lack of logicality

Y

2011-11-21T21:53:00.000+11:00

Y by Super Junior

[Yesung] Mmm~ Oh yeah, ah~ Oh yeah~

[Donghae] neol bomyeon (nan) useumman (nawa) sujubeun misokkajido yeah
nal boneun ne nunbicheun seulpeun geol hoksi ibyeoreul malharyeogo hani baby

[Sungmin] maeilgachi tto banbokdoel
[Ryeowook] nae moseube neoneun geurido jichyeonneunji
[Yesung] nal yongseohagenni
[Sungmin] dasi hanbeon deo saenggakhae
[Ryeowook] saenggakhaejullae ijeneun nochi anheulge

[All] neoreul ullin geon
[Sungmin] naega baboraseo
[All] neoreul bonaen geon naega
[Sungmin] naega bujokhaeseo neol
[All] jiuryeo haetdeon
[Leeteuk] geureon nareul yongseohae ([All] jwo nal)
jebal dasi sumeul swil su itge

[Kyuhyun] neol bomyeon (nan) nunmuri (heulleo)
nareul baboro mandeuneun neo yeah (deuneun neo yeah)
hoksirado ne mam byeonhal ttae doraol gire naega seo isseulge baby

[Shindong] junbihaetdeon ne ibyeori
[Yesung] naegeneun jigeum jugeul geot gachi apa
[Leeteuk] sigani jinado
[Shindong] ajik neoreul bonaegien
[Yesung] bonaegieneun hae julge neomu manheunde woo yeah

[All] neoreul ullin geon
[Siwon] naega baboraseo
[All] neoreul bonaen geon
[Siwon] naega bujokhaeseo neol
[All] jiuryeo haetdeon
[Eunhyuk] geureon nareul yongseohae jwo nal
[Ryeowook] jebal dasi sumeul swil su itge

[Eunhyuk] yo unh, eodiseobuteo yaegihalkka eonjebuteonga mworalkka sojunghamiran geol irheogatjanha (mal an haedo aljanha)
geundeyo, geudaeyeo uri hamkkeyeotdeon ilbun ilchoga
nunbusige areumdapdeon yeppeun misoga, geuriwo ne mame kkok dakil
nae seulpeun gidoga, i bissogeul jina hoksi bol su isseulkka

[Donghae] naega jigeum neomu apa, nega tteonan jigeumi nan neomu apa
mwoga iri himdeunji, maeil bam nan neol saenggakhae
harurado an hamyeon nae mami buranhan geol neon ani, heum, ani
moreugetji ireon nal al riga eobtji
neodo gakkeum nae saenggagi nandamyeon, geu ttae neon doraomyeon dwae

[Kyuhyun] saranghandan mal ([Yesung] woah yeah yeah)
[Sungmin] ne hyanghae haneun mal
[Kyuhyun] bogo sipdan mal
[Leeteuk] neol ango sipeun mal ([Yesung] neol ango sipeun mal) ojik han saram
[Ryeowook] neoreul jikigo sipeo
[Kyuhyun] dasi (naege) dorawa jul neoreul wihae ([Yesung] dorawa)

Sorry for the lack of blog posts for the last one and a half months!!! I've been overloaded with work, university exams and assignments and personal issues. I hope to come back to blogging on a regular basis again =D. Please be patient with me and thanks for reading my posts =D. Please enjoy this song, it's one of my favourite songs from my favourite band =). The lyrics was written by Donghae, a member of Super Junior and almost all of the current available members sing this song =). Oh, and HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE =D !!!

FINALLY, A JOB!!!

2011-09-21T17:30:00.001+10:00

You read that right =D !!! After years of looking for jobs, doing volunteer work to kill time and doing jobs that are only temporary, I have finally scored myself a casaul/part time job at Merrylands RSL Club. This is all thanks to Kelly, for telling me about the job, and Adrian, for being my referee =D. Thank you so much!!! I'm so excited =D !!! I kow it's not going to be easy since the exams are coming up, my assignments period is still not over and I have 2 weeks worth of clinical placements right after the end of the semester, but hopefully I can stick to the job and not get fired or something >.< !!! If you ever pass the RSL club, remember to come visit me =D. I'm doing customer service (I think? =S).

At Bankstown RSL

2011-09-20T20:20:00.002+10:00

2OO911 - Anna X.'s 21st Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNA =D !!!

Hey everyone, I'm terribly sorry for not updating my blog lately because 1. I had an assignment due every week (I still do, b ut I have a midsem break next week, so I can take it a bit easier now... hopefully) and 2. because of reason 1., I haven't been going out lately. Anyways, let's get on with the blogging =D.

So last Sunday, my friends and I went to Bankstown RSL Club, organized by Derek. The price for the buffet was a bit more experensive than most RSL buffets. I think it was because of the sushi =P. Unfortunately, I ddin't really get the chance to get anything I ike, but Mimi aws kind enough to share a piece of her eel sushi with me =).It took us a while before we started eating because we were waiting for Yibo to become a member. Unfortunately, Yibo wasn't having a good day with his car. He accidentally carashed his car while going home to get his forgotten wallet. Poor guy =(.

I felt stupid for buying the refill cup ... I could've used the tea cups they provided instead! I felt ilke I wasted $2.50 for nothign =.=. I couuld've used that money fo buy snacks the next time I went out or something! Anyways, the food was nice, but I thought the seafood wasn't so great. Although it felt and tasted cold, it didn't look or taste fresh at all =/.

Unfortunately, we were kind of kciked out of the buffet as well because they closed at 9:00PM. I felt bad for not being able to finish my dish of desserts but I managed to taste a bit of everything. Poor Derek; he was in the middle of eating and was about to dig into another plate of food (yes, he had lots of plates of food around him =D) but the waiter took it away. I thought that was quite rude =/.

When we left, we loitered around the car park, just talking and playing around. We even had a good exercise by pushing a car. Kenny put his car on nuetral so we decided to see who was strong; Yibo and Thanh at the back and Kenny, Mimi, Carmen and I at the front. I thought we were pretty even =D. Mind you, we also had to push the car with Eric, Derek, Wendy and Sarah inside it!

Around 10PM, we all decided to go home. Since I drove Mimi there, I drove her home, as well as Thanh. While we were putting our seat belts on, we watched Yibo accidentally hitting the column with his rear. Seriously, it was definitely a bad day for Yibo and his car xO! Yibo was okay, but his poor car...

I had a good night eating and catching up with people =). thanks for inviting me Derek =).

Holy Mother of God, Virgin Mary

2011-08-28T21:30:00.001+10:00

23O811 - Alicja's 20th Birthday.

Last Sunday, MG invited Alicja, Paz, Gynelle and I to a Marian Retreat Class of the Banal Na Pag-aaral to learn more about Mother Mary. We learnt about the importance of her birth, her role as the mother of Jesus and as a role model, and her disposition. Apparently, Catholic people pray with Mother Mary, not for her, for they only pray for God. This event was girls only, held at Bundilla Sout Camp, Winston Hills. The idea of waking up at 7AM on a Sunday morning wasn't my idea of a fun weekend, but I complied to MG's wishes. I was picked up at around 7:30AM, along with Paz, by a friendly male church-goer; he lived around our area and was free that morning. Neither Paz and I ate breakfast so when we got there, we dug into the free hot chocolate and biscuits. Wasn't a really good idea... I had a quick surge of sugar rush hahaha >.> . I felt a bit out of place since I was the only Chinese person there and, possibly, the only person who wasn't religious there =S.

Despite that, I still enjoyed myself. I was enlighted by the talks about Mother Mary, her role and her life. I guess I was really tired, but near the end, I started to drift off to sleep a bit when they told us to meditate. My senses started perking up again when I heard the speaker's voice start cracking. I was even more alert when I realised she started crying, along with the majority of the girls =S. She was talking about Mother Mary's sentiments during Jesus's crucifiction. By the end of it, we were moved to the chapel, in the next room, where we'd kneel in front of an image of Mother Mary and Jesus. Mother Mary would be sitting down with Jesus lying on her lap, the nails and all taken out, bloodied ligaments and, in my opinion, he looked so much like a child in the arms of Mother Mary. At that moment, while looking at the portrait, I felt like crying because the cruelty of humanity finally hit me, but I felt it was too late for me to do so ^_^'. Actually, it was more of the thought of how Mother Mary suffered so much during Jesus's dying ordeal. I was thinking how painful it must've been for Mother Mary, so painful to describe in words. Even if you want to empathize, it's hard because unless you've experienced it yourself, you really wouldn't know just how painful and sorrowful that type of insufferable experience is. I was also touched by the servers who gave each and everyone of us hugs as we left the chapel. I sincerely thank you. I could feel their pain, sorrow and grief pouring out to me. I just wanted help ease some of their sufferings by just hugging them. I wasn't suffering from this, like them, but I also felt lighter and more loved when I was hugged by them.

For the graduation ceremony, we wore white shirts and long white skirts. To be honest, I didn't even know I'd be graduated at all LOL. It sure was a surprise to me =). We were given a certificate, a rosary and a rose when we graduated. It was almost like a university graduation, because of the roses and all, but the atmosphere was much more exciting and enthusiastic =). The servers were extremely enthusiastic and they cheered a lot for and every one of us when we graduated =D. I sincerely thank MG's mum and dad for the peach coloured bouquet of roses =D they were lovely, and I felt loved =). I would also like to thank MG for inviting me =). No, I still have not converted. Do I want to be? I don't know. I'm not religious but I do admit that I believe that there's some sort of supernatural omnipotent being up there, whether it be a religious figure, spiritual energy/aura or just a powerful cluster of magical dust. So now, I have graduated from the Marian Retreat of Class No. 65-2011 of the Banal Na Pag-aaral. Many thanks to MG's dad for driving us home, the ride home was... interesting =).

PS. Thanks Paz for the photos =).

Perfect

2011-08-17T00:23:00.000+10:00

Perfect by P!NK

Made a wrong turn, once or twice

Dug my way out, blood and fire

Bad decisions, that's alright

Welcome to my silly life

Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood

Miss 'No way, it's all good,' it didn't slow me down

Mistaken, always second guessing

Underestimated, look I'm still around

CHORUS:

Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel

Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel

Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me

You're so mean (you're so mean), when you talk (when you talk)

About yourself, you are wrong

Change the voices (change the voices) in your head (in your head)

Make them like you instead

So complicated, look how big you'll make it

Filled with so much hatred, such a tired game

It's enough, I've done all I can think of

Chased down all my demons, see you done the same

CHORUS:

Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel

Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel

Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me

The whole world stares while I swallow the fear

The only thing I should be drinking as an ice cold beer

So cool in lying and we tried tried tried

But we try to hard, it's a waste of my time

Done looking for the critics 'cause they're everywhere

They don't like my genes, they don't get my hair

Strange ourselves and we do it all the time

Why do we do that? Why do I do that? Why do I do that?

CHORUS:

Ooh, pretty, pretty, pretty

Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel

Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel

Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me

You are perfect to me

You're perfect, you're perfect to me

Pretty, pretty please, don't you ever, ever feel

Like you're less than, less than perfect

Pretty, pretty please, if you ever, ever feel

Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me

You are perfect to me

A song to remind everyone that even if they feel imperfect right now, one day, a special person will come by your way and tell you that you're perfect to them. You're never nothing. Everyone have made bad decisions, wrong turns and just felt like they're nobody, a shadow, amongst 6 billion other people. I don't think to be perfect is to be flawless, I think it's the other way around. Your imperfections makes you imperfectly perfect in your unique way. Take your mistakes on board and just wait. Wait, because there IS someone out there who'll think of you as the epitome of perfection. Please have faith =).

This is a cover of the song by Cathy Nguyen and Jason Chen. I quite like it and I hope you will too =).

Congratulations on graduating Adrian =)

2011-08-16T18:58:00.003+10:00

CONGRATULATIONS TO ADRIAN FOR GRADUATING =D !!!

I went to UNSW to congratulate Adrian for graduating from Commerce/Law on Monday. Luckily I bumped into Elwin and Vincent at the convenient store at Central station or else I would've had trouble looking for Adrian on campus =). So congratulations for graduating Adrian =D. It's been more than 5 years but you finally did it! You graduated =D. I hope you made wonderful memories during your last moments of being a university student =). To be honest, I felt quite tired that day since I only had one hour of sleep the night before but since I deeply respected Adrian, I was willing to make the trek down to UNSW =). He's been such a helpful, friendly and nice mentor/senior to me that the least I could do was to go there an congratulate him on graduating =). Anyways, many thanks to Elwin, Vincent, Chris and Tasman for accompanying me home =). If you didn't, I think I would've slept on the train... LOL!

Can I have some more tea please?

2011-08-16T18:45:00.002+10:00

16O811 - Jenny P.'s, Tony T.'s & Hanh's 20th Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOU GUYS =D !!!
14O811 - Nona's 20th Birthday. We still miss you every day Nona.

On Sunday, I went out to celebrate Jessica's 20th birthday at the Tea Room at QVB. We were supposed to meet up at 11AM at the Tea Room because that was when it starts. It was supposed to be an all girls' day out, but Richard was there too since he couldn't make it to Jessica's other birthday celebration. Anyways, on the night before, I asked mum to give me a wake up call at 9AM because I planned to take an early shower before I left the house. On that morning, after mum have called, I decided to sleep for another 15 minutes. Unfortunately, when I woke up again, it was 11AM. I was 'CRAP xO !!! I'm going to be late !!!'

Cityrail was also working against me. When I got to the station, the next train via Granville was in abou half an hour ... I got to the Tea Room in 2 hours. Thank God they were still there. They were nice enough to leave me some food to munch, and I was particularly hungry since I didn't have breakfast. Who would've though that a scone could fill you up quite a bit? I didn't. It was a nice change from all the Asian food. The finger sandwiches tasted real good. I wasn't sure what was in it; I tasted some egg. I wanted of the finger sandwiches but all but one was left when I got there =(. Scones with butter and strawberry/raspberry jam was also delicious =). I also enjoyed all 3 types of tea that they've given us. To go with the English mood, I added a cube of sugar and milk to my cup of tea. I have to admit, it tasted good. I don't usually add sugar or milk or anything to my tea, I just drink it straight, unless it's pearl tea, so it was a nice change =). To pay $42 for high tea is a bit pricey but it's quite worth it. The cuisine, the atmosphere, the interior design and the flowery cutlery made it all worth while =).

After high tea, we went shopping around QVB and Westfields at Pitt Street. We spent approximately 5 hours shopping around. It honestly didn't feel that long LOL. We shopped around for Cyan's clothes, Jessica's dress and facial products. After the shopping, we all went home =).

teen no more, part #5

2011-08-13T04:32:00.004+10:00

11O811 - Yvonne and Jessica D.'s 20th Birthdays.

13O811 - Mimi's 20th Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIMI =D !!!

Last Friday, Jenifer organized a dinner to celebrate mine and Mimi's 20th birthdays =). The dinner was held at the Bangkok Thai restaurant, inside Capitol Square. I met up with Mimi, Eric, Thanh and Carmen first before we went to Capitol Square. We saw Jenny and Julie at Chinatown and we caught up with them for a bit. While we waited for the others at Capitol Square, we went upstairs to play games or just to hang out. When we finally gathered up at Capitol Square, unfortunately, Jenifer couldn't reserve us a table because they didn't allow her to, so after Thanh put his name down, we hanged around again to wait for our tables. When we finally got our tables, we had to split into two groups because there wasn't a table big enough for such a big group. It was unfortunate, but dinner was still nice =).

We also had the cake at the restaurant as well since we didn't have any utensils if we were to eat it anywhere else. The cake was mango flavoured =D !!! I think they got it because they know I love mangoes =D so much appreciation Jenifer, Carmen and Eric for buying the cake and Eric and Thanh for choosing the flavour =D. Many thanks to Kelly for making Mimi and I home-made chocolate mousse =D. Unfortunately, I was too full to finish it off there and then, so I took it home. Again, unfortunately, I forgot to take it out of the car and so when mum used the cake the next day, she had to chuck it since it's been in a car for more than a day =/. Sorry Kelly >.< !!!

The chocolate mousse that Kelly made =D.

The mango flavoured cake =D.

After dinner, we loitered around the city, as usual LOL. We had fun taking photos with Jenifer and Shirley's camera. Then we went home via the train. Before we reached Cabramatta station, we had a long discussion about who will drive who home. Since it was the first time that my mum let me drive the car out at night that night, I really wanted to drive people home. Unfortunately, when we reached the station, it was past 11PM, which was when my passenger restriction initiates. Hence, I only drove Kelly home. I still need to find a chance to use my GPS. Okay, I did accidentally called the GPS a GSP ... blah, still sounds the same to me >.< !!! Anyways, thanks Jenifer for organizing it, I had fun =D.

PS. Thanks Jenifer for the photos =).

By My Side

2011-08-13T04:25:00.006+10:00

By My Side by David Choi

I'm just listening to the clock go ticking,
I am waiting as the time goes by.
I think of you with every breath I take,
I need to feel your heartbeat next to mine.
You're all I see, in everything.

