ONE MORE SLEEP omg.

I woke up at 3am this morning with my tummy churning and gurgling like a Calcutta sewer. I wondered if it was caused by last night's dimsum supper @ the Manor.



Impossible; Eddie had eaten exactly what I ate, and yet he was sleeping like a baby.

And then I remembered the pan-fried scallops I had for a snack earlier on yesterday. There could be no other culprit; I recall that the center of the juicy scallops were still a little cold when I bit into them, and nothing else could've induced diarrhea as effectively as half-cooked seafood FML.



Half a dozen trips to the loo later, I finally felt better and dozed off for a couple of hours before having to wake up to send Mariah to the cat motel.

Eddie drove while I sat with her at the back seat.



Poor darling had no idea where we were sending her, and even though it was only for three weeks, it broke my heart knowing that this was the first time in her life she'd be spending the night confused and alone in a totally alien place.



You couldn't see in this picture, but behind the chalkboard there's a hole leading out to a private balcony where the kitties can sit and watch the birds and the bees outside. This was one of the features I loved about this cattery. The kitties also get to play in a communal play area for an hour or so every day.

I hope Mariah would be too distracted to miss us too much.


Mariah's beautiful neighbours!

Nevertheless, I still burst into tears upon leaving our babygirl behind, thinking of how she had refused to come out of her carrier and thinking of how terrified she must be of the foreign smells and noises and having to be left all alone for almost a month without her daily hugs and cuddles and treats :'(

Yalah I crybaby. I hate goodbyes. Even when parting with a cat also wanna emo.

. . . . .

After my sniffling and snuffling, we made a pit-stop @ Sunnybank. Even though it was already 11am, most of the restaurants werent open yet, so we opted to grab a bite at Malaya Corner.



Went shopping @ Indooroopilly for last minute pressies, then went home and attempted to start packing.

Eddie is officially on holidays already. He cut/punked up his hair this afternoon and dyed it in streaks; he looks like an ah beng now! Totally hot. x)

(not that I think ah bengs are hot OK, I meant Eddie looks hot with his ah beng hair. Must clarify!)

As for me, it's my last day of work tomorrow. Staff Christmas lunch, and having to return my teacher laptop. I felt a bit sad on Wednesday as I started packing my stuff up. Took a few pictures of my cosy little ESL room for memories as I won't be back next year.



I think I'll leave these students' scribbles on my whiteboard so that the new teacher can learn how to say "Hello/How are you" in Tamil and Arabic too :)



Poster of stars I made of our ESL students who achieved academic awards for 2009. It's been an awesome year indeed.



Sigh.

Okay I'd better resume packing, the bedroom looks like a disaster zone right now.

My Christmas wish-list

1. iPod Shuffle



My iPod is my running companion. So far I've coped with either holding the thing while I run, or stuffing it down the side of my shorts/undies or in my sports bra. 越极麻烦!! ... and yes it ends up wet and gross. I haven't bought an armband because I assume it wouldn't hold up on my skinny arm very well. I need something tiny that clips on and weighs close to nothing. Also, I seem to have misplaced my iPod this week... I can't find it anywhere. It's a sign muahahah

Eddie has said he'd get one for me when we're in Singapore. Thanks darling! ♥ :D

2. Bike



Been wanting one forever, but somehow have never succeeded in saving up for one :( Resolution 2010!! There's so much more of Brisbane waiting to be explored, and running can only cover so much distance.

Not that I've been having too much motivation to run these days either...

3. Wok



Like a nice, high-grade, non-stick, flat-based one, big enough so that half my fried-rice won't end up on the stove top! I think I shall ask my parents to get this for my Christmas pressie... Good quality cookware is so freakin expensive here in Australia. Besides, mom loves helping me shop for these things x)

I also need a nice little mortar, a new grater, and a silicone batter spatula. Hah! The aunty in me speaks.

4. Watch



The one I'm using now was given by the ex before my ex half a decade ago. 'Nuff said.

5. Sunglasses



I really should invest in a good, proper pair of branded sunnies. The one I'm using now (and have been using for ages) is a $5 pair I bought in a closing-down sale in China. It doesn't look too bad, but it's flimsy, doesn't sit well on my face cos it's too big, and I can't bring it anywhere cos it didn't come with a case and it doesn't fit in any of my other cases!

