Shutterbug.

73-80/365

2012-01-29T23:15:00.000+10:00

22/01/12 | 73/365

I eat at least one of these everyday.

23/01/12 | 74/365

First day of CNY. Collect ALL the ang pao! :D

24/01/12 | 65/365

25/01/12 | 76/365

Tick. Tock.

26/01/12 | 77/365

Yes, it's edible.

27/01/12 | 78/365

CNY open house @ sook moon's :) it was great catching up with the TCSH peeps, stuffing ourselves silly, introducing Shin to them (and vice versa) , gambling (even though I lost $ and Shin won about RM20 ;__;) etc.

28/01/12 |79/365

Book I'm currently reading.

29/01/12 | 80/365

If we had wings.

DIY Miniature

2012-01-26T12:05:00.000+10:00

I love DIYs but the thing is I'm too uncreative to come up with stuff of my own, so I resort to DIY kits like these. I also like to finish these DIYs in one seating because of the lack of patience and the fear of losing the tiny parts so normally I take about 5 hours to finish one of these. In the past I think I've finished around 5/6 of these.

What the kits look like.

So what you do is you use the scraps they provide and use glue to build the "furniture".

Start by putting together the tiny stuff.

Getting glue all over my fingers... not cool. But I know it will be worth it. What's worse than putting together the small stuff? Screwing the frame to the box thing.

& what's even more tedious than that? Installing the lights.

...while silently praying the lights will work when I put the batteries in.

Putting the small stuff on the bigger ones.

The tiny items on the mini shelf are as big as my finger nails. At one point I felt my patience running out.

Piecing everything together.

I couldn't find any spare batteries around the house so I had to wait for mum to be back with some... AND IT WORKS :D guess studying living skills for PMR didn't go to waste.

Yes, yes, all the frustration and the patience exercised was worth it :D

Chinese New Year 2012

2012-01-25T13:11:00.000+10:00

除夕。Eve.
Reunion dinner with father's side. Instead of the usual steam boat at home, we had our reunion dinner at a restaurant in Kepong. The dish we had is called "Pun Choi" (盆菜 - literal meaning: basin-vegetable).

Poon Choi includes ingredients such as pork, beef, lamb, chicken, duck, abalone, ginseng, shark fin, fish maw, prawn, crab, dried mushroom, fishballs, squid, dried eel, dried shrimp, pigskin, beancurd and Chinese radish. Poon Choi is special in that it is composed of many layers of different ingredients. It is also eaten layer by layer instead of "stirring everything up".

In a way it is still like steam boat just that we ate from top to bottom layer by layer instead of stirring everything in the pot.

First layer.

Second layer, revealing the roast duck.

Third layer.

Fourth layer. The mushrooms started popping out.

Final layer: some greens.

Done!

What's a chinese dinner without rice?

After finishing up everything we went to my aunt's house to hang out a bit while watching some CNY programs on TV. I think we were supposed to stay till midnight but we were too tired so we went back around 11-ish.

Yes, more mandarin oranges.

Almond cookie.

Siblings.

When the clock struck 12 fireworks and firecrackers were everywhere... I think we witnessed 5 fireworks going on at the same time. We used to be one of them as well but I guess as you grow older blowing up fireworks/firecrackers starts to lose its appeal.

~*~

初一。Day One.
Lunch @ mum's side. It was an open house at my uncle's with catering and all that so we were eating non-stop from noon till 5-ish, felt extremely bloated after that. There's so much food but there's only so much you can eat #firstworldproblems lolol.

Mummy dearest getting ready.

Roast lamb. There were 5 of these and they tasted SO GOOD. How to resist you tell me?!

Halal catering so the muslims could enjoy the food as well.

*A*

The times when I wasn't eating, I was either watching Australia Open, taking a nap, or reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult because I wanted to finish reading the book asap (highly recommended btw, couldn't put the book down once I started reading). Mm, I enjoy being anti social.

~~I don't know if it was because of the over eating or the entire container of prunes I ate, I had massive (as in massive MASSIVE) diarrhea the next morning.~~

10 course dinner with mum's side tonight. Growing sideways as we speak ):

新年快乐!

2012-01-23T07:00:00.000+10:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

Red/pink/black/purple cheong sams are overrated, let's go green instead 8D Mum actually bought this cheong sam for herself even though it's a little tight for her because she liked it so much. She then decided she won't wear it this year so she made me wear it instead and insisted I pose for the camera (yes she took these shots xD). I actually can't remember the last time I wore a cheong sam, it has been more than 10 years I think ;__;

Hope you guys had a great reunion dinner last night. Enjoy the rest of your CNY (:

(I always knew there was a reason 福 was used upside down but never bothered to know more about it until now. Basically 福 upside down = 福到了)
(Yes, I weep for my hair as well ;____;)

69-72/365

2012-01-22T01:56:00.003+10:00

18/01/12 | 69/365

Fortune cookie.

19/01/12 | 70/365

The sister practicing.

20/01/12 | 71/365

Uncle just gave us 2 cartons of mandarin oranges. I ate so much mandarin oranges I think I am gonna excrete orange shit one of these days. (I apologize for the disturbing mental image of orange coloured feces.)

21/01/12 | 72/365

Cherries.

~*~

KL roads have been pleasantly empty lately because majority of people from KL are going back to their respective hometowns (my hometown is in KL so no long hour drives for my family, yay!) to celebrate CNY. Just finished doing my CNY shopping - oh man CNY sales in Sogo was insane - 70% discounts!

Reunion dinners: Gambling? Nahh, don't know how to and I don't wanna risk losing my ang pao money. Drinking? Mm, not interested. Food? yes yes yesss! Ang paos? BEST PART OF CNY, DUHH. Obligatory awkward conversations with relatives? Not looking forward to it but oh well, I'll live.

Oh, oh! I changed my blog's favicon to a more relevant one if you've noticed :D Mm, long time no touch Photoshop.

They never get it right.

2012-01-20T07:52:00.000+10:00

Hairdressers, I mean. Since CNY is coming soon mum suggested that I go get a trim. I specifically told her I wanted more layers, my hair to maintain its length (taking 2 inches off maximum for trimming off split ends and whatnot) and 'V' shaped at the back.

She ended up snipping off 10CM of my hair... FTS. You know what, next time I'll give myself hair cuts as well, so fed up of telling hairdressers what I want but getting none of them fulfilled. Shin volunteered to help me the next time I needed a trim (which will probably be in a year since SHE TOOK OFF 10 FREAKING CM) but I'm not sure if I'd let him go near my hair with a pair of scissors lol.

Oh well. No point crying over spilled milk now.

Another thing that's getting on my nerves is Malaysia's public toilet (too pampered in Aussie perhaps). 90% of the public toilets are disgusting and 99% of said toilets do not provide toilet paper. & no, you are not supposed to queue up outside the individual cubicles jfc do you know how inefficient is that?! You are also not supposed to squat on the toilet seats ffs. Girls are so disgusting sometimes.

We cooked 1kg of cabbage and 5 of us (Shin, 2 sisters, mum and I) managed to finish all of it for dinner.

Frozen durian :> when I was still in Aussie I had requested my dad to buy some durians during the durian season and put them away in the freezer for me (heard it could last up to a year in the freezer) so I can still have some when I'm back home. It tastes so good and since it's kept in the freezer it tastes like durian ice-cream... even better (Y)

ZZ, my 12 y/o sister practicing the guitar. She was playing the song Clementine and we suddenly realised how creepy and depressing the lyrics are :|

Home Sweet Home ♥

2012-01-18T08:29:00.001+10:00

It feels so good to be home, nothing much at home has changed except that my second sister took over my room and my youngest sister shifted into hers - leaving me room-less. Thus I am now roomies with my mum :>

Guess who has been helping me out with cooking?

Shin is staying with his relatives who are staying in the same apartment building, just one floor above mine so we still see each other pretty often and since I'm the one doing most of the house chores now I get him to help me as well xD

He can't drive in Malaysia and since public transport here is beyond hopeless I have been the one driving us to places for food, bowling (managed to strike twice!), movies etc. He said it'll be his turn when we are in Brisbane again but we'll see, haha.

There's so many of these red capped tupperwares filled with homemade CNY cookies (the pineapple tart is amazing) in my house - most of them are given by friends of mum & sister. Oh man, so gonna put on weight after CNY ;___;

CNY Cookies: Love letters

New red (favourite colour!) kicks to replace my converse, it's so CNY themed haha :> Got a new pair because my blue ones were too big for my feet and are constantly giving me blisters. I'm determined not to put on weight during CNY (gahh how to resist the food during reunion dinners though?! ;A;) so I've been playing squash with mum every morning for about an hour. I have yet to win any game but I am improving! I just need to constantly remind myself not to use the tennis swing which is what I'm used to/familiar with.

62-67/365

2012-01-16T23:19:00.000+10:00

110112 | 62/365

120112 | 63/365

Ooo, spider web.