I just wanna hold you,
I just wanna kiss you,
I just wanna love you all my life.
I normally wouldn't say this,
but I just can't contain it.
I want you here forever,
right here by my side.

All the fears you feel inside,
and all the tears you cry,
they're ending right here.
I'll heal your heart and soul;
I'll keep you oh so close.
Don't worry; I'll never let you go.
You're all I need, you're everything.

I just wanna hold you,
I just wanna kiss you,
I just wanna love you all my life.
I normally wouldn't say this,
but I just can't contain it.
I want you here forever,
right here by my side.

No one else will ever do.
I got a stubborn heart for you.
Call me crazy, but its true; I love you.
I didn't think that it would be,
you have made it clear to me.
You're all I need.

I just wanna hold you,
I just wanna kiss you,
I just wanna love you all my life.
I normally wouldn't say this,
but I just can't contain it.
I want you here forever,
right here by my side.

Like many other youtube music artists, David Choi is a force to be reckon of =). Unfortunately, Asian artists in Western society have a harder time become famous in comparison to Justin Bieber, who is Caucasian (correct me if I'm wrong). I know there's many Bieber fans out there but I'm sorry, I don't really like him. Yes, his songs can be catchy, and his voice isn't so bad, and his face a slightly better than average. But no. Why? i think it's mainly because of the fans. The extreme fans to be more exact. It goes the same with Robert Pattinson and his fans. I think that's why it got me kind of turned of from the series of Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. I admit, I'm quite a huge fan of Super Junior, but I'm not an extremist. I'm sure there's plenty of people who hate Super Junior just for the fans as well. Whatever. I'm just putting it out there about what I thought about Justin Beiber and Robert Pattinson. Come on people of Western society! Give the Asians some credit for musicality, originality and artistry!!!

By the way, Wong Fu Productions is an awesome productions crew =D. You've got to hand it to them, they're just gifted and talented movie makers =) You know what they are? It's as what Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris) , from How I Met Your Mother, would say:

LEGEND, wait for it ... DARY !!!

Paz' birthday song dedication

2011-08-10T02:05:00.002+10:00

Angel of Mine by Monica (cover) - Paz

When I first saw you I already knew
There was something inside of you
Something I thought that I would never find
Angel of Mine

I look at you looking at me
Now I know why they say the best things are free
Gonna love you boy you are so fine
Angel of Mine

How you changed my world you'll never know
I'm here for now, you helped me grow

Chorus:
You came into my life
Sent from above
When I lost the hope
You show my love
I'm checkin for you
Boy your right on time
Angel of Mine

Nothing means more to me then what we share
No one in this world can ever compare
Last night the way you moved is still on my mind
Angel of Mine

What you mean to me you'll never know
Deep inside I need to show

(Chorus)

I never knew I could feel each moment
As if they were new
Every breath that I take
The love that we make
I only share it with you
You, You, You, You

When I first saw you I already knew
There was something inside of you
Something I thought that I would never find
Angel of Mine

(Chorus)

How you changed my world you'll never know
I'm here for now you helped me grow
I look at you looking at me
Now I know why they say the best things are free
Checkin' for you boy your right on time
Angel of Mine

THANK YOU PAZ FOR THE BIRTHDAY SONG DEDICATION =D !!! I'm surprised that you uploaded it so quickly =D. I did say by the end of the week, but I was thinking you'd upload it at the end of the week, not the next day, after I've asked for it LOL! Still, I'm very happy and I did sing along to the song =D. Aww, you sang our song to me =D. Your voice, as usual, was mind-blowing and magical hahaha =D, and you sound stronger and deeper than usual in this one hahaha! Is that your way of expressing your strong feelings towards me ;D ? Really, thank you so much Paz =).

PEOPLE, PLEASE CHECK OUT PAZ'S YOUTUBE PAGE =). She's a fabulous, mind-blowing singer and a great friend! She can seriously blow your mind away with her singing =D. You can go to her paz by clicking on the link at the top =).

teen no more, part #4

2011-08-09T23:55:00.002+10:00

Yesterday, Paz, MG and I went to eat after uni. While walking to the bus stop, I received a call from Tae. After the call, the topic of pet names/endearing names popped up. Paz said that she wouldn't know what she'd call her boyfriend. We had one hilarious conversation about what kind of endearment Paz will use for her future boyfriend. It went something like this (this was from the middle of the conversation to the end):

Paz: Maybe 'Hey boy.'

Fiona: Wouldn't he be a man?

Paz: 'Hey man.'

Fiona: *laughs* Oh! "Hey man!' (Jamaican accent).

(Reference to an inside joke of ours - a while back, while MG, Paz and I walked to the bus stop, Paz called out to a friend 'Hey man' in a Jamaican accent, and MG and I thought she said 'hey mum' instead LOL)

Fiona: Sometimes, I call him dude. Like, 'Dude! Why did you do that?'

MG: But then, that sounds more like a friend.

Paz: What animal do I like?

Fiona: Dogs. Doggie!

Paz: I like cats. Cat. That sounds so weird, calling someone that.

Fiona: Oh! Like puss boots! Wait, no. I mean -

MG: Puss in boots.

Fiona: Yeah. Oh! Pussy!

Honestly, I didn't mean it to sound like that when I said it. I wasn't even thinking about it in that way! It was only after I said it out loud that it sounded so wrong and inappropriate. When I was saying it in my head, it didn't sound wrong. It's just, endearments sometimes end with a '-ie/y' sound, ie. sweetie, honey, etc. Early, I said doggie, so I thought 'hey, dog became doggie, so puss becomes pussy!' The topic itself was pretty funny, we were all laughing throughout the conversation. I just made us all laugh harder after that comment ROFLMAOS!

Speaking of hilarious, something funny misinterpretation occurred during one of our morning nursing lectures. The lecture was about different type of drugs and our body various body receptors. I wish the lecturer would slow down; she was speaking in a way that she assumed the students already knew what she was talking about. Seriously, if you didn't listen at the beginning of a slide, if you try to tune into the explanation when she's halfway through, you wouldn't be able to understand what she's talking about at all. Anyways, I was sitting next to Patty and Patty asked me what 'beasting' meant. I thought she said obesity, so I said 'when something is really, really overweight.' She laughed and said that she said beasting, not obesity. Since I didn't know what beasting was, I asked her what it was and where she heard it from. She said she heard it during the explanation of the previous slide the lecturer was on. Since I couldn't answer her question, she asked Anna, who was sitting next to her, on the left. Anna said that it was bee stings, not beasting LOL!!! Now that definitely made more sense, since the lecturer did mention about histamines before. She must've been talking about allergic reactions. The three of us were laughing so much that the lecturer had to stop talking to tell us to be quiet LOL!

I digress. We met up with Tae at Capitol Square's food court. Since I didn't have uni on Thursday, Paz and MG couldn't celebrate my birthday with me, so MG decided that she'll shout me dinner =D. We ate at Yumei for dinner after I suggested that we do. That was because I haven't really eaten there yet. The price was a bit expensive but the food was pretty nice =). I ordered a bento B but I received a bento A instead. That was because I wanted wagyu beef as my main, and I thought it was an option for bento B. Unfortunately, it wasn't and hence, they gave me bento A instead. Bento A was a bit more expensive than bento B so I was kind of unhappy about it, even if MG was the one paying for it. Since I felt bad, I gave her back $2 so she was paying the price of bento B instead =).

Paz said she was going to dedicate a song to me as my birthday present =D !!! After suggesting a number of songs, we ended up with Angel of Mine by Monica. That was because a) it's the only song Paz was most confident with in singing, compared to all the other songs that I suggested; and b) it was our song ;D. Since we were talking about song dedications, Tae asked if Paz could dedicate a song to him as well since his birthday it was his birthday recently as well, and she agreed =). Paz asked us if we had a couple song. Since I've never had one with my exes, I never really thought about it until now. So now, Tae and I are on the search for a couple song LOL. We thought of Hero by Enriques, Lucky by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat, and Fallin for You by Colbie Caillat, but nothing is certain yet.

After dinner, we went to take capitols for fun =). Honestly, I felt a bit awkward taking capitols with Tae LOL. I think I prefer taking actual photos with him instead. I also feel that he was a bit uncomfortable taking capitols with a group of girls LOL. We took the train home. Tae and I almost got squashed by the closing doors of the train. When we reached Cabramatta station, I ran back into the train because I accidentally dropped Tae's jumper. Tae was stopping the doors from closing. When I got out of the train, I had to squeeze through the gap or else I would've been seriously hurt LOL. Tae drove me home afterward.

teen no more, part #3

2011-08-09T23:54:00.001+10:00

O8O811 - Marina 姐姐's 26th Birthday.

Last Sunday, I went to a family birthday celebration dinner for my cousin, Marina, and I. We went to Zilver Seafood Restaurant for dinner. I'm sorry to say but their services wasn't that good. It may be because of the event that was held that night but seriously, Can they be so busy that they made us serve our own food and stuff? The carpet floor was stained with various types wines, drinks, food and sauce. They were slow with their services, and when we finally receive our food, that pretty much just dropped it onto the round glass spinner. Heck! We even have to ask for a round glass spinner, rather them having already provided us one. They may have had quite a few Hong Kong and Taiwanese celebrities visit their restaurant, but that doesn't make them a 5 star restaurant.

For once, rather than just being satisfied with the food, I enjoyed my company. I sat next to Andrew, so I was able to talk to him more. It was nice getting to know him more since I've barely talked to him in the past, even if he was a family friend. I guess we connect in a way that we both sometimes feel that we're outsiders from the family. Well, for my part, I am part of the family, but I guess sometimes I don't really feel connected at family dinners because I just didn't really find interest or understanding in their conversations. I guess I talked particularly more than usual since half the dinner conversation was about me and Tae LOL. I didn't ask Tae along because I felt it was too early and he had work as well. May be he can join us next time =).

I gave Marina these cute doggie patterned PJs, which she quite like, and Marina and William chipped in a got me a GPS =D !!! I'm very happy !!! Now I'll won't get lost again when I'm driving !!! They bought the Navman GPS from JB Hi-5, and they've also given me the receipt in case something happens. The warrant's for 2 years =D. Thank you !!!

Unfortunately, they forgot to order chili pipis with XO sauce. When they did order it, the restaurant ran out =(. So, to make up for it,William took me to Passionflower for ice cream =). I had 2 scoops of sesame and green tea ice cream =). We all went our separate ways home after that. I had a wonderful night =). Unfortunately, my aunt ran through a red light and the security camera caught her. The lights were yellow/orange (whatever colour you want to call it) and my aunt thought she could make it. She passed the line, but the lights turned red before she crossed to the other side. Yeah... it's best not to speed past a yellow light.

teen no more, part #2

2011-08-09T23:20:00.002+10:00

Although I didn't plan anything to celebrate my birthday, Linh invited me out on Saturday night. She said she was going to take me out and shout me dinner as my birthday gift/celebration =). When she said we were going to go to Mizuya I was ecstatic!!! I was squealing so much that my mum was telling to shut up lol xD. I really wanted to go to Mizuya because I've walked passed there quite a few times and I heard it was a good place (even if it quite expensive). At around 5:30PM, after getting all dressed up, Linh and the boys came over to pick me up, and then we walked back to Linh's house. At linh's house, Linh pampered me (again xD); she did my make up, curled me hair and even let me borrow her headband =D. By 7:30PM, everyone pretty much arrived at Linh's house. Half of the group was nicely dressed while the other half was casually dressed. It was because half of the group were unable to dress up in time, ie. Jack, Elin and Matt were at the gym when Linh called and because they lived so far away, Linh didn't bother telling them to go back to get dressed up because it would've been inconvenient for them. Since Linh was going to drink, Kenny and Elin did the driving instead, many thanks to them =).

At around 9:30PM, we made it to the city. I guess something special was going on because when we got to Darling Harbor there were fireworks =D. Before we entered Mizuya, I received a pleasant surprise - Tae came =). It was a surprised because I actually told him not to come because he had work that night, at 11PM, until the next night. I rather have him sleep during his free time that come out and see me. Though, I really did wish he would be there =D. During the trip there, at the back of my mind, I wished he would come and give me a surprise, but I didn't hope too much for it. When we got there, I didn't suspect a thing until we stopped right outside the restaurant and Raymond was on the phone with someone. When I ask Linh what we were doing, she said we were waiting for a friend, I had an inkling feeling that Tae would be coming. I was right =). Apparently, because he knew he wouldn't be able to stay long, he canceled his shift to celebrate my birthday with me =D. I felt bad (he was getting paid Sunday rate!) but I was glad he was there =).

We went to the restaurant side of Mizuya, instead of the karaoke side. I'd like to try the karaoke side in the future (if I ever become rich enough LOL). The food was good, the drinks were nice and I had fun ordering =D It was a good thing that they allowed us to see what we've ordered and by how much we had to pay. I finally get to try the test tubes alcoholic drinks =D I also tried the Long Island ice tea and the Sex on the Beach =). The Long Island ice tea tasted a bit like coke, while the Sex on the Beach had this sweet, tropical taste. I would've liked the Sex on the Beach better if it didn't taste so strongly of vodka or whatever alcohol was in it. Seriously, although I wasn't drunk, my face was extremely red O_O! Like, tomato red. No joke. Because we were a group of 10, we were split into 2 tables but it was okay, we were next to each other =). Our table ended up eating ~$170 worth of food while the other ate ~$179 worth of food =P. I wish I ate more, not because Linh was shouting me, but because I forgot to try to seaweed salad! I love seaweed! But I did get to try the miso clam soup =) (I call clams pipi, but whatever =P it means the same thing anyways =P).

Of course, we didn't just eat, we had fun playing around too =P. I tried eating wasabi rice. I was fine at first, but then the taste hit me like a train O_O! It was so sudden and strong that I slammed my hand against the table and jolted back. I think I even teared up a bit LOL. What was I thinking?! I guess I wasn't think straight after all those drinks. I wasn't the only one not thinking straight either; the other table started chucking food over to our side, Matt drank a bit of soy sauce out of a shot glass, Kenny and Elin were feeding each other, etc. LOL. I hope we didn't disturb the other people too much =P.

It was a good thing that I didn't eat too much because we still had the birthday cakes. Yes, you read right - birthday cakes. Linh got me one and Tae got me one too =D I was happy because I didn't get any birthday cakes on my birthday, and that night I received 2 =D. One w as an Asian vanilla cake and the other was a chocolate mousse. I must say, the chocolate mousse was delicious and all, with the macaroons and all, but it was really sweet lol. While the cakes, we were close to having a food fight. Even if i want to try to have a food fight for once, luckily we didn't =). It would've been hard to clean and the food would've been wasted. We had a mini creaming session and I blame it on Linh since she was the one who started it. She creamed my face while I was cutting the cake LOL. I creamed her back when she was handing out the cake pieces =). Everyone else slowly joined it =). We had half of each cake. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring it out with us when we left >.<.

After dinner, we decided to go back to Fairfield to play laser tag. We separated to get the cars. Jack, Elvis and I went into Tae's car this time. We drove Elvis home first because he had to go to another party afterward. When we arrived at 7-10 Fairfield Bowling, laser tag was closed, so we played bowling instead. I don't know who shouted us the game, but I thank them for it =). Unfortunately, whatever was wrong with me, I bowled at my worst =/. Kenny, Raymond and Tae tried to teach how to bowl properly, but I just couldn't get it =(. We versed Linh, Matt, Jack and Elin. With my crappy bowling skills, they won but Kenny had the highest score out of both groups =). Tae drove Linh and I home after the game. It was much appreciated, thanks =).

I want to sincerely thank everyone who celebrate my birthday with me, especially Linh. I am extremely grateful toward Linh for organizing the outing and shouting me dinner =D. It's been years since the last time someone actually took the time to organize something to celebrate my birthday. If I remember correctly, the last time would've been in year 7 when the girls tried to through me a surprise party at school =). Keyword: tried. That was because I figured it out lol! Either way, I'm very thankful toward Linh =D You don't know how happy you made me =D I LOVE YOU LINH =D !!! You are one of the kindest and loveliest people I know =D!!!

teen no more, part #1

2011-08-09T22:26:00.004+10:00

Yes. Unfortunately, I am not a teenage anymore as I have now hit my 20s. So good bye teens and welcome twenties *sigh*. Even though I've turned 20 *cringe* I've received a couple of pleasant surprises and experienced a couple of touching moments =). Many thanks to my friends for those sweet and touching birthday messages via emails, text messages and facebook =). It means a lot to me that you remembered =). Rather than just celebrating it once, I celebrated it a couple of times. Hence, I'll just post each of those celebrations on a different blog post, rather than having it all in one long post =).

