The Climb

Sorry that I've been missing for a while. Things are a little bit crazy at work at the moment. Deadline has been brought forward, and I have no where near completion. It's driving me nuts. Millions things are on my mind now. I'm never good at multi tasking. Well, practise makes perfect. And I've gotta start practising!!!

Anyway, this song by Miley Cyrus really describes what I'm going through and feeling now. It's now officially my favourite song. Here it goes:



MySpace Playlist at MixPod.com
 I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose
Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith

 
Things are going to work out just fine!! Now, get back to work!!

Productive Weekend

I still have the same routine for weekend, which is going to Victoria Market. This weekend has been productive though. Not productive in the kind of way that I hope it is but productive nevertheless. My goal is to finish writing my literature survey as soon as possible so that I could take a week off when my parents come visiting next month. That was the deal I made with professor. But I don't see much progress in my writing. It's progressing alright, but really slow.

But anyway, my plan to spend Sunday writing kind of get off track. I spend the day baking instead. I baked an orange cake, which tasted more like butter cake instead of orange cake. Too much butter perhaps. I didn't put any icing on coz we both don't like it.

Yes! I finally got my mixing bowl. In fact, that was not all that I bought. I also bought a muffin tray and a few other kitchen ware on sale. And since it's already spring and summer is coming, we went to Harvey Norman and bought a huge 40 cm fan which costs $79. That's like RM 240!! For a fan!! Gulp~ So expensive!!

Hopefully it's enough to get us through summer. Otherwise we'll have to get a portable air-conditioner which will costs $800 at least. And guess what? I finally bought new novels!! Though I have no time to read right now. It was on sale! What can I say? I've waited so long to buy this:

Set of Twilight saga novels

The side of the novel is RED! How cool is that? Yeng man! Buying them separately when they're on sale is much cheaper than buying box set. So I didn't hesitate. And also:

Dan Brown's new novel, The Lost Symbol

After finished baking, we decided to cook something new for lunch on Sunday which is:

Carbonara sauce with ribbon-like pasta. It tasted good on the first mouth. Second mouth, ok-lah. Third mouth, a bit geli. Fourth mouth onwards, uweeekk. Guess I still don't like creamy stuff. Better stick to Bolognese next time. Still got half a bottle of Carbonara sauce though. Don't know how we're going to finish it. Sigh~

After all the "hard work", of course we need to reward ourselves a little. Ahem~ So we went for a movie. We watched a movie starting with G. No, not G-Force (though I wanted to watch so badly) but G.I. Joe. I know, it's an ancient movie. But we haven't get time to watch till now. Good movie I have to admit. Lotsa action and cool stuff. But there are certain parts of the movie that doesn't seem so logic to me. And where did we watch it?

I know, I know. I know I vowed not to go back to watch in the cinema with those so uncomfortable bean bags. But that's the only cinema that screen something we want to watch at the time that suits us. So no choice. But it's better this time. Coz we actually went to shop for new pillows before we went to the cinema. The old pillow is giving me neck and body ache all over. So we manage to sit comfortably on the bean bad  with our new pillows :D Everyone else is looking at us, puzzled, thinking, "Why do these guys bring pillows to cinema? I wish I bought a pillow. These bean bags are killing me!" Ha-ha.

A last picture to share. We saw this when we passed by the church on our way home. Wedding bells are in the air. What I was interested in is the car:

Cantik!! You don't get to see this very often. And I have never ever seen these kinda cars back in Malaysia before. And guess what? We saw TWO of these on the same day! Saw another one in the city which is white in colour. Didn't get to snap a picture though. Too bad. Now I'm considering using this kinda car when I get married next time. Hmm...Maybe.

Random Pictures to Share

I received a parcel yesterday. I wasn’t home when the delivery came. So, Nelson has to run down to the huge post office down at Riversdale Road to help me collect this:

So what is in the parcel? Let’s open it, shall we? Jeng jeng...

Yay! It’s my Supernatural Season 4 dvds. Finally arrived. Cost me USD$36.99! Gulp~ But it’s worth it :)

Also, I received another gift yesterday. Pretty stickers!! It’s from Nelson’s niece. Uhhhh...feel like hugging them. Thanks!!

A few other pictures to share.

Our couple Nokia 5700 phone

Our couple Samsung F480 phone

and...

someone wore my strawberries!!

