Seasons Greetings...

Hi All,
I'm sorry I haven't written much.
Busy times, lack of net access, emotional trauma.
Surely that's cause for forgiveness.
Well, i AM back in the hot humidity that is Malaysia.
i DID travel on the pushy, discourteous public transport.
i witnessed a brand new shopping mall leak rain from its roof during a heavy downpour.
Welcome home indeed.

But 'tis the season for being jolly, and I do have much to celebrate.
Merry Christmas to those who embrace it.
Happy eating, giving and receiving to those who tag along for the ride.
Appreciate those around you because time, when you want it the most, tends to be short.

Oh. and TURKEY TURKEY TURKEY!

Homeless but Happy

I'm just saying that I am still alive! Been keeping busy squatting at other people's houses. Thanks to CK, Veron, Raymond, Joe and Maylin for the glorious Canning St.
Thanks to Kee Hong, Damien and 24 for the most comfy couch ever in the Verve.
Thanks Sujen and Sing for letting me crash in Milano!
Thanks Evan for travel, accommodation, food and the nice beaches in Geelong!

So i'm saying my goodbyes and catching up with people. But i am also seriously reconsidering staying in Melbourne next year.
Most people know about new developments which have pretty considerable sway to staying in Melbourne. *wink*

Apart from that, i caught up with Chin Yee who did the math and showed me: Assuming graduate pay in Malaysia is RM 2000, that is AUD 700 (exaggerated estimate) Graduate pay in Australia is AUD 40 k a year. that makes it AUD 3k a month. even if i worked PART TIME... with min wage of AUD 17/hour, that makes it AUD 510/week for 30 hours... also around AUD 2k a month. assuming rent and food can equal AUD 1000, i would still make more than if i worked full time at home.. AARRGGHHH!!!

Somemore, all the good bands/artists are coming next year! So geram that there weren't many good concerts this year! I would go to:

• Matchbox Twenty
• Maroon 5
• Jack Johnson
• KT Tunstall
• Michael Buble (maybe)
• Foo Fighters
  

What the heck!??! Why now!?!? Why all at once?!?!?! SO CRUEL!!! You torment meeeeee!!!! *breaks down in tears*
This is exactly what happened when i left England... Had tickets for Matchbox Twenty but never went to watch. WHY!?!?!?!

sorry, that was a bit of a confusing rant. Also, i love the place i realise.
I love the freedom.
I love the food.
I love the friends.
I love the coffee..

How Leh?!? Just enjoy first? Ok. I think i also have to talk a lot of things through with my parents when they come on saturday. but til then, enjoy lah!

Fare Thee Well, Fraternitas

So long without an update and I am actually lost for words.
What has happened since moving out and now squatting in CK and Veron's (and Maylin and Raymond's) new place (p.s: best former neighbours ever!)?
A LoT, to say the least.
Moving out was a mammoth task, made even more massive by the brilliant idea of having a party the night before we leave? Let's start from there, then.
Borrowed the projector from IH, loaded up on WAY WAY WAY too many mixers, tried to frantically pack away what I could and invited as many people as I could muster.
And voila! Recipe for an instant party. So many people showing their true colours too....

If you can make out the projection on the wall, this is the sweet set up of my room.

Look who popped by


The usually mild-mannered Chris
Special mention goes to Aaron P. Never seen him like this before!

I was very impressed by the mixed groups that showed up. I wish there were more parties like this throughout the year, but I think just the one was good. A few Aussies, seniors, freshers, tutor Oppy, kitchen staff even. I think it was a great way to say farewell.

This is after clearing up half the empty bottles...

Plus, an awesome way to finish up alcohol.

So, that was my farewell party in a nutshell. Goodbye IH! I miss you and I love you dearly.

Big special mention to former neighbour Aaron for all the help cleaning up and moving out and keeping me company while the passed out drunk guys were sleeping. =)

Real Life Heinous Crimes

I don't know if this story's been widely published but i sure as heck know it's too CSI to not be creepy. I am hardly believing it myself.
In Perugia in Italy, a student at the University of Foreigners had her throat slit in the apartment that she shared with 3 other foreign girls. Apparently, this was done because she refused to take part in a violent orgy. The police initially detained a bar owner (whom she worked for) who was said to have raped and killed her. He had been fingered by the dead girl's flatmate, who changed her alibi a couple of times (highly suspicious!) initially saying she had not been in and then saying she had for a little while and had heard things. In any case, she and her boyfriend are suspects in the murder as the boyfriend is an avid knife collector and the dead girl's DNA was found on one of the knives he possesses (despite him bleaching it).
Although a break in had been staged and a window was broken, the couple are still highly suspect.
A fourth suspect has also been detained in Germany where he fled and his fingerprints and DNA have been found at the crime scene. They found him through his Facebook and Skype activities, when a friend he was chatting with on Skype collaborated with the police and tried to trap him into returning into Italy.
Now, almost a month later, the bar owner's been released with nothing on him (although they are questioning WHY he deleted a message from her on that night and why his phone signal was coming from the cottage then), the housemate's boyfrend refuses to see her again ("If i'm here it's all her fault"), the fourth suspect is being extradited from Germany (after being traced with technology) and the housemate is detained and, personally, a bit of a psycho case if u ask me.