On my actual birthday, last Thursday, Tae came over to my house to hang out until around 5:30PM. By then, we went out to Mounties for buffet as my birthday dinner =). It's been a while since I last went to a buffet, and it's still one of my favourite styles of eating hahaha =D. I drove us there and back that night =) though I guess I still need to learn to read the road signs or remember how to get to places lol. Tae stayed over for a couple more hours before he left. Although I believed that he didn't get me anything, he bought me a souvenir when he wen to the Gold Coast the other week. He bought me a dessert wine; a rose flavoured Moseato from the Cedar Creek Estate Vineyard and Winery. The wine was sweet and the smell of rose was quite light, I quite like it. Though, I think it's best to sip it rather than gulp it down because I gulped it down once and I thought I was going to get a sugar rush O_o lol.

He also bought me a Ralph Lauren gift box with the blue coloured Ralph Lauren perfume, a shimmering body lotion and a shower gel. He said that he liked the smell of that perfume, so he got it for me =). I quite like it to even though it's not the type of smell I usually preferred wearing; I usually like a slightly sweet, fruity type of smell, but this one had more of a musky type of smell? I can't really explain it. It does have this hint of sweetness in this smell, but it's just more musky or something lol. I can't really explain the scent, but I can describe what it makes me feel like - mature, womanly and sophisticated =P. Either way, I love it, so thanks Tae =).

I felt really happy that Tae was there with me on my birthday. I'm really grateful and thankful towards him, it meant a lot to me that he was there to celebrate my birthday with me =).

to be 10 years old again

2011-08-01T19:34:00.000+10:00

On Saturday, we went to the Western Sydney regional parklands, around Cecil Hills, for a BBQ. Since Linh was the one who organized it, it was mostly meat with only one bag of Caesar salad for my sake hahaha thanks Linh. I guess I still need practice on learning how to BBQ meat properly because the chicken wings and sausages that I cooked became quite burnt >.<. Well, it was okay because Linh and Elvis still ate them =). It was a shame when we couldn't finish all the meat that we cooked and we still have some remaining sausages and bacon that we didn't manage to cook. We had so much food left that My Linh decided to feed some to the rats. Rats weren't the only animals there; there was also this strange looking bird that looked like a cross between a chicken and a duck. Sandra and My Linh called them turkeys instead LOL!

After lunch, we went to the park for some fun. To warm up, we played a game of tips =) unfortunately, by the end of it, it just proved how unfit we all were =/. I had fun watching Sandra, Jack, Linda and My Linh screaming and bopping up and down on the see-saw as Elvis and Tae forced the see-saw to move quicker HAHAHA! The swings were just as bad; all the girls and Elvis had a go on the swings and although it was fun, it was scary as well when the guys started pushing us higher up the swings LOL! When we saw the chance, we took over the flying fox, with Elvis in the lead. Actually, I think some kids were still there and he just when and took the flying fox from them LOL! The kids were about to leave anyways, that's why Elvis when to take it from them, I think? Anyways, before everyone could have a go, the kids came back, so we gave it up to them lol oh wells.

We went to a petrol station after leaving the park for a short pit-stop. We also decided what to do next, which was to go back to Linh's house and wait for the girls to dress up to go to the city for karaoke. Linda when back to her house to get changed, while the rest of us went back to Linh's house. I had no idea we were going to go to the city, so Linh let me borrow her dress and shoes. If I could, I'd buy her dress and shoes because they were cute =D. She even did my eye makeup hahaha xD. I like being pampered =3. We drove to Linda's house to park the car there since Linda lived closest to Cabramatta station.

When we go to the city, we had dinner at Superbowl in Chinatown. We had sizzling beef, sweet and sour pork and peppered squid. The dishes tasted quite nice, though may be a bit salty. We went to CEO karaoke, but they were full, so we went to Greenbox instead. I guess CEO karaoke is a very popular place. Seeing that I wasn't used to wearing heels, I ended up changing shoes with Linh; she was wearing platforms so even if she's a size bigger than me, it was more comfortable than the heels I was wearing. Anyways, we had 3 hours worth of karaoke alcohol but I guess it wasn't enough for the others because we stayed for an hour extra. We could've stayed longer but Greenbox closes at 2AM. Many thanks to Raymond for paying for most of the alcohol xP.

After we left the karaoke place, Tae and I decided to go home since he had work on Sunday morning. The others stayed back to party at a club instead hahaha. Tae and I took the bus home since the trains weren't running by then. When we got home, we taxi'd it home since both of us were alcohol-induced. It was around 3AM when we got home.

PS. Thanks Linda and Elin for driving us around =).

PSS. My condolences to Rosalyn and her family.

german food is delicious =]

2011-07-31T18:18:00.005+10:00

3OO711 - Jessica P.'s 20th Birthday.

On Friday, we had a friendly dinner at Bavarian Bier Cafe. The reservation was at 6:30PM but we got there late because we were waiting for people to show up and Tae directed us to the wrong German restaurant *sigh* deep apologises for all that >.< I do feel bad! Thankfully, Kenny, Rebecka and Vincent was already there. It was funny how Thanh had the reservation under J.C. Moneymaker and the people working there actually believed him ROFLMAOS!!! The food was great, I had the 'Crackling Roast Pork Belly' and it was delicious; the skin was definitely crackling diving ;D. I ordered a peach schnapps, or so I thought, but got a peach flavoured beer instead; it tasted quite sweet and nice =) not as strong tasted as Heineken and what not =). I shall try the one with mussels; Derek had it and I tried some and it was very good =D. Tae had some veal schnitzel, but rather it turning out to be crispy, it looked more like veal steak lol. Many thanks to Derek for using his discount card for bill.

After dinner, we went back to Townhall for some desserts. Since Passionflower was full, we went to a Japanese dessert store for some green tea frogurt instead. Many thanks to Derek for letting us use his card, and I even get to get the free one as well YAY =D !!! And as usual, we loitered around the city, deciding where we wanted to go and do. Unfortunately, we didn't end up doing anything, so we just went home. On the train home, we played a 'Can-of-worms,' Wendy's version. By Stratfield station, Tae and I got off so that he could drive me home via car.

I had a great time catching up with everyone. Thanks for organising the event Thanh =).

dog eat dog world in the game of monopoly deal

2011-07-27T20:30:00.001+10:00

27O711 - Tae's 23rd Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY =D !!!

28O711 - 妈妈's 59th Birthday.

Yesterday was the first time I've ever driven the car all by myself =D YAY !!! That was because i was just driving around Cabramatta. Anyways, I went to visit Kelly at around 11:30AM to catch up and hang out since we haven't done that in a while. And we did. I even helped fold her clothes =D. At around the afternoon, we went to pick Sarina up and drove back to Kelly's house. We made some fried rice, which was quite good =D (that's because Sarina was the one who did most of the cooking, and she's definitely a better cook than Kelly and I put together hahaha =D). We even made sausages in the shame of octopuses, like what the Japanese do for their bento boxes =D.

After lunch, Emma and Wendy came over for a visit. To kill time, we played the Monopoly Deal card game. Tracy couldn't join us because she was busy doing her homework lol how studious of her =). Anyways, for the first couple of rounds, everyone was friendly and all, but then after a while, everyone pretty much stopped playing nice and were fighting for themselves in the game LOL! I guess we were all so determined to win that we all won at least once =) so I guess it was fair. We played until 6PM before Sarina and I had to go. I drove her home before going to Linh's house.

We decided to go eat Pancakes On The Rocks at North Mead as a celebration for Linh's safe trip home from Vietnam =). It was another great time to catch up with everyone, though when our food came, everyone barely talked. I guess we were all too hungry to say much lol. After dinner, Linda and Linh decided to have pancakes as well for dessert. Before we left, Linda decided to play with her food and made a concoction with the remaining raspberry custard, syrup, ice-cream and butter (I actually helped too lol ...). Kenny dared someone to drink it for $5. I said I would if Kenny was to pay for the drink I had earlier with my meal. I had a couple of sips; it smelt nice, but the taste was quite sweet... and thick =S I even made Linda want to vomit ROFLS! I didn't regret it though, I got $3.95 off my bill =D. Well, many thanks to Linda for driving us home =).

PS. I quite admire Linda for her independence =D she has her own car, a good job and she's even planning to invest in a house too =D.

3 years and 120 hours later

2011-07-23T00:36:00.003+10:00

I FINALLY GOT MY RED Ps =D !!!

Yep, last Thursday, the 21st of July, I finally did my driving test for my red Ps and I passed =D. Besides the couple of mistakes that I made during the test, the fact that it was raining and a school day and I was extremely nervous made me think I would fail the test. I know most of my friends got it on the first go, but some people said that the testers now were more strict on younger drivers and that they usually fail them on their first go. But I was determined to pass the test! I even made small talk with my tester to make it less awkward and to make it seem I'm not that nervous. And guess what? All my hard work paid off =D.

After 3 years and 120 legit driving hours, I'm officially a red P-plater now, no longer an L-plater =D. Look out world, another red P-plater on the loose, so you better get off the road quick! No, I jest. I mean, I can't be that bad if I can do a reverse parking in one go, right? I mean, mum continuously said how lucky I was to get my Ps and to do so well, but I would've need skills as well as luck in order to pass my driving test right? Yeah, I guess I was pretty lucky =) I had a middle-aged man as my tester and fortunately, he didn't see some of my mistakes. You know how I knew? because he didn't write those mistakes down =). Then again... I don't really know how to read my test paper =S all I know was that I scored 95+ lol.

Also, when I was waiting for my test, I met another girl who was also doing the test the same time I was. Like me, she didn't live that area but just heard that they were easier testers, she's also in 2nd year of uni, she's from university of Sydney and we both have a mutual friend =D. What a small world, aye? Unfortunately, she didn't pass because of one mistake =(. Well, I wish her luck on her next test though =).

Though, even though I did finally get my Ps, my mum's still reluctant on letting me drive. Seriously, what's the point of getting my license if I can't drive myself home, drive my friends home or get to places easier *sigh*. Okay, because I'm under the age of 25 years, it's $1600 insurance if I crash into another car. But seriously! She really needs to have more faith in me. I feel like I just wasted 3 years of my life. Can't believe I can be so happy one day, and so sad the next. I feel like I'm bipolar =.=.

laser tag x1 ; bowling x2 ; ice-skating x0

2011-07-23T00:13:00.000+10:00

So MG invited us to go ice-skating with her on Tuesday, 19th of July, at the Macquarie shopping centre but unfortunately, when we got there, the time slot that we wanted to skate in was used for the high school kids to practice their skating skills, and we weren't bothered enough to wait for two hours before we could get our turn.

Hence, we decided to go to the city, to M9 at Darling Harbor, to play laser tag and bowling. Lucky for us, they were having this special offer for Mondays and Tuesday where you pay $24 and get 3 games of a mixture of laser and/or bowling =). Now that was definitely much cheaper than if we were to pay those games separately lol.

We played laser tag first and it was the first time for the other girls, except me. Rather than running around a lot, like the last couple of times, I stayed in one place, with my back against the wall most of the time, and laser-tagged people that way instead. I thought I did pretty well =). Paz was such a natural; she's a natural at any sort of games involving some type of sport lol. We were in the green team and we came second overall. I came fourth in our team, while Paz came 3rd. Alicija, Karen and MG came 5th, 6th and 7th in their respective order (I think? xP). Embarrassingly enough, we lost to 2 younger girls. Oh wells, at least I kicked little boys' asses xD.

Paz in action xD a natural rookie =D.

We played bowling next and again, Paz was a natural at it. Although it was her first time playing, she came first, even if she was bowling it wrong LOL. We didn't know what our last game would be so we left it to fate... by tossing a coin =). We ended up bowling again. I guess fate really wanted us to bowl because it fell on heads 3 times (which I'm sure you figured that it meant bowling =P). In the second game, Paz decided to try bowling properly, though I must say that her 'normal' bowling wasn't as good as her 'abnormal' bowling lol. Karen was pretty good too, and MG was too... until she decided to become lazy in the second game. I felt sorry for the balls and the floor when she bowled... she practically chucked them onto the floor =S. Speaking of floor, I actually went down to the other end because my ball wouldn't fall down the hole to come back to the beginning, and they weren't kidding when they said that the floor was slippery O_o. Another incident was when I was swinging the ball backwards, it accidentally fell out of my fingers. Luckily, no one got hurt but I shouldn't known not to use that ball lol. We all weren't really playing that well, but I don't think it was completely our fault. I mean, we all had size 9+ balls!!! Everyone else have taken the smaller size =.='.

We planned on going back to Canley Vale to try out that Thai restaurant we saw the other day, but it was too far for MG so we decided to have dinner at the city instead. We had dinner at a Korean restaurant called Kobow. The food was very filling and very tasty =). After dinner, we stayed back at the restaurant just to talk and all =) and there were a couple of funny things that I'd like to mention in this blog post, but I rather keep it confidential ;D. What a day =). There really is no such thing as coincidences. We were meant to not be able to go ice-skating in order for the girls to try out laser tag and bowling for the first time =).

It All Ends

2011-07-22T23:48:00.002+10:00

So last Sunday, on the 17th of July, Thanh and I went to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. I'll won't spoil it or anything so there's nothing to worry about. I do feel that people should definitely watch because a) it's a good movie, I'd rate it an 8/10 (lots of action =D), and b) if you're born as Gen. Y, like I am, then you practically grew up with Harry Potter! Watching this movie is like taking a trip down memory lane; it's a piece of your childhood that happens to be there for you to view, conveniently at a cinema or in the comfort of your own home, in front of a computer.

We're not growing any younger, so people should embrace their childhood as much as possible. And by the end of the movie, you can't help but think 'wow, it was just years ago when this movie came out, during my childhood, and now, it's finally over.' Well, that's how I felt. I was also thinking how I'm practically the same age as the characters in the book too! I do admit that the movie felt a bit too packed, as though they were trying to shove as many good scenes as possible into a 3 hour long movie, and there were a couple of scenes where they changed a bit but overall, I think they did a pretty good job in expressing the essence of the magical world of Harry Potter.

That's how I'm going to end my perception about the movie because I'm not a movie critic and I preferred talking more about the emotional childhood aspect of the movie instead =). if you want to know how the movie was, go buy yourself a movie ticket and watch it yourself!

let's tail an L plater, shall we?

2011-07-20T21:06:00.002+10:00

After having my first driving lesson with a driving instructor last Wednesday, mum decided to take me to Ingleburn on Thursday to learn how to get there and understand the geography of the area and the the possible driving routes I may have to take for my driving test. Yes, I'm talking my driving test at Ingleburn. Why so far? That's because all my friends that have been there for their P test all said it was easy to pass. I pray to God that they're right about this >.<. It took us an hour to get to Ingleburn from our place, when it's supposed to only take about 30 - 34 minutes. It also literally took us 1/2 look for the RTA after getting there ... the shopping district there was definitely a maze and the RTA itself was small. It wasn't like the Whetherill Park RTA or the Fairfield RTA. Oh no, it was the size of a small business shop, stuck between a pub and a shop... How were we suppose to find something that small when we were expecting something big like Fairfield's RTA?!

It wasn't enough to just get there and find the RTA. No, mum wanted more. She made me wait for an L license kid to take their driving test and then tail them just to see the types of route one would take if they were getting tested there. It was embarrassing. Downright embarrassing. Mortifying, even. But I couldn't say no. As outrageous and ridiculous the plan sounded, she was right. I didn't know the area, so it was only fair that I should drive around to see how I might be tested. It still didn't stop me feeling embarrassed though. Also, there were barely any cars around because it was school holidays, so it was extremely obvious that we were following them >.<. Now that I think about it, I also felt bad for the kid because if I were them, I'd freak out if I knew someone was tailing me during my test. Then again, I guess it wasn't so bad since it should be obvious what I was doing, seeing I'm also an L plater too lol. Though, halfway through the test, I really wanted to stop. Unfortunately, if I did, we wouldn't know how to get back. We didn't know our way around there after all. They actually even drove over to Minto for their test route =S. After around 30 minutes later, we got back to Ingleburn (Thank God!). Mum finally decided to go home.

Unfortunately, mum accidentally pointed to the wrong direction and sent me down to M5 highway instead... The maximum speed was 110km/hr and I was only allowed to drive 80km/hr. Seeing how risky it was, mum told me to stop on the side to let her drive instead. Hence, mum drove all the way home. I was grateful for that because after driving for a couple of hours straight can be quite tiring. It wasn't the driving that made me tired, it was the arguments about the directions with mum that made it tiring, and I was also getting cranky and hot from the temperature inside the car. What a day!

sportmanship becomes non-existent when it comes to playing pool

2011-07-20T20:29:00.005+10:00

On Friday 8th, July, after our clinical placements were over we had lunch one last time with our facilitator and our nursing friends, at Lindt Cafe, before Paz and I went to Townhall to rendezvous with my friends. My friends already ate before meeting up with us.

We went to K1 for karaoke and chose to sing for 2 hours, rather than for 3 hours, because we get complimentary drinks if we did. Oddly enough, they weren't as loud as the last time I went karaoke with them, nor as active. But I finally get to listen to Jenifer's voice =) it really did sound like Taylor Swift, but like a younger version or something hahaha =) she sounded great =D. I was also having fun promoting Paz and her talent in singing but as usual, she was all modest and embarrassed about it lol.

A group photo with just the girls =).