130112 | 64/365

Gold Coast, 5.30AM in the morning.

140112 | 65/365

150112 | 66/365

Home sweet home (: First thing I had when I touched down - Bak Kut Teh (Jalan Ipoh serves the best BKT I swear), my all time favourite Malaysian food.

160112 | 67/365

Since I'm the only one having holidays now in my family and I wake up so damn early anyway - I'm in charge of breakfast. So there you go, french toast. It was sort of burnt because I had to cook in the dark since the lights didn't work and it was 5AM in the morning >:

Date a girl who takes photographs.

2012-01-15T05:00:00.000+10:00

Date a girl who takes photographs. Date a girl whose favorite sound is the click-click of the shutter as it closes and opens to capture a memory. Date a girl who sees the wonder in the simplest things. Date a girl who looks at the world and wonders how to put a little of herself in it.

You might find her in the park, lost behind her lens, the world a blur around her as she tries to capture a single moment in time. You might find her in an exhibit, a look of concentration on her face as she contemplates a photograph that called out to her as she was passing by. Or maybe you will find her in a bookstore, a book in her lap as she pores over photographs of weddings all the while wondering what hers would look like.

Take her out to photo walks and laugh as she tries to take a picture of you. When she gets tired of walking, buy her cupcakes but wait until she has taken pictures of them before proceeding to eat them. Listen as she tells you her ideas for a photo shoot on the ride home.

Take her to a restaurant and wait patiently as she surveys the menu carefully, appreciating the food photography. And again, wait until she has taken a photo of your food before digging in. Allow her introduce you to Ansel Adams while you both eat your lunch. Introduce her to your favorite musician as you wait for the bill to arrive. When you get home, change your Facebook profile picture into a photograph she took of you. She silently hoped for it.

Take stolen shots of her. Compile it and give it to her on her birthday. Tell her you love her over and over until your voice replaces the click of the shutter as her favorite sound. Kiss her after she lifts her head up from the camera. Give her camera-shaped necklaces. Go places with her.

You will never be bored again.

Date a girl who takes photographs. She will never whine about a little dirt on her favorite pair of jeans as she kneels down to get a better angle of her subject. She will never be afraid to take adventures with you. She will take photographs of you not just with her camera but with her mind as well and keep it to herself to admire at night. But above all, she will teach you how to look at the world with a brand new perspective and she will do that unknowingly.

Marry a girl who takes photographs. Ditch those wedding photography books and give her the most beautiful wedding you could. She will teach your kids to find the beauty in everything just as she had taught you. Every day will be an adventure as she tries to create photograph-worthy memories with you. She may wake you up in the middle of the night because she is buzzing with ideas but she will make it up in the morning with a stack of hot pancakes beside a steaming cup of your favorite coffee blend.

Grow old with a girl who takes photographs. Sit with her on the front porch as you both pore over the bits and pieces of the moments you’ve had together. Stroke her hair as you both relive the photo walks that you took and the places you have been when you were both young. Smile as you both reenact your clever wedding vows.

Date a girl who takes photographs because she will always see that “something” in the most “nothing” of things. She will never let anyone take you away from her like she never lets anyone steal her photos and that is just one of the evidences that she loves you.

- Claiie Esmile

Leaving to the airport in an hour, guess who decided to use his plane ticket at the last minute (basically just told me yesterday morning that he can't meet me after work because he had to pack)? Meeting him at the airport later and I do hope we get to sit next to each other - because he is going to make this 8 hours flight (flying Air Asia so obviously no in-flight entertainment) a lot more bearable. He told me over MSN last night that he is bringing a comfort kit for me - something I never even thought of preparing, complete with eye mask, blanket, inflatable pillow and all that so I promised I will not ditch him for sleep (which is something I do too often...) :>

Snip snip snip.

2012-01-14T07:49:00.000+10:00

How did the hair cut go you ask? After 5 minutes of randomly grabbing bunches of hair (I'm serious, there was no planning whatsoever) and using a pair of blunt scissors to snip it off, this is the final outcome:

I know what you are thinking. AM I AMAZING OR... AM I AMAZING? I think I found my hidden talent... or maybe it only works with his hair, haha.

I have a weird sleep cycle. I can't seem to sleep for more than 5 hours at night and it's so annoying - for example, I slept at 11PM last night and was wide awake at 3.30AM this morning (with no help from the alarm whatsoever)... dafuq? After that which I watched 2 episodes of Friends and then out for a jog at 5AM, for now I'm just waiting for my laundry to be done so I can hang it out later... damn, my morning has been pretty productive I must say and it's not even 8 yet. I do nap though, for 2/3 hours in the afternoon. Biological clock, Y U NO LET ME SLEEP LONGER?

Okay I can hear the washing machine beeping. Time to hang some clothes.

The only thing constant in life is change.

2012-01-12T08:38:00.000+10:00

Congrats Shin who has just gotten his dentistry offer, I am happy for him - even though instead of continuing his 2nd year engineering this year in Brisbane with me he'll be starting his degree afresh in Gold Coast. I'll miss our occasional meet ups, lunches and study sessions (which are pretty productive I must say) in uni but ahh well, it had to be done. I'm not gonna lie - change frightens me but I believe ~~I'll~~ we'll get through it. Besides, according to him a dentist bf sounds way more impressive than an engineer bf anyway (yay?) haha.

He's coming here later to get a free hair cut from me for the second time (the first one turned out awesome, just look at the previous photos!). One, he gets to save $10 and two, I give way better hair cuts than the saloons he goes to - they tend to over cut and it'd turn out crappy, which is why he doesn't care if I screw up because he's used to it. The only thing is his hair is extremely coarse - the last time I cut his hair my thumb and index finger ended up sore because his hair is so damn hard :<

3 days more till my flight back to Malaysia. I think I'm going to create a list of things I want to do while I'm back home.

Spend more time with the family. - Sometimes when I join in with Shin & his family it made me miss mine badly. Coming overseas to study really made me appreciate family.
Eat awesome Malaysian food. - Oh how I miss bak kut teh, mamak, pan mee etc. I hope the first meal I get to have after I touch down is bak kut teh and not just any bak kut teh, I want Jalan Ipoh bak kut teh.
Swim. - I only swam once since I've been here and god knows how badly I miss swimming.
Play squash with mum. - Just a few days ago mum told me she just bought 2 new squash racquets (buy 1 free 1!) and I'm looking forward to playing with her even though I'll probably end up losing terribly (she used to represent her uni for squash back in the days).
Do more photography experiments/projects. - Since I will have all the time in the world and materials are easily accessible.
Catch up with friends. - I miss the people I can act all crazy with :>
Read. - For the past 6 months I have read nothing except for course materials, it doesn't help that the only alphabets/words I have to write/read/memorise/understand are mathematical unknowns or chemical names of some sort.
Cook. - Without completely relying on the microwave :x
Enjoy Chinese New Year. - ~~Get more ang paos!~~ Just kidding. I hope to be more responsive and patient towards long-winded relatives.
Shop. - Retail stores in Australia are... boring. And overpriced. I see the same stores everywhere carrying the same style of clothing and are mostly made in China (not to say that it's bad but I can get the same items for a much lesser price in places like Times Square and Sungei Wang).

Off I go have my breakfast now (oats, as usual), and maybe watch an episode or two of Friends while waiting for time to pass (I just finished season 5 and I find Chandler & Monica sooooo adorable, they are so cute together! :>).

Edit: change of plans, I'm going to his place instead. Wow now he saves on both transport and saloon - damn he's lucky, haha.

55-61/365

2012-01-10T15:02:00.000+10:00

040112 | 55/365

050112 | 56/365

Played monopoly with Shin and his little sister. I ended up bankrupt ):

060112 | 57/365

Shin cooked steak for breakfast.

070112 | 58/365

Waiting for the GC train.

080112 | 59/365

090112 | 60/365

Shin came to GC and he was craving for muffins so we bought some from Coles. Got it for about half the original price because it was 1/2 days old.

100112 | 61/365

Finally got off my lazy butt and took the bus to Surfer's Paradise (so troublesome geez because I had to take 2 buses -.-) to get the Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts my dad and his friends wanted. Each Tee costs approx $40 (but it's okay my dad is going to pay me back), overpriced merchandises tsk.

The weather in GC is insane right now, it's so hot I feel like I'm gonna have heat stroke anytime. I don't know how hot is it compared to Malaysia but at least there's strong wind occasionally so it's not THAT bad, it's not as humid either. Yes I definitely got a lot more tanner (even Shin says so), not because I go to the beach (the whole time I was in GC I didn't even go near the beach) but because I chose to walk instead of bussing all the time. & most of the time it'd be bloody hot and I'll be the weird Asian holding an umbrella (yes people do throw weird looks at you if you carry an umbrella to shade from the sun).

