late night experiments Have been doing my research experiments in the laboratory till late these few days. It’s a good thing that my research experiments are going somewhere finally. I just hope that I can finish all my experiments in time to write my thesis. All the difficulties coupled with the entire struggle with Physics and Food Engineering 1 didn’t help the situation at all. (This semester is totally a bad semester for me.)Just last night, everything was just going wrong for me. First, I couldn’t find any test tube racks to hold my samples. Then, when I had the racks, I didn’t have the tubes. It was so frustrating. After I spoke to my supervisor, we decided to change the tubes into smaller ones; which were readily available. After I made my samples, I realized that the lamps that I was gonna use couldn’t work. As I worked my then already dead brain, I suddenly had the thought that the bulbs were probably not put in correctly since the job wasn’t done by me. As I tried to get to the bulbs, I realized that the lamp covers were held on by screws. And thus, the problem arose. I couldn’t find a single screw driver in sight. Just as I was thinking of postponing my experiment to the next day, a friend found me the all important screwdriver. Thank God for that! And yes, finally my experiment went running smoothly. I think I spent most of the day yesterday looking for things rather than do my experiment.Before I left the laboratory last night, I was actually quite apprehensive. The whole set up looks like it was all ready to catch fire due to the heat from the lamps. I left with a heavy heart. I was just telling Bhupi how we would find the university burnt down in flames the next day when we went back, just because of my experiment. We laughed it off and reassured ourselves that we wouldn’t create any headlines in both Singapore and Australia for burning down the university accidentally. I just couldn’t help it but imagine the huge headlines on Straits Times, reading:“Students Burnt Down the University of Queensland in a Science Experiment Gone Wrong- Students Ivanny and Bhupi, both Singaporean students in the University of Queensland, were found to be the culprits for causing the burn down of 1 of Australia’s 8 ivy league universities. It was found that the experiment Ivanny was doing the night before caught fire due to negligence and stupidity. Bhupi, although not part of the experiment, had a hand in helping Ivanny set up the experiment. It was reported that both the Deans commended Singaporean Food Science students have been expelled from the university and currently under the custody of the Australian police. The fire has yet to be classified as either negligence or purposeful arson as the police are still investigating evidences found in the crime scene. *Insert huge blow up of both our mug shots*”OMG! The whole scene was so depressing yet funny at the same time that the both of us just couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Haha… We treated ourselves to a huge Indian dinner at Curry Connection in the Hawken Drive area, just in case something happens to us the next morning. Dinner was just so damn fulfilling. Like what Georgina told me, to treat myself to a huge good meal after I hand in my thesis paper (due to ALL the bad things that hindered my completion since day 1), I treated myself prematurely just to cheer myself up because I know that being published is definitely no longer on the agenda for my thesis.Digressing from last night, a short note of thanks going out to Gladys, a friend from Taiwan. She actually bought me and Ant (another friend from Thailand), dinner as she knew that we would be working till late and haven’t eaten both our lunch and dinner due to our schedules. Gladys is such a nice person lah! And the best thing about her is that she refused to collect money from us, which made me feel really bad. Food here in Australia is not cheap, and being a fellow international student, I understand totally how much we should all just make sure we don’t exploit other international students especially when it came down to money issues.The funny thing is that Bhupi and I were talking about how genuinely helpful and nice a person Gladys was just yesterday over dinner. We were even thinking about giving Gladys a treat or something before either one of them graduates coming end of this year, as a form of thank you since she was always helping us with things in the laboratory. She never ever asks anything for return every time. Oh, by the way Gladys was also the friend whom helped me find the screwdriver the night before. She totally saved my experiment last night. Oh and thanks to Bhupi for helping me pipette my samples into the tubes. We were just joking that I should include the both of them into the acknowledgement section of my thesis paper. Haha…Anyway both Bhupi and I agreed that Gladys is one of the most genuinely nice person we’ve met thus far. Unlike many others whom only do nice things for ulterior motives, Gladys is quite the contrary. She is always so cheerful and eager to help her friends. Every time you need her help, she is always there for you. She is definitely someone that I would want to keep in contact with even after I graduate from the university.Alright, gotta get back to my laboratory experiment. I’m definitely hoping to get home by 10pm man!Tata! kids with no manners OMG! I can’t believe that I just got verbally abused by two 3 to 5 year old toddlers this morning while walking to school.Bloody fuckers! Tiny white twits!This is testament of what the upbringing is like that constitutes to racism. Imagine such young kids already spouting racial disharmonious comments to adults walking past them. You can just know what would happen when they grow up. Why do I say it’s the upbringing? Because whatever they said wouldn’t normally come out of 3 to 5 year olds. I am sure their parents were the culprits whom instilled those words and image in them of Asians. It’s like a categorization that they put us in.Seriously, what did I do about those twits? Hmmm… Let’s see, I showed them my middle finger, and said “How about, FUCK YOU?!” in front of their kindergarten minder. She didn’t even care what they or I was saying. She just stood there and minded her own business. Since the kids’ parents already taught those twits such rude racist language, I don’t see why I should be reserved about what I say or do in front of them. They can pick up the “FUCK YOU!” phrase, along with the middle finger gesture, that I just taught them and repeat that to their parents on my behalf. A tit for tat.Oh yea, one of the least offensive things they said to me was “You’re a dumb dumb!” I rolled my eyes, and told them to “call me” only when they’ve grown up and made it into University. Seriously, I have no idea what their definition of being dumb was. I am pretty much sure that they won't be very bright students either since this was what their parents taught them when they were kids. Poor things! I basically pity them more than I was pissed.You say I’m too harsh to some kids?Don’t give me the bullshit that they are just kids and blah blah blah. First of all, I HATE kids! Secondly, whatever they just said as I was walking past them don’t make them kids anymore, seriously. Toddlers don’t normally say such rude things!If my kids were to say that to a stranger, I would slap them and make sure they never see daylight again. They can just hole up in their sorry ass rooms for the rest of their lives and wallow in their own self-centred world where they are the superior beings / race. I will make sure they know that I do not support them being racist and make them drink detergent for mouth cleansing for the rest of the week. I would have their vocal cords surgically removed so that they can no longer say rude things about other races and religions (You know, like how some cruel dog owners would do to make sure their dogs can’t bark as loud as before anymore? Can’t remember what they call that procedure.).Yes, thou shall never have kids. Muahaha… P / S: I am not pissed at them. I just wanted to write an entry out of it and make my point. short note of appreciation Haven’t had the time to blog about anything too long or extravagant with pictures. But well, I guess I could afford 1 minute to have that bit of decency to thank Bhupi and her Munro Street housemates for having me over for wonderful home cooked dinners on numerous occasions. They had various (vegetable, fish and chicken) Indian curries, Indian sweet desserts, Chinese style stir fry vegetables and other baked products such as cupcakes and apple crumbles. By the way all these food were home cooked by the people in the house ok! Don’t play play…Pictures have to wait. Muahaha… I’m up to my neck with assignments and due dates. Not alot of pictures anyway since I was busy eating only. Haha... shrivelled like a prune I’m so shrivelled up like a prune right now. My skin is wrinkly and flaky, almost making me look like an old grandfather with lizard legs.I know, I know, must moisturize moisturize moisturize right?! Lol…I really hate moisturizing because I hate the greasy feeling. I know there are water-based brands and claim to not feel greasy. However, I just feel that it is still greasy and can’t stand it.Anyway I will definitely start to moisturize from tonight onwards because I don’t want to look like a shrivelled prune when I get back to Singapore in December (that is, hopefully if I pass my stupid Physics and Food Engineering 1). I think I am getting wrinkles around the mouth and eyes too. Muahaha… Can start calling me uncle ivanny already.Oh yea, talking about Physics, I just had a thought today. I think I might just secretly hate the founder of Physics. Whoever made up the laws of Physics should really just turn in the grave (and hit his head against the coffin walls) as I am typing this. That’s for making a hell out of so many students’ lives.I am currently trying to imagine the person (whether guy or girl) to have extremely wild unkempt hair that is white as snow. Add in tons of wrinkles all over the face, a sad grumpy frown and dead hollow eyes filled with cataracts. To that description, my Physics buddy said that I made the Physics founder sound like Albert Einstein. I was amazed! I secretly think that I hate Mr Einstein lah. After all, he played a big part in the Physics spectrum. And yea, Isaac Newton too! How I wish that the apple that fell on his head had killed him so that no one has to learn any gravity bullshit. Or rather, why an apple? Why not a durian?! Muahaha… I’m so evil!Anyway I was just kidding lah! I know the importance of Physics and whatever great inventions we have now are based on physics. Yes yes, blah blah blah… Just let me rant lah k?! Thanks! ;pDigressing… Brisbane Ekka Day on Wednesday was fun fun fun!!! God knows when I would write about it OR even post up the pictures. Sorry people! Extremely busy person here lah! Hehe… Oh, I just regret not buying the Willy Wonka hat. I mean, it’s just a AUD$10 HUGE furry hat, but I still regret lah! I still want!!! I just didn’t see them selling it can! Shall get someone to buy it for me next year. Muahaha… dying need of help I am in dire need of help for Physics and Food Engineering 1 right now. You have no idea how bad it is. Still am trying to get things right though. –cross fingers- Anyone in Brisbane whom could help with the 2 modules, please offer! Lol… Not kidding at all! National Day Parade 2008 at UQ Went for the National Day Parade streaming at UQ yesterday. It's weird that I am watching this in Australia because I don't even watch the parade when I am back in Singapore. I must say this year’s National Day Parade has got tons of funny bits eh? Then again, I pointed out