After karaoke, we just loitered around outside the building before finally deciding to go to Market City as our next destination. We walked through Chinatown to look at the street shops and all, but by the time we reached Market City, half of the group decided to go home =/. After bidding our goodbyes and taking a couple of photos, the rest of us went upstairs to the toilets. We then loitered inside the shopping centre before deciding to go have dinner at Chat Thai. Thanh and Sarah left before they could join us for dinner =/ oh wells, there's always next time =). The food at Chat Thai was delicious and the price wasn't too expensive either =). It was pretty crowded and the interior design was quite stylish too. They even played jazz music in the background hahaha =). Tae joined us for dinner because he just got off work and didn't have dinner yet. He also couldn't go home because he had a night shift later that night at another hospital, so he joined us for the rest of our outing. Before I forget, Yibo was HILARIOUS!!! We were talking about eskimos when Yibo said the funniest thing ever hahaha! I had the urge to text Mx the quote HAHAHA!!!

'Do Eskimos live in eskies?' - Yibo W.

After dinner, we went to Galaxy World at Market City. Paz, Tae and I went to ride the bummer cars =D it's been so long since the last time I played. We then played air hockey. Yibo and I had an intense game and let me tell you, wear gloves and protection when you play with Yibo because there were so many times where he hit the puck off table. There were a couple of times where he accidentally hit my hand with the puck as well lol! But it was a good game, he won with 7 to 6. By then, Stanley, Eric and Vicky had to head home.

We went to this place full of pool tables to play pool but all the tables were taken already. Hence, one of the staff members took us their second store. It was pretty funny because he took us there via a dark, barely lit back alley path way of some sort. We were all laughing at our situation, but I was glad that there were 5 of us and just one of him. We finally made it to the second store =D. We played pool for about an hour, girls verses boys, and for all three rounds, the boys won. Yibo practically killed us all with his skills hahaha. Hence, I guess that's why the girls (including myself) began distracting him in hope that he'd lose his winning streak HAHAHA yes, our sportsmanship became non-existent when us females became desperate to win. Near the end, I guess Tae was in the rush because he finally showed his skills and took out as many pools as Yibo did lol! For me, I thought I played better than I thought I would hahaha =) though, I think I need to hit harder next time lol. Many thanks to Yibo for teaching us the proper way of playing the game hahaha =).

After the game, which only cost us $16 altogether for an hour (talk about cheap! =D), Tae left for his shift and we all went home. On the train ride back to Parramatta, where Yibo's car was packed, Carmen and I had a lot of fun make up names with people's funny last names after I told her about Minhky's joke about telling Danny to call his future daughter's name Holy because his first name was Cao LOL!!! I think I hit it off quite well with Carmen =) I had a lot of fun talking to her =D. Many thanks to Yibo for driving Carmen, Paz and I home =). It was funny because before he started to drive us home, he realised his GPS was out of batteries and he didn't have his phone, and neither Paz and I knew how to get back to our houses from Parramatta LOL! So using my phone, we called Eric to get Harrison's number in order to borrow his GPS. Then we drove to Harrison's house, got the GPS and THEN we were finally able to get home safely =). Since we were pressed on time, with Yibo's time restriction closing in on us, he told us all to wind back our mobiles and watches so if we really did get busted by the police, we could all say that we didn't know because of the time differences hahaha! Thankfully, we didn't get busted by the police =). It was a fun and long day =).

PS. Thanks Jenifer for the photos =).

friendly dinner @ Mimi's

2011-07-18T22:17:00.000+10:00

Thanh decided to cook us dinner on Friday, 1st of July, at Mimi's house. While waiting, we helped plate our the table before we went to play Band Hero. Dinner was served around 7PM instead of 5PM. Thanh did a good job cooking all by himself. It wasn't because we didn't help, but more like he didn't let us help lol. He cooked Mexican chili con carne, Vietnamese rice paper rolls and Italian pasta =). They were all delicious. We took this time to catch up with everyone and to see what people were up to these days.

After dinner, we continued with Band Hero. Unfortunately, Thanh experienced an allergic reaction; his eyes became swollen and red. We assumed it might have been because he washed the prawns and touched his eyes by accident. Wendy, Kelly, Stanley and I accompanied him to Woolworths but they didn't have any antihistamines, allergy remedies and what not that, well the ones that Thanh wanted anyways. Fortunately, Kelly had some at her house so we drove to her house and she got some for Thanh. Within 5 minutes, his eyes looked much better.

When we got back to Mimi's house, we played a games of Scrambles. We thought Kelly would win because she made a couple of words worth 30 points max, but in the end, Mimi came out as the victor and Kelly actually lost the game LOL! What an expected turn of events. After the game, we all helped clean up and wash the dishes. Eventually, people left. By 11 o'clock, there were only a few of us left. Actually, we only stayed back to watch Mimi's clock strike 11:00 PM and start singing and all hahaha =D. I wouldn't mind having a clock like that! And apparently, it sings a different song every hour too =D !!! Before we all left, we had a discussion on who should finish Thanh's rocky road off and Mimi end up keeping it all for herself lol xD. Many thanks to Kelly for driving me home =). It was a lovely dinner and a nice night to spend time with my friends. Many thanks for Mimi's hospitality and Thanh's cooking as well =).

so begins the clinical placement

2011-07-14T00:30:00.002+10:00

On the 27th of June, I started my clinical placement at Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital with Paz, Ali, Rachel, Lauren and Claire, with Julie as our facilitator. Rather than talking about what happened every day, I'll just mention some highlights of my 2 weeks clinical placement.

I say, waking up at 5:00 AM everyday was a pain but I eventually got used to it. I didn't have any problems sleeping earlier either since working for 8 hours each day, with 2 20-20 minutes long breaks only, and having to look after all those patients can be quite exhausting. But I don't regret it because it was a rewarding experience =).
The very first patient we talked to was a young NZ man who practically opened his entire emotional, personal and spiritual life to us. I found it quite enlightening and thankful too for this rare opportunity. I never realised how open patients can be towards nurses; really, we are their advocates and I'm quite proud of that =). He said that our encounter was meant to be and I agree - there's no such this as coincidences.
One of the elderly patients gave me a nickname; he named me Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 depending how many days it has been since I started my clinical placement. I found it quite endearing and appreciative because he bothered to remember how many days I've been at the hospital already =).
I was following this young registered nurse (RN) one day and she was quite helpful; she gave me advices and criticisms, she really helped me realise all my flaws in my nursing care and technique, and helped me improve on my skills. As thankful and grateful as I was, I also couldn't help but feel incompetent, realising how little I actually knew about nursing care. Even the things that I thought I could do properly was proven to be not enough when providing care to actual patients. I felt disappointed for the rest of the day, but I quickly gained my enthusiasm again =). If I'm down, then it'll be evident in my care, and I don't want to make the patients feel worse than they already are.
I didn't actually save a life, but I felt like I help prevent it from becoming worse. Paz and I were taking a patient's vital signs when we noticed how low his blood pressure was. We did it twice to make sure it wasn't a mistake. We also checked his observational charts to see if he usually have low blood pressure. His average systolic was around the 100s, so we realised something was definitely wrong. We were going to ask the RN who was in charge of the patient to check it for us, with a manual blood pressure machine, just in case but before we could ask that RN, another RN also noticed the low blood pressure score that we noted down so she went to take the patient's blood pressure manual instead. Thankfully, it was the machine's fault and it wasn't as dangerously low as we got in the first place. If it was genuinely that low, even with the manual blood pressure machine, then we would've activated PACE (which is like the procedure for an emergency in the hospital). I was happy that we did the right thing and managed to 'potentially save a patient's life' xD.
There was an Aboriginal Appreciation Day of some sort at the hospital one day. We (USYD nursing students and facilitators) went to watch the performance, got a free badge and had free sausage sizzle and salad. We also went to a session to listen about the culture and health of Aboriginal people. It was interesting =).
We also went to other sessions at the hospital. There was one that taught us how to use the vital signs machine and another taught us about wounds and how to care for it. I learnt quite a lot from those sessions =).
Paz and I got to watch a cataract operation and wear scrubs. We thought we wouldn't be able to watch it and it was the last day of us working at the hospital, so we were a bit disappointed however; when we got back from our lunch break, the nurses were all saying how they were looking for us and all because we finally got permission to watch an operation. The last patient went up 20 minutes before we came back and we thought we were too late, so we were disappointed and sad, but a nurse brought us up there just to try and see if we can still make it. Lucky for us, the patient was still waiting in the waiting room =D, so we get to watch it. I wished we brought our phones with us so we could take photos of us in scrubs! Though, we did get to keep our disposable eye protectors =). It was disgusting but fascinating at the same time =D. At times, I just wanted to look over their shoulder to see what was really happening, but we just stuck to watching it on the TV screen instead. The screen was pretty clear (HD quality) but apparently, it was much clearer under the microscope O_O! It was actually a strange scene... It was more casual than I thought it would be, maybe a bit too casual... Like seriously! Soft classical/jazz music playing in the background; the anesthetic doctor was just sitting there, playing his sudoku O_O; sometimes, they would even pause and chat a bit =S. It really wasn't what I was expecting. Though, in such serious a situation with lots of pressure, I guess you really would need a bit of mild entertainment to ease the mind a bit.
The stereotypical separation between nurses and doctors was blown away from my mind. I thought that doctors and nurses will have this definite separation between them due to their jobs, but I was proven wrong when I witness such friendly interactions between the nurses and doctors. The anesthetic doctor was nice and was very willing to answer all our questions and was detailed with his explanations =). Yes, some nurses and doctors do have this tense, inexplicable atmosphere around them sometimes, but most of the time, there was barely any hierarchy between them. Well, maybe Sydney Hospital is just a really friendly place =P.
Julie, our facilitator, was a wonderful woman =). Her enthusiasm really helped encourage me a lot during the clinical placement, and seeing her as a nurse was quite inspirational. I admit, she really does love to talk and sometimes get so lost in the conversation that she forgets about what her nursing duty was, but it's quite endearing when I watch her talk so cheerfully with the patients; it really does bring a smile to my face =). Now that's what I call aesthetic knowing - the art of nursing. I'm very grateful and thankful that Julie was my very first nursing facilitator for my very first clinical placement. She really helped me a lot by giving encouragements and helpful advices. I wish she would go to USYD and teach us nursing. Even though it's over now, I still have her number, so it's okay xD.
The very last day of clinical placements was Friday 8th, July. We spent half the day working on our booklets, discussing and talking about nursing related topics (well, most of the topics were related to nursing...) and bidding our farewells to the patients and RNs at the hospital. We gave a card to the RNs, and Ali was considerate enough to buy a card for Julie too. We all wrote in it before giving it to her. We spent our time inside this private room at the library. The room was called History Room (or something along those lines...) and it really did look like an old room, with a mantle, sofas, a wooden table with six chairs and a wall occupied with bookshelves, all of them had books, with no space to spare. After everything was done, we went to Lindt Cafe at the corner of Martin Place, across the Channel 7 building, and had lunch there. It was a bit expensive (especially the desserts), but it was worth it =). After lunch, we took a photo, exchanged emails and bid our farewells. Paz and I joined up with my friends after that, but I'll blog about it on another blog post =).

It was an exhausting 2 weeks of clinical, but I experienced many things that made it all worth while. It was definitely a rewarding experience, and you feel appreciated when the patients are thankful for your care. It's nice to know that I can be able to ease their pain or make them feel better. I regretted nothing, and wouldn't mind doing it again (even if I don't get paid, though it'd be nice if I did =P).

2 times the cake and a broken egg-whisker

2011-07-10T19:48:00.001+10:00

26O611 - Linh's 20th Birthday.

On Sunday, 26th of June, it was the day where we were going to celebrate my aunt's and my mum's birthdays that night at dinner. It was also Linh's birthday too. Rather than buying my mum, aunt and Linh something, I decided to make home-made tiramisu cakes, one for Linh and one for my mum and aunt. My mum helped me buy the ingredients and helped me out with making the cakes. Many thanks to her =). Unfortunately, before I could even complete one cake, I broke mum's electrical egg-whisker... I guess I pressed it too hard against the bowl. We ended up chucking out the mixing bowl as well *sigh*.

I gave Linh her birthday cake before I went out for dinner. At around 7:30PM we went out to Canley Vale for dinner. I can't really say it was particular delicious, but the meal was still pretty nice. After dinner, we went home and ate the cake that I made however; because everyone was already so full, they only had one piece and hence, 3/4 of the cake remained. Since my aunt and uncle doesn't really eat dessert and my cousins live in the city, so they couldn't bring it with them, I end up keeping the rest of the cake myself. Unfortunately, I only managed to eat 1/4 of the cake before it needed to be chucked away because it couldn't last that long =/.

post-exam celebration

2011-07-10T19:15:00.002+10:00

On Wednesday, 22nd of June, after my exams, some friends and I celebrated the end of our exams, all of us were from the nursing campus =). We met at Central station at around 11AM before we headed off to Capitol Square to take sticker photos. Half of the girls didn't even know what they were LOL! As usual, doing poses in a short time frame made us work off a sweat.

We had lunch at Pepper Lunch and again, majority of the girls never been there before. After lunch, we went to Greenbox to karaoke for 3 hours straight, including free drinks. We had heaps of fun; we were jumping a lot, had quite a few duets, sang altogether for majority of the songs and were given the privilege to hear Paz sing =D. She was excellent, as usual =). After karaoking, we had fun taking photos in the elevator because there was a mirror behind us LOL. I even stopped halfway with my call with Jaki to smile for the camera LOL!

We met up with Jaki and Jennifer at Chinatown but Anna had to leave early =(. We took a couple of photos at Darling Harbour and ate at Pancakes at the Rocks for dessert. After window-shopping for a while, we all went home. It was a fun and tiring day =). I haven't had so much fun for so long hahaha!

PS. Thanks Patty for scanning the capitols and Paulo for the photos =).

two down, none to go =)

2011-06-21T22:15:00.002+10:00

NO MORE EXAMS!!! Well, for this semester anyways =).

I had an exam in the morning, which was Biological Aspects of Ageing, which wasn't too bad. I would like to thank the nice girl and librarian who directed me to the building =). I was seriously lost =S. So before the exam, I met Lisa, Cathleen and Carly again. Lisa actually waved to me in the library when I was asking for directions to T block but because she wasn't wearing her glasses and her hair looked different, I couldn't recognise her. So I waved back, but in an awkward way and pointed to the door to indicate I was leaving. When I was alone I was wondering who that person was and was hoping that maybe the girl mistook me for someone else instead. When I saw them outside the exam room, Lisa was jokingly saying how I don't know her and realised it was her that waved to me. My apologies to Lisa xD. I was happy to see them again since it's been a semester since I last saw them =). They were doing the same exam as me =).

Anyways, I tried to stick with my routine of staying until the end of the exam duration as some sort of hope that I'll be more likely to have better marks that way, but after it strike 11AM, I decided to leave. I waited for about 15 - 20 minutes already after all. My next exam was Health Informatics. I felt like I made up most of the answers up because I really didn't know much. I studied the lectures, read some of the recommended readings and read the tutorial work, but still I couldn't grasp the objectives of the subject properly. Hence, increase of nonsense occurred in my answers. Oh wells, the point was I finished my exams xD !!!

We are going to celebrate it officially tomorrow, but Paz, MG and I decided to do something together as a mini celebration for us finishing our exams together at the same time. Since we all lived in different places and we didn't have myMulti tickets, we decided to head to Lidcombe's RSL club, Dooley's, for dinner. After dinner, we met an old couple that Paz knew and we talked for a while. I wish we were sitting down instead to have a bit more comfort while listening to them lol. We were standing because we were in the middle of going to the toilets when we met them while they were at a table eating. They told some pretty interesting stories that was pretty much all over the place hahaha. Apparently, they were married for about 51 years xO !!! I envy them =) We asked for advice and the secret to their success in marriage was open discussions on everything and good planning for the future =). I shall take that advice on board and hope for the best =).

After talking, and the trip to the lady's room, we went to the game's room and played air hockey =D. The puck kept on getting stuck on one side because someone was stupid enough to use those cardboard glass stoppers (or whatever they're called) as a replacement and got it stuck inside the whole. Majority of the time, I was the one who had to try to get it out again *sigh*. It was pretty funny to watch each other play and overact when losing xD. I guess I was especially loud hahaha! MG was really funny =D she did so many funny things that was cheating that she didn't know LOL! And she played so hard that she accidentally threw her mallet across the floor! We were so surprised that we didn't realise when the puck went into the goal! We had to leave after 2 games because a family was waiting to play after us. I felt a bit bad for taking so long xD.

We were about to leave when we passed the pool table room. We got intrigued and went in. I asked if we need to pay for it but we don't, so we just played =D. We all sucked... but Paz seemed to be the most skilled out of the three of us =). While we were playing, an employee came in and asked us if we were eighteen and we said yes. I guess he still didn't believe us because he asked us for our ID hahaha. I guess we looked like kids since we were short girls and every other table were filled with tall young looking adults. It took a while before we all got the balls in and at the end, we each consecutively got a ball in and as Paz suggested, "it was an epic ending!" To me, it was quite a surprise but I don't know if I'd call it epic, but to her it was definitely epic =). I guess it was pretty awesome =). I think us three girls have some sort of fate between us all =) just because of all the things we experienced since we started university and knew each other =).

