Beautifully Imperfect.: August 2007

Busy Bee.

australia Tuesday, August 28, 2007

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The Spring in My Step.

australia Monday, August 20, 2007

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I have become one of those jolly, cheerful, smile-plastered-on-the-face retail assistants today.

"Hey... how's it going?"

I was so enthusiastic and chirpy and helpful that I kinda scared myself a little. Heh! I went to shop a little after my shift ended and realised that everyone else in the other stores are so unfriendly and grumpy. Go me.

First day on the job was okay. I'm awful with the cash register and folding and bagging everything. Awful, with a capital A. But other than that, it went fine. My feet are absolutely killing me though; I probably shouldn't have worn the boots today. Working in a clothing shop is completely different though. I've done telemarketing tons before, but that was totally different, because you're being connected to your customer through a receiver and a curly piece of wire. On a bright note, I'm thinking this job will look good on my resume when I'm back home, because it's a job in Australia. Let's hope so.

Came straight to uni after my shift and after going into Glassons and finding out that the gorgeous top I've wanted for a week is actually $49.95 *throws tantrum* and am actually supposed to be getting started on my dinosaur 3000-word Tax Law assignment. But you know how it is, I only ever seem to blog when I'm NOT supposed to. When I've got all the time in the world, this space gets neglected like how a girlfriend does when its the World Cup.

So, yeah. Tax Law assignment and the objective versus the subjective approach to determining the deductibility of interest expense on a taxpayer's assessable income. Blah. I thank God that I've got a great partner. Vaida's a sweetheart and possibly one of the nicest people I've met here. And I've got a lot of articles to refer to thanks to Joanne, Alicia and Jia Yi. But still, Tax Law's Tax Law. So much to read and digest. I think Mary put it best when she said that tax was already bad enough, let alone put it with law. Put it together, and yes, basically you're shitted.

Oh well. I best stop procrastinating and get to work. I've got three hours here, before I go back and indulge in yummy spicy food. Dear Serena's cooking beef rendang today, and yes, I am so lucky to be her housemate. Hee.

See you all soon, and I love each and everyone of you.

P/S: I didn't say this before because it was still early stages, but now I want to share the awesomely super-duper happy news with everyone because I'm super psyched.

Everyone remember Evelyn, my darling big sis-in-law? Well, she, and my older brother Raymond are pregnant! *throws confetti in air* (Yes, yes, I realise that only the woman gets pregnant, but it's such a joint thing, don't you think?) I'm so, so, so happy for them and by the time I get home, Evelyn will be all round and bubble-y and...I am going to be an auntie again. For the sixth time. Oh my. And if you want to count my cousins kids, well I've been an aunt for almost ten times, and still counting. How old does that make me sound, seriously?

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Another Year.

australia Monday, August 13, 2007

...~~older~~ wiser.

Heh.

At the beginning of the year when I parked my butt on the plane, looking out the window at the runway (because dear Mel and YK were kind enough to let emo-me have the window seat), I thought I was going to be rather miserable on my birthday. Let's face it; no matter how old you are, the thought of your first birthday away from home is not a pleasant thought when you're on the verge of take-off. Plus, I was already in the midst of crying a river that could have flowed all the way from KLIA back to SS2. And then I had to open the chi mui's envelopes which I had strict orders to open only on the plane, which promptly allowed me to double the length of my river.

But well, my birthday was nothing dismal. It was, in fact, on the other end of the spectrum. I'm going to sound awfully Hallmark, but it was thanks to all the people who made it that way. It was as noisy as can be, hilariously side-splitting and simply, a blast. For me, that is. I hope everyone had a good time too! And if they didn't, then thanks for being so layan and looking like you enjoyed yourself. Lol.

Fun, fun, fun.

I shall recap the ongoings of the day later on, from all the sweet birthday surprises and presents and people; because I want to have all the pictures before doing so. And also because from now on, uni is going to be taking over my life, unfortunately.

Stupid Tax Law assignment, with it's ridiculously incomprehensible legislations and readings and cases is due in ten days time. A week after that's the Company Reporting mid-sem exam, and then there's the Commercial Banking assignment due on the 6th of September, with Performance Measurement assignment due on the 10th, and a presentation for that a week later. Only then can I take a well-deserved breather, sit back, idly watch some TVB, reward myself with some spring shopping and have some Freddo's. It's all very depressing, isn't it? Why can't my One Tree Hill come back earlier instead of premiering in January? That's like forever away.

But well, who cares because I had a super birthday celebration. It's all worth it.

And spring will be here soon, I hope. Blooming flowers and bright colours and cool breeze will make me feel loads better, I'm sure of it.

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

australia Tuesday, August 07, 2007

So, Mount Buller was so damn cool. I loved it. It was tiring as hell, but definitely worth it. In my opinion, that is.

I was so stoked about the trip, let me tell you. So excited. I'd seen snow in India before (when everybody didn't believe that it snows in India), but I've never actually skied. Or, erm, gotten this up close and personal to the snow (Read: falling into the snow).