5 days more till my flight back to Malaysia, looking forward to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family and friends (:

New Years // 50-54/365

2012-01-04T17:30:00.000+10:00

30/12/11 | 50/365

The fish was good (:

Had it with pasta. Sauce was made up of bolognese + carbonara sauce lol. Win (Y)

~*~

31/12/11 | 51/365

Last day of 2011, headed out to South Bank to join the 2012 countdown. Above picture was taken before we left and we were having a minor disagreement (we are both very stubborn people) but we talked it out while waiting for the fireworks and came to a mutual understanding before the clock struck 12 so all's good (:

For once I went out without my dSLR and actually witnessed fireworks with my eyes and not through my camera's viewfinder.

Train-ed back (: We got on the train at South Brisbane instead of South Bank so we got on a very empty train and found good seats and made it back early (:

~*~

01/01/12 | 52/365

Shin attempted Hainanese chicken rice. (Y) SUCCESS!

Cleaning the chicken and all that dirty work.

Very proud of his own chicken, hahahha.

The rice was (Y) as well (:

~*~

02/01/12 | 53/365

Yes. That's me sitting on his shoulders while he was walking around. Can you see the fear in my eyes LOL -.- Thank god I didn't break ~~my head~~ his back omg.

Show off!!!

He challenged me to do at least one chin up the next time I'm in Aussie. #CHALLENGEACCEPTED Somebody train me pls -.-

Anyway before that we went to a Koala reserve @ Daisy Hill during noon. Looked at some koalas and had lunch with a big bunch of people, mostly his relatives and family friends.

Kacao-ing him while he was washing the vege lol.

Koalaaaaa. The only time it will move is to hide from the sun lol how lazy. It sleeps 20 hours in a day. & spends the remaining 4 hours eating.

~*~

03/01/12 | 54/365

Christmas 2011

2012-01-03T21:13:00.001+10:00

The day before Shin and I decided to make a 'shortcut' blackforest cake just for fun. 'Shortcut' as in buying ready-made sponge cake from Woolsworth, haha. We cycled to Garden City to get the sponge cake and other ingredients and then back to make it.

Sponge cake, morello cherries, thickened cream.

Instructions copied down by Shin.

We each sliced a sponge cake and only used the decent ones haha.

Thickening the filling with some corn starch. Damn fail @ this part because at first we added the corn starch without mixing it with water first so it turned out disastrous but we managed to save it xD

No brush to brush the syrup onto the sponge #fail

Took turns playing w it lol xD

Layers of awesomeness *____*

Sooooo I screwed up when whipping the thickened cream, it turned out to be really rough because I over-beat it but he saved it hiding the fugliness under chocolate xD

After we were done with the cake we headed down to south bank looking for christmas decorations but there were none. The whole street was really quiet as well, guess everybody was at home having their christmas dinner with their family... unlike in KL where people are out drinking and even counting down to christmas (what is the point really). & on Christmas day a lot of shops here are closed for the day, even supermarkets... unlike in Malaysia everything is opened till late night because it's the day when people shop. Can't deny it's an over-commercialised holiday back at home.

Our dinner that night, not turkey but was pretty awesome as well :D

~*~

On Christmas day,

Woke up, got dressed for church.

After lunch, made a last minute decision to go to Mount Tamborine with Shin's relatives and their friends from Singapore.

Bushwalking on Christmas! I wonder if my Converse got spoiled here :/

The awesome view blocked by trees.

Poserrrrrrr. Jk, I asked him to stand there so I can set the remote control focus thing.

While we were bushwalking back Shin was almost 'attacked' by a leech lol, it went through the fabric of his shoes o.o

& that was how I spent my 2011 Christmas (:

40-49/365

2012-01-01T11:32:00.000+10:00

Happy New Year everybody (: May 2012 be an awesome year. 2011 has been great - completed A levels, improved friendships, established new ones, left for Australia, done one semester of uni, did a lot of photography, grown to love running on the road, ran B2B - 10km in 68 minutes 13 seconds, went to Sydney, got into a relationship w someone ~~who is willing to cook for me~~ amazing, turned 19 etc.

Will come up with new year resolutions soon :p but the obvious resolution for now is to complete my project 365 so here goes.

20/12/11 | 40/365

Constipation problems lately, been eating watermelon everyday because of that. It's working, thanks mum for the advice!

21/12/11 | 41/365

Got the skirt for $2 (Y)

22/12/11 | 42/365

Chicken rice :9

23/12/11 | 43/365

Shin was down with high fever and headache so I had to cook for him (no I did not set off the fire alarm this time).

24/12/11 | 44/365

Did a 'shortcut' Blackforest Cake just for fun :D

25/12/11 | 45/365

Went to Mount Tamborine with Shin's relatives after church.

26/12/11 | 46/365

Cycled to Sunny Bank with Shin looking for ingredients for the lotus root soup. Turned out awesome no thanks to me (was busy watching Lie To Me while eating watermelon), it really reminded me of home <3

27/12/11 | 47/365

“爱心便当 #2”

28/12/11 | 48/365

29/12/11 | 49/365

Holes forming at the bottom of my Converse, it's barely a year old!

19th Birthday

2011-12-31T11:30:00.000+10:00

Best. Birthday. Ever (Y) I don't really fuss over my birthday, never did - for me it's just like a normal day but this year's birthday was an unforgettable one thanks to Shin (: Simple, inexpensive (my only request actually hahaha) yet very personal and sincere - just how I like it.

Okay I've been dropping (not so) subtle hints about the boy in my 365 posts so yeaaa, no introduction needed hey? & the thing about him is he cooks and I... don't xD

Pictures are taken on multiple days either before, on or after my birthday xD

He cooks and I just... stalk. Yea.

Now for the cake! (: I didn't expect a cake at all but when I was away in Sydney he was making one for me without me knowing. Cheese cake :9 He wanted me to do the decorations on the cake but I told him I'd prefer him doing it xD

Wah so gungho leg on the chair somemore hahhah.

Real cherries! Taste so much better than the lousy ones they put on cakes back in Malaysia :9

End product. His first time making a cake, pretty impressive hey?

Taste better than it looks, so you can imagine how good it was :p

We each had 2 servings omg xD

Dinner that day was pasta :9

Something he got for me that can't be bought, made by a Taiwanese artist. Yes, those are straws :O

砍鸡-ing... told my mum this and she said even she doesn't know how to do this xD

More food (: By now you can tell that he does most of the cooking while I just stalk... with my camera. Har har. Ok lah I'm helping out more now and doing more stuff other than washing the dishes after xD We are pretty economical as well hahaha, we seldom eat out normally we just cycle out to Coles/Sunny Bank/Garden City to get ingredients and cycle back to his place to cook :D

The bittergourd tasted surprisingly... not bitter :D

Hahahah this is me being cheesy xD

I dare you to tell me he's not a keeper :p

I know you're reading this and I'm really grateful to have you in my life (:

Sydney Trip Day 7

2011-12-30T12:00:00.000+10:00

Omg finally!!!! Last post on Sydney! Walked 10-15 minutes to Central to catch the train to Blue Mountains. IIRC we caught the 9AM train, it takes about 2 hours from Central to Katoomba - the place where BM is at, train ticket is approx $10 I think. We tried to catch some sleep during the 2 hours because of the lack of sleep the night before but just our luck we sat next to this veryyyyy chatty woman omgosh I can hear her talking even when I'm dreaming wth it's like her voice is the background sound for my dream -.-

Paid extra for the hop on hop off bus because it's impossible to walk around the area since it's pretty massive. We didn't take the skyway (to save $) and we didn't want to take the world's steepest railway track twice so what they suggested was for us to bush walk down and then take the railway thingy up so we only had to pay for one way. We didn't expect to bush walk at all and we were all wearing slippers/sandals so the only thing going through my mind was... FML lol.

Bushwalking in a skirt... win (Y).

The 3 random rocks are called The 3 sisters.

The stairs are steeper than it looks!

The thing we took.

Things HY do to avoid getting mud on her favourite pair of sandals.

Blue Mountains!!!

Took the train back again and reached Central around 5PM, went to wash our legs covered in mud from all the bush walking at Darling Harbour, then went to collect our luggage then lugged them to Town Hall to take the $15 train to the airport to catch our flight back to Brisbane. & that was pretty much the end of the trip :D Will I want to come back to Sydney again? Probably not... spending 6/7 days in Sydney is actually more than enough lol I kinda got sick of it, am definitely appreciating Brisbane more now (: But still, it's a pretty unforgettable trip! :D

Sydney Trip Day 6

2011-12-29T19:48:00.000+10:00

This day was pretty good, started off with breakfast @ Bills.

The corn patty thing looks weird as hell but it was gooood.

The 3D stuff are aliiiiiiiveeeee.

Pretty impressive, no?

After that, we took the train and then bussed to Bondi Beach (: It was freaking hot that day and we were probably the most clothed people on the beach lolol other people were either in bikinis or naked (nude tanning omfg) xD we also hid under the shade lol #asians

Gorgeous waters.