to Georgina that it could also probably be because all of us are away from home and that made us more receptive and sensitive to slight details in the parade. For example, I wouldn’t normally bother looking out for the appearances of our prime minister, ministers and president. However, this year, every time we see Goh Cheok Tong, Lee Hsien Loong, Lee Kuan Yew and President Nathan, everyone actually cheered like they were some big time movie stars. I guess being away really makes you fonder of home. In fact, I can’t even remember when was the last time I watched the parade. I always wondered why some people actually bothered. I always think that the parade is such a boring thing to watch on TV or live; and the “best” thing is that on National Day, ALL THE TV CHANNELS actually shows the parade in different languages.However, this year, I was thankful that I had the chance to watch the National Day Parade here in Australia. Big thanks to the guys behind the Singapore associations such as UQ SSS and the other 2 (I forgot their association names) from QUT and Griffith Universities.It was certainly hilarious to see Lee Kuan Yew in a red rain coat eh? Everyone in the theatre just laughed at that sight. Mexican friend, Mariana, was so enthralled she kept asking what this and that was all about. It was funny how a foreigner actually enjoyed the parade more than a Singaporean like me.Anyway I only managed to sit through half the parade because the boredom finally hit me. Yes, I had goosebumps when I first saw the familiar Singaporean Channel on screen but after the whole Guard of Honour parade, everything just went downhill. I have absolutely no idea what birds had to do with the light that lit up Singapore. And the hilarious bird costumes were too much for most of us to take. Oh, the total turn off was when this parade of guys danced with pink fans around their faces while wearing their army uniforms. What kind of a choreograph is that?! Everyone just stared with wides eyes at the screen, blank in their minds. You can hear people going “OMG!” or “What the hell?” and “Shit!”. Haha… Yes! I think at that point of time, all of us just had the same thought, which is “Damn the choreographer! He / She ought to be shot!”Don’t get me wrong. The reason why we thought that way was because there is totally no link to pink fans and the army unit parading with it. The message is just not clear AT ALL! And yes, I was one of the many people whom went “SHIT!!!”. I guess it’s just an instinct that I just turned towards my friend and both of us just said the same thing, on an extended breath.Bits that I liked? I certainly loved the Jacintha performance! Her vocals were so damn mesmerizing lah! I also liked the fact that Hady Mirza actually got to sing this year’s National Day song. I wonder who did the mandarin version. Can some kind soul in Singapore please let me know? Thank you!Alright, no pictures to show since none of us brought a camera. Sorry! Besides, I am still trying to find time to post those picture collages I made 2 months ago. Haha…. Happy National Day 2008 It’s so irritating, because here I have a thousand years worth of pictures but absolutely no time to do up collages to post them on the blog. However, I did receive my Dean’s Commendation letter in the mail this week. I thought my mother would like to take a look at the letter, so I took a picture and sent it to her via email. In the email, I said: “Mum, please take a look at this Dean’s Commendation letter properly and long because I am damn sure I won’t be getting it again this semester.” It’s so depressing to think that some stupid module this semester is gonna ruin the GPA that I worked so hard for last semester. I certainly hope that this doesn’t happen, but seriously, looking at my progress right now, I can only hope that I would be able to scrape through and pass Food Engineering 1 and Physics. –Fingers cross- These 2 modules certainly made Food Microbiology 2 (from last semester) look like chicken’s feet. Alright, gotta get back to my work now. I have a Food Engineering assignment due on Monday and seriously, I still have absolutely no idea how to do it. Gosh! If I screw up this 10% assignment, I might just as well say hello to the same module next semester. -_-III It’s Singapore’s birthday today. Happy National Day people! And yes, I would be watching the parade in UQ’s auditorium later. Haha… Hopefully, there’d be pictures taken and of course, posted on the blog (along with the other thousands of pictures I still have in my laptop). P / S: Have got 2 new housemates already; an Australian guy whom is looking for a job and an Indonesian guy also a student at UQ. current life revelation Today I cried as I replied an email to my mum. Ok, I didn’t really like cry. I only teared! Yes, believe it or not. The Mr Dry-Well has cried so many damn times ever since I set foot in Australia. No, I wasn’t home sick. I never was. It’s just that I really just about had enough of life in Australia as of yet. Don’t get me wrong, but it’s not really the stress of studying or homesickness. I think it’s just more about the problems that arise at the wrong time, again and again, that made me lose it! I just can’t stand it when everything seems to be going well for one moment, only to come crashing down on you later on when you don’t have the time for it.I think I am pretty jinxed lately. Everything just doesn’t seem to be working for me at all. My internet has been down for the longest time in my life thus far. My printer just died on me today for no apparent reason. I can’t even print my bloody notes to study in peace. Seriously, I am so gonna trash it into pieces this weekend (if I have the time) and buy a new one.The last few weeks have been a whirlwind for me as well. I don’t think anyone realizes it though. They still think that I am cruising. Seriously, what do they know? It’s my life, not anyone else’s. Some people have the thought that just because I did well last semester meant that I would automatically do well this semester without having to try very hard. Some people think that it’s ridiculous that I am fussing so much over my Physics course. They have no idea how much pressure I am in just because I have no idea what I am doing. Just today, I picked up my tutorial sheet, and pronto, I didn’t know how to do a single question. Some other people think that Physics is so damn easy to them and don’t understand why I find it so hard to do. They were making comments like, “Aiya, where got difficult? I think the XXX course module that I am taking is so much more difficult lor” or “Aiya, so easy! See, I never take physics I also know how to do”.Typical Asians from all over the world. (Yes, I don’t just diss the Australians that push the wrong button. I practically diss everyone that pushes my button the wrong way.)Seriously, if you are sooo damn good at Physics, then go take the course lah. All talk but no action. Basically, it’s not a core subject for all these people so they can afford to talk shit. They just don’t realize that I personally have no great background in Physics, thus, I am not cruising for the course at all. Simple! And what’s with the comparisons with their own courses? I could also be thinking the same thing, that if I was doing what they were doing, I might be cruising too. But do I say the same shit as them? They are totally in the same boat as me, just in a reversed situation, but they don’t see it. Period! Thus, only very selected people actually get to hear my difficulties.Now, everyone, especially those that don’t know me personally, might think that my life is all perfect and sweet; a whole bottle of happiness and perfection. Seriously, it is not! Maybe, I just didn’t write about it. Or maybe, I just don’t talk about it. Some people know things that others don’t. Everyone has got a piece of me, but nobody actually has the whole piece of my life. My life is like a fragment in every individual that knows me, that would possibly show the big picture if all these different fragments pieces together like a jigsaw. So for the record, people, don’t talk like you know me at all! Because most of you have no idea really!Quote an example here:In the past, my ex-housemate, Yee Li, often tells me that this is the first time she’s seen me eating celery or eggs or yada yada with such great “mockery” about whether I’m really eating that for the sake of staying healthy or for the sake of preference. I often only question her amazement by asking “What’s wrong with that?”. Then one day, I finally decided to put an end to all this and just simply asked her “Really? But how well do you really think you know me at all? I believe we’ve only been living in the same house for less than 6 months.”. I guess that either struck reality or something because I’ve never heard the same incredulous amazement from her ever again. Or rather, it could just be because she’s moved to Terence’s new house due to the end of her rental lease at 72 Warren Street.No offence Yee Li, just a simple valid example to showcase my point. I still love you as a friend.Anyway back to the point about “crying” as I replied my mother’s email. I simply told her that I do not wish for the whole family to come down to Brisbane for an end of year holiday this year. I also told her to stop asking if I think we should go to Taipei or Bangkok or wherever as well. I simply told her that I just want to go home as soon as possible, and just sleep. I told her I can’t wait to just get out of friggin’ Australia and holiday back home in Singapore because I know that is where I will truly just be able to relax and not care about anything else. Seriously, I just can’t wait to set foot in Singapore and just kiss the sand man! Not being patriotic here at all, please. I think the first thing I would do is just lie in my cat’s stomach and fall asleep. Haha…Anyway, like how Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) in the Sex and the City TV series always have a question to life on each episode, here’s mine:“Do we call it life only when there are countless tribulations and joy in our life, or is it possible to just be peaceful and carefree till the day we die?”My answer?Well, I guess we just have to earn our peace. Life is just as it is. This, my friends, is my current life revelation this very moment. Till the next time we flip the pages to a new chapter, good luck! getting started Finally got to start my preliminary trials for my research project. What a relief! In fact, something happened again and I almost had to wait another week. Thank God this time round I was persistent in doing the experiment else I think I can just forget about writing my thesis. Lol… It’s full of barriers just doing this research.RUSH RUSH RUSH!!! Thesis submission month is October. I am so dead, I think. This semester is such a bad semester for me. Goodness! I must have offended some certain God or something! I think I'm not gonna do as well as last semester. I just hope that I can pass though. I'm so trying my very best to get things going right now. Damn... I'm just so tired these few days. For those whom are here in Brisbane, sorry if I seem a little empty headed and dead. Some people have asked me what's up already. So now you guys know... LOL (It’s not stress! It’s just that I am so tired of juggling so many things at once and that the circumstances seriously ain’t helping at all.)Anyway, it’s my sister’s birthday today as well. Happy Birthday Miss Diva! pictures long overdue ;p Pictures pictures pictures…I totally forgot about all the picture collages I did over the holidays. The pile of pictures are getting higher and higher; not literally, but more of metaphorically!Ok, shall post them next week when I am free. Have to bring all the pictures in a thumbdrive, to post using the university computers. I hate having no internet seriously! Well, thanks for all the trouble and inconveniences caused by XXXXXXX telephone company!!! Stupid people!Alright, going for classes now.Ciao! racism I can’t stand it already, so I am gonna rant and release my frustrations here RIGHT NOW! Arggghhh!!!Seriously, I have no idea why SOME people in Australia are so damn fucking racist. KNNBCCB!!! Who do they think they are man!?