

After the earthquake, my collegues acted damn gaya. We looked at each other had a brief conversation that went like this:

Me: *tentatively* I think that was an earthquake.

Colleague 1: Wouldn't be surprised.

Colleague 2: You'd think it would have lasted longer.

And then we continued with our work. The only person that came over to our department to mention the earthquake was the guy from Accounts. Everyone else just shrugged it off and continued what they were doing.

Train waits

Some of the people on public transport are quite creepy. I think the one that tried to chat me up yesterday takes the cake. I was reading a book while waiting for the train and he kept asking me questions like "Are you attached?" "What are your hobbies?" "Do you drink a lot?" "Do you go clubbing?" etc etc etc. On and on and on.

Bloody hell. I'm all for friendly small talk but this was something else.

This weirdo even had the cheek to ask whether there was any chance I'd prefer dating a white guy (meaning him) as opposed to seeing John.

#@$*%!

I was so glad when the train finally arrived. I purposely jumped into a different carriage from the one he was going into... And ended up in the same carriage as another guy that approached me a few weeks ago. -__-

Strange guys approaching me at train stations seems to be a recurring thing. I know I should probably be flattered but it scares me when total strangers try to ask me out. Flee for the hills kind of scared.

Family

If you saw me with my cousins, you probably wouldn't guess that we are related. The same goes for the following generation.


These little ones are first cousins.

You wouldn't have guessed if I didn't tell, huh? :)

Bits and pieces

The ants are officially gone. :) My kitchen is mine again.

Haven't had the energy to blog of late.

Work has been hectic the past two weeks because I had to cover for a colleague who went on holiday. Basically, the company I work for deals in branding promotional products. We purchase products from Australian and Chinese suppliers and get them branded (e.g. embroidery, screen printing, engraving etc) and delivered to the client. The products involved are quite diverse. There are corporate uniforms, signboards, name tags, pens, biscuit tins, lanyards, enviro bags etc.

I have been placing purchase orders, doing artwork, ordering samples, chasing deliveries from suppliers (and the various accompanying muck-ups), letting the guys in the warehouse know where the goods have to go and making sure that the goods are delivered to clients on time.

Every job has different deadlines and within those deadlines, there are mini deadlines. For instance, if we purchase some shirts from one supplier, we still need to allow time for us to send it to another supplier to get embroidered or screen printed and then also take into consideration how long delivery to the client will take.

I am so glad that my colleague is back on Monday. Starting work at 7.15am and leaving at 5.30pm was a bit depressing.

Spent Friday evening after work buying baby clothes. :D I love baby clothes! They are so cute. It helps that I have ten nephews and nieces (with another one on the way!).

I see my niece for the first time tomorrow. She is the newest addition to our ever-growing family and just turned 3 months old. I hear she is a gorgeous little thing. :D

Here are the clothes I bought for her. Cute right? :D



They even had jeans!!! How sweet!



Sorry. Not sure why the photo is sideways.

Ant Update

By this morning, the ants had consumed half the ant bait. This photo was taken at 7.40am.



These two photos were taken closer to 5pm. Notice how few ants there are compared to the photos on my previous post?





Dead ants on the counter directly beneath my kitchen cupboards.



I didn't expect it to work so soon. Maybe it won't take a week after all. :D

How I Spent Valentine's Day

"The pest control man came today!", I happily announced this evening when on the phone with my better half. "He filled these little triangle-shaped boxes with liquid ant bait and the ants are swarming in!!"

"Somehow I can imagine you leaning very close the bait boxes for a really good look", he replied in amusement.

*pause*

"Eh? How did you know?"


Its funny how he knows me so well. :)


I am so pleased that the pest control man came this morning. Over the past three weeks, my house has been besieged by an invading army of very determined ants. Do not be deceived by the cute ants in A Bug's Life or Antz. They are nothing like that.

I have laid bait, obsessively wiped the counter and sprayed them with Mortein and Raid (the cockroaches and spiders that I got in the process were collateral damage). I even sprinkled ant sand in the back garden. They returned with a vengeance every time.

For about a week or two, my brother and I were debating whether to call in the professionals. The ants had invaded our pantry and the casualties were my stash of rock sugar and tropical fruit muesli. The ants were even roaming to our bedrooms and bathrooms which are absolutely devoid of food. Losing our pizza to marauding ants after leaving it on the dining table for just over 30 minutes swayed our decision in favour of hiring an exterminator.

So now we have to wait a week to see if there are less ants.






I'd say it was a Valentine's Day well spent. :)

Good News

The police caught that twerp of an arsonist.

The maximum jail term for arson is 25 years. I imagine he should be more afraid of the community he betrayed than a jail term though. His mental state has been described as "fragile" by his legal counsel. That comes as no surprise. Most Victorians would lynch him at the first opportunity. Then again, he is going to suffer either way. There are inmates in jail who lost relatives and friends to the fires.

Who knows what interesting things might befall him in the near future?

Victoria's Bushfires

The bushfires that have been going since last weekend have been described as the worst natural disaster in Australia's history. At this point, the death toll is 181 and climbing. Worst hit was Kinglake where people were literally cremated in their homes. The fierce winds threw burning embers as far as four kilometers ahead of the actual fire and set homes alight.

While it is true that the 46 degree temperature and the tinder-dry conditions did nothing to help things, it riles me that one of the biggest bushfires was caused by acts of arson. The Churchill-Jeeralang fire has been going since the weekend. I followed the Country Fire Authority's website in horror as I watched the number of firetrucks in the area climb from 99 to 113 within 24 hours.