6. Mixer :D



Already sittin' on mah kitchen bench, baby!

. . . . .

Maannn I've officially screwed up my bioclock.
And I'm not even on holidays yet :(

Three more sleeps till we fly!
Sleep goddamnit.

And I judged a book by its cover again

*edited*

On Friday night, we went fishing at Shorncliffe again. Eddie caught another stingray, and as usual, people crowded around to check out the catch.



Two swaggering drunks joined in the commotion. One of them hung around Eddie and kept talking to him.

A group of friendly Serbian youths packed up and gave us a nearly-full bottle of Ricadonna they couldn't finish. I took the big bottle, gulped a mouthful, swayed around and said to Eddie, "Look, I'm an alcoholic!" (intending to be comical, not to offend the real drunk in any way)

The drunk snorted and muttered something along the lines of "Pfft right. If you're looking for a REAL alcoholic, here's one for you."

God, he reeked of alcohol.

"I've got a bigger bottle than you," I smiled back, while at the back of my head thinking- At least I'm not you, you sad fella. How can people like you be so stupid and choose to piss their lives away like this?

I put the heavy bottle of sparkling down and continued to busy myself trying to get a nibble from something other than a puffie or an eel-tailed cattie.

Anne and Afiq and their friends arrived shortly.

Now I have always admired Eddie for keeping an open mind, unlike me being skeptical of everything and everybody. However, I was starting to get a little annoyed at the hovering drunk because we had come all this way to fish, the tide was high, and my boyfriend had stopped fishing because he was sitting on the bench at the end of the jetty yakking away to the smelly drunkard like old friends.

The drunk guy hung around, plastic cup of wine in hand, all the way until we packed up. As we left, he waved us goodbye. "See ya Eddie!" he beamed, and to me, "see ya babe!"

I looked at Eddie and screwed up my nose, repulsed. "Did he just call me BABE??"

On the road home, I asked Eddie why he had kept chatting to the drunk guy.

So he told me his story.

The man had just come out of jail only two days ago. He had been in jail for six years for accidental manslaughter. He got into a fight at a pub, and because he knew muay thai (Thai kickboxing), his moves came out and he elbowed a guy. That guy slammed into a pole nearby and died. The drunk was sentenced to ten years, but he got out early. He had never meant to kill anyone, and Eddie said, "You could tell he was definitely not the sort of person to kill someone". He was out on the jetty drinking by himself to celebrate his early release, soeaking up the fact that he was free again, and was excited about going to visit his son the next day.

I burned with shame.

Here was an innocent man holed up for more than half a decade, who was celebrating his newly regained freedom alone, and I had looked down on this poor man and labelled him a smelly useless drunk without knowing anything about him.

Here was a man eager to share his story and celebrate with anybody who would share in his happiness, but people don't want to have anything to do with him because they see him like I see him- a smelly useless drunk.

And if Eddie hadn't been there, maybe he would've been convinced that the world had turned its back on him.

Sigh.

I have so much to learn. And more than anything else, I need to remember that people are not always who they may seem to be.

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

the courage to change the things I can;

and the wisdom to know the difference.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

Feeling restless UGH

Haven't gone for karate training for more than a week already. It just takes sooo much effort to muster up enough motivation to drive all the way to the dojo, especially after a long day...

Anyhoos, I went to the city today for my Thursday lunch date with Eddie :)


Christmas tree in the city

After our yummy kebabs, we went to Mont Blanc to get Eddie's Christmas pressie for his dad.

We loved SA Lyoko, who was bright and chirpy and extremely helpful! And nice too... she even chucked in a refill for free :)


Lyoko polishing the precious pen to its blingest, before putting it in its box and giftwrapping it beautifully


This one pen can probably buy a thousand million kilometricos...

After Eddie went back to his office, I stayed in the city and walked around a bit to scout for Christmas pressies.

As usual, got distracted and ended up buying stuff for myself :(

Top purchases of the day!



Crocs Santa Cruz in white/berry :D
I bought the size 8 rather than my normal size 7 cos it fits much better. (Are my feet getting bigger?? O.O ) It looks kinda big on my feet, but it fits nicely and is super comfy... I hope it stays that way and won't stretch too much.