*Note: I emphasized on the word SOME… Meaning, I am NOT in any way trying to imply that ALL Australians are racist. Get it?!These couple of days I’ve met a few racist student tutors! I can’t stand it when a course is run by student tutors. What do student tutors do? Let’s see… They get paid hourly to help the lecturers tutor other junior students who have problems with their work. This is so because the numbers of students are too huge for just that few miserable handful of lecturers in charge of the whole course to handle. Thus, these senior student tutors are selected by interviews and academic excellence, and most important of all, paid for their help in tutoring students.However, what is happening here is that these student tutors tend to choose whom they want to tutor, behind their lecturers’ backs. They extend their racist claws, snobbish eyes and their ever so high and mighty voice, and looks down upon Asians. Fuck them for that! Does it make you all the more superior just by being Australian or Caucasian? Fuck that! I think I could be hundred times smarter than these student tutors if I weren’t just thrown into some course that I am not familiar with or had never done before.Yes, I am referring to my Physics course!What happened was that there were 3 out of 4 separate occasions when these Australian Caucasian tutors snubbed me and my group of course mates and refused to help us with our work. They always attended to other groups of Australian or Caucasian students who came after us. They always tell us to wait because "the other group called first", but they never came back to us when they are done. These cycle repeats over and over again.And the worse and most shocking part of this whole thing is that they actually have the audacity to snub people from their own race and nationality just because these other NICER and NON-RACIST Australians OR Caucasians actually prefers to hang out with Asians.Incident 1:I was alone and went to the tutoring session for help with my assignment. The student tutor treated me like I was transparent. He knew that I was there for academic help but did not reveal to me that he was the tutor. He just sat there, reading his own notes. I thought he was another student waiting for the "tutor" to arrive, thus, I sat down and waited too. What do I expect? I was a rookie at needing help from these fucking tutors with my academic work, thus, I didn't expect the so called tutor to be a fellow student. I was expecting some older person to arrive with glasses and books in hand, ready to teach everyone. I only knew he was a student tutor when other “more experienced” students arrived and went straight to him for help.Never mind, I thought. Since it was my duty to approach him, I was perfectly fine with him not identifying himself to me that he was the tutor. After he was done with group 1, I raised my hand to ask for help. He told me to wait as there was another group of students whom asked first. WTF!!! I was there FIRST, and I am pretty sure they did not ask him for help first. We did not even raise our hands together. I raised my fucking short hand first before they did lor!This cycle happened twice before I packed up my stuff and left for my next lecture.Oh, and before I left, I did get 5 minutes consultation with him. WHY? Because all these fucking loser students who needed help didn’t bring their all-important calculators and I was the only one with a calculator. How stupid is that? The whole course is about calculations, and you’re here to ask for help; but these people didn't have the initiative and common sense to bring along their own calculators!? And the student tutor DID NOT have his own calculator also. How stupid is that?! So I made him teach me one question first before I lent the calculator to him.Incident 2:I went back to the same tutoring area and happened to see the same fucking racist student tutor again. This time round, I made friends with this other Australian Caucasian girl whom was already sitting there. We exchanged notes and taught each other what we knew before the fucking tutor came over. He just refuses to look at our direction and kept going over to the other groups that were sitting around us. Us being vocal students, we called out to him and made him come over to our group. Well, he couldn’t possibly feign to be deaf since we were so loud and polite. He came over, helped us with another question and left immediately before I could say “Hallelujah”.Incident 3:I went for my scheduled tutorial class, thinking that this time round I would have a real full time lecturer to ask questions with. MY GUESS COULD NEVER BE MORE SKEWED! Alas, it was another fucking racist student tutor. WTH! Why are student tutors allowed to run our tutorials??? I would understand if it was just unofficial tutoring classes. And best of all, these student tutors are grading our tutorial assignments!!!I made friends with an Australian Caucasian girl and another China girl. The whole tutorial lesson, the student tutor ignored us too! What the fuck is wrong with these student tutors. Same tactic; he kept telling us from the start of the tutorial to the end of it that someone else called for help first. CCB!Well, it was obvious that he was refusing to help us. The Australian girl in my group was quite annoyed by him and called him a “fucking idiot” before leaving the class for her other lecture.Now, see what I mean?! Hell, first of all, what is so great about these student tutors?! They aren’t that great anyway! If more Asian students had applied, minus the POSSIBLE racist choice for Caucasians 80% of the time, I think these so called RACIST student tutors might not even have the chance to be tutors at all. The student tutoring body might even have been dominated by Asians if we wanted to. And what is so great about their nationality, ethnicity and race being White / Australian and/or just non-Asian? It doesn’t make them any smarter, more attractive or better at everything. Screw these stupid fuckers lah! Waste of my time typing an entry based on them. Grrr… P / S: You could say that I might be over-sensitive and all, and wrote this entry with a bias point of view. But let me tell you something. I just got to know a Finnish girl, whom is an exchange student, and she told me that she did realize this racism issue whenever she went out with her Asian friends here. To have someone as caucasian looking as her say this certainly validates whatever claims i just made above totally eh?!P / P / S: Just to be clear about something again! I am certainly NOT insinuating that ALL Australians are like that. I am simply referring to just SOME Australians; with acute accusation and finger pointing directly at those student tutors that I've encountered in the last 3 days. And if you still don't get it and thinks that I am being judgemental, then go away 'cause you're just as dumb! (That shall show you just how judgemental I can really be. -Rolls eyes in advance-) As for the other Australians that don't fall into this racist category, I still love you guys! ;) cold colder coldest It’s so damn bloody cold right now.Yesterday was 8 to 13 degree Celsius.Today is 6 to 16 degree Celsius.Gosh! I was practically shivering during all my lessons! Too cold to think and all!And if the weather in other parts of Australia are worst than Brisbane, as I’ve seen on the news, than I seriously thank GOD that I am in Brisbane! I totally can’t imagine how people living in Adelaide and Tasmania are feeling right now. physics & food technology? I really think someone should just MURDER me right now, right this very minute! I tell you, I have no idea why I’m doing a course based on Physics. Seriously, I have absolutely no friggin’ recollection of how to calculate from those pesky little equations. I don’t think I even understand anything such as average velocity, average speed, isolated energy, conservative energy, mechanical energy; etc. I am so unsure of all these that I don’t even know if I wrote them correctly above. And I’m only into my first topic now. –sad-I think the last time I did Physics was 6 years back. Seriously, I have no idea why I am learning Physics all over again for a degree in Food Technology. There is totally no connection to food at all! I thought it was a mistake and consulted the course coordinator but he said that taking the course is correct. Damn… My heart totally sank. Haha…And best of all, no one I know is in the same class. Arggghhh… So that means that I am all alone in this! I seriously need to pull up those socks real high man! It’s time to make friends. But I think it’s kind of hard if everyone already knew someone there?! Some Japanese guy, an exchange student, spoke to me in lecture today. But no affirmative friendship was made. We shall see!Seriously, I hope to get at least a credit (5) for this course man! But I shall aim high. I know I can do it, because I can!!! –Slap myself awake- no internet period Totally no internet now. Hopefully I can get back in touch with the cyber world ASAP! I am so excited for this coming weekend:1. Casino buffet!!! AGAIN! Yes, I know! Oops! Have not blogged about the first time yet. Ummm... I think I will combine them or something. We'll see. Anyways I haven't gotten the pictures from Satoshi, whom is back in Japan right this very minute.2. Dark Knight movie!All on the same day! Woohoo... Must enjoy before the tough gets going. smitha & yee li's graduation Recently (18th July 2008) I was invited to both Smitha’s and Yee Li’s graduation ceremony; on the same day. Ummm… Actually I shamelessly demanded to attend Smitha’s graduation ceremony! Muahaha…So I dressed up, a deviation from my usual sloppy get up, for their graduation ceremony as a form of respect. It was also all in good fun to finally be able to wear something formal ever since I step foot in Australia. That was also fun of course when I changed up the whole formal thingy to look more preppy and less smart formal. Ok, enough about myself lest Smitha accuses me of trying to upstage her and be the central of attention AGAIN. Muahaha… Sorry girl! I just have to do it! ;p –Kidding!