I'm overwhelmed by:

• how much like CSI this sounds
• how appalling it is that this happens in real life
  
• how much the police can find out by tracking online movements
• how police can retrieve deleted phone messages
• how our mobile phones are like tracking devices that we don't even think about.

Technology - creepy and useful at the same time.
It's privacy over security (as demonstrated by this case)
So, even after graduation, the Arts degree never leaves you.

On a completely unrelated note,
packing is going well. :S

BEFORE

AFTER

haha... seems like there's no difference... (but there is, really!)
(p.s: i really need to learn to pixellate on Photoshop)

Back to work....

The Week Before...

I just feel a little overwhelmed knowing I will only be in IH for another week.
Yes, it's a college. But it's also home.
In the past 5 years, this has been the place I've spent the longest in (and where i've grown up the most).
Did i mention i love it?

I'm very grateful that there are people telling me that I should stay.
I'm very grateful they wish I got offered a pHd.
I'm very grateful there are Australians willing to marry me so I can stay in the country.
I'm very grateful there are some people who think I should just fail a subject (???)
I'm very grateful there are people who are willing to offer me free food and accommodation to be their cook.

I suppose if I really value my existence by the number of lives I can touch, then I better get used to it.

'Tis better to leave loved, than to love to leave.

~Jeannie Foo~

Uni. Fin.

So that's it.
I stayed up all night to finish it, got it checked by the awesome Parkes, and nearly overslept and missed handing it in. But i didn't.
Calmly walked to John Medley.
Slid that pink coverslip in the chute.
And that was it.
No fireworks.
No melodrama.
Just it.
I'm done with uni.
And I've never felt so purposeless before.

Where to from here?

Paolo Nutini - Yummy Italian Scottish Goodness

Listening to various artists on Last.fm, I can't believe that most of them are my age...

And making such excellent music.


Paolo Nutini - These Streets


Paolo Nutini - New Shoes

(check the rhythm! it's a bass pedal on a guitar case and drumming on a box and a tambourine..)
Paolo Nutini is only 20!! [hello Scottish-Italian mix!]
Man, i'd date him. (but it'll take a while to decipher the accent)
Alright, finally i'm starting my essay (due tomorrow)
One more of Paolo for the road. This one's slow and piano-ridden... but i like!


Paolo Nutini - Autumn

Continuing the Recap - Biohazard Saturday

This is quite weird.
I'm looking back a week and recounting the stories.
Anyway, perhaps by now you would have heard about the biohazard hoo ha.
Thanks to the GP boys. But i won't recount it. If you want to know, ask me personally.
The moral of the story is, we can't go around pretending that we planted biohazards anywhere. As unlikely a target as the ping pong room can be.
It made me question a lot of things though.

• what a society we live in. a prank can spiral so out of control. everyone is so paranoid. procedure is the bible.
• the people you read about in the papers can't all be hardcore. it's so easy for you to be implicated, even with the tiniest or silliest of intentions. you can't stereotype people. maybe they just happen to sound like they fit the mold.
  
• the world has such vastly different realities. although we all live in the same point in history, the conditions in 1 place are so different from another. so while some people in australia are getting paranoid over a bag filled with washing powder and olive oil left in the ping pong room, someone else in Sri Lanka is getting blasted with debris from a bomb in the civil war. Can you say fear is justified in either? I leave that to your judgement.
  
• i can be a good friend in need. and i can be fairly biased in opinion when it comes to people i know.
  

Anyway, it was my weekend's excitement. And quite a lot of concern too. Well, until one of my 2007 freshers decided to walk into a glass door and I got to play nurse for a little while. A few stitches after a 6 hour wait and he's all better.
So it has a moderate (if not happy) ending.
But perceptions, definitely questioned. Never trust everything you read in the news, 'cos facts can be twisted every way possible.
Imagine if it was someone you knew. Maybe you wouldn't jump to conclusions too quickly.