We all went home after that. For me, I had a D'n'M with mum in the car and at home. We didn't have one for a long time and this one kind of helped cleared some misunderstandings that occurred in the last couple of days. I'm glad mum's feeling okay now =). My apologies for making her sad in the first place (it wasn't intentional!).

Exam Fever Again

2011-06-04T19:41:00.001+10:00

O1O611 - Maxine's 19th Birthday.
O4O611 - Edim's 19th Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY EDIM =).

GOOD LUCKIES FOR THE UPCOMING EXAMS EVERYONE =).

Because of the assessments all due in the second half of the first semester, I haven't been going out much and hence, there wasn't much to blog about. With the up coming exams, the exams itself AND my clinical placement period, I don't think I'll be going out much either so much apologies for the lack of blog posts lately =). Well, I'm sure people are too busy to be reading my blog posts anyways. I just want to say good luck on the upcoming exams and happy holidays everyone =).

In a sea of dogs

2011-05-18T23:06:00.005+10:00

Birthday shoutouts: 14O511 - Kelly's 19th ; 15O511 - Shirley L.'s 19th; 22O511 - Titan's 19th; Peter D.'s 20th.

Last Sunday, Karen and I volunteered for the Million Paws Walk event. Karen was the one who informed me about the event. Unfortunately, there was track work that morning, so we took the bus to Lidcombe station at 6:20AM in the morning =___='. It was freezing cold!!! I wore 3 - 4 layers of clothing, a scarf, mittens, and 2 pairs of socks and I was STILL cold =____=. Yep, winter's definitely coming. We then took the train from Lidcombe station to Olympic Park station, where the event was held. We signed in and waited for our leaders to take us to our booths. Karen was doing cupcakes while I was doing competitions. We waited for 15 - 20 minutes but still no one showed up so we decided to look for the booths ourselves. After we found where our booths were located, we went to our separate activities. I honestly didn't help much.

Competition booth.

Karen and I.

There wasn't much that we could do at our booth besides waiting for customers. I helped stick up photos, but that's about it. I guess the cold weather was draining my excitement away. But then it came back as more and more cute looking dogs came to the competition booth. They were all just so damn adorable! When I saw one of my team members taking photos, I couldn't help myself and started taking photos too. There was a particularly cute puppy that I saw. It was a brown poodle and it was only 3 - 4 months old. The owner said that it cost her $800 O_O pure breed I'm assuming. We encouraged them to enter it, but they didn't. What a shame =(. It would've won, without a doubt. I swear, it looked like a bear plushie, it didn't even sound like a dog when it was crying. IT WAS SO CUTE xD !!!!!!!! I just wanted to steal it and run away with it xO !!! Afterward, I just went around taking photos of dogs and encourage them to enter their dogs in the competitions. I had quite an exercise taking photos of the dogs seeing that most of the time they're too excited to sit still.

The adorable 3 - 4 months old poodle puppy =).

The weather got warmer as it reached the afternoon. To warm myself up even more, I went to get a cup of hot chocolate. While I was waiting in line, there were these HUMONGOUS dogs I've ever seen, well... beside the greyhounds. But these are dogs I've never seen before. Well, there were a lot of dogs I haven't seen before, but at least I know what they are from photos. These dogs, I had no idea what breed it was (something that ends with burger... I swear it did, that' why I remembered it). The owner said that it's a rare breed or something like that. It looked kind of like a German Shepherd, but a bigger and fluffier version. Well, anyways, I was scratching the bigger one on the side and I guess it liked the way I was scratching it, so it sat down (on my foot...) and sandwiched me between itself and the cafe counter ... It was quite hard to turn around seeing my back was against the counter and all. I know I'm not that tall to begin with, but it's like 1/2 - 3/4 my height or something O_o.

The huge dog! To other 'normal' people, it's up to their waist; to me, it's up to my chest...

I went to visit Karen when the walk began at around 10/11AM and then went back to taking more photos =). There was a particularly adorable chihuahua that got attached to me. It was so cute and scared of the other dogs, it crawled onto my lap and stayed there AWWW I wish I could keep it, but I had to put it down =/. After the walk, it was the competitions. There were 3 competitions: a) cutest pet; b) owner look-alike; and c) best dressed. I felt bad for the judging of the cutest pet because it was quite short. All the judging for the competitions were short =/. Some people even missed out because they were late. I also felt bad for them too but then again, they should've been there at the start. Though, some people were late because of the walk. Anyways, out of all the judges, all I remember was Dr. Katrina. She had adopted a dog for herself too (not from the event though, it was from before) and she was judging the cutest pet. The judges chose the best 5 and the audience chooses the winner. I don't remember who won the cutest pet nor do I think I have a photo of the dog. However, I DO know that for the owner look-alike, it was the superman Labrador and a boy who won (I wanted the clown dog and the girl to win though. Both the superman dog and the clown dog were wearing matching costume as the owners) and I think it was because he was child compared to the girl; and for the best dressed, it was the 2 dogs who dressed up as policemen.

The chihuahua that got attached to me =). It's actually sitting on my lap in that photo.

Dr. Katrina.

Best dressed winners.

Pet look-alike. It looked more like best dressed to me...

Since the competitions ended early, the competition booth packed up early too. I went to Karen's booth and waited for her to finish. I ate some cupcakes while I was at it. I also bought some doggie treats for Toby and watched how they wash the dogs and what the heck they were doing to make the poor things scream in despair. Turns out that the dog(s) just really hate water. The one I was watching hated it so much that it was crying and clawing and biting into the mat. It was an interesting sight to behold. I also went to the adoption area and saw the dogs up for adoption. I even saw a poster of a chihuahua of 5 months old for adoption. What kind of person or mother would abandon such a young puppy?! But I guess it will be bought quickly since people prefer young dogs than old ones. Most of the dogs were 1 or 2 years old. There was even one that was 5 years old. There was also a rooster who was up for adoption too O_o. There was this particular adoption dog that was quite friendly towards me. It was very energetic and it makes me smile when I look at it =). I wish I could keep it, but I already have Toby =/. I hope they all find good homes. Mum said I should've brought Toby along. I thought I couldn't since I was volunteering. Maybe I will next year =).

Cupcakes =). I was going to take them home, but I waited too long for Karen that I ate them all there on the stop anyways, as lunch =P.

Afterward, Karen and I just went home with our free bags and movie voucher as a reward for helping out with the event. There were also other things in the bag too like caps, sunscreen, pen and wet wipes =). My assignment was due the next day and I was extremely tired but I had fun. I had no regrets =). Also, I've never seen so many dogs in my life xD.

PS. because I kept missing up the genders of the dogs, I decided to call them 'it' in my blog post instead.
PSS. There were these 2 girls who had rats for pets. That's the only other type of animal that I've seen at the event, besides dogs. I was amazed =D!
PSSS. Throughout the day, we had these duo singing and playing the guitar on stage for us. They had pretty good taste in music, according to my team members anyways =).

The duo performers/singers and the judge (on the left).

Just The Way You Are

2011-05-11T15:27:00.001+10:00

O2O511 - Christina L.'s 19th Birthday.

111O511 - Kenneth's 19th Birthday.

Recently, I have been bombarded with assignments, assessments, quizzes, group work, etc. so I haven't really been able to go out lately. To make sure I have at least one blog post, I've decided to post up the lyrics and music video of 'Just The Way You are' by Bruno Mars =). Enjoy yourselves.

Just The Way You Are by Bruno Mars

Oh her eyes, her eyes
Make the stars look like they're not shining
Her hair, her hair
Falls perfectly without her trying

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Yeah I know, I know
When I compliment her
She wont believe me
And its so, its so
Sad to think she don't see what I see

But every time she asks me do I look okay
I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

Her lips, her lips
I could kiss them all day if she'd let me
Her laugh, her laugh
She hates but I think its so sexy

She's so beautiful
And I tell her every day

Oh you know, you know, you know
Id never ask you to change
If perfect is what you're searching for
Then just stay the same

So don't even bother asking
If you look okay
You know I say

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

The way you are
The way you are
Girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

When I see your face
There's not a thing that I would change
Cause you're amazing
Just the way you are
And when you smile,
The whole world stops and stares for awhile
Cause girl you're amazing
Just the way you are

local dinner

2011-04-26T22:53:00.009+10:00

Birthday shout outs: 26O411 - Lisa L.'s 19th Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA =); 3OO411 - Fianna's 19th; O1O511 - Kit's 19th; O2O511 - Christina L.'s 19th; 11O511 - Kenneth's 19th.

Hanh invited us all to dinner at Cabramatta.The restaurant we were supposed to go to was closed today. Of all days, it closed today *sigh*. So we went to Iron Chef instead. It was an expensive restaurant, but the bill ended up not being so expensive =). I think Derek ended up choosing most of the dishes for us, and anyone who wanted to have desserts paid for themselves. I actually always wanted to eat with everyone like how we did today; we'd sit around a round table and order many dishes and rice, and share the food around.

I had an enjoyable night, and the food was quite delicious =). I had fun talking to people who I haven't seen in a while too. I also felt like I've gotten a bit closer to people as well =) which I'm quite happy about. We started goofing around a bit more when the fruits and biscuits came; the boys had fun spinning the glass tray thing while we tried to eat the food. Thanh and Minhky also mocked how Vicky and I flirt. Why they think I'd walk back and start drooling, or how they think Vicky tickles her ears (they said play with hair around her ears, but it looked more like playing with her ears instead), I have no idea but it was a hilarious sight to behold LOL!

Group photo.

After dinner, we ended up loitering around. It starting to become a habit of ours LOL. But I didn't mind it at all. Even though the weather was a bit cool, I felt happy, laughing and talking away with the others =). Though, I do hope nobody got sick, or gotten more sick anyways. Many thanks to Mimi's older brother for driving me home =). I have GOT to get my Ps soon =/.

PS. Thanks Hanh for the photos and home-made cupcakes =). The cupcake was delicious =).

Hanh's home-made cupcake =D.

ANZAC Day Movie Marathon

2011-04-25T23:44:00.006+10:00

23O411 - Minhky's 19th Birthday.

Happy ANZAC DAY Everyone=).

Let us remember those who have fought bravely in the war; let us respect the soldiers who made use of their courage to help their country; let us think fondly of those who kept the country safe. May they rest in peace.

To celebrate ANZAC Day, Thanh decided to hold a BBQ and movie marathon at his house. Since Mimi offered to drive me there, I was one of the people who arrived later to the house. Not wanting to be useless, I helped out with the preparations of the food. It wasn't much, but I tried. I still don't understand why we needed so many onions for ... I don't think we finished it =.= So much for slaving away at the stove to fry it for like 10 - 15 minutes =.='. Anyways, the food was great: the smash potato salad, with ham and herbs, was delicious, the brownies were yummy and the meat was juicy (even though half the time it was burnt pitch black ...).

Washing the dishes was a mess... Well, actually I was the cause of it ^_^'. I wasn't used to the lack of space because my own sink was slightly bigger and I kept forgetting not to plug the drain *sigh*. My apologies to Kelvin, Maxine and Shirley. Shirley ended up cleaning the rest of the dishes while I went to blow dry my jumper and socks. Thanks Thanh, for letting me borrow your hair dryer =). The people who were waiting ended up playing pinball on the computer hahaha.

We ended up watching the movies inside the house, rather than outside against his neighbor's wall, because it got a bit too chilly. It got a bit crowded but it was warm =). We had Mimi's box of Favourites (chocolate variety), popcorn and some brownies. It was a shame that the jelly didn't set fast enough =(.

The first movie we watched was Gnomeo and Juliet, directed by Kelly Asbury, with James McAvoy as Gnomeo and Emily Blunt as Juliet. The movie was your typical fairytale story; a parody of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Though, even though it's predictable, it still brought a smile upon my face; I'd choose a sappy, happy ending over a dramatic, sad ending any day =). I think I'd rate it a 7 out of 10 =).

The next one was The Notebook, directed by Nick Cassavetes, with Ryan Gosling as Noah and Rachel McAdams as Allie. It's a sweet and romantic movie, but if you add the guys' commentary to the mix, you get innuendos, hilarity and romance scenes becoming a joke. One word: ROFLMAOS !!! For example, during the scene where they taking their clothes off and were about to make love, the guys mentioned how disappointed the girl looked ROFLS! I knew what they were implying but I don't think that was what they were trying to act out. Even so, it was hilarious xD. Maxine, Mimi and I couldn't finish the movie off because of Mimi's brother's time restriction but I've watched the movie before. I remembered it was a sad movie but I didn't remember if I cried or not. Speaking of crying, Stephanie did end up crying a bit awww =). I think I'd rate this movie an 8 out of 10 =).

For the rest of the ride home, we some how changed the topic from romance to ghosts. How that happened, I don't really know - oh wait, it was because we passed a 'ghost house' on the way home. Apparently, a truck drove into a house and killed a girl, and she was now haunting the house, but then a new family came in and they were suppressing her because they were people who dealt with voodoos and supernatural related issues. Or so they say anyways. But rather than feeling scared, I felt comfortable and okay with talking about it. We ended up laughing as well =). I think it was Nathan C.'s influence =). He believes in ghosts too but he managed to make me believe that not all ghosts are vengeful ones; they can be just nice, harmless ghosts with regret and that they may be observing people rather than planning to harm them. I'm quite grateful towards Nathan because if it wasn't for him, I'd still believe that all ghosts hold grudges. Watching Ghost Whisperer also helped me with my fear of ghosts =). Anyways, I also mentioned about my incidents when I was home alone; about My Linh's dream and me waking up in my dark house with the radio playing a ghost story. Anyways, many thanks to Andrew for driving me home and I hope they don't have nightmares tonight LOL!

ums, choco-whip and pies

2011-04-18T15:15:00.009+10:00

17O411 - San San 姐姐's 23rd Birthday.

Last Saturday, we held a surprise dinner for Eric's 19th at Red Sichuan, Canley Vale, at around 6 PM, but we didn't start eating until 7 PM when Vicky, Stanley, Thanh and Eric finally arrived; we couldn't start eating without the birthday boy, now can we? Though, it WAS very tempting ... I don't think he was that surprised though. He looked happy, but not really surprised. I guess someone gave it away along the way there *sigh*. Surprises are sure hard to throw =/.

I was having trouble keeping warm, but eating hot pot while you're wearing shorts, a light dress and wet hair is a FANTASTIC way to warm up =D especially eating on the chilli side =D !!! We ordered all sorts of side dishes, well Derek and Kenny made most of the choices, but they were all very delicious. I wasn't particularly fond of the taro balls though, but the quail eggs were delicious. Then again, after having about 20 of them can kind of turn you off of them =S. I didn't want to waste anything food so I scavenged as much food as possible in the hot pot and halved it with Mimi. Mimi did the same thing. I feel like I ended up with more food than her though, but I think it was because half my bowl was soup so you couldn't really see what was underneath. Majority of the hot pots still had food remaining. I felt like just, I don't know ... eating it all just to not waste it =/. But I think I'll just vomit again =.=.

So apparently, Vicky and Stanley was late picking Eric and Thanh up because they had to go to Campsie to get the apple pie because Merrylands' bakery shop was closed LOL. How dedicated are they?! Well, the pie was pretty big, so we end up sharing a slice between 2-3 people =). I was kind of full so I just had crusts and a bit of the apple pie =) it was delicious, but I think it would've tasted nicer if it was heated up. Eric got his BIG container of protein powder; 'Banana Perfection' flavoured or something. I don't like banana ... I would've liked strawberry or chocolate myself, but then again, I don't digest protein powder myself ... Not that kind of person hahaha =).

After dinner, we decided to go back to Thanh's house. So we did; via 3 cars. The only one who didn't go was Kelly, who was driven home by Kenny. What a shame =( I didn't even get to say goodbye to her =(. I got to Thanh's house via Derek's car =) many thanks Derek =).

When we got to Thanh's house, there was a mattress on the floor =D it was his mum's but she went upstairs when we came in. Stanley's group also bought 2 bottles of choco-whip on the way back. After a couple of minutes of pillow fights, tackling and moving around furniture, we decided to play a drinking game. It was the game where we had to figure out the pattern, and if you didn't get it you had to drink a shot of choco-whip. It was funny how Wendy kept saying 'I GOT IT' after almost every round, but she really did end up getting it, just the not the first few times when she said she did hahaha. Rebecka managed to get most of it correct as well, even without knowing what the pattern was hahaha how lucky of her =). Thanh and Stanley's clue was 'think out loud' but half of us still couldn't get it. Vicky may have been the first to get it hahaha. They said that you needed to be drunk to get it, I wonder if they were implying on something about Vicky's alcohol behaviour >.> LOL ! By the end of the night, half of us got it while the other half didn't so they just told us the pattern. It was 'um _________' ... I don't know if I should call it a stupid rule or a smart rule; stupid because it was so simple, but smart because it's so simple people wouldn't usually get it because people think too hard for these games.I think I'm leaning more on the stupid side. I think Sarah and Derek were the only ones who were the least allowed in LOL oh wells. The others were saying that Sarah's too confident to say um LOL! She does seem like a confident person hahaha.