Shade!!!

They said I looked like a red indian lol so I had to pose beside the rocks xD

HARRY POTTAAAAA

Obligatory jump shots!

I am horrible at jump shots -.-

Lololol kung fu :3

Dulan @ the sun perhaps.

#failshot

Lol my camera doesn't like to focus on HY... which reminds me, HY lost her bb phone at the beach while we were taking our jumpshots but some kind soul managed to find it and return it to her!!! Damn lucky!

After that we were told that if we went to Bondi we had to try this - FRIED MARS BAR. It's so sinful omfg. Mars bar - bad enough, DEEP FRIED MARS BAR IN BATTER? I don't know man.

...disgusting xD

Irene ate 'em all!

Stopped by Lindt. Why are macarons so overpriced?!

Went back to Darling Harbour (:

Maccas!

Doing the HY signature pose lolol.

Epic facial expression on Irene!

Mamak for dinner, had to queue for 30-40 minutes... that's how good their business is! All the staff were Chinese lol xD which I think was the reason why the interior design of the place was very... cina with the cina stools and all that. Roti kosong was $6 iirc, the taste/texture was surprisingly authentic albeit not better (obviously) than the ones back at home.

Dessert :D

Our birthday "cake". Our = Irene, HY, Richard and I. December + November (30th Nov - Irene's) babies ftw! (Y)

Went back and started packing up because we were leaving Sydney the next day! But before that, we took a trip up to BLUE MOUNTAINS!!! :D Next post on that!

Sydney Trip Day 5

2011-12-28T18:45:00.000+10:00

It was a Sunday so we went to Hillsong again, but this time at a different location which is a bit far out from the city - I think it was a 40 minutes drive.

As expected, the hall was massive and they have like 3-4 services every Sunday... imagine the crowd.

After that, we went to a market called the Rozelle Market which sells vintage/second hand stuff. It's one of those places where you can find good buys but you just have to look hard enough (: I bought a dress for $5 (original price was $20 or something) and it's so new it still has the tag on it (Y)

Around 4/5PM HY & I wanted to go to the Chinese Friendship Garden or something because it was pretty near the place we are staying but the entrance fee was $3 so we skipped it xD We roamed the streets of Sydney, finding places to nagasaki (inside joke, har har), queued for bubble tea (only because it was buy 1 free 1), stealing ideas from Typo etc. (omg the whole sentence almost rhymed, wasn't intentional hahahah!)

This is Sydney around 8PM, day light lasted pretty long! Which is pretty bad because we always end up eating dinner at 9/10PM because that's when the sky is dark -.- Anyway I remember that night we had some pretty awesome and cheap Japanese noodles :D

Sydney Trip Day 4

2011-12-27T22:03:00.000+10:00

Day 4 started out pretty gloomy as well... it has been 3 days since we've seen any sun light lol it was getting pretty ridiculous. We still continued venturing and went to Surrey Hills - one of the suburbs in Sydney. Do you know how scary and difficult is it walking in the rain with lousy RM8 slippers with patterns at the bottom wearing off? I almost slipped x932864 times -.-

Train with 3 floors - including the one I'm on taking this picture.

On the way to Surrey Hills, we noticed a small antique shop selling loads of vintage stuff. No idea who would buy these stuff but oh well, they are great photography material.

These transparent ornaments are so cool.

Protecting ourselves from the rain and the cold D:

A shop with a quirky name (:

A very interesting mailbox!

A must visit - Bourke Street Bakery.

Tiny tables and chairs outside the shop.

More seats

One of the staff recommended the creme brulee to us, & IT WAS MIND BLOWING (Y)

The other 2 we tried.

Chocolate + marshmallow + raspberry omfg heaven!

This was pretty darn good as well.

After that we decided to rent double bikes and cycle @ Centinnial Park but before that we walked all the way from Bondi Junction to the park omg it was almost an hour walk it was insane. Nevertheless, we had so much fun cycling (: First time cycling a double bike, Irene and I make a good team haha.

So twilight-ish lololol.

Centinnial Park is ridiculously huge we got lost when we were supposed to return the bikes and got fined because we ended up late ): Oh well.

Went to Hillsong Sydney after that, they were having a summer themed sort of thing so that explains the Zinc hahaha.

& this was what happened at night, wearing our awesome pyjama pants out in the busy night streets of Sydney hahhahah. (:

Aaaaand that's all for day 4 :D

28-39/365

2011-12-21T21:43:00.000+10:00

08/12/11 | 28/365

Needed long pants but couldn't get one last minute. So these are literally bf cut jeans lol.

09/12/11 | 29/365

The food shots lately are not cooked by me but this one is :p okay laaa not that impressive but stillll.

10/12/11 | 30/365

11/12/11 | 31/365

He mistakenly bought glass noodles instead of mee hoon but it still turned out great (:

12/12/11 | 32/365

Curry :9

13/12/11 | 33/365

He remembered I said that mint was my favourite flavour.

14/12/11 | 34/365

Preparing to cook up a storm :9

15/12/11 | 35/365

Medium rare rump steak, so much better than the ones in steak houses :9 Bread was to replace the bread crumbs in the ceasar salad lol xD

16/12/11 | 36/365

Warm French toast + nutella = <3

My idea, his cooking.

Finally got the right noodles :9

17/12/11 | 37/365

"爱心便当"

The corn was the best part of the ABC soup <3 So crunchy and sweet and juicy :9

18/12/11 | 38/365

19/12/11 | 39/365

I was craving for yogurt and this was on sale. Greek yogurt = (Y) because it's more sour :D

Am glad that I'm restarting Project 365 again (: Would love to look back at these photos at the end of the 365 journey and remember these days. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I dislocated my knee a few days back but it popped back in right away (so technically it's called a subluxation according to Google). When did I become so injury prone wtf.

Sydney Trip Day 3 (Part 2/2)

2011-12-19T19:39:00.000+10:00

After spending our time taking pictures with the harbour bridge and opera house we walked to The Rocks to visit the Village Bizarre market. Warning: picture heavy post with very little words.

Pretty awesome entertainment by the road.

Seasalt macarons I don't even...

We were so amused by this instrument.

Stalls selling little trinkets.

Not to forget food. This is a dim sum stall xD

This was pretty cool, music was blasting out from the blue decorated trash can lol.

Free postcards for grabs.

Honeycomb. It reminded me of cotton candy! It's pretty sweet and it sticks to your teeth!

Free makeovers!

Art drawn by a Malaysian autistic child who settled in Aussie for a few years now. What a small world o.o

~*~

& of course the rain continued, so depressing but we tried to make the best out of it.

Singing in the rain lololol.

When you press the red button water squirts out to "cool you down" lol we were pretty amused.

On the way back we went to check out this korean-ish cafe with really nice decorations.

$10 cropped letterman jacket I bought from paddy's (: Love it!

Okay that's it for day 3! (: Other updates soon to come.

Sydney Trip Day 3 (Part 1/2)

2011-12-18T08:11:00.000+10:00

I can't possibly squeeze the entire day 3 into one post so I'm splitting it. Yeap, told you I took an insane amount of pictures! Anyway HY and I woke up first and saw it was super gloomy outside, mood spoiler!!! ): We found ourselves hungry so we went out and got tarts and umbrellas because according to the weather forecast it was going to rain for the entire day and us being smarty pants just expected it was gonna be Brisbane weather didn't bring any -.-

Look at our very colourful umbrella LOL.

& warm tarts to fill our tummy (:

When everybody woke up and changed we walked to Sydney Fish Market which is one of the MUST GOs in Sydney if you're a seafood lover (: Irene was so looking forward to buying oysters (they were pretty affordable I think) and she ate like, 7/8 of them lol crazy girl.

THE SASHIMI BARS WERE AWESOME *O*

We stopped by the restaurants as well (:

Our brunch. The sashimi was approx $11. To mum if you're reading this, is that counted as cheap? o.o

After that we continued exploring Sydney (on foot, because public transport is too damn expensive) (:

Green maple leaves!

Darling Harbour.

I actually have a lot of weird memories in this whirlpool hole in the ground thing, will tell you guys about it soon :p

Stopped by Guylian because they wanted to try their menu.

How in the world do people afford macarons seriously... IMO it's like bubble tea, only a trend/phase thing that's gonna phase out soon.

Elaborate serving of their hot chocolate. Irene & HY shared this.

We are cool people.

We are also kawaii people.

... lol speechless

One thing awesome about Sydney is their China Town, they have so much awesome food omfg it's like you're back to Malaysia/Singapore/Taiwan/China etc again *_*

Something Queensland doesn't have: trams.

We went to Paddy's Market later on, it's like this massive covered Petaling St with all the touristy Sydney stuff where I got a 'I <3 Sydney' shirt lol! & a letterman jacket which only costs $10 :D

& what's a trip to Sydney without visiting the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House!!! Too bad it was gloomy so the pictures turned out terrible ):

Though not noticeable in the pictures, the opera house had a lot of stains on its white roof.