- At Smitha's Graduation Ceremony...Anyways, Smitha’s graduation ceremony was up first at 2pm. I met up with our very lovely Botswanian girl, Tatou, and Omanian girl, Majida, with housemate Juliana at the University’s exhibition hall. Yes, and horrors of horrors, Smitha was late for her own graduation. -_-IIILooking at the graduation robes, I kind of imagined that the whole scenario looked so Harry Potter-ish. Yea yea, as if that is something new. I know I’ve mentioned before about the whole University looking very Harry Potter-ish when I first arrived. And this vibe is especially true when it came to the PHD graduates, whom sport a red and black silk gown with a funny puffy different kind of mortar board. I just couldn’t help but laugh. Random pictures... See what I mean when I say the whole university thing is so Harry Potter-ish?! All the pictures courtesy of housemate Juliana. The Graduation Ceremony Hall... Even more Harry Potter-ish right?! Haha...So we sat through the whole ceremony, and shouted like maniacs when Smitha went on stage. Everyone sitting around us kept looking at us when we shouted as if we were aliens or something. Best of all, Smitha said that she didn’t even noticed that we were shouting for her. Gosh!As the procession of Academic Heads walked in line onto the stage, I couldn’t help but notice that it was like a fashion show amongst the group. The normal Bachelor graduates sport white silk while Masters and PHD graduates sport blue and red silk cloths respectively. However, this Academic heads actually have green, pink, baby blue, purple, red and gold, gold, silver and even furry silk cloths. Gosh! Juliana and I were truly fascinated and wonder what the colours all meant.After the ceremony, we took turns to camwhore with the freshly graduated Smitha. It was so much fun! Smitha even took individual pictures with us at the makeshift graduate photo taking studio. I kind of wonder how much that would actually cost her man! Hey girl, send me the soft copy versions when you get them please!!! Oh, and we saw Satoshi too, and took a group picture with him. Us & the Graduates... That is Smitha with: (from top row left) Me, Juliana, Tatou, Majida. (from bottom row left) Group picture, Smitha & Vanessa, US with Satoshi.It was so cool seeing all these people graduate from University and moving on to their careers in life. It sort of made me eager to graduate too. I was so damn envious by the end of the whole ceremony can!After bidding farewell to Smitha and her family, we proceeded to walk back home. Halfway through, Yee Li called and told Juliana and myself that she was already in the University taking pictures. We decided to meet her directly, instead of going home to freshen up. I was actually planning to change into a different outfit, but too bad! At Yee Li's Graduation... The additional guy, you may have seen him before; just not this well dressed. This is the first time I've seen Terence dress up so smartly.So we were walking around the Great Court in the centre of the University, taking random pictures and making Yee Li do random poses in her graduation robe. It was really fun as the weather was excellent and the lighting was fantastic. We even saw the moon rise in the early evening. The moon was sooo close it was huge and yellow, like a round piece of cheese, just right in front of our very eyes. We were so fascinated by the sight since it was our first time witnessing this phenomenon as we don’t normally get to see such stuff in our home countries. The Moon... The pictures don't do it justice at all. The real moon was really HUGE, bright yellow and majestically climbing up the sky line. It was really cool!At 6pm, Juliana and I proceeded into the exhibition hall and sat through the exact same ceremony the second time in the day. I must say there is definitely a stark difference between students in the Science and IT faculty when compared to the Business and Commerce faculty. I think Science and IT students are more outgoing and dare to do more outrageous things on stage. They are generally less self conscious and totally exciting to watch, whereas Business and Commerce students are generally less interesting, highly studious and boring. Lol… Anyway, we also screamed our lungs out for Yee Li when she went on stage, getting the same looks from everyone else around us. Thank God this time round, Yee Li heard our screams. Us & the Graduate... (from top to bottom) Me, Juliana, Shawn, Joanne & housemate Eros.As usual, after the ceremony, we camwhored to the maximum. At a certain point, Juliana and I were even posing with Yee Li’s mortar board. We also made Yee Li throw her mortar board into the air to take pictures. She had to re-do so many times since her facial expression, body language and even the height of the mortar board in the air didn’t match in the pictures. Everything had to be perfect since this was a once in a life time chance. Having fun with the mortar board...By the way, during both ceremonies, Juliana and I did not get to enjoy any of the free refreshment desserts or champagne. We were sooo stupid lah! Haha… And yea, by the time we reached home, we were so famished since we hadn’t eaten anything the whole day! Isn't the backdrop of the university just beautiful?!Initially, we did plan to go out for a good dinner to celebrate Yee Li’s graduation but changed plans due to some unforeseen circumstances. We made do with pizzas, a treat from the graduate herself. By the time the pizzas arrived, trust me when I say 4 hungry dinosaurs just sprang towards the food like nobody’s business.All in all, the day ended pretty well. I am so glad to say that I am extremely proud of my 2 friends. I wish them all the best in their life!P / S: I can’t wait to graduate myself. Goodness gracious! I just found out that I would be the last of all my friends to graduate. Damn… I think I would have no one there when I graduate since everyone would be back in their home countries by then. Don’t think I would want to trouble my whole family into travelling all the way here just for this, since air tickets would be bloody expensive and it’s also a huge hassle to make the time. Haha… Maybe I would change my mind when my time finally comes. We shall see then! ;p talk is cheap “Talk is cheap.”I totally agree to this phrase, to death!This phrase relates to several different scenarios. However, I absolutely hate 2 such scenarios:1. Saying things like it is so damn easy. I really hate it when some people actually say things like things are really so damn easy to do or achieve. They make it sound like it doesn’t take much effort to achieve something. They belittle others thinking that they themselves have it worse than others. Presumptions, assumptions, accusations…2. Saying something too many times, till a point when you don’t feel the sincerity of the statement or feeling that the statement does not mean anything at all. Some simple examples are like the basic thank yous and apologies. It almost just became like second nature at some point in life. You just feel that the person is saying it for the sake of looking good in a bad situation.Like I say, talk is cheap a lot of times. I don’t think anyone should waste their time listening to some other person’s cheap and insincere words / statements. It just degrades your intelligence and insults your morality. I basically just ignore or feign ignorance to such people. Let them continue to live in their own delusion. To hell with stupidity and the fakes…P / S: School starts tomorrow. Tons of backlog entries yet to post. Even more to come... Recent addition to the backlog is Smitha's and Yee Li's graduation ceremony. Gosh! How I wish I can graduate just this very minute too! craving for durians It’s the DURIAN season in Asia and I am cravinggg for some bitter-sweet and creamyyy durians!!! Can’t stand it…And best of all, my mother had to send me an email recently about all the different kinds of durians and remarked that my sister has been eating durians non stop every weekend! -_-IIISOOO NOTTT HELPINGGG!!! Somebody kill me already...P / S: Just in case you were wondering why I still have my internet, well, that’s because change in ownership has been delayed due to the fact that the phone company actually said that my housemates can’t do it over the phone. This is a deviation from the last time they did the exact same process. Probably it’s some company policy change or something. Nevertheless, it’s good for me since I still have my internet for some time!!! ;)P / P / S: I am too lazy to blog!!! Tons of pictures still in the collage making! Aiyo! The new semester in Uni is gonna start soon. I can’t believe it’s all ending so soon. Arggghhh… Still, it’s one step closer to going back home for the holidays. I am sooo looking forward to touching back down in Singapore that I can just kiss the soil when I arrive! LOL no internet for next 3 days I won’t have any internet connection for the next 3 days or so. We had to change our phone ownership since housemate Yee Li would be graduating this very month. According to the phone company, they would have to cut our telephone line for 3 days- which means we won’t be having any house phone or internet connection for an estimate of 3 whole days. 3 days!!!??? To do what? I have absolutely NOOO idea! Maybe it takes them a couple of hours to type in each of the alphabets to my other housemate’s name (J.U.L.I.A.N.A.) into their computer systems and resetting the whole thing. Beats me… Till we meet again, ivanny random pictures from eons ago I have tons of pictures that are still in the process of being put into a collage. Seriously, I have no idea why but my head kind of switch off every time I sit down in front of the computer to blog. I guess I just need to go off for a long rest but having so much backlog is definitely not sitting well on my plate when it comes to blogging.Nevertheless, I shall post those pictures that are ready first and see how it goes. You know; sometimes when you take too many pictures all at one go, you just don’t know how you’re gonna present everything. Lazy lah…MUAHAHA… In the mean time, just enjoy these few pictures before I throw you the whole bulk! Sathiya's farewell gathering... This was from 6th June, more than a month ago. It's kind of sad that new friends are leaving. Just after 1 semester of getting to know this girl, she graduated & headed back to Singapore. (Top Left) Me & Kelsey from America. (Bottom Left) Group formal & all smiles. (Right) Group informal; when the madness all unveils! Back Row: Alan (Australian PR), Sathiya, Irene, yours truly. Front Row: I forgot the 2 guys' names 'cause we are not that close, Kelsey (America), Dawn & Murni (Singapore). Ashala in the city... Went out for some window shopping with my housemates. This was just after getting our semester final results. Yee Li's official graduation calls for some celebration. The Ashala restaurant is something we chanced on, with very cheap and attractive food, thus, as poor students, we went in. My beef steak looks really good right?! Only AUD$9.90! The grilling was done to perfection. The meat wasn't too tough or rare, & the taste was superb. Juliana had Lasagne while Yee Li had salad which doesn't look appealing enough to put here. Muahaha... Craziness in the Laboratory... While doing our research project lab work, we decided to camwhore abit because we were just soooooo bored can!? That is Georgina by the way. Crazy outfit!... This was taken like a lonnnggg timeee agooo!!! I can't stress enough! We were on a Food Micro 2 lab field trip to Healthworld Ltd on the 22nd May 2008. When we learnt that we had to wear a hair net, special lab coat and shoe protection, we just flipped and couldn't stop giggling. I mean how can we resist when we look like this (above)?! Everyone said that I looked Arabic! WTH... Nevertheless, the whole field trip was boring like hell. I just couldn't wait to have those things off me. I absolutely hate wearing the hair net! Alright, laugh all you want! random ramblings to pass time (Picture credits: Taken by Juliana) I totally need a hair cut RIGHT ABOUT NOW… HahaOff with all that unruly hair. I need to be more diligent in styling it up as well before I take pictures and put them up on the blog. Lol… I know, several people have complained to me how unkempt I look nowadays.The fat unkempt idiot is going for a hair cut SOON!!! Yay!Then again, the next few entries would still see wild frizzy hair everywhere since they were taken eons ago. Gosh! I wonder what I have been doing the past few months?! Time to work those lazy bones since the next semester is starting.And believe me or not, I have been running!It’s so easy to run here since it’s not as hot and humid as back in Singapore. I really enjoy running around here. Then again, it often gets too cold to run some times. Recently, I’ve stopped running as well, since the weather is just too cold for my body