After half the group has left, the other half just laid around, relaxing. I don't know how it started but the boys started singing songs and replacing word with pies and cakes and all sorts of desserts; it was mostly pie though LOL. Hmms... I knew I was red from the alcohol; I was also laughing louder and more than usual LOL but that does NOT mean I'm drunk. I just get red easily because of my size and I'm a female. I could still walk straight, count, etc. Anyways, I had a fun time laughing my head off =).

Many thanks to Stanley for driving us (Vicky, Mimi, Shirley and I) all home even though you're just on your red Ps. That bump near Shirley's house gave me a scare, but the car was okay. I think we also bumped into another car... hopefully I'm wrong. It can't be helped, the windows were all fogged up.

安息吧，第四阿姨

2011-04-18T11:55:00.001+10:00

我想我已经能够访问你搭腔。我希望访问在今年年底你左右。对不起没有跟你有更多的。

你是一个不错的阿姨给我。我听说你死了一个和平的死亡。请继续看在你的家人。我们将永远想着你。如果可以，妈妈和我会尽量来尽快访问你的坟墓。

我觉得不好的行为，因为我觉得这是我的错，妈妈部分是不能去你的葬礼。如果我不认为我们开车到我的校园我的任务在手，妈妈不会晚回家打电话给在使签证费用的家伙。然后，她就一直要与你的葬礼本周二姑姑那里。

我知道你对我妈妈很多的照顾。我会照顾她，你不要担心。你可以走了，但我还是希望你能快乐在那里。

第四阿姨

R.I.P 15/04/2011

making out with ox tongue

2011-04-18T11:37:00.001+10:00

Or so Eric said =).

On Wednesday night, a small group of us (most UNSW students) went to celebrate Eric's birthday at Yummy Chinese BBQ at Central. Thanh and I were late. I thought it was fortunate that I waited for him at Lidcombe station because I was low on credit and travel with a friend is better than travelling by yourself =).

For $30 per person, with the exception of Eric since it was his birthday, we spent 2 hours eating our hearts out. Mimi and I were quite happy because there were quail eggs =D ! Though quail eggs are higher in cholestral than chicken eggs ... Apparently, Jenifer wasn't really a meat eater so I felt a bit bad for her since there weren't many vegetable side dishes =/. I also think I ate chicken since I'm hopeless at distinguishing one meat from another ahaha... well, like Vicky said 'what you don't know won't hurt you,' =D. Anyways, from what I remembered, we tried pork belly, pork intestine, ox tongue, crab meat, chicken gizzard (I really don't know what it is, nor do I remember eating it), ox back, prawns, chicken wings, frankfurt kebab sticks and many more. LOL there were a lot of insinuations about the ox tongue, eg. the title of my blog post.

Derek, Kenny and Stanley came by when we were about to cut the cake. I was quite content that most of the desserts were mango flavoured =D though, I must say that the pudding didn't really taste like mango. Anyways, the cake was a Michel's Patisserie cheesecake. I think it was some sort of berry flavour. It was funny watching Eric blow out the candle again after Thanh relit them, saying that the wish didn't come true. I'm assuming that they were implying that Vicky was still there LOL that was mean of them. I'm not a huge fan of cheesecake and in all honesty, I don't think I should eat anything dairy when I'm extremely full, and I was getting quite full =S. Either, I managed to finish my piece of the cake.

They going to karaoke after dinner but I couldn't join them seeing that I had an assignment due soon and I had no ride back. Derek and Sarah joined me. Although Sarah took another line from us, fortunately Derek took the same line as me so I wasn't as lonely. My mum was extremely annoyed with me when I got back *sigh* I just kept quite for the rest of the ride back. Oh wells, like she said, either I find a ride home with I was go to home late or go home early if I wanted her to pick me up *sigh*.

PS. It was funny that Thanh was the only one who noticed the half naked portrait of a lady on the while, and after he pointed it out, we all automatically turn to look at it LOL.
PSS. Thanks Sarah for the photos =).
PSSS. I heard Jenifer was as good as Taylor Swift *gasps* !!! Whoa =D !!! I wish I was there to hear it =D.

rain another year

2011-04-18T01:12:00.001+10:00

O2O411 - Jeffrey's 19th & Raymond D.'s 20th Birthday.

O7O411 - 爸爸's Birthday.

O8O411 - Jack's 20th Birthday.

Last Sunday, I went to the Bring It On Festival, at the Fairfield Show ground, with Karen. It wasn't as crowded as last year, but it was nice to see how strongly they were advocating health amongst the community =); I, myself, managed to bring home half a bag full of them... well, kind of since I ate half of it before I brought it home ^_^'. I did the skipping rope challenge and only made it to 3 minutes and 21 seconds =(. If I made it to 5 minutes, i would've gotten a basket ball or a soccer ball. I was able to take home a skipping rope or a handball, but I already have both, so I just took extra peaches instead =D (which were free to begin with). By the way, I actually skipped barefooted because I was wearing platforms, and I don't think wearing platforms while skipping would've been very comfortable. Apparently, Karen said that I kept on moving up and down the place instead of staying in one spot hahaha I guess I unintentionally did that when I avoided stopping my skipping routine.

I also had American churros (which is kind of like a stick version of a cinnamon donut, with filling inside), mango flavoured snow cone and hot dog. I kind of regretted ordering the hot dot after I saw all that oil on the frying pan =S. We went around collecting freebies as well, and even had a free hand massage =D it was like heaven *sigh*. Seeing that we couldn't decide what to get for our mothers for Mothers' Day, we decided to make them this smelling bath soap ourselves; they were giving free lessons in the Women's section. We also met and talked to Adrian a couple of times. I didn't see many ex-volunteers from the years before =/ I guess they didn't bother this year.

We went home at around 2:30 PM because it started raining. Unfortunately, my mum was busy at home so Karen's mum was nice enough to give me a lift home =). Maybe I should've said to drop me off at Stocklands instead so I could use my $20 voucher straight away =D. But it would've been lonely shopping by myself ... eh, it doesn't matter anymore =).

Later that night, at around 5:30 PM, we went to SuperDish, at Cabramatta to celebrate my uncle's birthday. Coincidentally, Vicky was working on that day. Well, actually, I half expected that, seeing that it was a weekend and all lol =). My cousin, Marina, and mum also noticed she was working that night too =). I thought I would feel awkward, eating with my family and having a friend working there, but it didn't feel awkward at all. Maybe it was because she was too busy, and I was just minding my own business with my family. I did kept a look out for her every now and then though =) and she did talk to me a bit when she got to our table =). The food wasn't bad, but the pipis/clams disappointed me =( half of them were just shells, and I'm sure we're supposed to have more than the amount that they gave us... well, in comparison to the bowl I saw another table had the last time I ate there >.> ... Ah, it didn't matter, I and an enjoyable night =).

I joined my cousins to Woolworth after dinner and saw Carina =D. I wonder how long she's been working there already. I wish I worked there =(. Strangely enough, Marina asked me that I must not really like my mum because I followed them instead of my mum. Initially, I thought it was because I felt more comfortable, seeing that I was closer to their ages than my mum and my relatives' ages. Or am I just turning a blind eye to the distance between my mum and I? I thought it was decreasing, but now I don't know anymore. I'll just think about it another night.

State Election

2011-03-30T15:40:00.008+11:00

Last Saturday, I worked for the state election. I worked at the Cabra Vale Leisure Centre but initially I thought I was working at Cabravale Diggers because of the 'Cabravale' part. It was only recently that Cabra Vale Leisure Centre became a polling area. Maybe because it's recent, not that many people knew about it, or they just rather go to a place where they're used to going. So by the end of the day, less than 300 people voted at our place and hence, we get to go home earlier than most people =). I wish it was more busy, but it wasn't so bad. There were boxing bags there so we just exercised while we waited for people to come. I also had fun talking to the liberal scrutineers for our location; Michelle and Christine. I wonder if I'll ever see them again =).
Anyways, Dai Le received the most votes in our location but overall, it was Nick Lalich who won the seat for Cabramatta. Apparently, for this year's state election, Liberal won with 67 seats, Labor with 18 seats and others (Independent groups) with 3 seats. Bummer. Well, Labor has been running the government for the last 16 years. I guess people felt a need for change.

it's raining candies and lollies =)

2011-03-28T12:12:00.012+11:00

23O311 - Derek's 19th and Julie C.'s 19th Birthday.
24O311 - Jessica Tan's 19th Birthday.

Derek, the birthday boy =).

On Friday night, we ate at Villawood's Killa Burger and bowled at AMF Bowling for Derek's 19th birthday outing. We were split into four groups; I was with Kelly, Wendy, Jessica T. and Minhky. Luckily, I didn't come last for either of the cames. I managed to get a strike, so I'm happy =) but I did worse in the second game than the first. I wanted to beat Minhky but I was too busy taking photos and socialising to bother with bowling anymore. Oh wells, there's always next time =). In our group, Kelly was the best =). There were quite a few people who were really good at bowling, or maybe I just suck =P. I'm happy to see Wendy improved so much in one game =D; she was last in the first one, but she went up to the 60s in the second one =D. Anyways, everyone was pretty much all over the place LOL taking photos and goofing around; I even learnt some dance moves from the guys. I think they were more like comedic dance moves than anything else HAHAHA. Mimi, Maxine and I kept on doing them for the rest of the night xD I had heaps of fun. I hope Derek did too =).

We loitered around the parking lot after the bowling. A couple of people left by then. We decided to finally play with the pinata that Kenneth and Rebecka bought for Derek. Derek destroyed it in one punch O_O and like Edim said 'The pinata is bleeding candy. Derek's such a brute!' HAHAHA It didn't matter because pinatas are meant to be destroyed/demolished in order to reach for the lovely, sweet goodies inside =D. We then moved to a close by maccas, but it was closed. Hence, after a good half an hour of thinking of where to go, Rebecka suggested that we went to her old house since she still had the keys for it. Since Harrison and Margaret left with his car, we had to squish 19 people into 3 cars *sigh* I was in Derek's car. We had to drive Jenifer home since she wanted to go home by then. So we drove all the way to Bossley Park and then back to Rebecka's house at Chesterhill. We didn't stay long at Rebecka's house; after about 20 minutes, we all went home. Again, Derek drove me home =). Thanks Derek! Anyways, I hope he had a heaps of fun =).

The pinata bled =(.

PS. Got home by around 12AM.
PSS. It was Jessica Tan's birthday hahaha. We wished her happy birthday as she drove away from Rebecka's house.
PSSS. Thanks for the photos Derek, Sarah, Shirley, Jenifer and Jessica =).
PSSSS. Some of the people in the group sang Friday by Rebecca Black =____________=' NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

RSA + RCG

2011-03-20T22:55:00.000+11:00

After 2 weeks, I finally got both my RSA (Responsible Services of Alcohol) and RCG (Responsible Conduct of Gambling) at the Coffee School near Central station. Kelly also got her 2 certificates there; she said that it was the cheapest place she could find. All together, I paid $100 for it =) hopefully I'll be able to find a job easier, and hopefully I'll be able to work at an RSL club >.

It took 2 weeks because at first I only wanted to do the RSA but then I made a friend there and she said in order to work at an RSL club I need the RCG as well, and went I went home to book it for the next day it was full, so i had to wait for another week.

I had a funny teach for my RSG; Mark Almond. He told us stories about all the jobs and funny incidents that he's been through, so it wasn't so bad. For RCG, I had Greg White. He wasn't as funny as Mark, but he tried to make the most of it, and he taught us quicker than Mark did; we finished an hour earlier. I almost thought I wasn't going to pass the test because the questions were worded weirdly and all, so I received quite a lot of help from the girl sitting next to me. I was also having trouble staying awake in class because I only had 3 hours of sleep the night before. It was also because it was raining; rain tend to make me sleepy. Who wouldn't be.

Anyways, it was sunny again by the time I took the train. It became cloudy again when I reached my stop *sigh*. I really don't like the weather =.=. Autumn's all over the place.

"can I have the red slushie with an umbrella on top please?"

2011-03-20T22:42:00.001+11:00

Andrew was about to say that, seeing that neither of us knew what the drink was, before Long stepped in and bought the drink for me instead =). Before I get to that, I'll talk about how my day went.

Just yesterday, I drove to Parramatta, with my mum, for a job interview at Michel's Patisserie. The one I went to was level 5. At first, I couldn't have the interview because they were just too busy so they told me to come back an hour or two later. Mum and ! went shopping for Paz's earphones before stopping at the food court for lunch.

I decided to have Subway for lunch and guess who I saw? YIBO =D !!! Actually, when I saw him in a distance I thought he looked familiar, but when he was serving I was thinking 'what... is that who I think it is?' I didn't say hi because I was too surprised and I wasn't 100% sure if it was him either. Previously, I mistaken a stranger as a friend, so not wanting t embarrass myself, I just kept staring at him. I'm pretty sure he knew I was surprised too, from my face, because he said 'yeah' which sounded like it was short for 'yeah, I work here.' But after that, he asked me what i wanted, without saying hi, so I thought I got the wrong person. But throughout the whole process I kept on looking at him to see if it really was him. At the end, before I could even ask if he was Yibo, he went to serve another customer (it was pretty busy after all), so I asked his work mate instead. "Excuse me, is that Yibo?" "Yeah" *gasps!* So I didn't mistake a stranger for him =). When I was about to pay, the work mate said that Yibo would should me =D !!! THAT'S SO NICE OF HIM !!! I said my thanks and ran back to my mum to tell her about it. But when I started eating, I started to doubt if I heard wrong or something =S because I didn't think he would treat me seeing that we don't talk to each other that often. Either way, I was really grateful =) it was the best turkey foot long subway I've ever eaten xD. THANKS YIBO =) !!!

After lunch, I went back to the shop and the manager came out to talk to me. Apparently, they didn't call me in =S. IT WAS THE WRONG SHOP >.< !!! I quickly called back the number and asked what level they were and they said they were level 1 *sigh* so mum and I quickly went down to level 1. When I did my job interview, all they asked about was what nationality I was and what days I could work. The manager also asked if I could work at 6AM =S feeling kind of desperate, I said yes *sigh*. So now, he's going to call me in for a trial. I really do hope I don't seriously have to go to work at 6Am if I did get the job.

We went home afterward. Half an hour later, Andrew and Adrian came by to pick me up for dinner. They said that they wanted to catch up with me, and seeing I haven't really talk to them in a while, I said yes =). Cassandra was supposed to come too, but she never replied to their text messages. We went to Mounties and then later down to the bar and pokey area. Both Adrian and Andrew bought me drinks for the entire night =) I was thankful for that.

Adrian and I.

Andrew and I.

I had 2 beers (both different types of beer) and a raspberry vodka with slushie, strawberry and zest pieces. I like the raspberry vodka because it tasted fruity and it had strawberries in it =). And like I said earlier, we didn't know what it was called, so Andrew was about to ask for the 'red slushie, in the martini glass, with an umbrella' or something like that LOL! But in the end, it was Andrew's friend who bought it instead since he knew what it was called. Andrew actually caught up with a group of friends at the bar, coincidentally, so we all conversed for an hour or so before splitting up. Andrew, Adrian and Andrew's friends went to play this Gladiator game where you just knock off your opponent off the stand. Andrew kept on losing =P. It can't be helped since he was the shortest out of the guys hahaha.

I got home at 12AM. Many thanks to Andrew and Adrian for driving me home. I had a great night =).

'Blue Valentine' under the stars

2011-03-10T02:17:00.004+11:00

1OO311 - My Linh's 18th Birthday.

Yesterday, Derek invited us to eat pizza and watch a movie together =). It was the first outing, of the year, where I get to see most of my friends again =). Thank you Derek for inviting me =).

But before that, I had a great time exploring the university and taking photos with MG =). We didn't have to go to the main campus yesterday, but we went to get our NURS5081 books. We went taking photos of the university; went to get our books from the copy centre; and talked to 'The Wilderness Society' and the struggles of the Western Australian Kimberley ecosystem against the government plans for a gas station. I wanted to join and donate every month, but their donations only received debit cards, not cash, so I couldn't join. I have a debit card, but I've never used it before; mum always look after it. We met up with Wendy and caught up a bit before she left for her tutorial and we left to go to the park. The Victoria Park was near the university; I think it's now one of MG and mine favourite places in the university =D. We had heaps of fun playing on all those strange looking playground equipments. There was the miniature flying fox; this circular spinning thing; this miniature cone looking swing where it's big enough to even cross your legs on it; there was this S-shaped balance beam which I tried so hard to walk along it (I accomplished it, but I ended up falling right at the end =.='); and then there was also this big soccer ball looking rope thing which MG and I have reached the top of. I had quite a few injuries but it was fun =D.