The wind was insane!

A few 'fang kong' pictures hahahha.

After this we went to a market called Village Bizarre @ The Rocks (: Gonna talk about it next post.

Sydney Trip Day 1 + 2

2011-12-12T15:46:00.002+10:00

Finally blogging about Sydney trip!!! (:

First day, nothing much - left at around 5/6PM (did not expect this at all) and drove for around 5 hours to Coffs Harbour (sort of a mid point between Brisbane and Sydney). I think we reached around midnight or 1AM, wasn't really sure because we lost one hour traveling (one hour difference between Brisbane and Sydney!).

The motel we stayed in, it was pretty decent actually.

~*~

Day 2

Breakfast the next morning. & then off we go for another 7 hour drive.

Never in my life I've taken such a long road trip. NEVER AGAIN. I'd rather take the plane as I fear for my cramped butt wtf.

By the time we reached Sydney it was around 7/8PM already and it was bloody cold! FOL because we brought all our summer wear as we thought it would be as hot in Sydney as it is in Brisbane! Instead it felt like it was winter over again.

First thing we did in Sydney? Visit K-Mart lol. To buy ourselves some pillows and pants. Pillows because we are crashing at a friend's place (that way we save a lot on accommodation) and pants to keep ourselves warm at night. I'll show you later what bizarre pants we got hahhaha.

Next? We went for ribs at Hurricane. & IT WAS SO AWESOME words cannot describe how awesome it was.

Tried pork, lamb & beef ribs. PORK RIBS = BEST (Y). Everybody keep saying that pork ribs @ Hurricane is one of the must-visits in Sydney AND THEY WERE RIGHT!!!!

Know what Sydney reminds me of? A dirtier Singapore. Fast paced, filled with Asians (I'm serious, gave me a shock as well), city-like etc. I think it made me appreciate Brisbane a little bit more. Not as many smokers in Brisbane (so many smokers in Sydney!!!), higher cost of living, inconvenient transport paying system (unlike in Queensland we use the Touch & Go-like system) and dodgy people out at night (Brisbane at night is like a dead town seriously).

So after dinner we went back and cleaned up after ourselves, changed into our awesome pants and watched Friends till we fall asleep (:

If you look closely our pants says "I'm not A-MOOSED". HHAHAHAHHA I love the pun! Aaaaaand that's it for day 1 & 2. Still in the process of going through pics from day 3 onwards because I took an insane amount of pictures omfg.

Current updates: Anyway found a job, sort of, still doing training (or free labour as I like to call it). The only thing keeping me sane is the occasional trips I take back to Brisbane.

20-27/365

2011-12-09T10:58:00.001+10:00

30/11/11 | 20/365

01/12/11 | 21/365

19th birthday (: Homemade birthday cake <3 Shall make a separate post about this in the future.

02/12/11 | 22/365

Om nom nom.

03/12/11 | 23/365

Volunteer event photographer for Christmas 4 Kids.

04/12/11 | 24/365

05/12/11 | 25/365

Went Coles shopping for steak. Outcome!

06/12/11 | 26/365

Settled down at GC. Creepy cookie monster is creepy!

07/12/11 | 27/365

One of the girl's pet cat. My camera refuses to focus on it because it's too black lol #racist

Still in the process of editing my Sydney pictures! D: Currently busy looking for a job & travelling between GC and Brisbane so yeah... but they'll be up soon I promise!

P/S: All the food in the pics above are not made by me btw, nyahaha :D Let's just say he's a keeper (:

13-19/365

2011-11-30T02:11:00.001+10:00

Just got back from Sydney today (or yesterday, since it's past 12 already)! Gonna update on my Project 365 before I start on my Sydney posts (: So this is a very brief summary of my Sydney trip, still a lot more to elaborate on okay :D but that's for another day, too many pictures to sort through!

23/11/11 | 13/365

Drove 5 hours to Coffs Harbour (sort-of midpoint between Brisbane & Sydney) -- yes, we took a road trip instead of flying. Almost went crazy in the car! This is the motel we stayed in. (:

24/11/11 | 14/365

Was in the car for another 6-7 hours before we reached Sydneyyy in the evening! Where we had amazing/mind-blowing/awesome pork ribs @ Hurricanes.

25/11/11 | 15/365

What are the must-see places in Sydney?

26/11/11 | 16/365

Went cycling @ Centinnial Park. Irene was my double seat bike partner (:

27/11/11 | 17/365

Hillsong Sydney @ City Campus. It was hugeeee!

28/11/11 | 18/365

Went to Bondi Beach (: Felt quite out of place because we are so clothed hahahha!

29/11/11 | 19/365

Visited Blue Mountains @ Katoomba before catching a plane back to Brisbane at night (:

8-12/365

2011-11-27T01:37:00.000+10:00

18/11/11 | 8/365

A home away from home.

19/11/11 | 9/365

Cycled 20km to the city (:

20/11/11 | 10/365

Went swimming for the first time in months! Ahh, bliss (:

21/11/11 | 11/365

I'm not normally a Hello Kitty fan but I find this cute (: Got a call saying that Sydney trip has been pushed back one day. Sad face )':

22/11/11 | 12/365

The day I rolled around on the pavement and earned myself some pretty awesome battle scars wtf.

Injuries

2011-11-24T01:04:00.000+10:00

Imagine a bike path and a grass patch next to it, while cycling on the bike path, you accidentally get off the bike path and got on the grass patch, you tries to turn onto bike path immediately -- *CRASH* -.- I was stubborn and insisted we continue cycling to Garden City instead of going back to treat my wounds (which was bloody as hell).

Found a water filter at a nearby park to sort of clean my wounds. It's like a layer of skin from my right elbow has been scraped off the pavement wtf. My left knee was pretty bloody as well D: other injuries includes left palm. and right hand. and left calves. and my right hip. Oddly enough I was pretty hyper and high after I got the injury, adrenaline rush perhaps?

The boy using alcohol rubs to clean my wounds & omfg it stung so bad! he used 2 pieces for my right elbow -.- and then there's me showing off my battle scars nicely wrapped haha (:

Sushi we had after cleaning after my wounds. I think the wasabi sort of distracted me from the pain coming from my elbow/knee lol.

An eventful day indeed (: Hope I don't enjoy my holidays at Sydney any less because of my wounds, would be so bummed if that happens!

City Cycle

2011-11-23T00:36:00.001+10:00

I've been cycling so much these days. Took an hour and a half cycling from Runcorn to the city, could be less but I am slow as hell at uphill (downhill is always worth it though!). Didn't know what to do in the city so we went to Roma St parklands. It was so bloody hot in the day I turned 2 shades darker omfg the tan lines on my body are soooo obvious )': Nevertheless, I had loads of fun that day ((: first time cycling long distance (20km is sort of long, right?) using a road bike! I'm terrible at turning at corners though, crashed the bike into one of the yellow tiangs that's installed to slow down bikes wtf -.-

So there you go, pictures (of random plants) that I'm too lazy to caption!

heart shaped leaf (:

spiderrrr!

Took the train back though, don't think I would have the strength to cycle back xD

1-7/365

2011-11-17T16:25:00.001+10:00

First post on my project 365. Anybody interested in doing it as well? Tell me if you do! I need motivation (judging from my previously failed attempts T_T).

11/11/11 | 1/365

The boy's birthday.

12/11/11 | 2/365

My new exam hairstyle to keep my hair out of my face. Figured it was too heavy when I tie it into a bun because my hair is so long and thick now. Didn't notice my coloured hair is still that noticeable, thought it all faded away! Decided not to dye my hair ever again, too damaging and too high maintenance!

13/11/11 | 3/365

Preparing for next day's exam which was the last paper for me!

14/11/11 | 4/365

Time to remove sticky notes like these surrounding my study space! :D

15/11/11 | 5/365

Packing Day 1. Black suitcase is filled with winter clothes/bed sheets and is gonna be left at a friend's garage over the summer. Red suitcase is to be left at the garage over the Sydney trip but brought to Gold Coast and then back to KL (:

16/11/11 | 6/365

Packing Day 2. Clothes are the easiest to pack away, the ones causing headache are the tiny miscellaneous irregular shaped stuff that you don't want damaged.

17/11/11 | 7/365

Unexpected early Christmas gift I found hanging on my door knob made my day slightly better after being awaken by inconsiderate ass holes chit chatting as early as 5AM outside my window :/

Summer plan so far:
18/11-21/11 Crashing his place
22/11-29/11 Sydney road trip, baby!!!!!!
4/12 Volunteer photographer at event Christmas 4 Kids
5/12-15/01 Gold Coast; Find a summer job
15/01 Back to KL!