Also...



A bag of JellyBellies in Strawberry Cheesecake and Buttered Popcorn from Darrel Lea. (Buttered Popcorn rocks!)

. . . . .

RIP to Daph's chihuahua [ Pumba ], who died suddenly of unknown reasons (but suspected heart problems).

And it seemed like only not too long ago, that poor [ Twistie ] had to deal with the loss of New York.

I hate it when these things happen. Why do pets have to die? Some might think, Mehh big deal, it's just a dog/cat/rabbit/bird/mouse but somehow these small creatures quickly find a way into your heart and become such a big part of it. When Rocky died, I cried for a week, and (embarrassingly) burst into tears at Cakiepoo's potluck party when someone brought up the topic of dogs (much to everyone's alarm). I was just as depressed when I lost Elvis (my guinea pig). Just thinking about having to go through this pain every time a pet dies is almost enough to put me off getting another one.

:(

Almost.

Stay strong girls. You know you've fed them and spoilt them silly and loved them with all your hearts; your four-legged darlings would not have wanted to live their lives any other way.

Acceptance

You don't question, and you don't hate
'Cos that's not gonna change the way things are.

A little surprise

... waiting for Eddie to get home ;)

Lazy Sunday

After an absolutely awesomely fun-filled day yesterday (see [ Facebook album ], I is too lazy to upload those photos again), we're spending today sleeping in and just chilling at home :)

Am now listening to smooth jazz on [ di.fm ] while having Eddie's yummy charsiu for lunch. Got started on reading/am lovin The Little Prince (by Antoine de Saint Exupéry) which Bev lent me last night (♥_♥)



Eddie came across this charming li'l fella while hanging out his laundry earlier this morning

Ain't he ADORABLE?!?!! I wish we could keep him (but of course, we let him go lah :) Hope he stays away from the predators and grows up to be a big healthy skink!

Gosh summer is really starting to heat up. I think I still have some vanilla ice-cream in the freezer and a nice ripe banana in the fridge...

Going to watch Brisbane Roar vs. Wellington Phoenix @ Suncorp Stadium tonight :D

Okay I'm off to make myself a banana split and go watch the boys play soccer in the park.

Happy hair day!

After the last few horrifying experiences of having my long flowy hair butchered into a motorcycle helmet, I decided I've had enough of angmoh hairdressers.

So today after work, I went back to Fabulous Guys and Dolls @ Indooroopilly. I love how Sunny (the Korean hairdresser there) always pays meticulous attention to my hair, and god knows my hair deserves a bit of meticulous attention after all its been through. (btw Sunny's cute too ^^ But he's married I think.. alaaa). On top of that, a ladies' haircut costs only $25, compared to the freakin $79 I had to cough up for my motorcycle helmet!

Sunny wasn't there when I got there so I had another hairdresser, Young, do my hair. I like her! She's been hairdressing for more than 10 years in Korea before she came to Australia to study English (like my other Japanese hairdresser, Miho, from Topics Hair in the city). And she gives a pretty awesome head massage! (unlike those Aussie hairdressers I've had, who knead my scalp for like 2 seconds and call that a "head massage". Bah.)

Anyway I got a haircut + fixed my regrowth + had an intensive treatment + bought 4 organic hair products in a Christmas pack. All for only $165! OMG I is happy.


Bye-bye regrowth

Click [ here ] to check out the organic hair products they used/I bought.



Yes I am a sucker for all things organic, if you didn't know that already :) Plus it's probably about time I upgraded from the $3 shampoo/conditioner I've been using for the past 2 years.

Anyhoos later loves, I'm off to meet the girlies in the city! ♥

So.

I just wrote a whole long sololiquy and then decided I didn't want to post it up, so I deleted it.

Envy

I've been obsessively following [ Jessica Watson's blog ] on her mission to be the youngest person to sail solo around the world.

When I first saw it on the news, I was a little skeptical and thought it was silly of her parents to so easily let their 16 year old daughter embark on such a dangerous voyage. It looked like it was all just a publicity stint to gain attention from the media. However, from reading all her blog updates, this young lady has not only proven her maturity and capability to take care of herself, but has also earned my utmost admiration and respect with her ambition and determination. And I'm obviously not alone either, judging from the huge amount of support by the horde of other followers on her blog!