The doggy helpers of 'The Wilderness Society' =).

Victoria Park, the park that MG and I now like =).

After and hour or so, MG went to the library while I went to meet up with Wendy. I was supposed to study as well, but I didn't have the time too =( I brought my heavy NURS5002 book to uni for no reason T_T. Wendy and I took the train to Bondi Junction and met Edim. Since everyone else was late, we decided to meet them at the restaurant instead. We went to Svens, a pizza restaurant, for dinner; it was Derek's recommendation. The place was designed to look like the Viking era; even the menu and toilets were in some kind of Viking/Swedish language LOL =D. The pizza was great; I especially like 'The World Tree' because it had prawns in it =D. Maybe because the glasses looked intriguing, we drank more water than usual =P. Sarah and I ate the most salad; I don't even know what it was. A Viking styled coleslaw? I thought the vinegar (balsamic vinegar?) was extra strong, but it was still delicious =). It was also funny to see Sarah and I both taking photos of the food hahaha. I couldn't help it; it's been a year since I last had a camera =P and I really like my latest camera too =D.

Svens, the pizza restaurant.

'The World Tree,' my favourite pizza =).

After dinner, we went to Centennial Park where the Moonlight Cinema was. When we got there, half of the group decided to go buy some ice cream. After a while, we bought the tickets and Edim, Thanh and Derek went in to rent the bean bags while Sarah, Vicky, Eric and I stayed back to give the others their tickets. We were so bored that we started irritating one another; Eric was mostly the victim =). It was about an hour later when they came back with bags and bags of junk food. They even bought juice O_O but we end up not having any.

Blue Valentine is a realistic, melancholy movie about a couple on the road to divorce. Directed by Derek Cianfrance; the movie compares the past and present of a couple, played by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, the changes in their romance, their expectations, their lifestyles and their goals. By the end of the movie, I think the most upsetting thing about the movie was how realistic it was; it's true that the rates of divorce is increasing every year. I pitied the male protagonist more, but I believe they're both at fault. It seemed that the female audience was more likely to pity the male protagonist, while the male audience was more likely to pity the female protagonist. In the end, I think the child was the most innocent and most pitied person in this broken family. The female protagonist made me think that love and romance didn't exist anymore. I'll never want to have a family like that. I do admit that their acting was really good though. I think I would rate this movie a 7/10; the plot and ending lost the points. The plot was good and all, but I just don't like sad movies/stories in general, especially this movie because it reminded me a lot of things I didn't want to remember.

After the movie, it took us a while to leave because we were enjoyed relaxing on the bean bags too much; we almost wanted to take them home with us. When we did, conversations about the plot continued on. Everyone had strong opinions about various things; I think Shirley had one of the strongest ones - she strongly thought the female protagonist was weak even though she did empathise with her. Anyways, Shirley's dad drove Vicky, Mimi and i home. Thanks Shirley's dad =). I got home by ~ 12:30 AM *sigh* it's been a while since I went home this late.

PS. The weather was kind of hot during the day but by evening, the weather felt nice and cool =).It felt like Autumn.

a picky family?

2011-03-09T17:25:00.000+11:00

Last Sunday, the family went out to celebrate my cousins' grandma's birthday at Cabramatta. Initially, we were going to eat at Super Dish, the newly opened restaurant, but they were really packed, so we decided to eat at this other restaurant on John St.; a restaurant we haven't eaten at in years. It was a Vietnamese restaurant near a cake shop; I forgot the name ^_^',

Anyways, apparently, one of the conversation topics was about the family being a bit too picky, either with the food or the services, and have pissed quite a few restaurants off. I have a feeling that it was my uncle who did most of the complaining since he's the most meticulous with things *sigh*. On a happier note, I felt that I bonded with Andrew a bit more that day. I guess he's just trying to get along with my cousin's family; he's her boyfriend after all. Oh, and I also had fun listening to aunt talk about Marina's old habits when she was a child hahaha =D.

The food was good, as usual. The service was good too, but according my cousins, the head manager looked as though she was forcing a smile, but she gradually became happier. I guess it was because we weren't that picky that day. Aunt and I shared a 'banh hoi nam neng,' which is kind of like a wrapping your own Asian wrap. I ate majority of it because aunt didn't feel like eating that much. I also had this 3-choices drink. It was odd, because it would've been one of the last drinks I would've ordered because of the red beans - I don't really like beans or nuts in general, besides bean sprout =).

Maybe because I'm not a teenager anymore, maybe I became more talkative or maybe I learned to be closer to my family but I find family dinners more enjoying than before =).

even hand hygiene has a technique to it

2011-03-02T00:14:00.002+11:00

O2O311 - Mikky's 19th Birthday. Happy Birthday =D !!!

I had my first nursing clinical simulation laboratory (NURS5081) yesterday and I thought it was pretty interesting, so I'm going to post up some of the notes I took in class =).

Hand Hygiene (HH) or washing your hands is the single most important practice to reduce transmission of infection by reducing the number of micro-organisms on your hands. There are 2 types of soaps:

Antimicrobial - hand rub that doesn't require water.
Non-antimicrobial - where soap and water is required.

There are 5 key moments where hand hygiene is required:

Before touching a patient.
Before a procedure.
After a procedure / body fluid exposure risk.
After touching a patient.
After touching a patient's surroundings.

There are 4 different types of hand washes:

Routine / Social Hand Rub - when your hands aren't visibly dirty.
Routine / Social Hand Wash - when your hands are visibly dirty; wash with water.
Aseptic - when you're trying to be as sterile as possible; when washing, the entire process should be ~ 60 seconds.
Surgical.

I'll won't blog about the other topics that I learned about because I found hand hygiene to be most interesting, besides Sim Man and the simulation mannequins used for practice. Now, they're just disturbing, especially the ones in the classroom because they actually have their eyes open. The ones in the simulated hospital rooms had their eyes closed. They're disturbing because they're made to behave just like how an actually human being would behave in that scenario. With just the press of a button, you can make them breathe heavily, quicken their pulse, moan in pain and even vomit! Very disturbing indeed... I wouldn't want to be near them alone, at night >.> ...

Anyways, back to hand hygiene. I found a moderately detailed video that shows you how to properly wash your hands. We actually had to do that in class. We would first use the 'glitter bug' cream to rub our hands in; then we would wash our hands, with soap, and then by using a UV light, we would see how well we washed our hands. The first time I washed my hands, it turned out pretty bad =S I had a lot of white patches (bacteria). The second time I did it, it was better, but I need to remember to wash my wrists and my fingernails better =.='.

Hand Washing Technique.

3 things you must remember for ice skating

2011-02-26T23:40:00.005+11:00

I went ice skating at Cantebury with some friends today. Though my ice skating skills improved, my tendency to fall never ceased. Also, because I left the house at the hottest time of the day, I completely forgot to wear the proper attire for ice skating. Hence, I wore shorts and ankle socks, and didn't bother to bring a jacket. For the next time, there are 3 things I must remember:

Wear thick socks.
Wear pants.
Bring a jacket/cardigan/jumper.

Anyways, I didn't fall as much as Raymond, but I fell harder than he did. If my camera had batteries, I would've taken a photo of it and upload it just to show you how serious it was. I'm pretty sure when I wake up tomorrow morning, I'll have bruises all over my legs. There were 2 injuries that were particularly painful. One was from knocking into a kid and falling very closely on my tailbone. Luckily, the kid didn't get hurt and besides, she had a helmet on. Another was when we made a train; Linh was the leader and she was going very fast. Jack, being behind me, was also going very fast. I was having a trouble holding onto Linh so when I fell, everyone else on the train fell. Jack said that he almost cut my fingers off because when I leaned backwards, my fingers were very close to his feet. I'm also thankful because if he didn't lift me onto his lap, I could've gotten a bigger scrape on my thigh. We played tips for a while; I was the only one who wasn't 'it,' which was good because i wouldn't have been able to tip anyone anyways.

At around 4:30PM we left to eat at Canley Heights. When we went to pay for the bill, it was a lot cheaper than we thought; we think it was because they gave us the wrong bill xP. Lucky us, I guess. Though I do feel kind of bad. Raymond had to leave early so we all drove to his house. After Raymond left with his family, for a 50th anniversary celebrate of his grandparents or something, we just stood outside his house to chat. Matt gave Elin, Linh and Kenny a ride on his bike since he's on his full license. Linh then felt like going to the beach, so we did. We made a pit-stop at my house first because I needed to change my clothes and all.

We decided to go to La Perouse Beach since it was the closest. By the time we reached there, it was around 8PM. We pretty much just hanged out, chatted and played in the sand. may I say how disturbing Jack's faces were? They looked oddly realistic at night. Or maybe because of the shadows. Either way, it was disturbing. We didn't really play in the water, but Matt actually dared to go swimming even though he wasn't wearing the proper attire, nor did he have a towel. I wouldn't dare to go swimming in the dark. Though, Kenny did have a torch with him. For once, I could see heaps of starts. It was very beautiful, but oddly enough it was in a line. We think it was because there were houses on either side of the beach. Still, I could stare at them all night if I could =). We left the beach at around 9:30PM. I was sniffling by that time. Many thanks to Kenny for driving me home =).

PS. Kenny's manual driving is getting better, but I still think Linh drives the smoothest, in manual or automatic =).
PSS. Thanks Jack and Linh for the photos =).

BBQ + Hot Pot

2011-02-23T02:42:00.002+11:00

On Monday, Linh invited me to a BBQ at Jack's house. Anthony was the one who drove us there. We stopped by Carrington's Westfields first to buy some food for the BBQ. I did most of the cooking >=D HA dare say that I can't cook huh?! Then again... cooking a BBQ isn't that hard >.> Since it was so hot in the morning, Jack actually hosed us while we were cooking =.=. Thankfully, he didn't do it for long, or else the food would've been ruined.

Anyways, I felt sorry for the magpies =/ the boys were having fun chucking the leftover sausages at them. Actually, I feel bad about wasting food too, but I didn't actually have the stomach to eat it all. I was saving up for Korean BBQ later that night. We didn't end up going. Anyways, it got worse actually; first it was chucking them, then it was batting with them with a baseball bat, and then they decided to through empty coke bottles instead. Half the time, they hit Jack instead LOL xP.

We played snooker, and then another game involving snooker. I don't know what's it called but it goes like this; we all pick a number out of a cup, and we just play snooker. If your ball gets out, you were out too. In this game, the difference was that you're allowed to hit any ball, not only just stripped or solid ones; and you're allowed to hit the 8 ball as well, you didn't need to wait until the end to hit it in. Yes, I was hopeless at it. Everyone was better than me. Jack and Michael ended up hitting the balls off the table half the time; Michael was really good at the game O_O.

We did different things after that. Some of us watched movies, like Alvin and the Chipmunks: Squeakquel and Dinner with the Schmucks. The chipmunks movie was okay but the Dinner wit the Schmucks was pretty funny =D. We watched a bit of 172 Hours. I thought it was pretty gruesome and graphic; maybe because it was based on a true story =/. I digressed. The others played snooker again. Linh and Lisa went for a walk a couple of times too. When Elin came over, the boys started making pancakes while the girls watched a movie.

Around 7PM, My Linh and Allan came to pick Lisa, Linh and I up. By then, it actually started sprinkling =.= stupid weather. Linh wasn't feeling that well. But since we were all hungry, we ended up going to Canley Vale for hot pot at Red Sichuan. Unfortunately, my friends weren't working that day =(. Anyways, the food was pretty nice; the interior was half decorative, half mundane (maybe they didn't want to overdo it with the decorations); and they had very nice/good services =). We ordered a half normal spicy and half chicken soup base; we doubted if the spicy side was really 'normal'. If that was normal, 'hot' would've been extremely chili. I think it was mostly because of the herbs that made it spicy. The herbs kind of irritated our throats as well. To me, the spice was something I could handle, but it did make me cough a couple of times. We didn't order desserts because we were all a bit full. The bill ended up being ~$110. I guess it wasn't as bad as the all-you-can-eat TK Something restaurant next door.

Linh drove us home instead since My Linh didn't want to drive. It took a while to get home because we had a short conversation while parked in front of Linh's house. I won't expose the content of the conversation, but it was kind of funny =P. Anyways, I'm thankful towards Linh because she always drove me home =P. Toby cried when I got home *sigh* =P.

PS. Jack's computer tower was HUGE O_O!!!

PSS. My Linh is a really funny driver =P.
PSSS. Welcome home to those who went to Kiama =).

pancakes at 10 PM anyone?

2011-02-16T00:07:00.002+11:00

It took us a while to get to Pancakes at the Rocks, in Northmead, because we were waiting for Jack to get his check up at the hospital. Eventually, Elin left, and then Kenny needed to go home early too, so Linh, Anthony and I had to go with him since he was the one who drove us there.

Jack assumed it was a spider bite since there were 2 small bite holes in his forearm, but I guess it was either not that poisonous, or it was just a garden insect, because it's been 3 days before he decided to go have it checked up. It was pretty much red and swollen, I guess it's either due to the inflammation of the leukocytes or the poison was finally taking affect on his body.

Kenny drove us back to Linh's house, and Linh drove us back out to the Westmead hospital that Jack was at. He's been waiting for ~3 hours and it still wasn't his turn yet. Hungry, we all decided to leave and have some dinner at the Pancakes at the Rocks. Linh was so nice to treat me a meal; she said that it was because I just came back from Malaysia =D. I was starving all day, so I was really glad when the food finally came. Strangely enough, even though I was really hungry, I got pretty full from the meal. Usually, I could eat some more food, but today was enough for me. I had the urge to take away the food as lunch the next day but they didn't have that kind of service *sigh*. Many thanks to Linh for the food and for driving me home anyways =). To be honest, I think Linh is one of the smoothest drivers out of all the friends' cars I've sat in. I also think Kenny needs more practice with his manual driving =P. Damn. I still have a lot more things to unpack =(.

Diary Entry #16: Finally home (14O211)

2011-02-15T05:56:00.008+11:00

Dear Diary,

Happy 19th Birthday Thanh =) .

It was also Valentines Day. I thought to myself, "great, I'll be home; single, family-less, a garage full of termites and hungry." I guess it wasn't that bad. Again, I had some assistance to help me through the check-out and all. It took longer than I thought because the other people that were with me were having a bit of trouble finding their luggage. Though, it was okay. We get to go into the express lines and all =). When I got out, I met up with Mun uncle and aunt. Mum have asked them to pick me up from the airport. They were her table-tennis and tafe buddies =). Thankfully, the parking fees weren't that expensive, though I did feel bad for making them wait for me for so long. It took a while to find the car because they seemed to have forgotten where they parked it. On the way home, they offered to take me out to lunch, but I was too exhausted and I wasn't feeling too hungry.

When I got home, Toby was really happy to see me =D. He was so happy and scared that he cried every time I moved away from him, forcing me to let him be close to me. Every time I let go of him, he would cry and try to jump onto me again. Even if I did let him sit on my lap, he still continued to cry. I guess he felt extremely lonely without mum and I there. Uncle looked after him for us, but his presence was brief every day. I felt really bad for leaving him home alone. It went on for ~30 minutes before he finally settled down. Uncle came over to check up on me and all. I'm really grateful that he had looked after Toby, looked after our mails and looked after our house well. I felt bad when I realized I didn't really buy him a souvenir =/. Hence, I decided to give him one of my fridge magnets =). At least it's something, right?

For the rest of the day, and night, I slept, read and went on the computer. I felt too tired and too lazy to make instant noodles and hence, I starved that night =/. But I'm glad to be home again =).

On a side note, I'm very grateful and thankful for my relatives hospitality in Malaysia. They looked after me and took care of every thing for me; they even paid for most of my stuff over there. They made me feel right at home, even though it's been years since I last saw them; they made me feel comfortable =). I can't wait to go back there again. I love them =).

Love,

FiONA =).

Diary Entry #15: Farewell family, farewell Malaysia

2011-02-13T04:24:00.004+11:00

Dear Diary,

That morning, the whole family, except cousin Mun Loong (he was working), went to Levain again for breakfast. And again, I ordered more bread than I could handle. I didn't even finish the bread from last time. I wonder if it's overdue now =/. We went shopping after breakfast. The main purpose was to buy my Super Junior merchandises MWUAHAHA >=D The shop that we went to was more expensive than the ones we usually went to, but they had majority of their CDs/DVDs and had other Super Junior merchandises as well. I went crazy. I wish I bought the whole shop ^_^ but I didn't have enough money. I was crazy enough to buy a t-shirt with their faces on it =P. I planned on going to sleep with it >=D. My relatives laughed at me because I was squealing so much ^_^". I really wish I could stay until March because Super Junior was having a concert in the middle of March in Malaysia T_T. I spent over ~ RM $300, which was ~ AU $100 ... I must've been out of my mind. Well, at least it's only $100, if it was in Australia, I would've been only able to buy 1 or 2 CD/DVD for $100 =P. I don't regret it.

We went home and I officially finished packing up. I spent rest of the afternoon on the computer, watching things and all. Everyone else was sleeping, watching television or relaxing.