Hope all goes well (:

Jacarandas

2011-11-13T10:22:00.001+10:00

Last paper is tomorrow, so this is me procrastinating... (don't kill me, mum). The paper tomorrow is 5.45PM anyway so yea, no rush!

Spring is here! (Or should I say was, since it's transitioning into summer right now and the weather has been a killer lately, I honestly have no idea how am I going to survive summer.) Anyway, the much delayed pictures of the jacarandas along UQ lakes. The day I brought my camera to snap was the day the path along the lakes had the least fallen jacaranda flowers :/ just my luck right.

Normally the ground is like an epic purple explosion but not the day I decide to bring my camera pffft.

Look at that epic yellow explosion.

So... random thoughts/updates!

During the exam period I realized how a levels sort of made me more disciplined in terms of studying. Glad I still am even though definitely not as hardcore.
Used pencil for my 2 math papers (apparently it's common here)... Haven't done it since primary school. So much more convenient but still paranoid if my working gets accidentally erased or something :x
The sun rises at 5 freaking AM. So every morning without fail I will freak out when I see the sky already bright thinking that I'm late -.- Also, its the reason I wake up at 5+ AM (then goes back to sleep but wakes up in an hour anyway) everyday. I beat my alarm (which is set pretty early as well mind you) every single day. Amazing.
So tempted to go shoe shopping after exams, since that is one of the few items that is easily available for me in Aussie and not in Malaysia ~~(feet size too big -.- #tallasiangirlproblems)~~. I think I'm going to get sandals or something, summer is too hot to be wearing sneakers and my RM8 pasar malam slippers are too fugly to be worn with a summer dress (or out in public, really).
I am so excited for my Sydney trip next week! Which reminds me, I need to get another memory card for my dSLR. #kiasu
Bananas are slowly coming back (at a decent price)! Oh how I missed it <3
Notice the new blog header (: figured it was time for a change (toldya I'm procrastinating from studying). Randomly chanced upon this origami winged heart tutorial on youtube (link here) which reminded me of the ring Yasmine gave me and was really tempted to do it so I did.
On 11/11/11 (was busy studying for my exam the next day so I totally missed the whole 11/11/11 11:11 thing but then again I wasn't planning to catch it anyway) I decided to restart my Project 365 since it was such a pretty date & summer is approaching so I'll have plenty of time to gain momentum. But instead of uploading the pictures daily I'm going to post it in batches (probably once every 4-5 days I'll clear out my memory card - this is when I wish I have a wireless memory card that uploads wirelessly to my laptop :x) so expect a post in a few days.

Exams

2011-11-06T07:46:00.001+10:00

I have been busy.

What's worse than having exams that start at 5.45PM (I'm almost certain I'll be so worried for the exam for the entire day... not to mention I'll have this stupid dilemma whether to eat before or after the paper -____-)? Having exams on a Saturday :/ But it's okay, it'll be over in 7 days. I can't wait (: & then I'll be back with some awesome pictures of the Jacarandas blooming!

Mt Coo-tha

2011-10-08T12:25:00.001+10:00

Bird's eye view of Brisbane.

High rise buildings are so rare here, the only place where you can see tall buildings is in the city. Otherwise terrace houses are normally single floor and apartments are only about 10 floors up. Oh well, Aussie land's so massive, might as well right? (:

Fishing @ Shorncliff Pier

2011-10-02T10:32:00.000+10:00

During the mid sem break, our life group UQ1 had planned a trip to Shorncliff Pier to fish. Yes, fishing. Aussie lifestyle is seriously so different from M'sia lol you tell me who so free go fishing in KL?! In Aussie people of various ages enjoy fishing judging from what I saw.

Anyway, the day we went fishing it was FREEZING. The sun wasn't out (in fact it only came out when we were leaving at around 2PM), the wind was strong and worst of all - there was rain! But that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves (:

Jesse the organizer. They had around 10+ fishing rods. Around 30 people went so we shared (:

Fish bait - prawns and sotong!

Hooking the bait to the hook.

Casting.

Waiting.

The wind was so strong I had to cover the back of my neck with my hoodie or else I would've freezed to death D:

After awhile it was getting a little too cold and I was tired of waiting for fish (read: impatient) so Irene & I decided to help the guys with the barbequing. The preparation of the pit was quite crazy lol because Jesse brought cling wrap instead of aluminum foil so we had to wash the pit properly to cook the food. The chicken marinated in sweet chilli sauce prepared by him was awesomeeeee :9

&yes there are alot of free to use bbq pits around parks and stuff in Aussie (: Super easy to use as well, just press a button and it heats up!

Oh did I mention it was raining so we had to hold the umbrella to shield the food from the rain while cooking lol.

Had sausages as well, it tasted so good I had 3 of them D:

Cleaned up, and saw the sun finally coming out so we went and absorb the warmth for a little while before heading back (: It was a good day.

~*~

Oh yeah, I got a new camera bag! (: Managed to get it from my mum through a friend because I ordered it online from a shop based in Malaysia so it was posted to my Malaysian address. Love it, finally I can have a camera bag that's not too ugly to be brought out LOL.

The best thing is the protective sponge thing inside the bag is removable (: So even if I don't bring my camera I can still use it for casual outings. Totally worth the buy, if I remember correctly it was about RM120 including shipping :D Pretty spacious as well, used it for the fishing trip and it can fit my dslr, water bottle, umbrella and my huge ass wallet xD

Vagelis Cafe & Bar

2011-09-26T09:42:00.001+10:00

I know I haven't been updating much, haven't been going anywhere since everybody was busy with their own piles of assignment and mid-sem exams. But since it's mid-sem break now, time to relax yo (:

Anyway, it was sort of a spontaneous trip. While I was fast asleep the night before HY whatsapped me if I'm free for breakfast the next morning so I replied yes half asleep lol. Left HY's place along with QQ, Xhoe & Nick around 930 to take the CityCat, took about an hour to get to Hamilton including waiting + time spent on CityCat so we ended up having brunch instead (:

Vagelis serves breakfast all day (OMG HEAVEN!) and has been known for serving Brisbane's best breakfast for a few years already so the large crowd wasn't entirely unexpected but we reached around 11 so maybe the crowd wasn't as big as the earlier crowd. The outdoor area was full already so we were lead to a indoor function room which was pretty stuffy before the air conditioning was switched on.

As you all know breakfast is my favourite meal of the day so I was pretty excited (: LET ME PRESENT THE FOOD PICS. Don't salivate on your keyboard k :D Btw I totally forgot what everybody ordered so yeah, no intro xD & no critiques either because I'm not a picky eater haha. Everything was looking pretty good though!

As for me I ordered Canadian Pancakes BUT they heard incorrectly and served me Classic Pancakes instead. I didn't really mind but they offered to add on a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and tomatoes (since those were the side dishes that was supposed to be on the Canadian Pancakes) :D So in the end I ended up with 2 huge plates filled with awesome food LOL (but paid the price of Classic Pancakes hohoho :3).

The add ons I was talking about :D

Bromance!

OH YEAH JUST A REMINDER: CHECK YOUR BILL! They overcharged our table by $50 wtf!!! I think they sort of mixed up some orders with the other table in the same function room but yeah D: They refunded us and cleared up the complications... so yea check the bill, always!

Walked around Hamilton after brunch and spotted this massive cruise ship! First time seeing a cruise ship up close o___o!

They don't look like it here but these birds are MASSIVE.

Took the CityCat back but spontaneously decided to go to the city instead and catch a movie but ended up not so we just walked around the city aimlessly going into shops and commenting how overpriced the clothes are xD Went for dinner then to South Bank and met up with the rest of UQ1 to catch the lights show as it was the last day they are showing it.

The show was decent, didn't expect much out of it but it was still pretty entertaining with the music and all (:

Shit.

2011-09-20T14:15:00.003+10:00

Today started off shitty... literally.

Second time in Aussie already fml. I swear the birds here hate me! -____- I'm at the point where I wouldn't even be surprised anymore if I were to kena shat on for the third time within this year. Yes, I'm that unlucky.

68 minutes 13 seconds

2011-09-13T10:11:00.000+10:00

completed 10KM in 68 minutes 13 seconds! (:

First thing I did when I reached uni yesterday -- buy newspaper! I was so nervous lol it was like checking results after an exam or something. I felt pretty good with myself after checking the results because it was so much better than I expected (was expecting 70+ minutes) and the funny thing is one year ago I wouldn't even run 100m lol what more 10 freaking KM man... talk about a lifestyle change. Yay for training that didn't go to waste!

Run a quarter marathon, check!

Now, to rest my ankle and hopefully get back in the game soon (:

Bridge to Brisbane B2B 2011

2011-09-11T15:01:00.000+10:00

What were YOU doing just this Sunday morning? (:

I'm proud to say I got my lazy ass off bed at 4AM in the morning to get ready for the 10KM B2B run @ the Gateway Bridge! I reckon I'd die if I run with an empty stomach so I ate 2 muesli bars and headed out. The above picture was taken on the way to breakfast after the run (:

These are the stuff I brought with me. My iPhone (loaded with awesome trance/techno songs with good beats), iPhone arm band (which costs $25 FML), Go card, $50 and my room key.