Gigantic feet wearing my strawberries. Hymff... Don't need me to tell you whose legs are those.

- The end -

Lucky Me?

I was working late last night (was doing a bit of reading). My mind just seems to work better at night. So, trust me when I say I'm NOT a morning person. You definitely wouldn't want to talk to me in the morning coz I'm all grumpy. Anyway, this post is not about me not being a morning person. I was so into reading that when I realized what time it was, I was like "Gosh! Is that what time it is now?!" So I quickly campak all my stuff aside and crawl to bed. Nelson was already snoring like pig. I'll be having a group meeting in the morning, so I HAVE to force myself to sleep. But my mind was too active. It's another insomnia night for me. So as I was lying on the bed, trying to force myself to sleep, my mind wanders. Where to? Ah-ha! This is where things get interesting.

I was thinking about work. How hard it has been for me for the past three months. Now that I'm finally seeing some progress, things are getting clearer. I'm so excited with what I'm doing and what I will be doing. Just the thought of it makes me want to bounce off the bed, grab my laptop and continue working. But the thought of getting up early in the morning held me back. Then my mind started to wander again. I can't help but think that I am so blessed to have people to come into my life at the right time to guide me at everything I do. 

*Flashback*

I was in my old secondary school again, and I was wearing a baju kurung (my uniform) and my hair tied up in a ponytail. I held my head between both my arms and saliva was dripping from my mouth. I was sleeping at the back of the class while the teacher is teaching!! Then it comes to another scene where I was paying full attention in my tuition class, scribbling down every detail that the leng zai teacher was saying. My best friend, Dharishini was sitting right beside me, doing the same thing. I guess friends do influence how you turned out to be huh? I'm so glad that I have the right circle of friends back in school. Otherwise I wouldn't be where I am today. 

Fast forward to a few years later, I was wearing my convocation robe at my very own convocation ceremony! My parents were both smiling from ear to ear, so proud of their daughter. I owe my undergraduate years (and foundation too!!) to Steph, my best friend (Who say one person can only have one best friend hah? I can have many many! Cannot ah? Hymff!) She taught me a lot about life and stood by me when the worst thing happens and when all other people just want to stay away to get themselves out of trouble. She was the only one that has stood by me and not afraid of being sabotaged by a maniac that was stalking me. And of course, thanks for being such a good counsellor and advisor to this little girl (me!!) =D

At present, I have a really cool supervisor and extremely friendly colleagues who are so willing to share their knowledge with me. Saying that you want to learn new things is easy, but to do it is a whole new story. Changing environment and what you do all of a sudden is not an easy thing to do, I can assure you that. One can just easily break down. I might have if it's not for someone who's right beside me at this moment, sharing and caring for me.

And when it comes to having the right people in your life, it's your family that has always been by your side. From the moment you were born, until the day you perish. They are just like your guardian angels, without wings. Mine is just perfect. They are supportive, inspiring, loving, caring and stood by me no matter what happens. I'm not saying that there haven't been quarrels. Which family doesn't have conflict? Tell me. I salute them. I am so glad for my guardian angels =D

All these thoughts remind me of a seminar I once been to called "Take Charge". In this particular seminar, the speaker told us, "There's no such thing as luck. They are merely choices that you make in your life. So stop bangau-ing!" Is it really? Then what is it that makes you make that particular choice that leads to something good/bad in your life? Was it not good/bad luck? For me, I think it is all karma at play. If you have good karma, good things happen. If you have bad karma, bad things happen. What goes around comes around. You cannot expect bad deeds to go unpunished. You might not see the consequence straight away, but you might be experiencing it far in the future, in another life. Somehow, they all just come back to you. The same things go for all the good deeds that you have done. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I'm a saint. To be so blessed, I must have done something right in the past. Hopefully I'll keep doing the right thing :) So, do I believe in luck? Maybe.

But for now, I gotta go prepare for my meeting.

I Love Saturdays!!

Saturday rockz!! It’s the only day of the week that I get to go around and spend money! Not that I like spending money, it's just that I've worked so hard the entire week and I deserved to be rewarded! And also because Nelson and I need to go get food at:

That’s right. Queen Victoria’s market, our weekly routine. This week we’ve got no ride down to the market. We’ve gotta take our “limo” instead. It’s pretty simple actually. Take a train straight down to Flinders Street Station, catch a tram at Elizabeth Street and get off at the station where a lot of people get off. And you’re right in front of Victoria’s Market :) The ah sum in the picture is me.