Left Glen Waverley at about half past 6 in the morning. 22 of us. Reached the part where all the buses were parked, which was called the skating-rink or something like that. I assume it somewhere along the midway of the mountain or something where we then had to board shuttle buses to get further up. The wheels of the shuttle buses were all chained up to prevent it from slipping. First time I've seen something like that.

When we stepped off the coach? It was snowing. OMG. How cool is that? I swear, I must've squealed or something. It was actually snowing. My brother and sister-in-law, who've been to Mount Buller while they were studying here, haven't seen snow, so they sounded a teensy bit jealous when I told them over Skype, hee.

Love, love, love this picture. You can see all the snowflakes gently falling. Okayy, so maybe it wasn't all that gentle anymore after awhile, but still, the effect's pretty. I still can't believe I've experienced actual snow fall; excuse the jakun-ness.

Serena and I with the snow. Eh, I like her ear muffs. Damn cute. I didn't get to see her all day because we were in different classes. :( Jas and Caryn also.

YK has a severe dandruff problem. Teehee! He was like, "Eh, after awhile your head will have ais kacang." -_- Look who's talking!

Finally boarded the fourth or fifth shuttle bus that left after we got there because there were so many people. Just getting to rent the equipment was a feat in itself. It was so hectic. Queuing, renting the pants, getting those uber-heavy ski boots, and then getting the skis and poles itself, and getting the skis adjusted to the size of your foot. That whole process and getting everybody done took almost forever.

After what seemed like forever, off we went!

Skiing, oh skiing. I don't know how people actually manage to do it for leisure, lol. Just renting all the gear and lugging it up the slopes zapped up half my energy. But it was all worth it. Because the actual skiing part of it is fun. Our package included a ski lesson which was pretty cool because they teach you how to stop and turn instead of you blindly strapping on your skis and trip and fall over them, like in those Archie comics.

A snow-plough, which is to make a /\ with your skis, is how you stop. The bigger the /\ you manage to muster up, the better.

I could do a snow-plough. On not-so-steep-land. And when I'm going slowly.

If we're on a steeper slope? And I'm going fast? I'm screwed. Lol.

I did perfectly fine skiing back and forth on flat land. And fine on a small slope.

But when it came for us to take the 'carpet' thing up to the larger slope? Uh oh. The carpet thing was pretty fun, though. You get on this flat escalator thingy, you know the type they have in like Tesco for you to push your trolleys onto, and they take you up the slope.

So yeah, got onto the carpet thing, and fell while getting into line. Fall #1 of the day. I wasn't even trying to do anything schmancy. Just getting into the queue for goodness sake! That should've sounded alarm bells in my head already. Heh.

Finally got my ass off the snow and got into the carpet thing to the top. Then we had to ski down slowly to where our instructor was standing midway down the slope, and make a turn around her. Eep. Zhen Han went first, and omg, he didn't manage to turn. In fact, he didn't even manage to stop. He just kept on going and going. And going and going down the slope. Until he disappeared from sight. Lol. The thing was, he actually looked really really professional while skiing down. Haha! (About twenty minutes later, we finally found him again, and he told us he crashed into a vehicle thing. Lol. Damn drastic.)

And then, after a few people, it was my turn. And I didn't manage to turn around the instructor, but I managed to stop. Fine. I plodded my way back up the hill (which is not easy when you have skis attached to your feet, let me tell you that) where the rest were waiting to have a go again. Starting talking to G-Mun while waiting, and suddenly felt myself sliding backwards. Oh shit. Panic.

Snow-ploughed like crazy. Only one minor detail. I was going backwards. So when I was snow-ploughing, it was actually a \/ instead of a /\. Crap. And that, actually makes you go faster.

So what happened? I was picking up speed and nervous and dropped my ski poles somewhere along the way. And then, I got the brilliant idea of trying to lean over and stop myself with my hands (which G Mun kindly informed the rest later at night that I was trying to use my fingers -_-"), but to no avail.

Guess how I finally stopped? I crashed into a poor kid. I feel so bad still! I'm sorry, kid. Before you go reporting me to any child abuse hotlines, the boy actually got up pretty fast and waved away all my frantic sorries and zoomed off in his little skis. Rather professionally too, might I add. How embarassing, lol. That was Fall #2. Probably one of the most ungraceful falls in the history of Mount Buller, what with using my fingers and all. Lol.

All in all, fell three times. Not too bad, I think. I hope. The third one was quite graceful, I think. Heh. What an experience. Went up for a few more tries and realised that I just simply cannot ski in a straight line because I keep on veering towards my right.

Finally finished up with skiing and decided to take some pictures because before that, we were too busy with falling and getting up and falling and getting up again.

Ooh, I just noticed the three of us were all wearing white beanies.

The background is gorgeous, but I look like I'm wearing a songkok. -_-

Look how bundled up I am.

It's so beautiful, isn't it? Like an arch. If only there wasn't anyone standing there, but Mount Buller is such a busy place, especially on a Saturday.

Ching!

White all around me.

And of course, the mandatory picture with the snow.

Ching, me, Denise & Rina - after all the tricky skiing and falling and snow plough-ing.

Hee.

Quinnie, me, Denise & Rina.

We conquered Mount Buller! Sorta. Okay, fine, not much. Lol.