to function. Lol… I hate losing touch of my ears, mouth, fingers and nose.Alright, gotta go for this boring research thingy again. Believe it or not, I still haven’t started anything. Tons of problems just keep arising one after another. I really hate it! Right now, I am training to use the UPLC, which I still have absolutely no idea what’s going on. But well, practise makes perfect. Will try my darndest to master that thingy.Oh, and since I haven’t started on my research project, I’m so gonna write to the directorial boards of UQ to get some money refunded. It’s a whopping AUD$2.7K for something I haven’t done at all. And now, I’m paying another AUD$2.7K for the same course as it’s a 2 semester continuous project. It’s just too expensive to be doing nothing. Anyway my friend Sathiya has done it before and she was telling me that they refunded her AUD$400. Well, it’s better than nothing since I can pay half a month’s rent with that money. Oh, talking about Sathiya, I have her farewell gathering pictures ready for a blog entry! Yay! Thanks to Kelsey for sending me her pictures. I’m so gonna chuck out those incompetent camera batteries of mine as soon as I touch down in Singapore mid-December.And yes, I am coming back in mid-December; as countless people have already asked. Peggy, I want to attend your house warming hor!!! Thanks for putting your plans on hold for Smitha and yours truly! So touched by that gesture! ;)Regards,ivanny shake ya booty birdy! A short 4 second video of a funny bird we saw at West End market. (I forgot to upload this in the exploring Brisbane part 3 entry) It just kept shaking it's booty at us for no apparent reason lor. Made our day man! We just laughed so hard...Just to mention here, ignore the dialogue since Juliana was just teaching me how to use her digital camera's video function. And I totally screwed it up, thus, you only get to see a 4 second footage of the bird. It was meant to be at least 1 minute actually. Waste my energy holding that camera and aiming at the bird the whole time. Haha...Enjoy the video and have a huge laugh!Regards,ivanny exploring Brisbane (part 2: Habourtown & Surfers' Paradise) Continuing from the previous entry on 3rd July 2008: Exploring Brisbane (Part 1)…-------------------------------- 24th June 2008 (Tuesday) ----------------------------------Yes, we were certainly enjoying life during the first week of our school holidays. Hey, it’s not like we have a lot of time right? Lol… Since we are already here in Brisbane, we might as well just tour Brisbane like a tourist and not waste our money and time coming all the way here.So Juliana and I woke up at 5.50am to get ready for our shopping outing. By 7.30am, we were already at the train station and met up with my friend, Eeling, and Juliana’s friend, Joanne. Yee Li didn’t join us because she wanted to do some last minute mugging and practise for her International Language (I.L.) test. So we paid AUD$9.40 for our zone 13 public transport for the day. I think the bus driver made us pay for an extra zone because she wasn’t sure herself. Gosh! Now, what kind of service is that? Anyway we weren’t sure ourselves so we didn’t want to take the chance. People, Harbourtown is located either in zone 12 or 13. Don’t say I didn’t inform you guys that we aren’t sure. ;p Us & the fountain at Habourtown... That is us taking turns to be in the picture. Haha... Lucky Eeling was in all the pictures though. ;p The picture of those 2 little girls were taken by Juliana, so if you know them, don't sue me; sue Juliana. Haha... I thought the picture looked really nice, so I included it in our picture collage.Shopping there was pure heaven since most items were dirt cheap. Most of the stuff were direct factory outlet goods and most definitely, everything was on SALE, SALE and MORE SALE… The whole place is like a mini shopping village, with lots of walk in stores ala fun fair village style. Harbourtown is certainly very modern, clean and pleasant to visit. The stores at Harbourtown... As you can see, it's sale and more sale everywhere! And that means cheaper pricing to the already very much cheaper direct factory outlet price. There were tons and tons of shops everywhere- row after row. And yea, the whole place was really clean and pleasant to shop at. I'm missing the place already!I shopped alone while the girls did their own stuff. In the end, I bought 5 tees while each of the girls only bought 1 piece each. According to them, this time round the female apparels weren’t up to par. After a long day of shopping and walking around, we decided to have lunch and sat down in Mustang Sally’s Café. It was serving the cheapest and most delicious looking food. Portion size was huge so we shared 2 to a plate of main entrée. Juliana and I were definitely pleased with our steak sandwich. It was really good! Mustang Sally's Cafe... Our sandwiches for sharing. Really enjoy the steak here. Food portion size here is always just sooo huge.Oh, not everything there was cheap though. It really depends. I feel that the Converse products here tripled the pricing of Singapore’s. One pair of sneakers costs AUD$89.90 even after discount. In Singapore, my Converse sneakers only cost me S$59.90 before discount can? I also feel that Adidas and Nike products here were mediocre. There wasn’t as much variety as compared to outlets in Singapore. In the end, I bought my tees from Jay Jays (the Aussie equivalent of Top Man, New Urban Male) and Essential Man. All my shirts costs about AUD$5 to AUD$7 per piece. What a bargain! My purchase... Not exactly very nice tees but that is the best Australia can offer, I suppose. I mean, I haven't exactly been attracted to any of the guys' clothes ever since I arrived here in February 2008. However, I just bought these few alright ones because I am thoroughly sick of all the clothes I currently have. I think I would definitely go on a shopping spree when I get back to Singapore in December lor! By the way all these tees cost me only AUD$6 each (on average); that Mr Men shirt would have cost S$50 in Singapore lah. After Harbourtown, we decided that we didn’t want to waste our public transport tickets and decided to travel down to Surfers’ Paradise in Gold Coast. We hopped on a bus and didn’t know where to alight. Alas, we missed by 4 stops and had to walk. It was a blessing in disguise though. We backtracked via the beach and had fun doing all sorts of silly stuff. We took tons of pictures and screamed our lungs out. The beach there is truly gorgeous. The sand is clean, the sea is blue-green and the sky is champagne-yellow-blue from the sunset. The view was absolutely breathtaking. 4 silly international students walking along the beach, talking loudly; aimless and directionless. At the beautiful sandy beach... Everyone asked me why I kept taking pictures of the insignificant signs and the flags at the beach. Probably the best reason is that Singapore is so safe that there isn't such things to look at, thus, my fascination (insignificant becoming significant). I especially love this group shot (top left corner), taken by balancing the camera on a wooden face- Me, Juliana, Eeling & Joanne (Malaysia). Little boy running across the sandy beach also caught my eye (bottom right corner). He made his grandmother chase after him lah. Such a young and innocent child, which nothing to worry about in life as of yet. Tried to capture his pure innocence and happiness in this picture. Silly international students... We were doing all sorts of silly stuff, like trying to get a jump shot. How many pictures did it take 4 international students before we got the jumping right- well, almost-? Let's just say TONS! Lol... Screaming... We were screaming at the top of our lungs just for fun. I especially love this shot of me screaming. Thank God you can't see my tonsils. Lol... Tribute to my blog... Ivanny.Blogspot.Com was there! Ivanny... Initially, I wanted to update this as my profile picture on the blog. However, we can't see the Ivanny.Blogspot.Com clearly. Then again, I still heart this picture! ;)We then arrive at the Surfers’ Paradise area and took some more pictures. We are such big camwhores can?! Ok, only Juliana and I were camwhores. We practically had to force and drag Joanne and Eeling into the pictures lah! At Surfers' Paradise... There were so many sculptures around that we had to take pictures with every single one of them. Haha... Bottom row, pictures of the iconic Surfers' Paradise seat, Surfer's board and the entrance sign. The Surfers' Paradise clock thingy... We all took turns going up solo. Only Eeling was too shy to go up alone, thus, the group picture.Walking around, we finally saw the Minus 5◦ ice lounge. We paid the entrance fee of AUD$30 to get in for 30 minutes. I know it sounds expensive but really, the experience was worth it. Inside, the whole lounge was made of ice- the seats, the tables, the sculptures, the walls and even the cups we drank from. It was extremely cold. I was constantly afraid that I would get my tongue or face stuck on the walls or something. I literally couldn’t feel my nose, ears and lips after just 15 minutes. By 25 minutes, I already couldn’t feel my hands and feet, even though I was wearing my own jacket as well as the provided furry woollen jacket. Eeling was so cold, and probably drunk (Oops! She’s gonna kill me when she reads this!), and hid underneath a sculpture. I couldn’t find her even though she was just hiding right behind me. We had 3 cups of vodka mixes and that was all it took to get Eeling tipsy. Yes, she hadn’t drunk vodka before until now. (Picture Credits) Ice cups... That's the ice cups I was talking about. So cool right? No pun intended.Staff at Minus 5◦ took our photos and we bought 2 of the pictures for a further AUD$30 since we couldn’t take our own pictures. This place is certainly a money making machine. We got the male cashier to take our pictures for free outside though, but the pictures turned out blur because of the lighting. Damn… At the Minus 5◦ Ice Lounge... The whole experience was really cool. Now, I can say that I've experienced extreme cold and knows vaguely how living in an extended and enlarged igloo feels like. I totally couldn't feel my whole body from the cold! It was certainly paying money to torture ourselves- good torture that is.We also bought Subway sandwiches for dinner and took the train back home. We slept the whole way since we were just too tired. And guess what, after the train ride back to Toowong, the bus needed 45 minutes to get here as displayed by the bus schedules. We’d rather walk home, and yes, we got home even before the bus hit St. Lucia. That's the public transport system for you here. Walk also faster lah...Oh, and thanks to Rosalind (Irene’s housemate) and her friend for directing us in the correct direction home. Haha… Met them at the bus stop at Surfers’ Paradise so we came back home together. To be continued... exploring Brisbane (part 3: City & West End Market) Continuing from the previous entry on 4th July 2008: Exploring Brisbane (Part 2)…---------------------------------- 27th June 2008 (Friday) -----------------------------------Housemate Juliana and I went exploring the City. We just walked around places that we never went to before and took lotsa pictures of the place. I was pretty amazed that there were so many places I haven’t seen even within the City itself. There was a majestic clock tower and even a very cute cottage looking church in the midst of the busy cosmopolitan hub. The City Hall Clock Tower & Albert Street Uniting Church... I was thoroughly fascinated by these infrastructures as we explored the City. Random pictures... Various pictures we took as we walked along. I really like the picture taken in the makeshift tunnel at some construction site. I have no idea why but I am just so into taking pictures in tunnels. I like the kinda backdrop tunnels give to a picture. Looking back at my picture gallery, this is not the first of my tunnel-backdrop pics.We went into some of the souvenir gift shops and bought some stuff for ourselves. I particularly love this car window sign: The Aussie road sign that I like... I'm fat & you're ugly. But I can diet! Muahaha... So funny! And it so suits the fatty me. ;)Haha… So me!