For Coffee is the Bean of the Gods...

This is one of my hidden gems in Melbourne.
I love Pellegrini's on Bourke Street.
And I love coffee because of this city.
Ah well, all loves must start somewhere.
Good coffee... Mmmm.....

MFB conference - recap

Oh my, I have succumbed to the end-of-year assignment bug (not the icky sicky kind), taking me down and neglecting my blog! One report down (for the MFB nonetheless), a dying down of the IH biohazard fiasco (but maybe for another day) and fully sobered up from a day at the Melbourne Cup, i will try and give enough attention to all these events that tired me out in the last week.
So here's instalment one - the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Diversity in Emergency Services Conference!
If you haven't figured out, i've been working at the MFB for the past 3 months and Jo and I got to attend!
It was held in the MCG at the members only area which was very very cool.
Man, i wish i could watch a match there. that would've been AWESOME. look what prime seats they are! And it's also just cool being able to walk around an empty stadium. (Melbourne - sports capital of the world!)

Jo and I pretending we know what we're doing

The view from the member's room. too awesome!

Outside when we went to get coffee

Kathy! The nicest person to work with (will order stationery for you)

Cam whoring at the 'G'

Just a nice shot

On the boat! (dinner cruise) I think i made it look nicer than it is

Jo, Dalal (our supervisor) and me.
2 of the fire fighters- Peter and Frank. Such nice people! The acoustic set in the boat.. they're pretty good!

View from the boat. nice!

Them singers again...

One more shot of the bridge. Things so pretty lit up!

Righty-o. It was nice! Lots of people attended the conference who actually cared about whether there was diversity in the workforce. It's like other conferences i've attended, you're so hyped up about that for a day and you think hell yeah i can do something. But so easy to forget that and just go back to normal right after.
Ah well. It was nice feeling a part of the MFB. with my tag and cert of participation and everything!
*phew* just for the pictures this post. back to work (and dinner!)

Back in the day, when songs had good lyrics.... (not!)

i decided that i'd been listening to the same songs for too long so i put my iTunes playlist on shuffle. And don't judge my music taste, but Neil Sedaka's Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen started playing.

Tonight's the night I've waited for
Because you're not a baby anymore
You've turned into the prettiest girl I've ever seen
Happy birthday sweet sixteen

What happened to that funny face
My little tomboy now wears satin and lace
I can't believe my eyes you're just a teenage dream
Happy birthday sweet sixteen

When you were only six I was your big brother
Then when you were ten We didn't like each other
When you were thirteen You were my funny valentine
But since you've grown up Your future is sewn up
From now on you're gonna be mine

Oh my goodness.
How much like a paedophile does he sound?

"Tonight's the night I've waited for"

Seriously!
Okay, so she's not a minor on her sixteenth birthday. But he's like every parents' greatest nightmare. You know how they're paranoid once you're 18 you're going to drink and take drugs 'cos you can. Well, he's the guy who waits 'til midnight so she's legal then bangs her in the back cupboard.
Dodge.

Oh yeah, baby. Happy Birthday
(this is Neil Sedaka btw)

Update: Oh dear, i think this music thing could keep me occupied. I just heard the Beatles song 'I Got a Feeling'. Perfectly normal and then I heard this verse.

Yeah, I've got a feeling!
Ev'rybody had a hard year
Ev'rybody had a good time
Ev'rybody had a wet dream,
Ev'rybody saw the sunshine

WHAT!?!? Wet dream?!?!

You could really get away with a lot of lyrics back in the day huh? And my parents worry about MY music. (-_-")

When You Are Owned By Someone Else

Aiya. Lousy Kee Win.
I am addicted to Human Pets. Obsession about whether anyone has bought my precious pet 'Risque formerly known as Da Bian'.

~Oooo.. pleasantly interrupted from my blogging by Patty Boo calling from Hong Kong!
Today's my lucky Klang day. Eddie called. Then Patty called.
=) So loved. But yeah, good catching up with them... i miss you guys!!! ~

Okay, detour over. The point of today's blogging, I'm owned by some random dude!
Scariness. He has his crotch in tightey whiteys as his display pic and, according to Kee, an obsession with buying girls. (didn't want to check his profile in case he gets excited)
Even though Izy and Kee gallantly tried to save me (or so that's what I like to think their intentions were. Maybe they just have this sadistic desire to own me too), this fella still outbought me. Wah.
Maybe he's just loyal?
I don't dare to run away. Haha.. No reason to, really. Only find it a bit creepy that strangers are so adamant to own me. Especially strangers who are supposedly in the US army. (scary char siew-like connotations!)
Maybe I should make more obvious my hints that I want to be owned by someone else. Stop buying me, dude... your persistence is getting annoying!
Must be gutsy like this comic:

So simple, but speaks volumes....