This was exactly the sort of thing I had wanted to do when I was 16. Alas, I was only able to fantasize. Damn.

Feeling the pinch

Ying and Yi have moved out. Eddie and I are now covering for her rent, because we haven't been able to find a new housemate.

I am starting to feel the burn because my teaching contract ends in a couple of weeks, and I am a little more than worried about how I can continue to pay for this unforseen hike in my rent if I remain jobless. Eddie had of course said he would cover for me if I cannot afford to, but heck, as if the darling doesn't have enough financial concerns already. It'd be my absolute last resort to have to depend on anyone!

First thing I'm gonna do when I come back from holidays is to look for a job with a private language college. How the fuck does Ed Queensland expect its new teachers to be the lowest paid in Australia, survive for months during the holidays without pay, and still stay on for the job?! (...and THEN they make a big fuss over registered teachers going 'missing'. Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit.)

OHAI

I IZ IN YOR KORRIDOR...



KILLIN YU WIF KIUT-NESS

Nao yu not brings me to vet? Plizz??

Jiak sai!!

Like, literally.



OK that was my lame attempt to be punny har har (cos "jiak sai" means "eat shit" in Hokkien... and I am "eating" a SAI :P)

It's actually Maki's sai... Maki has kindly offered to lend it to me for boot camp this weekend, cos we need two sais for the kata we're doing (I'm getting my own during the camp itself). I wonder what kata we'll be doing with two sais? *excited* Maki is also lending me her dirty set of gi because apparently we're gonna be doing some training in the sea too. Oooh.

. . . . .

Tonight's dinner was stingray again.

I had looked up some promising sambal recipes but had no time to make, so we resorted to buying it again. Eddie always used "Extra Spicy" sambal which always made us cry, so this time we were cleverer, and happily grabbed a jar of sambal labeled "MILD" off the shelves at Chai's.

The ray was grilling in the oven when I got home from training. I could hardly wait for Eddie to finish taking pictures so that I could dig in.



First bite: Ohm nom nom. Mmmm.

*few seconds later*... OMGWTFAAAAARRRRKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Pupils dilated and bells started ringing.
Our tastebuds died and went to hell
We kept gulping ice-cold juice and full cream milk, trying to extinguish the flames
And we used up half a box of tissues between us because our noses wouldn't stop dripping

In the end, we had to slather butter all over the ray. Yes, butter. We were that desperate.

What kind of MILD is deadlier than EXTRA HOT?!!

Eddie and I were quite sure some idiot who couldn't read had put the wrong label on the wrong jar, somewhere in a factory far far away.

I am SO making my own sambal next time!

Weekend shenanigans

We went fishing at Shorncliffe yesterday.



The dreaded 'shark boys' were at the end of the jetty and as usual, the selfish bleeps had tied all their big fat rods to every post so that noone else could fish there. Grr. We were lucky we managed to bag a corner on one side of the jetty.

Got to see some action though, cos they did land a small shark



I had no space to cast because of the stupid shark rods so I simply dropped my line below. That was where all the bream would be anyway, swimming around the pylons.

I got what I wanted :D



I caught a couple but we only brought the legal one home.
Had it for lunch today! Nom.

Also caught a couple of super cute spikey puffies



Eddie caught stingray!



Of course, the first thing we had in mind was sambal stingray, but Eddie had a better idea... so we gave Bjorn the Chef our stingray and left it up to him to come up with something crazy for dinner.

Thus, today's dinner was...



*drumrolls*

STINGRAY TACOS ~!!

It was yummy! The others didnt think it was spectacular, but I thought it was pretty good considering rays aren't the most versatile fish in the world to make dishes out of.

Well done Bjorn! :)

. . . . .

Meanwhile, Mel & Darren the newly-engageds came by our place to drop off my belated birthday pressie ♥

So indulgent!! Thanks guys I can't wait to use it! :D

. . . . .

I found the perfect Christmas gifts for my two little cousins, who are forever pestering me to let them take photos on my compact digital camera.