-------------------------------- 28th June 2008 (Saturday) --------------------------------Went to the West End Market with Juliana and Joanne. This would probably be the last time we set foot there before they shut down the fantastic market place. It was really sad that we had to lose this market. The place was really cool with makeshift tents set up in a carnival style. Buskers could be seen playing their instruments and singing acoustic with their guitars and stuff. It really feels so different from what we would normally see elsewhere. The whole place is just so medieval. There was even a tarot card reading stall set up. The ambience is extremely interesting, I tell you. The whole place is just so full of life with all that people walking around, the different coloured tent heads poking above one another, the music and sound of buskering, and the smell of freshly made food. The market practically stimulates all your 5 senses. The Market... Full of life from buskers, colourful stores and people.Not to mention, the cheap groceries- meat, fruits, vegetables. The grocery loot... Tons of cheap fruits, vegetables and meat. One of the stalls (top right corner) selling organic vegetables even had its products displayed so neatly and nicely that I had to take a picture. Frozen durians anyone?... I doubt these would taste good. Thawing frozen fruits and vegetables normally give a mushy texture, and worst of all durians have soft meat. I have got a feeling it's gonna be watery and tasteless. I couldn't even smell the durian even when I was standing right next to the whole lot. I was craving for some and was tempted to buy one though. But alas, I did not. I prefer quality in my durians lah!Naturally, we all want the market to be preserved and signed the petition to keep the place running. How can we bear to even lose this market? This is the very centre and heart of West End. Without the market, this will never be the same West End anymore. The petition table...Joanne, Juliana and I bought some pretty cupcakes from a stall and some mini pancakes (with caramel, maple syrup and whipped cream topping), found a nice warm sunny pier and sat there for hours on end. We even camwhored so much I think the pier would have just sunk itself to just stop us from our shameless self whores. The Cupcake Parlour... All the cupcakes from this stall were beautifully crafted can?! And they taste as good as they look! Other than this makeshift stall in West End, they claim to also have a shop just opposite the market or somewhere around. Not sure though since I've never seen the shop. Our Food... 3 yummy cupcakes, 1 for each of us. 10 mini pancakes with whipped cream, caramel and maple syrup to fill our greedy mouths. It was pure heaven eating on the windy pier under the sun. Joanne had her own Oriental Omelette from one of the stalls too. The shadow series... It was damn funny how we thought about poses to do for our shadow pictures. In one of the pictures (top left corner), you can see that Juliana actually accidentally stepped on one of my shadow pictures, directly at the crotch area. -_-III And we were actually so bored that we started doing animal shows. Haha...The Au Naturale series... We smiled sweetly and acted normal. It was so au naturale that I got my boxers secretly photographed. Bloody hell!~ Oh, and a dog came to visit us with his/her owner. She was so afraid of the waters she refused to walk all the way down. The owner had to make a U-turn. Then again, I think the dog was scared off by our camwhoring. It just didn't want us to take a picture of it I guess. The posey pictures... I just love this picture collage. Haha... It looked like we were selling jeans eh?! Actually most of the shots were taken naturally without any elaborate posing. It just doesn't look that way though.Oh, and yea, this was the very same day I bought the salmon heads (from the previous entry) for dinner. Haha…Oh, not forgetting the 3 Monkeys Café that Juliana brought us to. The whole café is just so cosy lah! The ambience was fantastic with a very gypsy, hippy and vintage feel to it- colourful lamps, patchy drapes for curtains and cushions, rough stone walls, wooden furniture and warm orange ambient lights. I just didn’t want to leave after my food. Oh, and the food is good too, although just a tad pricy. We had Turkish Istanbul and Atlantic Focaccia sandwiches to share. Juliana and I had mango and strawberry smoothies respectively while Joanne had Chai tea. Chai tea is some herby, cinnamony tea; something of an acquired taste. The faint assorted herby taste and slightly stronger cinnamon flavour needs some adjusting to before you can get used to it and enjoy its goodness. Apparently it’s supposed to be very refreshing. I’m so in love with one of those 3 monkeys (see no evil, speak no evil & hear no evil) figurines. Was so tempted to just steal one home since they didn’t sell them. But of course the righteous me didn’t do any sneaky business lah. Duh!~ At the 3 Monkeys Café... It was one of the best cafés I went to thus far.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Last of the 3 part series... exploring Brisbane (part 1: Indooroopilly, Chinatown & City) Ok, I know I have lotsa backdated entries from a long time ago. (God knows since when!) We shall start with the latest outings to make it less complicated for me. I currently have short term memory and have a problem recalling the actual dates and activities that went by. Haha… And there is so much backlog that I had to split this entry into 3 parts. Thus, this is part 1, and do come back in the next few days for more in parts 2 and 3 ya?! I promise parts 2 and 3 would have MORE pictures; that is why it’s in 2 other parts. Muahaha… How long was this entry you say? Let’s just say it’s 7 pages long on Microsoft Words (a huge deviation from the usual 3 pages) and I have close to 30 picture collages to post at the same time. Yes, I did put in the effort for you guys back in Singapore k! ;pAn extremely long entry. Do read the whole thing! By long, I meant all Parts 1, 2 and 3. Yes, the entry is cut into different parts to help make reading less tedious. ;) Oh, and stop looking at my hairstyle! Lol... I know, I know, it's messy and hideous because it's growing long and I am too lazy to style my hair when I go out. Anyway nobody knows me here mah! Muahahaha... Besides, I am too lazy to go cut also lah! Haha... You guys just have to deal with the hair for the next few following entries too. I'm evil!~ ;p Next time, when I am less lazy, I promise I will style my hair and be less of an eye sore. I promise...--------------------------------- 20th June 2008 (Friday) ------------------------------------ The bunch of us... (Top) Me, Eeling (Malaysia), Juliana (Malaysia) & Smitha. (Bottom) Yada (Thailand), Aachal (Fiji) & Vanessa (India).Went with a bunch of girls to watch the Sex and the City movie at Indooroopilly shopping mall. Gosh! It’s definitely a girly girl movie. But I still like! The fashion in the show is overwhelmingly eye catching! I was enthralled when Sarah Jessica Parker did the Vogue wedding gown photo shoot. And her outfits were just mind blowing. Smitha was ooohing and aaahing over her shoes while Vanessa and I were commenting on her various outfits.The movie is also really funny at most parts. Everyone in the theatre was laughing non stop. And yea, we were all thoroughly shocked at the display of naked bodies in the movie. Not that we had a problem with any of the nudity. Just that we didn’t expect the movie to showcase that much nudity! There were boobs and butts everywhere. There was even one scene where they had the male model/actor flaunt his schlongs at some point. Just in case you didn’t watch the movie, he was supposedly in this outdoor bath scene and was trying to seduce Samantha into having some fun with him. I mean, I haven’t come across any movie that passed the censorship and still retained the guy’s front. I know boobs were common commodity but not penises. But well, probably it’s the difference in censorship between Australia and Singapore, I guess. Singapore has always been strict. That was something new.Oh and I was extremely pleased to see Jennifer Hudson in the movie as Carrie Bradshaw’s assistant as well. I must say Jennifer Hudson can really sing and act. She is a double threat!!! In fact, I was crazy over the movie because of Jennifer Hudson primarily. You go girl! ;)Something that I didn’t like about was Carrie getting back together with Mr Big at the end of the movie. Gosh, if I were her, I would never go back to anyone that dumps me alone at the wedding vicinity last minute. I mean, this is not just talking about guys dumping girls people. Same thing for girls dumping guys on their wedding nights. This is really embarrassing and terrible for the other party (whether guy or girl) can?! I’m thoroughly disappointed that Carrie wasn’t as strong as I thought she was.Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the show. More importantly, I enjoyed the company of my friends, especially after all that exams shit. All of us just needed one night off to unwind I guess.------------------------------ 23rd June 2008 (Monday) ------------------------------------ Yee Li, Juliana & me @ Chinatown... Yee Li is graduating and going back to Malaysia after this semester, thus, we are going to more places to experience stuff before she has to go home.Went to Chinatown and the City with my housemates, Yee Li and Juliana. We had lotsa fun gorging on Chinese food. I was so glad the food actually tasted really good! We went to a Chinese restaurant for some good food for once. It’s good to pamper yourself sometimes, especially after working so damn hard. Lol… Excuses, I know, but still… Chinese Food, Oh Glorious Food... Some kind of beancurd, stirfry assorted vegetables and chicken with cashew.After our very fulfilling brunch, we went exploring around the area. I seriously have no idea where we were walking lah. I just kept following the 2 girls since they knew the place better than I did. It was really fun. And guess what people! They have Cash Converters here too!!! And yes, I dragged them in and spent a long time inside going through the racks of cheap second hand CDs. The CD selection here is definitely much better than that found in Singapore branches. No cheesy stupid albums that no one has even heard of! Aussie Cash Converters... With a whole lot of better 2nd hand CD & DVD collection.However, one question though. Why does everyone associate the dragon with Asians or rather, the Chinese? Weird… I’ve never felt that great a connection with dragons until when I’m in some foreign country. Oh, and the Chinese herbal shops here sell some really weird stuff! We saw bugs and even a STARFISH! Now, I didn’t know that the Chinese boils starfishes as herbs for soups. That is plain weird. The bug thingy scared the hell out of us. And yea, I happened to pick up this packet that had something which looks like a vagina. I think Yee Li and Juliana were considerably embarrassed by me when I said the word “Vagina” out loud. Lol… Chinese herbs?... See!!! Starfish lor. So horrible! And the bugs thingy at the bottom picture! Gosh... And last of all, the star of all herbs, the one that looks