P.S: one essay down = 2400 words down = 8000 due on Monday

P.P.S: I'm going to attend a Diversity Conference and am sponsored by the Fire Brigade! (whee... cocktails, dinners, dinner cruises. i like)

P.P.P.S: I'm going to the Melbourne Cup next week!

Ggggrrr......

I am an angry person today.
I don't like my essay. It's too philosophical.
When there is so much to do, I am not in the mood to contemplate and reflect, no matter how important the questions are.
I hate the phone reception in IH. It's screwed up and causes me emotional trauma. Noone can call me. My abandoned mother leaves 6 voicemail messages on my phone because she is waiting for me in the city. But i don't know.
The pizza delivery dude calls twice to tell that he's coming. But i don't know.
The result:
Angry because i'm guilty that I left her alone in the city.
Angry because I made the delivery guy come to IH 3 times and had to pay extra too.

Why is everything making me angry? Well, the good thing to come out of it is that I found a new comic blog I like. Although it isn't quite as angry as I am, I can see many situations that it spells out perfectly. Angrylittlegirls.com


I suppose you have to balance out the highs with the lows.
Gggrrr anyway.

Update: I love Adrian for his shoulder rubs. Mmm.. A bit pacified at least. And the block of dark chocolate doesn't hurt either. Well, except the waistline. (wasteland? hhhmm...)

The Last time I'll Write About Last Times...

Yes yes, i know.
Last week of uni.
Last tute ever.
Last AIESEC meeting.
Last take home test.
Last time I'll have SWOT Vac.

Everything is the Last. I've gotten over it, okay? So it's the rest of my life already?
Not quite.
1000 words down, only 10, 400 to go by the 5th of November.
2400 of which are due on Monday.


You're really here to procrastinate, right? Alright. I live to please.
For great music while you're studying, go to Last.fm. Plug in the name of an artist you like and they'll stream music that's similar for your listening pleasure. Absolutely free! I'm hooked. Have found lots of great new artists already.

And if you're more into visual delights, more Flight of the Conchords!



Now stop procrastinating and get down to business... (studying, that is)

Gourmet throwing-ingredients-together

What happens when you mix four extremely amateur chefs, hungry tummies at 2am, and enough ingredients to try something new?
Something that involves discovering a month-old lump of garlic and lamb in my grill, *eeewwwww.. in my defence, they were meant to clean it 'cos i was in Malaysia!* a lot of flying egg white (blenders are not quite egg beaters), and stirring, whisking, folding, flipping, grilling. Meh. everything!
End product: Chocolate and Mixed Berry Souffle Omelette! (that's the recipe name, seriously)
The top part has grated chocolate on it - it's not burnt!

Verdict: i thought it was quite yummy.
See... looks somewhat the same wat!

When the hardest person to convince is yourself

In a time when I question my adamance in many decisions, i find this quote most appropriate:

Most men, including those at ease with the problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues and which they have woven into the fabric of their lives.

~Tolstoy~

Does it take a truly great person to realise that egos should not impede our good judgement?
Still I doubt it would make any difference at all.

You know when you need an excuse for being late?

Kee Hong's 21st!

Seeing as an unfortunate accident has rendered me one of the few important people with pictures from last night's festivities, i must fulfil my honourable duty and post them up.
So, what happened at Kee's 21st?
Cooking,

Eating,
Cooking, eating and Posing,

Staring,

More staring (at the pool) under the guise of scratching lotto ticket. (seriously!)
Eating of the most awfully shaped sausage ever.

Dropping (it) while it's hot. (???) Kenny supposedly looking upset he lost his sausage.
Praying for many many good times and better grades?

And passing out after 1 tequila/beer! Wahsai... look like feverish.

And just for evidence, this one was yours, gung gung!

The night in brief. Happy Birthday Kee Hong! Old already - we can miss these big crowds together at home. *sigh*

Songs to make you Smile

Today's such a glorious spring day.
It makes me happy.
So it's time to share happy music. =)
If you have time to smile, smile with a soundtrack.


Catherine Feeny - Mr. Blue. Balloons are balls of happiness!



Feist - 1234 (live on Letterman) Sounds better live and with a big chorus of clapping people!



Field Music - You're Not Supposed To. Caught this on Rage some strange hour of the night. For a British sound and more happy clappy people.