1.3mps haha but hey, it's a start... Perhaps they'll even end up becoming famous photographers one day :)

@ ze Italian café‎ under ze Eiffel Tower

Managed to catch up with one of my childhood besties, Linzhi, during her stopover in Brissy on her Great Aussie Tour! :)

It was great to see Jiaren again too, as well as meet his girl Steph + aeronautical-engineer-in-the-making friend.... Aaron? (I think that was his name O.o), who was sorely disappointed when I was less than extremely amused about the fact that the flying dinosaurs in Ice Age 3 made aeroplane sounds LOL

Now tell the difference between an amateur photographer and a pro hobbyist!

Here's a photo I took with my crappy old compact:


(Super *heart* Jiaren's 1982 Nikon FM2, I also want onee)

Here's a photo Jiaren took with the same crappy old compact:



Difference much? :P

Linzhi and Jiaren are both photography nuts, and I bet Linzhi and [ Twistie ] are gonna have fun snapping away in Perth when Linz heads over!

Speaking of Perth, I could kill for some duck rice right now... :(

Check out more of Jiaren's awesome work on his [ blog ].

. . . . .

Also, my little article/report in my school's e-newsletter is out!
See [ here ] :)

I can see my cake!

Eddie cleaned the oven out last weekend.

After yoinks of not being able to see a thing through the grime-coated oven door, I am now watching my prune cake brown beautifully on the grill. Joy :D



Only thing is, I forgot to grease the new flexi pan that I just bought.
Owells, Kurap Cake II on its way...

At least I won't have to dig this one out with my fingers x)

Always use protection when you do it

Heh. *ahem*

Check out my new pads, yo!



My Ninja Turtle feet.



WKF approved can ^^



Btw, going to boot camp in two weeks YAY

Oh KURAP

My orange chiffon cake looks like it had contracted some sort of skin disease

('crap'='ku-rap'=skin disease, geddit?? bahahahahahaha ok nvm)



The damn thing wouldn't come out of the bundt pan, so I had to dig it out with my fingers O.o

Tremendous improvement from my first attempt, but it turned out a little bit on the dry (and ugly) side. I'll try making some orange frosting to go with it next time; that'd make it look a little better as well as make it easier to swallow :)

. . . . .

Guess who turns 4 tomorrow!

Munching cookies at 2.30am

My life is starting to lose its routine without you in bed, flapping your arms+legs and making bedsheet angels, enticing me to jump in and join u and huggle u to sleep.

Faster come back honey, I miss you already!


(Gosh, at this rate... I probably wouldn't even survive one year being apart from each other, if I had to work overseas O.o)

Home alone

Sent Benjamin to the airport at noon.
Eddie won't be back till tomorrow evening.
The whole house seems so quiet and empty
Everything is just... still.
I don't even know where Mariah is

. . . . .

Ying will be moving out in a week or two
As soon as renovations are done with her new house.
I wonder who our new housemate(s) will be
I am so gonna miss the woman and her pooch

. . . . .

I was supposed to put in an article for the school's e-newsletter by 9 this morning.
For some reason my article didnt save
Or godknowswhere it was saved
because I did click on Save multiple times.
It was only after I closed the document that I realised
I should have saved it in My Documents
Panicked and called Eddie
He couldnt figure his way around stupid Vista
In the end I had to rewrite the whole damn thing again
and finally got it in by 11am.

. . . . .

I like this photo a lot.
Took this when I was out with Daph and Jerry.
Its one of the photos from my first 35mm roll that came out ok



I like it because it's so random
I remember taking the flashy red sports car turning at the junction
But I have no idea/can't remember where the words came from!
But looking at it makes me smile
because it reminds me to be positive in life
and thats all that matters, isn't it?

. . . . .

I was going to bake an orange chiffon cake
but discovered the grater had rusted
so it'll have to wait
till I buy a new grater tomorrow

. . . . .

Spent shitloads at Coles today
I couldn't resist spoiling myself with junk food
Ended up not going for karate training
Not good.
Was going to have waffles for dessert
with Maggie Beer's burnt fig jam, caramel and honeycomb ice-cream
But I think I'll wait for Eddie to come home tomorrow
Food tastes so much better with company :)
(that's why happy couples get FAT)

. . . . .

Three more students' drafts to mark
But who wants to mark drafts when there's better things to do?