Walking out at 4AM in the morning (alone!) is pretty scary, I keep hearing this bird that makes sounds that is similar to a monkey's laughter... yeah, weird. I think I took about 15 minutes to reach Rachel's house and from there we departed to another runner's house to gather and catch a cab with 20+ others.

Pre-run (: Yellow tags - runners targeting to finish 10KM under 85 minutes.

I was wearing T-shirt and shorts I WAS FREEZING TO DEATH. I wanted to run in my windbreaker but decided against it in the end (thank God, it got so warm towards the end of the race!). The weather was pretty good in the morning though (slightly windy and not too much sun) and it feels awesome completing my first 10KM run in Brisbane and not under KL's blazing hot and humid weather.

All geared up for B2B! The orange cards tied on our shoes are our timing chips.

Walked quite a distance to the starting point because it was so jam the cab had to choice but to drop us off some place far. After waiting for the green runners (runners targeting to finish 10KM under 60 minutes) to take off, we took off as well. IMO the 1st KM was the hardest part of the entire race because it was UPHILL. We were running on the bridge and since the bridge is arched (for the ships below to pass through) it was uphill for around 1+ KM. After that it was pretty okay I guess. Difficult, but still manageable.

At one point I was getting a stitch (like I always do) at the side of my waist, then I remembered what a friend said about stitches... we get them because we're not breathing correctly so I tried to breath correctly but I couldn't so I was like hdskufhdsagghhhh screw it and endured the stitch (...like I always do lol). I was also having a runny nose (too cold I reckon...), phlegm in my throat and also an urge to cough (but can't, or else it would screw up my existing breathing rhythm).

I was running behind Rachel for around 4KM or so then I lost her (she is fasttttttt) so I ran alone for the rest of the journey. There wasn't much of a scenery so the only thing I could do was stare at some of the runners' shirts and spot some funny quotes. Rubbed elbows with a few other people whom I tried to overtake and people who tried to overtake me... some even accidentally kicked the back of my shoe wtf.

The thing I hate most about the run (besides the slope) are the WATER STATIONS! They're so freaking annoying because the road will end up wet and puddly and plastic cups would be everywhere and your legs would get wet (there was wind mind you T_T) arghhhh. I didn't drink at all for the entire 10KM, couldn't get myself to the water stations because I was afraid I'd slow down (I'm slow enough already).

Towards the last 2KM there was another slope (major FML moment) and this time even worse, there was STRONG wind as well. How strong? My ponytail was constantly to the left wtf. Slope + strong wind = it felt like I was stationary -_____-

When I reached the finishing line it felt pretty surreal, didn't cheer and shouted hooray or whatever, just squatted down and took off my timing chip and then collected my finishers' shirt. I think the sense of accomplishment came only after 10 minutes? xD

Took so much fruits from the fruits station (gotta make my $35 worth it!) and proceeded to take pictures with our respective shirts xD

Chilled, ate fruits, drank horrible tasting energy drinks, talked about what we were experiencing during the run while waiting for the rest to finish their run.

Freebies! At one point free slippers were given out by suncorp and we kiasu Asians immediately went to the booth to get ourselves a pair each xD It fits me perfectly btw!

Walked to Fortitude Valley (China Town) for breakfast after that ^____^ it was a very Asian breakfast - Char siew wan tan mee. & the serving was effing humoungous (well for $12 it should be... I won't even pay RM12 for wan tan mee in KL okay) D: You can't really see it here but they gave ALOT of wan tan mee, like 4X the usual amount you get in Malaysia lol.

Took the train and bus back after that. & there goes my Sunday! (: Overall I'm pretty happy with myself, will update with my time taken to complete the run when it's released tomorrow.

Oh yeah before I go I need to rant omfg kanasai B2B seriously suck at managing their event my race pack NEVER got posted to me when I already paid $3 postage fee during registration! Out of 20+ people around 21 people didn't get their race pack posted to them either, someone had to go down to their office 2 days before the race to collect it for the entire group wtf. So freakin' inefficient! EPIC FAIL at this part!

BOOST // Brisbane Riverfire

2011-09-04T14:30:00.001+10:00

Yesterday was pretty eventful. Thankfully I did a little studying on Friday for my mid-sems so I didn't feel that guilty when I was out having fun xD In the morning there was a 10km walk with the people from the life group to raise fund for unidus. We started walking from UQ and took a longer way (in order to fulfill our 10km) to reach West End.

10km didn't feel like 10km at all honestly, after 2 weeks of training for my B2B 10km run which is next week (yes lol another 10km run next week!) I rarely feel soreness in my legs anymore... which is a good thing, I guess? EXCEPT FOR MY BLISTERS. I think it's because my current runners are too loose on my feet so there's friction and whatnot.

Moving on to the pictures! We wanted to take a group pictures at every kilometer mark but I think we lost track xD

We walked along the Brisbane river, which was pretty awesome. It look really different in the day compared to the night. Did my 8km training there on Wednesday evening with another group of people and the scenery was simply gorgeous. Enjoyed my run there despite nearly getting run over by cyclists lol. The thing is, we can see the cyclists because they have reflective gear but I'm not sure if they can see us especially when my sports gear is in black. & since during some parts of the path pedestrians and cyclists are supposed to share/switch lanes so it was pretty confusing haha.

Happy face.

Sad face.

1. With Rachel my running/gym/(possibly)squash buddy! :D We'll be running B2B together.

2. Dennis running lol.

On the Kurilpa Bridge!

West End, finally!

West End market, our end point! :D

West End market is something like our wet market but like 10x cleaner and better smelling since there's no butcher stalls and stuff.

Bought this box of strawberries for only $2.50! :D I think it was originally 2 boxes for $7 but when we were leaving they wanted to clear stock or something so they started selling it 4 boxes for $10 :D Got it with another 3 friends so it was a pretty good deal. I finished all of the strawberries on the day itself lol.

Big ass weird merged strawberry :D

Had our pre-lunch there while chilling on the grass.

Running buddy!

Dennis the Dentist.

Had lunch at a vietnamese restaurant! Tried their beef noodles (:

Took the bus and citycat back but I was too lazy to catch another bus back to my place so I napped at QQ's place instead then when it was 4PM we took the citycat again to South Bank for riverfire. Basically it's this magnificent fireworks show that lasts for around 30 minutes. The show starts at 7PM but we wanted to go early to get a nice spot. While we were searching for a spot we saw a group of people from church who got the spot just behind the railings and they invited us to join them. Apparently they have been there since 11AM o____o

The fireworks were pretty good with the music and everything (: Enjoyed my first riverfire here in Brisbane!

While waiting for the skies to turn dark xD

look at the bridge!

According to the seniors, walking to the city would be impossible because everybody is heading that direction after the show so we decided to walk for another 30 minutes back to West End. & we ate in the same restaurant again xD how uncreative LOL. Tried their rice noodles and it was pretty good as well especially when I found out they have CHILI PADI!!!!! I ate so much of it hahaha.

Anyway, this week is gonna be a busy week for me. Mid-sem exams + training for B2B oh noooo! D:

Australia Zoo @ Steve Irvin Way

2011-08-23T10:10:00.001+10:00

Massive photopost! Lately all my posts are so photo heavy :D

Cheryl, who graduated just recently and is going back to Singapore wanted to visit the Australia Zoo before she leaves. She asked me if I wanna tag along so in the end I went as well since Kleenex was having this 2-for-1 ticket deal. Original price was $47 for students which is wayyyyy to expensive to be spending on... zoos.

The zoo didn't have a lot of variety of animals - no monkeys, no giraffes, no lions (or maybe it's hiding somewhere...), no underwater creatures (probably because there's Sea World in Gold Coast so they don't wanna spoil the market). There were a lot of reptiles though, since it's Steve Irvin's zoo.

& since it's winter the weather was perfect. Also unlike Malaysia zoo, the Australia Zoo didn't stink at all!!! Probably because the lack of monkeys? Hahha. & the animals are not cramped in tiny cages like the ones in Malaysia because the land in the Australia Zoo is so much more massive!

We left at 7AM and the journey probably took about 1.5 hours since its in Sunshine Coast. Much thanks to Theo for driving us there! Started exploring the zoo at around 9 or 10 and by 2PM we were pretty much done already.

Blue tongue!

I honestly didn't know possums are this big!

Birds that can't fly because they got into car accidents apparently :O

Cheryl.

Weird ass bird that keeps staring at people o___o

WHACHU LOOKIN' AT

Went to the petting pen afterwards.

Now everytime I see goats I'm reminded of Ekka.

The goat stuck its head between the planks when we wanted to take a picture with him lol.

Piglets!!!