Let me give you a slight introduction to this market. I’ve mentioned this market several times in my previous posts, but haven’t really tell you how cool this place is! Queen Victoria market is Victoria's premier open-air market and has stood since 1878.  It is divided to several market precints: the Deli Hall, Elizabeth Street shops, F shed laneway, Vic Market Place Food Court, Fruit and Vegetables, The Meat Hall, Organics, General Merchandise, Victoria Street shops and the Wine Market. If you want to learn more bout this market, you can visit their official website. I'm just going to share my five-cents worth of experience here. You can basically get anything from this place! From food and drinks to clothes to footwear to kitchen ware to posters and collectibles to souvenirs and to all kind of unique stuff you’ve never seen before (e.g. cards made of hand rolled papers, soaps carved into beautiful flowers). Unfortunately, they don’t allow us to snap any pictures of the products. You just have to come see for yourself! I can only show you how busy it is:

It’s always packed with people. We were looking around for a few stuff when we got hungry and saw this:

Spanish donuts!! We have been eyeing the donuts for weeks now coz there’s always a long queue waiting to buy the donuts. But strange enough, this week we don’t have to wait in a long queue to buy. It costs $1 each or 7 for $6. Not too expensive. Affordable-lah. How is it so special? For one, it’s long instead of round, I can tell you that. Taste wise, I don’t know how to describe it. I can just say “You’ve gotta try it!!” While we were munching our donuts, we heard music. It sounded Spanish, but I wasn’t sure.

After buying a few stuff (from our ever growing to-buy list), we headed to the vege & fruits section, and guess what? It’s banana week again! Whee~ Didn’t really get much food this week coz we bought too much last week. Just bought some fish and prawns. Wanted to buy a chicken to cook herbal soup, but they ran out of boiling chicken. Too bad! I’m craving for soup! Just thinking of it makes my stomach growls. Oh yeah, we haven’t have lunch yet!! So we went to the food court again. This time, we tried the Fisherman’s basket from Funk Fish. It basically includes fish, calamari, scallops, prawns, potato cake and chips. They are all my favourite!! And it only costs $15.50. Not too bad eh? There’s another Sri Lankan cuisine at the other end which looks really nice. Perhaps next week! After satisfied with what we bought, we headed back home:

Oh, yeah. I was in a sleeveless shirt. It’s officially end of winter. It’s freaking hot today. Almost like back in Malaysia. I was sweating like nobody’s business. I’m beginning to miss winter already! So we stuff all our food into the fridge, and there’s still one thing missing. Chicken soup for the soul!! How leh? Emmmm..let’s go to Boxhill. “Kia-la” And so we went and come back, again with a lot of stuff (not just the chicken!) So we dabao dinner from Boxhill (only costs $11 for the both of us) and went home to “pou” soup. My field of expertise. Yummy~

Another weekend with full stomach and a smile on my face! I’m gaining weight like crazy! I’m starting to have double chin liao. Cham liao lah! Anyway, to sum things up, these are the things we bought today:

Super cheap baking utensils (Non-stick baking tray for $2.99, 3 sets silicon spatula for $1.99, set of measuring cups and spoons for $2)

A bag for myself

A jacket for Nelson

A pair of engraved heart keychains for both of us ($10 each)

AND

A pair of running shoes for each of us ($15 a pair! Super cheap! Diadora-leh!)

All I need is a mixing bowl and a kitchen scale, then I can start baking! Whee~ I really need those running shoes. Gotta start exercising. Otherwise I’ll be double my size by the time I get home for Chinese New Year!

It’s been a lot of fun. Don’t you just love Saturdays? :)

Home

I can't help it. I just want to sing this song by Michael Bublé titled Home, with some slight modification. Though I'm not coming home (yet).

 

Another summer winter day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome Melbourne City
But I wanna go home
Mmmmmmmm

May be surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?” "I miss y'all, do you know?"
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky, I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
'Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome Melbourne City
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

Busy Weekend

Yes! It has been a really busy weekend. What did I do? Well, where do I start? Alright, let's start from the 'start'.