Mel, me and Yao. We tried to make a snowman, but it wasn't easy and we were pressed for time. I made a snow...ball, though? Heh.

Another shot of the three of us. Yao looks so un-potato because she didn't rent the baggy, thick waterproof pants like I did. Oh well, I needed it anyway, considering how many times I fell. Heh.

I'm in awe, I really was. The two random stupid Coles shopping bags kinda ruins it, though.

Lugging all that back and forth is not an easy feat, I tell you.

On the way back to the equipment lodge when we spotted this fence-like thing. Of course, we had to stop and take a picture.

At the end of the day, I realised that I hadn't taken enough pictures, so here's a last dash picture with Mel on the way down from the top back to our waiting coach in the shuttle bus.

But it was all good fun, though. Would I go again? Absolutely. Not so soon, but I'd definitely want to go again. If only there weren't so many people around because it was jam-packed and hectic ~~and also too many people to witness my falling~~. Hee.

*Special thanks to Kim and Brian for organising the trip and to Zhen Han whose fingers nearly froze while taking some of the pics for us. And of course, Trish, for her super warm waterproof jacket which I need to figure out how to wash.

Next stop- hopefully Phillip Island. I so wanna go. :)

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MIA.

australia Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Ugh. The Internet at home is not working. It hasn't been working for five days now, I think, and it's annoying the crap outta me. I feel so shut off from the rest of the world without Internet, lol. Apparently our landlady has called Telstra, and they claim that there's nothing wrong with the line on their side. Sheesh. Well, we're not getting any Internet on OUR side - isn't the customer always right?

So, as usual, I'm sitting in the library, getting my fix of the World Wide Web.

Got the job, as I said in my previous post. Went for an induction, which was basically just filling out tons of paperwork and Tax File Number stuff and signing contracts and receiving employee handbooks and stuff like that. I really wonder if shop assistants in Malaysia go through all these. Ching was pretty surprised when I told her that I needed to send in a resume for this job. And ironically, right after that, we went grocery shopping in QV, and saw that even the position at the bakery required you to send in a resume.

We surprised Zhen Han on Saturday with a belated birthday dinner. Adam came from Frankston to be our accomplice, and bring Zhen Han out of the house so that the four of us could prepare dinner. Woke up early in the morning, and Yao, Serena and I made our way to Springvale to buy the veggies and meat, while Mel stayed at home because the cleaners came, and also to make sure that the two guys got out of the way so we could have the house to ourselves.

Came back at 1 plus, and surprise surprise, they were still at home, playing some computer game. Well, too bad, we started cooking, and Zhen Han didn't even come out of the room one bit. Hah. Finally, they left to have lunch at about 4 in the evening (Yes, lunch) and then to Princes to play pool, and we all rushed around finishing the dinner.

Yao - whom if you all haven't already gathered - is a fantastic cook, so she was obviously in charge of the main dinner while the rest of us helped out. Let's see what we had - chicken wings in mui choy, wintermelon & lala soup, sliced beef and tomato stir-fry, an assortment of mixed vegetables, and dried tofu strips with chilli and cabbage. Everything sounds weird typed out in English but you only need to know one thing - it was damn good. Lol. I made honeymelon sago again, and Nutella cheesecake (which disappeared in two days, so it feels very satisfying for me). Hee.

We switched off all the lights when Adam msged to say that they were on their way back, which I suppose did seem a little fishy because our house is never ever pitch black. ~~We don't pay the electricity bills so we don't really care about conserving energy~~. So, yeah, that was suspicious, and plus, when they opened the door, the first thing they smelt was food.

Zhen Han: (mumble mumble mumble something about where everyone is) Is this a surprise?
Us: (at the same time, we switch on the lights) SURPRISE!

-_-" Damn cha tou.

But all in all, he looked a litttttlllleeeeeeee bit surprised, so I guess it didn't turn out that bad. And of course, Yao's cooking was fantastic, so we were all very full and satisfied at the end of the night. Finished off dessert with the two bottles of white wine sitting in the fridge and then went out to get more beers and drinks and played poker. Yes, I finally know how to play poker. Hee. I must've been the only eighteen year old person on the planet who doesn't know, but now I do. And I even know a few different kinds of poker now. I feel so enlightened, heh. Although I can deal better than I play, no thanks to the guys because everyone else went to sleep and they needed a dealer. Sheesh.

Ooh, and exciting stuff - will be going off to Mt. Buller this coming Saturday. Which is like in what, two days time? Just knew about it only yesterday, so it feels even more exciting because it's pretty last-minute and all. Timing's pretty good actually, since I actually bought a beanie yesterday on a whim. Hah.

Nothing much else that's going on. Mel and I made a list of things to do before leaving Australia just now during Performance Measurement lecture, so hopefully we get at least 80% of those things done, if not all. I suppose I'll be starting work soon. And yes, as usual, I didn't get the Taxation Law lecture this morning. I'm so screwed.

Hopefully the bloody Internet comes back sooner rather than later. Talk to you guys then!

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Beautifully Imperfect.

Busy Bee.

The Spring in My Step.

Retail on the Other End.

Another Year.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland.

MIA.

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