Imagine if he were still alive :/

Photo opportunities everywhere! :D Good thing there weren't alot of people in the zoo so we posed and took loads of pics until we were satisfied lol.

Continued walking and we found the roo heaven!!! (: I think this was the highlight of my day because I've never seen kangaroos before.

$2 for per pack of kangaroo food.

Awwww (:

Do we look like we're suffocating the kangaroo? hahahah.

They never get full o___o

Yawning?

The older kangaroos just lie on the grass chilling.

Shaking hands with a kangaroo? :D

Apparently these are red kangaroos. I still can't differentiate between a kangaroo and a wallaby :/

Smiling :)

This is how a roo position itself in its mother's pocket. Looks painful.

Relax aje xD

Sleeping? :D

Double feeding lol!

Look at its claws! They'll accidentally scratch you sometimes :/

Love the natural sunray effect :)

We chose a random kangaroo and anyhow pose behind it lol.

Kanasai random passerby photographer cannot see I'm not ready meh?? ):<

Next up, koalas!!! (: Kangaroos and koalas are probably the must-see in Australia lol soooo yay, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED :P

I swear they are as lazy as sloths!

We got to pet the koala!!! (:

It's so fluffy I'm gonna dieee!!! hahah.

Next up, loads of snakes! I find them quite interesting (: Those who have snake phobias please practice your speed scrolling. Going through these pics reminds me of the first book of Harry Potter :D

Convincing? :P

We also went to the Crocoseum and saw a show there. It's pretty entertaining but I was using my prime lens so I couldn't really get any good shots :/

See how big the crocodile is??

Spot the crocodile jumping out from the water!

Random bird.

Got lion statue but no lions...

Excuse my unglamness hahahah.

Elephants... sort of bored of them already since I already had the experience of bathing one in Malaysia's zoo.

Omnomnom?

Random reptile found on the road.

Theo, Jon, Me, Cheryl, HY

YOU KNEW I HAD TO :P

Left the zoo at 2PM plus, stopped by maccers drive through and then went back to wash up. Because after that was Adam & Cheryl's farewell gathering :/ I just met these people and they're leaving already! ):

Polaroid taken w Cheryl.

Ekka 2011

2011-08-19T23:39:00.001+10:00

Wednesday was a public holiday over here - Ekka Day. QQ decided to bring all the new people of Life Group UQ1 to experience Ekka and let me tell you she's probably the perfect Ekka guide because she has been to Ekka FOUR times! After FOUR trips she's still super enthusiastic about Ekka she was soooo hyper the entire time.

Anyway Ekka is like this giant fun fair with rides, game stalls, food stalls etc. The only difference between Ekka and a normal fun fair is probably the display of animals. There's this indoor barn thing with loads of goats, sheeps, cows, chickens, birds etc. I don't think people in Malaysia would be into these stuff - wanna see chickens? BALIK KAMPUNG LAH.

We met at Toowong and took the train there. Got down at Roma St Station (I think??) to transit. When the train came we were sort of amazed because it was a STEAM TRAIN!

First thing we did in Ekka - head to woolies for food! HY couldn't wait to bring me to this stall called "The Chilli Factory", probably tired of hearing me whining how much I miss spicy food xD. Apparently they have this "hottest chilli" thing and I was so excited lol.

I SURVIVED (according to the sticker :p)! Not gonna lie it was pretty spicy for such a small amount (note the little red out of focus dot in the first picture) BUT for me it was pretty bearable.

Irene & Jon almost passed out (or so I've heard o___o), Xinghoe felt so uncomfortable he had to force himself to throw up and Sean & Jolin had tears flowing out immediately xD I didn't tear when I had the first serving (YEA YOU HEARD IT I HAD A SECOND ONE :D) but for the second serving there were tears sitting at the rims of my eyes hahaha. After that you can really FEEL the burning sensation in the tummy but like I said it was pretty bearable probably because I had breakfast before that. See, kids - this is why you shouldn't skip breakfast!!! :D

So tempted to buy the entire stall 8D

The chilli we had. Adam bought it!!! Probably using it to con people when he's back in Malaysia lol it would be awesome to see people's reactions after consuming it.

Some awkward performance.

Getting impatient waiting for food!

Next up, animals!!!

It was only born the day before we were there!

We went in to the petting pen (or w/e it's called... I honestly can't remember).

BLACK SHEEP! :P

This goat is so chill omg.

THIS GOAT IS HORNY.

SEE!!!!

Torturing the animals, tsk!

I swear the kids treat the animals like they're their stuffed toys omg this kid was sitting on it and bouncing on it and hugging it o____o.

Jolin - you can't see it here but her hair is so long it's till her knees!

Then we went to this session where they talk about their dairy products and whatnot.

Separating cream and skim milk the old fashion way.

Making butter the old fashion way.

I MILKED A COW!!!!! It was erm.. really warm lol xD

They have dogs as well!

& cats!

I find the shape of this bird so interesting xD

QQ, Irene, Natalie

LLAMA!!!! :D

Everybody wanted to take a picture with the llama :D

After that we got hungry so we got this sausage thing that everybody else in Ekka was having. It's just a really big sausage wrapped in tons of flour and dipped in ketchup. Typical unhealthy carnival food!

& then some strawberry ice-cream. I still can't figure out WHY strawberry ice-cream is so popular in Ekka. We wanted to get the "official" Ekka strawberry ice-cream but the line is ridiculously long so we got a counterfeit one but I guess it tastes the same lol.

With QQ the ever enthusiastic Ekka tour guide lol :D

We stayed for the motor show and fireworks.

Fireworks were good but not like new-years-eve-impressive. Think illegal-fireworks-in-KL-on-CNY (:

After the fireworks we continued walking around some went to play games & rides and some went to browse through the show bags.

As you all know I have more of a "sour tooth" so I caved in and bought $10 War Head sour candies show bag while the others were getting chocolates and whatnot xD Someone please stop me from finishing all of them!

Overall it was a fun experience and quite pleasant as well since its winter you don't really feel the heat - imagine events like this held in Malaysia with this big of a crowd! It'll be like an outdoor PC fair omg can die of suffocation and probably get heat stroke lol.

Going to the Australian Zoo tomorrow at Sunshine Coast. Excited!!!!! (:

Saturday Out @ South Bank

2011-08-16T21:41:00.002+10:00

We were supposed to meet at South Bank at 11AM for a picnic but as you know I'm a morning person so I decided to go to QQ/HY's place at 9AM to help prepare the food. QQ wanted to make fried bee hoon so I helped her to chop up the vegetables and whatnot.

It was sort of chaotic at 10AM when we realized we were behind schedule and that was when QQ realized her ceiling's room was leaking water. She just handed me the spatula (she was frying the vegetables at that time) and ran around making tons of phone calls and running up and down the stairs to check the unit upstairs (it was flooded up there because their washing machine pipe broke!). So yeah in the end I did cook most of the bee hoon but QQ still did the seasoning (you know how my taste buds are hahaha).

We cooked 3 trays of bee hoon! & there was 2 more trays of pasta. & one more tray of QQ's awesome baked potato egg salad thing which tastes orgasmic and heavenly!!! She stayed up till 5AM making that o__o dedication man.

Jon was making cheese puffs and pasta. Some ingredients for the cheese puffs wasn't available so he had to improvise, it took heck load of flour to get the mixture to become a dough-ey texture and when he chucked it into the oven the puffs didn't rise so they turned out to be sort of like cheese cookies (which was kind of awesome lol I ate tons of them xD).

Curry! HY stayed up till 2AM making this. & the cheese cookies lol.

Getting used to the Aussie culture of chilling on the grass lol (:

why don't anybody chill on the grass in Malaysia?? Must be the grass.

Let the series of jump shots begin!

EPIC FAIL HIGH 5 xD

After that we went our separate ways (: A few of us went to explore the museum and Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) after that but we had to make it quick because it was already abour 3PM and both the museum and the gallery closes at 5PM.

On the way there we saw this dude with an epic hairstyle!!!! LOOK AT HOW HIGH HE STYLED HIS HAIR!

Eye of Brisbane.

The museum was having displays of indigenous people of Australia if I remember correctly. I didn't take many pictures there though because photography is not allowed in a lot of the sections.

This story is quite funny xD

Head gear.

They used this to pierce their ears!!! :S

They have other displays as well.

The animals section was pretty awesome because they were showing how did the animals help humans during war.

Went to GOMA after visiting the museum, they displayed some pretty interesting stuff but once again, no photography allowed ):

Signing off with my constipated face xD

Tomorrow is a public holiday in Queensland because it's EKKA Day so I'm going to EKKA tomorrow with a bunch of friends from church (: I have no idea what EKKA is but I got this from the website: "Queensland's biggest and most iconic event - the RoyalQueensland Show (Ekka) - is a 10-day celebration of life in thesunshine state." The entrance was $19 so it better be worth it!