Ingrid Michaelson - The Way I Am. Her voice is so clear it's beautiful. Nerdy glasses are cool after all! (the first vid i put up got taken down. Boo. But this is happy unclear version. Click here for a more minimalistic rendition)

I sound like i'm in love. But having lunch at a cafe in DeGraves street on a beautiful sunny day makes me realise that i AM living in the greatest city in the world.

I love Melbourne. =)

*Thanks for reminding me, Kee Win*

The Phaaaaaaantom of the Opera..... is a Freaky Stalker Dude

The good news is that it's Thursday.
The bad news is that Thursday is barely halfway through the week. Or so it feels like it.
I'm exhausted. And it's more from thinking about how much work I have than actually being stuck in the middle of all of it.
And maybe a touch of sleeplessness.
Did i mention mum's in town?

Anyhoos, watched Phantom of the Opera tonight. It was awesome awesome awesome. The songs are better when you know them, the stage was so elaborate (kudos to the guy who made the lake scene), costumes were so rich an gorgeous, and the cast was brilliant. Especially the Phantom - his voice was so commanding, i was mesmerised. Furthermore, the guy who plays the leng chai was actually tall and leng chai. So there you go. Eye candy to boot.
This is the first musical i've been to where the ENTIRE theatre stood to applaud at the end. Now that's a great musical.

However, my mind has to wander, no? (for i would not be me otherwise)
The Phantom is creepy. He's like the ultimate stalker.
Not that they didn't already hate him in the show, but seriously. Snooping on the girl and whispering things and killing people?
The Phantom in present day would be charged with:
1) Invasion of privacy
2) Sexual harrassment
3) Invasion of property
4) Physical and Psychological Coercion
5) Blackmail
6) Use of threats
7) Murder
8) Kidnapping
9) Squatting
10) Stalking
11) Sabotage
12) Damage to property

Haha.. the arts student trying to do law. Any law students want to add to my list?
But seriously, no matter how great his voice is, i don't think it justifies being that freaky stalker dude.

Right, enough procrastination. Watch Phantom of the Opera if you can and if you haven't. I think it's awesome. I wanna rewatch the movie now too. Cos the hot King Leonidas from 300 is the Phantom. *drool*

wonder if i'd object to him stalking me....

Conchordial Delight

When you have quota to burn,
When in the past week people have shown you random videos while you try to think up O week audition ideas for them.
(O week auditions went awesome by the way! GM's so much more relaxing when you're not involved in running it)
This is just a really good funny time-wasting video.



Best line in the song - I'm making a lasagne ...... for one.

Genius.

Pixar Exhibition = So Niiiiiice..... =)

Last day of the Pixar exhibition so I finally made my way there with Aaron in tow.
It was one of those things where you keep thinking Yes yes, I'll go to it one day and then the next thing you know it's the last day and you HAVE to go or you'll never get to see it.
I have to say I'm left very impressed.
Anyway, there are a few photos of the exhibition in this article but i thought this charcoal drawing of the shark from Finding Nemo is too too great. Seriously, i've worked with charcoal before - this is so detailed, it's madness!

One of the coolest things there was the Toy Story Zoetrope. What's a zoetrope? The idea is that you take lots of plastic castings of figures in slightly different poses that depict a motion. (sort of like a flip-book). Put them in sequence on a big wheel and spin! The effect isn't there though. You then need a strobe light which basically flashes on and off really quickly. It's kind of like a photo flash. So your eyes will string them together and form one smooth motion. It was awesome cool. As though a 3d cartoon was playing right in front of me.
WAAAAAAH. impressed. Was very tempted to film it but not worth getting thrown out of the place i think. BUT, there's a plagiarised version off youtube.... even if I'm pretty sure he filmed it illegally. It seemed a lot cooler when you were there though. You can still get a pretty good idea.


Another thing they did was take the conceptual art and make it into a 3d cinematic experience type thing. Imagine travelling into a painting (with a soundtrack!) It's crazy the amount of effort that goes into making 1 cartoon. They do studies on every single thing - the colours of the leaves, the design of the stem, the thickness of each hair! Madness! But brilliance too.

It's a real Porsche!

It looks like Sulley's gonna swipe Aaron and Mike is groping my ass. Family fun all around!
My, what a big.... Ball?
Hhhhmm.... why yes indeedy do.

They were also showing Ratatouille for only 5 bucks so we went to watch that. I like! Especially when there are many little children around - so cute lah! I had a better appreciation of it because of all the drawings and sketchings and models we just saw. I kowtow to you, Mr. Pixar man. =) Would encourage people to go but today's the last day - so at least think of all the work that goes into the cartoon next time you watch one. I want to rewatch Monsters Inc now!