In terms of loss of life the Churchill-Jeeralang fire is nowhere as devastating as the one in Kinglake. It still does not negate the fact that 21 people are now dead because some bastard decided to deliberately start the fires.

I am emoing about the fires because a good friend and her family live in the area. They are the most genuine, warm and loving people you could ever hope to meet. I panic whenever I hear news of the bushfires because I worry about whether they are safe. The fire was a suburb or two away from her parents' house and they live near a National Park. God knows how flammable eucalyptus trees are. I was so glad when she said that she and her family were all right. She says they were lucky. Other people they know lost their homes.

The other reason why I am so emotionally involved is that part of me still calls Churchill home. It is a wonderful, sleepy little town that I have grown to love. It is impossible not to love the place after being there for three years. I even know the road where the fires were because I used to go for walks in the area.

I hope the culprit gets lynched.

Surprise

My doorbell rang at 9.30 on Tuesday night.

When I opened the door, John was standing there in his work attire with his office bag and suitcase in hand. :D

I went to work on Wednesday and he accompanied me to and from work, competing with thousands of rush hour Melbourne commuters. He even cooked an awesome dinner of spaghetti bolognese with capsicum, onion and button mushrooms for my brother and I.

I'm glad that I took unpaid leave for Thursday and Friday. :) Spending time with my better half is definitely worth it.

It has been long established that a major part of our relationship revolves around food. We share almost exact tastes, which is nice because we both really enjoy eating. I theorize that it is uniquely a Malaysian trait.

On Thursday for lunch, we had Vietnamese beef noodles in soup with copious amounts of beansprouts and spring onion. We washed the meal down with coconut juice. After lunch, we decided to go shopping. John bought a work shirt, a tie and some studs for his football boots. Later for dinner, we went to Lygon to have the best woodfire BBQ pizza. The chunks of chicken on the thin, crisp crust drizzled with BBQ sauce and mixed herbs tasted amazing. :) After that we happily skipped across the road to Lygon's most popular gelati shop for durian gelati. It is the closest you will ever get to the real thing.

On Friday we chose to stay close to home. I think it was 32 degrees. Went to a nearby Japanese restaurant that we hadn't tried before. It was so-so. I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there. John had unagi with rice while I had some deep fried prawns with eggy sauce on rice. For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant down the road. It has the best spaghetti marinara that I have ever had. The prawns, mussels, scallops and calamari is incredibly fresh and the dish itself is prepared in olive oil as opposed to a tomato or cream base. We also had some beef pasta with mushrooms. Dessert was a light, creamy tiramisu sprinkled with chocolate and topped with strawberries.

We woke up early to do the marketing on Saturday and then rushed back home to hide from the heat. By about 3ish we got bored and decided that we would venture out to the city by train. 10 minutes of waiting at the station in 46.4 degree heat made us change our minds. The strong, hot wind made it feel like we were in a fan-forced oven. We made our way back home to the comfort of airconditioning. It was just as well because services to our train line had been cancelled due to "extreme weather conditions". The cool change took place at around 6pm. We went to a small Japanese restaurant that I had been to a week ago with some friends. The food was nice so I wanted to take John there. I don't remember the exact dish that we had but it was yummy. Also had sashimi and green tea milkshake! The green tea milkshake was really thick because they used lots of homemade ice cream in it. We spent the rest of the night at home talking.

I drove John to the airport this morning. It is the first time I have driven there without my brother or cousin there to be my GPS. I'm glad that I did though. Now I know how to get to the airport and back on my own. :)

Kind of spent the rest of the day moping. Its a coping mechanism of sorts. Long distance sucks. Anyone who has ever been in a long distance relationship can tell you that. This is our third year and saying goodbye never does get any easier. The trick is to keep looking forward to the future and to remind ourselves how close we are to being together for good. In 2007 when we first started, I was thinking of how happy I would be to be in my 2009 self's shoes... And that's where I am now.

I believe that there is a reason for everything. I know that long distance will be good for us in the long run. :)

Resolutions

It is February.

You can tell by now that "I'm going to stop procrastinating" is not one of my New Year's resolutions.

Generally, I'm not the sort to make resolutions. 2009 however is different. I have decided that this is going to be a year of serious budgeting. I need to start saving for air tickets (mainly) and a house. The three realistic areas I can afford to cut back on are:

1) Junk food (That means goodbye daily chocolate fix and potato chip addiction)

2) Mobile phone bill (3 Network is helping unintentionally with patchy reception)

3) Eating out (Major challenge. I love restaurant food)

4) Clothes shopping (No more apparel shopping till December!)

Technically speaking, I should be able to save money if I avoid going over my mobile phone cap limit and stem impulse spending on food. That is.. technically. I -love- food and that is where most of my money goes. :p

Love and faith

Sometimes people question my logic for being in a long distance relationship. They tell me how difficult it is to sustain such a relationship and how much easier it would be to date someone in the same country. It is true that long distance isn't easy. That said, nothing worthwhile ever is.

When we met, we were both at a stage where we didn't think that soulmates existed. We thought it was only something that happened in the happily-ever-after Hollywood type movies. We thought people just married the most convenient person who happened to be in their lives at a particular point in time. 

It’s amazing to think that we’ve come this far from one encounter. It was a long-shot at best, but it worked and we know that God planned it. No man could have engineered this. Funny thing is that though we can't pinpoint the day we became a couple, we'll always remember the exact date on which we met.  

Here's to three years. :)



PS- Thank you for the flowers. :) You are getting better at this surprise business.