At around 5PM, we left to aunt's brother's place of Zhi Lun's 7th birthday party. We brought my luggage as well since we were going straight to the airport afterward. Unfortunately, I was stupid enough to forget my camera charger, so my uncle drove back home to get it for me. I felt bad and thankful toward my uncle; bad because I made him go back, and thankful because he did.

Other cousins of Zhi Lun were already there. They were all my second cousins since they were my cousins' cousins. It was a party for close friends and family only. The food was pretty nice, buffet-styled. Auntie, my aunt's brother's wife, was into Korean shows =D YAY she was also into 2PM for their muscular physique. Strange to know a middle-aged married woman into the Korean Wave hahaha. But I'm happy to know I'm not alone. On television, there was this Korean show that was kind of emotional; it was able these workers from 3rd world countries who went to Korea to work and have been away from their family for years. The producer of the shower actually went to each of their families and made a video for them. One of them actually even get to see his family again. Maybe the sense of longing, sadness, yearning and unity got to me because I ended up shedding a few tears. Many things went through my head at the time and I couldn't help but feel upset for a while. But because it was my last day there, and I was at a birthday party, I tried to get over it, and I did =). I hand fun playing with my cousins and second cousins. I don't think Zhi Lun liked my present as much as the plane. It was a stationary set, and he was a little boy... of course I'd like the plane as well. But hopefully, he'll use the set once he starts school. We took a couple of family photos before finally leaving at around 8PM. Strange how when I arrived to Malaysia it rained, and now that I was leaving, it also rained. Though, this time the rain was a bit heavier; there was even thunder and lightning.

To kill time, I was singing throughout half the trip to the airport =P. My cousins sometimes joined in. We also played around a bit too, like tickling each other and all. Somehow, I feel like it's their way of reassuring me; like some kind of affectionate display that meant 'I had fun with you around;''I'll miss you' and 'take care'. Before we made it to the airport, cousin San San called cousin Mun Loong for me so that i could bid him farewell since he couldn't see me off.

When we got to the airport, we checked in. Luckily, they allowed me to check in 2 bags instead of one, even though it was just over 20 KGs (I wasn't suppose to have more than 20KGs checked in). And again, my cousin asked if I could have some assistance to help me throughout the process. How embarrassing T_T. But I'm grateful too =).

We went to a near by cafe to rest a bit. We were also waiting for cousin Mun Hong and his girlfriend. I felt grateful but sorry at the same time; grateful because they could make it to see me off, but sorry because I'm sure I interfered with their plans for that day =(. I apologize. The girlfriend was nice enough to buy me a toy before I left. It was some kind of M&Ms chocolate machine where I put chocolate inside and press some stuff for chocolate to come out. Unfortunately, the chocolate wasn't already in it, but I'm still thankful =D. We took a couple of family photos before we said our goodbyes. I gave them all a hug and said goodbye, but stupidly, I forgot to thank them for every thing. Not that I wasn't thankful, but it just slipped out of my mind. The assistance lady was waiting and all, and things felt like a rush. That was my only regret =(. Though I did message my cousin later to tell everyone 'thank you' on my stead =) hopefully she did.

Again, I was sitting next to the aisle. This time, I was sitting next to a family with a young boy. He was cute =). Anyways, throughout the whole trip, I didn't sleep at all. I was too busy reading 'Angel' that I completely forgot. When I was just about to have a quick nap, someone opened their windows up and it was daylight. Seriously, I was 'WTHing' because I seriously didn't expect time to fly that quickly. For ~8 hours, I spent it reading a book, and i didn't even get to half way either. Not only was I lost in time, but I was an extremely slow reader too. I knew i was slow, but I didn't know I was THAT slow >.>. To be honest, the food wasn't as great as the first trip I made, to Malaysia, so end up not eating much. I honestly tried, but I really couldn't. I also felt a bit dizzy as well, unlike the first trip. I guess I was still feeling a bit sick.

Fowati Koten,

FiONA =).

Diary Entry #14: Initiate the 'Pack Up' plan

2011-02-12T16:02:00.004+11:00

Dear Diary,

Happy 19th Birthday to Rebecca C. =).

For brunch, since aunt didn't make any food for us, cousin San San took me outside to eat. The food was nice; I especially liked the strawberry-banana shake. I prefer to just eat banana by itself, but the drink was actually really delicious =D. I didn't think I would ever like something with blended banana in it, but now I do =D. Even cousin San San thought it was good because she ordered it to take away for cousin Mun Fei. She ordered other things too because aunt and cousin Mun Fei didn't have anything to eat and they weren't bothered to go out to eat with us.

For half of the afternoon, we spent it on packing my things up. Cousin San San suggest that I rolled up my clothes to make more room. She was right; there was more room =D. For the other half of the afternoon, we went out to do a bit of shopping.Auntie and cousin San San was at the hair dressers while cousin Mun Fei took me to a book store. I was deciding whether I should by a beginner Chinese book to teach myself some Chinese, but I ended up choosing 2 novels instead; 'Fallen' by Lauren Kate and 'Angel' by L.A. Weatherly. Cousin Mun Fei bought me the books. I wasn't being serious, but he bought them anyways =D I'm very grateful =D I haven't bought books in ages. I bought a stationary set for Zhi Lun because tomorrow was his 7th birthday party. Cousin Mun Fei and San San combined to buy him a small electrical toy plane instead.

Later at night, we invited cousin Mun Hong and 3rd auntie to eat dinner with us. We went to the same restaurant where we had crabs. That night, I was the one who treated everyone =). It was my way of thanking them for looking after me and all =). It was also the first time I've treated people to dinner =). I hope they enjoyed it =). We took a couple of family photos before we left. After all, it was my last night being there =(.

After dinner, uncle drove cousin Mun Hong, to the cinemas, and 3rd aunt home. Cousin Mun Loong went home. Cousin Mun Fei, San San, aunt and I went to eat desserts. Cousin Mun Fei was having fun playing with my camera =P. He was interested in photography himself and was saving up for a DSLR =). I need to save up for one myself =P.

When we got home, my aunt and uncle suggested that we light up the lanterns. There were 3 lanterns' I got one all to myself =). After writing all our messages down, we lit it up. I hope they'll fly really high =). I also hope all our wishes would come true. My first ever wish lantern. I don't know when the next time I'll be able to do that again. Again, I've accomplished another activity that would've been illegal in Australia =P. Technically, it was still illegal in Malaysia, but as long as we didn't light it up near the airport, it was fine xD.

Later that night, I had a long and half serious, half not conversation with cousin Mun Hong =). I never realised how fun talking to cousins on the fun was =P. Then again, maybe because they're closer to my age than the cousins in Australia. Speaking of cousins, cousin Mun Loong gave me RM $100 to spend on my Super Junior things AHAHAHA =D !!! HOW NICE OF HIM xD !!! Yes, I did intend to spend the rest of my money on Super Junior merchandise >=D. After all, the ones in Australia are expensive =/. That was also why the bill for the dinner that night wasn't as expensive as I thought =P. I told my relatives to go easy on me hahaha. They did, an I'm very grateful =). Of course, I didn't purposely tell them to go cheap on me just so that I can buy my Super Junior merchandise; I said that I would use the left over money (if I did have any left) to buy them. I really didn't mind if it was expensive, just not TOO expensive lol =). Another day gone.

Oriti,

FiONA =).

Diary Entry #13: I ATE SMELLY TOFU >=D !!!

2011-02-11T22:02:00.010+11:00

Dear Diary,

Happy 19th Birthday to Raymond T. =).

I had brunch with 2nd uncle, 2nd aunt and 3rd aunt before visiting Grandma for the last time. We spent some time there talking with Grandma, Gu Ma and Gu Jeong (my father's eldest sister and her husband). My 4th uncle and aunt were working and cousin Yong Xian went back to boarding school. And again, Grandma and Gu Ma gave me more money ~~(RM $3OO)~~ hahaha! How lucky of me =D.

Later that night, uncle, aunt and cousin Mun Fei took me out for dinner. Cousin San San and Mun Loong were working that day, so they couldn't join us. We went to a Nyonya-styled restaurant, which is a combination of Malaysian and Chinese cuisine (it's also what they called females that were Chinese-Malays; males were known as baba). The restaurant was located at The Curve a shopping district where there were streets of restaurants; I guess the place was mostly designated for restaurants. There were vegetables called lady-fingers and smelly beans. The lady-fingers tasted and looked kind of like normal beans and in my opinion, the smelly beans weren't that smelly either =/. Either way, the meal was quite delicious =D. They displayed various ancient artifacts like pages of this ancient Chinese book. I don't really know how to explain it, it was kind of like a book of wisdom or something ... =S I took photos of it anyways; my aunt told me to show it to my mum so that she could read it.

After dinner, we went to a night market. Not everyone was open; I guess it's because they were still celebrating the CNY or we just came a bit too earlier. Our purpose there was to find lanterns and smelly tofu. We found the lanterns, but we couldn't find the smelly tofu. Uncle bought me sunny-side up quail eggs instead. Apparently, eating one quail egg is like eating 2 chicken eggs. That's how high of cholesterol they are... That night I had about 3 or 4; cousin San San ate the rest for me. Just when we were about to leave, cousin Mun Fei found the smelly tofu store due to it's foul smell. Indeed, it stunk. The smell was similar to sewage smell. Cousin Mun Hong once told me that they actually fry it with sewage water or something. Aunt said that it wasn't true. To be honest, it wasn't that different to normal fried tofu; the smell was also not as bad once you've tasted it. I think what made it different than normal fried tofu was the sauce - sweet and spicy sauce. Oh, they also added some kind of cabbage salad with it as well. Either way, I was happy that I tried it, but I don't think I'll be trying it again any time soon. Cousin Mun Fei helped me finish the rest off. When we got back, I tried to annoy cousin San San with my breathe, but she wasn't afraid ... Oh wells =P.

Cousin San San was actually taking me out to a club that night. Hence, I made sure to brush my teeth before I left. I didn't want her friends to feel disgusted with me. It was a private family party that her rich friend's parents organized. To be honest, it wasn't that interesting. There were a combination of old and young people, so I guess the meaning of 'fun' varied a bit. I had half a bottle of beer, and that's about it. Beer wasn't really my thing. To reduce the chances of being pulled over, I was ordered to sit in one of the guy's car instead. Apparently, having a girl and a guy, in a car, on a club night, was less obvious for the police to think we drunk. Oh, speaking of clubbing, girls actually had a night where everything they drank was on the house, at a club. It's a Thursday night. How lucky is that? Anyways, I digress. The guy and my cousin actually raced each other to the house... I was quite surprise; he went up to ~ 140KM =S He was a smooth driver, so i wasn't that scared. But seeing my cousin race off like that was unexpected. She told me that she didn't speed that often. Apparently, Jason, who was sitting in her car, told her to not let the guy who I was with beat them. Jason was another friend of my cousin. In the end, they won. We were stuck between cars, that's why we couldn't speed much. But when there was space, the guy was very good an maneuvering, very smooth O_O. They were right; if you drive in Malaysia long enough, when you go back to your own country, you would be a pro.

We went back to the rich guy's friend to hang out instead. One of the friends was so drunk that... actually, I'm not going to say. It wasn't a pretty sight. He ended up sleeping outside. Alone. On the floor. We played a game of cards called 'King.' It was kind of a game of dare and cards mixed together. There would be the King card, and then 1 to any amount of number, depending on how many people playing, minus one because the 'King' would also be included. Then we would all pick a card; the person with the 'King' card would make up a dare and then call out 2 numbers so that they would be the ones doing the dare. The night turned out pretty interesting ... I won't say what the dares were; the dares were more wild and daring than what I usually played. Then again, that's because the people I play wasn't that openly perverted and wild >.> ... I felt sorry for David because for the majority of games, he was always one of the victims. It was so freakishly consistent that he almost wanted to just volunteer himself for every dare. We all couldn't help but laugh =P. Also, it was the first time I saw my cousin so... daring. I knew she's outgoing and open but i didn't know she could be this... wild xP.

Again, we left home at around ~4:30AM. Unfortunately, on the way back, uncle called cousin San San to ask where she was. We got busted. Cousin San San was right, uncle really does wake up really early. Luckily, we weren't scold or anything. Uncle did lecture us for a minute or two, but that was it. Also, I wasn't drunk at all =). I only had half a bottle of beer after all =P. Another day over.

Aju,

FiONA =).

Diary Entry #12: Hokkien praying

2011-02-10T04:41:00.005+11:00

Dear Diary,

Happy 19th Birthday to Mark =).

In the morning, cousin San San, aunt and I went to a fancy looking restaurant called the Levain. Although it looked quite fancy, the price wasn't. Except for the bakery and desserts. I wish I didn't pick out so much bread because I didn't get to finish it all. I just picked them out to take photos of it =P. And again, the parking was ridiculous; they even parked right in front of the entrance of the restaurant ...

After breakfast, we went to pick up my glasses, and then had another trip to the shops. I bought more Super Junior CDs/DVDs =D YAY!!! This time, it was the 4th album and the 2nd concert video. After cousin San San picked up what she needed to pick up, we headed home.

Later that night, cousin San San and I joined her friends for a CNY dinner. What can I say about them... They were loud. Somehow, half of them acted like they were still in high school or something =P. They seem very nice though. We had 7 dishes all together. I didn't take any photos because I was feeling self-conscious ... So I just took a photo of the restaurant title instead =P.

After dinner, we went back to pick up aunt because we were going to watch a Hokkien style of praying for CNY that night. We arrived at a house who belonged to my aunt's ex restaurant partner. That night, it seemed more eventful and exciting than it was on the first night of CNY. There were fireworks, fire crackers and lanterns everywhere I turned; I had a time watching them all =P. There was even a guy extreme enough to climb up a roof to film it all xD. It was all very exciting =D. Uncle actually went overseas, the night before, for one day, for work so he joined us later that night. Since uncle was there, he took aunt home while cousin San San and I went back to join her friends at her rich friend's house. He actually dyed his white poodle (Timmy, although it's actually a female) with spots of brown and pink hahaha xD. I don't know what to say about it ... she looked ... peculiar? But adorable all the same =D.

That night, things got... interesting. I experienced I never experienced before; I saw things I never intend to see; I did things that I've never done before. I'm pretty sure that that night was the most drunk I've ever been. My eyesight wasn't blurred; I could still read fingers; I wasn't even talking that loudly either. But I actually vomited >.> . Twice, in fact. I think it was the beer; due to the gas, beer can be quite filling. ALSO, I didn't have a hangover the next day. Thank God. That just proved that I wasn't drunk off my head. So my face was really red, and I was feeling dizzy. But that was it, nothing else. Well, that's my opinion anyways. Maybe other people would think I was drunk because I vomited, but in my opinion, you're not completely drunk unless your eyesight's blurred, you vomited AND you have a hangover in the morning. We came home at ~4:30 AM that night. Luckily, everyone was still asleep. Another day gone.

Annyong-hi kyeshipshio,

FiONA =).

Diary Entry #11: Sunway Lagoon lost some of its awesomeness

2011-02-09T04:56:00.009+11:00

Dear Diary,

Cousin San San, Mun Hong and I went to Sunway Lagoon. They didn't have tickets for just individual theme parks, it was either 3 or all theme parks (5). We bought the 3 theme parks ticket; I shouted my cousins because I felt bad for them having to shout me all the time. We headed to the water theme park. To be honest, it wasn't as fun as when I was younger. Maybe because I was younger back then. I would've went to the other rides, but my two cousins weren't as daring as I was. To be honest, I wasn't that daring either, but I have a sense of accomplishment if I did something I was afraid of. Self-satisfaction? Happiness of being able to achieve something? Being able to overcome something that I was afraid of? Being proud of myself for once? Whatever it is, I feel that if I let those fears get to me, I wouldn't be able to experience many things, and then I would regret it. I prefer to live my life with the least amount of regrets as possible =).

Curry chips that's only in Malaysia.

Water theme park side of the amusement park.

Picture of the entire amusement park =).

Permission to enter.

Do you see the golden koi fish?! How awesome is that?! =D

A golden koi =D !!!

After a couple of hours, we got changed and went to see the animals. There were a couple of animals that I haven't seen at our Australian zoo; I guess they were native animals or so. We couldn't stay long because the place was closing and we were meeting up with cousin Pui Yi and her friends afterward.

We went to Klang to see some kind of light exhibition at a temple. The light exhibition happened every year as a celebration of CNY. The lights were all nicely displayed. I had fun taking photos =). I also did a bit of praying as well. After an hour of sight-seeing, we left to eat. We could've stayed longer but they were closing. I wish we went there earlier, but we were waiting for cousin Pui Yi to finish with work and all. Oh wells, there's always next time =). Cousin Mun Hong followed cousin Pui Yi home instead because he had work the next day =(. I wish we could've hanged out a couple more days. Another day gone.

Night time snacks we had before we hit the road.

Tschau,

FiONA =).

PS. Thanks cousin Mun Hong and Pui Yi for the photos =).