like a dried up rotten vagina at the top right hand corner. Really look like right?! Goodness, sometimes I don't know what these people are eating man!As time went by, we decided to have some gelato ice cream in the City. Hell, I didn’t even know they had a Gelatissimo scoop shop here. Never noticed it sitting there before. The flavours they had were almost the same as the ones we have back home. I had the triple flavoured cones- white chocolate, mixed berries and energy drink (Red Bull). Juliana also had the pistachio ice cream on Yee Li’s recommendation and it was sooo damn good! Gelatissimo... Yummilious ice cream. Healthy and with less fat, but tastes just as good. Wait, I meant to say taste even better! With that range of ice cream flavours, you would never get bored going for some ice cream over and over again.As night drew closer, we decided to head back home for some rest, because tomorrow we were gonna go on a shopping spree in Harbourtown! To be continued... P / S: The whole entry is really just too long to be squeezed into one post. The Harbourtown entry in the next part is especially long; now I'm thinking whether I need a part 4 too! Lol results are out!!! Results are OUT!!!OMG!!! I can't believe it!I've achieved my target!!! All hardwork paid off!Edda Sim and Averil Chan!!! I did it! OMG... I was shivering so bad when I saw the link to "View Results". In fact, I am still shaking right now. Gosh!GPA 6.333 out of 7. Hopefully I would get the Dean's Commendation for this semester! I'm literally jumping around the house right now. I'm not kidding! I hope the people living downstairs wouldn't mind. -starts screaming and jumping around some more-P / S: I was originally writing a blog entry (with pictures!!!) to post tonight. But well, that can wait I suppose! Oh yea, it's my mother's birthday today as well... Happy Birthday mum! brissy drama in cooking fish heads I seriously have to start my blogging fingers typing away soon again! I have far too many backdated entries to post already. Ever since the last of my exams, I have been exploring Brisbane like crazy with my housemates. And yes, tons of crazy stuff happened and it needs to be recorded down on the blog!!! However, I shall just concentrate on the more recent salmon fish head cook out before everything else. I’m so proud of myself ‘cause I actually successfully cooked 2 salmon heads and they tasted absolutely fantastic!!! (I know, it’s just 2 fish heads, but bear in mind I cannot cook for God’s sake!) And yea, the entry would be accompanied with pictures courtesy of housemate Juliana, who was sneaking picture after picture of all that unglamourous ra ra happening around the house while I was cooking.Warning: Full of drama! Not for the faint hearted!!! So here goes:I was in the West End market (later on that though) with housemate Juliana and her friend Joanne when we chanced upon extremely cheap salmon fish heads selling for AUD$2.99 per kilogram in Coles. I was just craving for salmon when Juliana pointed out that fish heads contain lots of fish meat too. Cheapo yours truly immediately made up my mind to get those. (Salmon slabs cost almost AUD$24.99 per kilogram in this part of the world lah!)I agreed to cook dinner instead as no one wanted to touch one of those slimy fish heads. I happily made off with 2 Atlantic salmon fish heads at just AUD$2.80 that day.At home, I played the Christina Aguilera: My Reflections concert DVD borrowed from the library in the city, and got on with the cooking. First, I had to de-gill the fish and I never felt so disgusted in my life ever. You can practically see the disgust in my face every single second of the butchering. Gross! And just imagine those big round eyes staring up at you as you butcher it. Double gross! De-gilling the fish heads... A messy gross affair! What you see in the top picture is just half of one head. By the time I finished de-gilling the 2 fish heads, fish blood was dripping everywhere. Juliana said that it looked like I just killed someone or something.There was so much sticky, dark red blood I almost didn’t know whether the blood belonged to me or the fish. My hands were so darn cold and numb as I was cutting out bits of stuff. Trust me, de-gilling a fish is hard work. Those darn gills just won’t come off. To make matters worst, the fish is slimy and slippery. I couldn’t get a good grip since the fish had sharp teeth which made it nearly impossible to hold the mouth which was the most convenient part of everything. The gills itself had spiky bones that connected it to the body. That made it really hard to use my hands as well. I had to use a knife which was extremely dangerous since the fish was going everywhere as I was cutting that damn thing. And yea, blood continued oozing out onto everywhere. Practise makes perfect and the job gets done ages later. Still camwhoring... I know, cooking still must camwhore right?! Lol...My hands started to itch so I had to wash with soap. And that was when I realized that there was still stuff to be cut off. I still had to cut off those irritating fins too! Juliana did the job since it was too difficult for my pea brain. Muahaha…After all that chopping, I marinated the fish heads in a huge pot, and threw in everything I had- soya sauce, ground black pepper, salt, fresh lime juice, oyster sauce, mixed herb powder, sesame oil and garlic. The fish heads were also stuffed with carrots, tomatoes and fresh lime pulp, and left there for almost 30 minutes before any baking commenced. The marinated fish heads were then wrapped in foil and popped into the oven for as long as I remembered.That was where the drama began…As I was cooking the cheese omelette, and Juliana the rice, Yee Li smelt something burning. I was shocked and thought that it was my omelette but couldn’t find anything that looked burnt at all. And it can’t be the rice since it’s microwaved. That was when we realized thattttt…We totally forgot about the fish heads!!! –Starts screaming!-When we opened the oven, tons of grey smoke poured out, clouding the entire living room. It was chaotic and hilarious if you were watching us. (I’m laughing at our stupidity as I write this.) The house fire alarm started to sound at that exact same time. We panicked and started waving cloths and papers around the alarm system to dissipate the smoke. It was so damn funny! In the meantime, I broke a light bulb with my random violent and clumsy wave of the table cloth. Thank goodness the smoke alarm stopped ringing, and we calmed down a little. Windows were wide open by then and damage to the fish was checked.Surprise surprise though… Nothing happened to the fish! Muahaha… It survived! In fact, it was good beyond words! Dinner was laid out on the table and everyone started eating, with very hungry and flustered stomach.Our delicious dinner... Apart from the fish heads, we had cheese omelette too! The top right hand corner is just a picture of all the 4 eye balls. Just something gross to add on to the picture collage.So there you have it; a broken light bulb, a fake fire scare that could have cost us AUD$800 if the fire brigade came and bits and pieces of fish head flying every where around the house, all before the fantastic meal- everything courtesy of “Ivanny the Terrible” (as Juliana puts it).Pretending to eat the eye balls... Just to gross out Juliana.I know, cook fish also so dramatic. Lol… That is also why my life was referred to as Topsy Turvy and Tizzy Tazzy ar! No?! Read the blog title again. Lol…P / S: I’m thinking of doing the same thing again next weekend as I couldn’t get the yummy taste out of my head. And I shall use lemon instead of green lime since it imparted some bitter lime taste to the fish meat. I liked the bitterness although my housemates preferred the fish without the bitterness. seperated at birth (Troll picture credits)FOR REAL!One of my friends saw my driving license (with a picture I took during my slim army days) and pointed this out!A few weeks later, some other friend said the same thing.And I, myself, thought so too!Hehe… I don’t mind bearing resemblance with those colourful trolls. I was just sooo into these trolls in the past. I’m serious! Remember Cousin Averilny?!?! I always liked to touch their fluffy colourful hair. I guess that rubbed off on how I grew up to look like. Muahaha…When I was back in the polytechnic, one of my lecturers actually owned a pair of troll earrings. Her troll had blue hair. I was telling her how much I used to love those trolls when I was a kid. Since then, she always made a point to wear those earrings when we had group meetings. Lol… So funny! I adore that lecturer a lot. Even till now, every time she sees me, she still remembers that I have a thing for the troll figurines. She nicknamed those earrings as “Ivan’s favourite earrings”. Haha…Naturally, for Teachers’ Day that year, a couple of friends and I bought her a pair of Coca Cola earrings. Well, because she loves the brand of beverage and has a penchant for buying uniquely designed earrings. I hope she still has them though. ;) Australia Zoo Alright, here’s the much promised Australia Zoo entry from exactly 2 months ago.I was there with some of my friends on the 20th April 2008, sort of a late birthday gathering for Vanessa. She actually got us a 40% discount for the entry tickets, which was absolutely worth the money! I think we only paid AUD$27 per pax. That is of course excluding the money we spent for the public transport. We were in the train for over an hour; the furthest I’ve travelled thus far. The Australia Zoo is located in zone 12, while I’m living in zone 2, so you can imagine how far it was.So the day started early, with big boo boos as Smitha saw the wrong bus timing. Yes, the public transport here is not as efficient as that of Singapore’s so we have to constantly check the bus schedules online if we were planning to go out. Now, we don’t want to be late or get stranded do we? Lol… On Saturdays, the first bus only comes at 8am. Funny enough, we were supposed to meet the group at 8.30am at Roma Street train station. That is impossible to reach if we waited for the first bus to arrive. Thank God Brendan came by and drove us there despite him still wearing his sleep clothes and not taken his breakfast yet. Thanks dude!We arrived on time and met up with Vanessa and her friend. In fact, the others were late, possibly due to the same transport problem. So we were a little behind schedule, but that didn’t dampen our spirits. As soon as everyone had arrived, we bought our train tickets and piled onto the train. Train ticket cost us AUD$6.30 each that day. Gosh! When was the last time I paid so much for tickets? I wonder. Lol… But it was worth it!We arrived at Beerwah station about 1.5 hours later; blurry eyed and lost from sleeping throughout the whole journey. Seriously, none of us knew where we were heading. It was a good thing that the zoo had charter buses waiting outside the station, helping us gain back some of our bearings. Looking at the bus timings again, we realized that we had to end our zoo visit by 5.30pm the latest, in time to catch the last charter bus back to the station. Gosh! Thank God we made a point to be early else we wouldn’t be able to tour the whole zoo by 5.30pm.Arriving at the zoo, we could see posters of Steve Irwin everywhere. The crocodile hunter might have passed on but his spirit clearly still lives on in every corner of the zoo. He will forever be remembered for his contributions to wild life conservation and awareness. I have no idea how some people can actually hate him for what he did and think that he is creating all those antics to draw attention and fame. I, for one, admire his contribution, courage, passion and dedication to what he believed in. He was truly a hero!Passing the ticket counter, I was appalled by the collection of my ticket stub though. I thought they should have let us keep the stub at least, but no, they had to collect the whole thing. I have no idea why. Seriously, I would have loved to keep the ticket stub as a memento. I mean they can’t even recycle the ticket since they had Vanessa’s name printed on it, so I have no idea regarding the rationale of taking the whole ticket back. Moving on, the Irwin family bronze statues were visibly displayed directly in front of everything. We, as tourists, of course took plenty of pictures there. My incompetent camera batteries had to die out on me before anything so I had to spend AUD$16 just to buy 2 AA lithium batteries to last me the whole trip. That was bloody expensive can?! But I guess it was worth it since I had the chance to take great pictures with my camera. Bronze Statues: The Irwin family The whole group: I don't know most of them since I've never really met them before till this trip. Who I actually know then? Let's see: (Back Row) Myself, Smitha, Maggy from Oman, Satoshi from Japan. (Front Row) Vanessa from India. The rest of the guys are from India too.The animals: (Left) Komodo Dragon, Wombat, Crocodile, Otter: At first we thought that the crocodile was fake. It was huge and didn't move an inch. And then someone spotted it breathing, as its tongue was pulsating. Yea, it finally moved as well, contradicting what most of us were arguing: Whether it was real or fake! (Right) Snakes!!!: All kinds of snakes. (Left) Birds Paradise: There were countless species of birds in this part of the zoo. However, my camera weren't advanced enough to reach them. (Right) Echidnas: These guys were running around so actively I had to chase after them for pictures. Some of them were camera shy and just hid in their holes the whole time.(Left) Asian Elephants: These elephants were as cute as buttons! Look at them walking in a single file, holding each other's tails! Haha... (Right) Otters: These guys were so actively running around I only manage to get this shot. I had this moment when the trainer called for these 2; tempting them with food to remain still for a second. (Just in case you noticed that some of the pictures seem to be covered in a white shadow; that's because some of the animals were enclosed in glass enclosures, and those white shadows were caused when someone stands too near towards me and their reflections got captured in the glass.) In the otters' case, some annoying children were running after the otters, left and right, even though they weren't supposed to be behind the barricades. Some of my favourite animals: Giant Tortoise: I was so excited when I saw this beauty! I have always wanted to see Steve Irwin's giant beauties ever since I've seen them on his shows. Tiger cubs: Beautiful cats! All their antics reminds me of my own cats (Topsy, Turvy & Tizzy) back at home. (I almost wanted to keep a tiger after this!) Each of these tigers are uniquely different; as mentioned by posters outside the enclosure. Kangaroos: 3 words- moody, lazy, friendly. These kangaroos actually sit there and allow you to pet them. So tame! I actually saw this poster boy lying on the ground, trying to sleep. I bugged him for a picture or 2 (or rather thousands) because i think it's just so much more photogenic than the rest of the lot. There was this little kid that just charged at one of those kangaroos and almost got kicked in the gut. Thank God he fell and scared the kangaroo away. His parents didn't even know what happened and just thought he fell into the soil. Irresponsible is an understatement here.Koala: This beauty was the most active one of the lot. It was supposed to be resting but kept looking around. I started taking pictures of it and guess what, it started posing like a model. I'm NOT kidding! It looked left, right, at me, up, down, behind and even had its paws placed strategically on the waist and hips like a fashion model. So adorable! No, I didn’t get to visit every nook and cranny of the zoo since there was just not enough time. I didn’t get to see the Dingoes, Platypuses, Tasmanian Devils, Emus, Foxes and Cassowaries. What a waste! I mean, I won’t be able to see those native Australian wildlife in any other zoos would I? I might just have to visit again if I can afford the time and money. Lol…Anyway, I certainly had a blast visiting the Australia Zoo. I was half expecting to see the Irwin family running around the zoo but alas, I didn’t get to see any of them. Some of my friends told me that they actually saw Terri and/or Bindi Irwin previously when they visited. Gosh, I am just plain unlucky! I was looking forward to taking a picture with them. Therefore, I satisfied myself with the next best option:Haha… I know! So many people were looking at me and Smitha when we took that picture. But who cares? No one knows me in this part of the world anyway! *Golden rule number 1!*Midway through, we went to the animal show. It was fantastic! I think the performances by the Singapore Zoo actually pale in comparison. Just the crocodile show alone beats everything hands down. It was the flirting with danger that intrigues everyone and captures our attention. I also really like it when they allowed the birds to swoop down over our heads. This just show how majestic and fast these birds are. But hey, I almost got hit in the head by one of those clumsy parrots though. Gosh, I ducked in time. Now, I really hate birds but I can’t help but fall in love with those beautiful black parrots. I have never seen black ones before can?! The best thing is that when they open up their feathers to show off their beauty, luminous red or yellow streaks covered their full bodied black tails. They are just sooo beautiful I tell you. No pictures though since the birds couldn’t sit still at all. The famous Crocoseum: That fat crocodile certainly took its time to swim from its enclosure to the centre of the stage. Goodness! The keepers all definitely have Steve Irwin's charisma. I think they were trying to match up to where he left.All in all, I wished that I could have spent some more time in the zoo. The whole trip was extremely rushed due to the bus schedules, even though we went early. Seriously, I would have loved to see the Tasmanian Devils, Platypuses and Dingoes. That was my only regret! Would I recommend people to visit the Australia Zoo? Definitely, a 100%.Oh yea, while at the zoo, don’t forget to get one of these copper pendants! It only costs AUD$1 to purchase and is self made. Look out for those little vending machines where you have to work a little of those hand muscles to churn out these beautiful pendants. These machines can be found outside gift shops located around the zoo. You get to choose your own design from the template! Fun for the kids. I had one cute little Caucasian 5 year old boy do mine as the instructions were not clear enough. Such a nice little kid! Should have taken a picture with him.Alright, enjoy the random photos taken (camwhoring in progress): South East Asian: I really liked the S.E.A. section of the zoo. All the designs were so beautifully done. So Bali resort kinda feel. I just had to take some photos! Random: Various random pictures of us camwhoring in the zoo. And I got to touch a baby crocodile (oooh so soft!), a kangaroo & koala (so fluffy; like dogs and cats respectively), and a parakeet (so fidgety). Train Tracks: We came across these tracks at the train station. We don't normally have such scenes in Singapore, so both Smitha and myself decided to take a picture each. We were waiting for the train to arrive and had 1 hour to spare anyway. NO! We did not climb onto the train tracks because we are not dumb! These tracks were laid across the roads where pedestrians and cars have to cross, like an intersection. We were roaming the streets to look for something to eat. Beerwah is like a small country town. So ulu (remote) lah! planning for the holidays I made curry today!!! Yay! Followed Smitha's recipe, but somehow mine turned out quite different. Muahaha...Housemate YeeLi is planning to cook lots of delicious stuff over the holidays. We are in for a treat! I'm waiting for the corn pudding she said she would be making!!! ;pI hope that we can get some great Asian ingredients from China Town and Fortitude Valley! I'm craving for soya bean curd (dou hua)... Gonna get some when I'm there. Hehe... Spoke to Kaiwen yesterday. We are planning to go clubbinggggg!!! Ok, shall get Smitha's housemate to get us free entry since he is the bouncer at one of the clubs. Woohoo... First time clubbing in Brisbane. Can't wait! We shall keep this group outing small though. Probably just the 3 of us or something. We will see then! Regards,ivanny beauty, in the eye of the beholder A couple of months ago when I just arrived in Brisbane:Friend: I noticed that allSingaporeans are very good looking.Me: Really? Then which hole did I just crawl out from in Singapore? Never noticed!Friend: I really think so. Every Singaporean I’ve known were well dressed and looked great.Me: Gosh! I can’t believe what you’re telling me right now. Maybe you haven’t known enough Singaporeans.Friend: Maybe you’re too used to looking at great looking people that’s why.Me: Wait till you see me put on those pounds here! I think I would be the first hideous Singaporean you would have ever known in your life then.Hmmm… I wonder why?Fast forward a couple of months later:(On various occasions)Friend: You’re the first guy I know who uses a facial toner.Me: Right!? I have very bad, oily skin that would have pimples sprouting very easily.Friend: You’re one of the few guys I know that wears deodorant.Me: Hmmm… I smell that’s why? LolFriend: You’re the first guy I know who conditions your hair every now and then.Me: Great! My hair needs to be cared for else it would look like a lion’s mane, with mould growing out of it.Friend: You have lots of clothes!Me: I love clothes so that it doesn’t get boring every time I go out.Friend: You’re the first guy I know that uses lip balm.Me: Yea, my lips chap very easily and becomes painful and bloody when I am in a cold climate foreign country....Me: Gosh, do guys (and girls) in your (insert) country even ever practise self grooming? You make them sound like trolls…Now, we know why said international friend thinks that Singaporeans are all beautiful people?The word is Self Grooming! Beauty and grooming doesn't come easy! It doesn't simply just drop from the sky, I am sure! I guess, Singapore being an image conscious country has taught most of us the values of self love and grooming. To be able to book a job, one has to look good and be presentable. First impressions count. If someone doesn't even want to look at you, then what makes you think that they can look past that image and access your quality of work properly? Human beings are naturally bias by nature, thus, you need to capture someone else's heart or attention before you can even prove yourself. Goodness, said friend hasn’t even seen me wear perfume yet. I wonder what he would have thought! And gosh, he hasn’t met some of my friends and random strangers whom are far better groomed than me. Oh, did I mention that I use facial masks to improve my facial pimple situation as well? Haha… An influence by my mother, and lovely pretty friend Xue Qin. I think my said friend would get a heart attack if he learns that my mother always urges me to do facial mask treatments on my face ‘cause she just can’t stand those pimples pulsating on my face every time she looks at me. LOL!P / S: Talking about self image, I need to go do some running and stuff to get rid of those pounds I've put on over the semester. I am so round now you can bounce me like a ball! Gosh!!!