Saturday, 5th September 2009

As usual, Saturday is the day that I have to be an "ah sam" and go to the market to get food for the entire week. So we rise early in the morning (okay, not THAT early) and went to Queen Victoria's market. We went to have lunch at the foodcourt in Vic market for the first time. We had "mixed rice" from a stall called Canton Fast-food (or something like that). The portion was huge (for me). It costs $8.90 for a choice of 3 main dishes plus noodle/rice. I had fried rice, barbeque chicken, honey chicken and mixed vege. Doesn't taste that good to me. I still prefer the one in Victoria Gardens.

Anyway, back to getting food at the market. I shall call this week the BANANA week. Why? Cause I can hear people shouting "Two dollars three kilos bananas!" the moment we hit the market. That's really cheap! Normally they cost bout $2 - 2.50 a kilo. I guess banana season is here. Yay! Although I'm very excited bout the bananas, we went to the meat section instead of the fruits section coz that's our priority this week. We need to get lotsa seafood and meat for Sunday. Why? Let's just save it for later.

So we ended up buying 900g gigantic squid, 700g huge prawns, 1 kg fish fillet, 2 kg maryland chicken and 3 bunches of ham. Then we went to the fruits and vege section to get brocolli, half a cabbage, oranges andddd BANANAS!! We spent a total of less than $50 on all the food. Not too expensive eh?

After all the hardwork, we have to go home and stuff them all in our fridge. Oh, no! How are we suppose to stuff everything into our tiny little bar fridge? We have no choice but to store them temporarily in Andrew's fridge. And so, problem solved! :)

After resting for a while, we decided to go do some shopping. We took the train down to Southern Cross to: 

 

DFO is the place where you can get branded stuff for cheaper price. Much cheaper price. Don't get me wrong, they are not reject stores. The products are just as good as those in retail stores. It's just that they are direct out of the factory without going through a third retail party, which is why they are much cheaper. What sort of stores do they have? You name it, there's Levi's, Guess, Calvin Klein etc. etc. I wanted to get a handbag since I got here, but let's just say I wasn't in the mood to shop that day. So I ended up buying nothing. Sigh~ But I did saw a CK handbag that I really like and it only costs bout $80. Not bad, but no mood leh. How to buy?

So then we went to Melbourne Central. Had dinner at Nando's. Tasted just the same as those back home.

Then we went to somewhere special. We exchanged two super saver vouchers which cost $20 for two tickets that cost $37. Good deal eh?

"They're just movie tickets. So, you go for a movie. What's so special bout it?", you may ask. Let me show you a picture as a clue: 

Looks familiar? No? Another clue. Zoom out:

Still no? Well, what bout now:

Yeah, it's a cinema with bean bags as seats. One of a kind huh? Apparently it's the first of its kind in the world. Unique? Yes. Comfortable? No. We ended up having body and neck ache. And it's considered one of the luxury cinemas in Hoyts. Not so luxurious to me. I still prefer Director's Suite =P We just went for the sake of the experience. I should say that I won't been so keen on going back to watch at the halfpipe for the second time. And then, we went back home to rest for the day.

Sunday, 6th September 2009

We were very busy on Sunday too. Busy sleeping like pig =P But the highlight of the day wasn't in the morning nor the afternoon. It was the evening. We had steamboat in our tiny little apartment. That's what we need so much food for! Haven't had steamboat for months. We prepared tom yam soup (with extra cili padi) and cut the fish and vege. Thanks to Andrew, for his bravery in slaying the gigantic squid and cutting the chicken, we manage to start our steamboat session around 7 p.m. Well, a picture is worth a million words. And I have... *counting*... six. That's six million words!

The steamboat session ends at 10 p.m. It lasted for three hours!! Imagine how full all of us were. At the end of the day, I went to bed with a super full stomach and a smile on my face :)

Happy Father's Day!

“Father’s Day? Isn’t it on the third Sunday of June? That’s like almost 3 months ago!”

Ah-ha. Here’s another peculiar thing about Australia. Father’s Day is on first Sunday of September. Weird eh? Imagine my surprise when I first found out. There are promotions on Father’s Day sales all over the TV. I was like “Har? Father’s Day? Not passed long long time liao meh?” Out of curiousity, I google it. And indeed Australian’s Father’s Day is on September. But Mother’s day is all the same. It’s still on second week of May.

So, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all the dads out there, especially MY dad!

With love,
snowQueen

My Angel

My Angel,

I miss her,

We were so close back home,

But now, we are so far apart,

I did not abandon you,

I just couldn't be with you now,

Wait for me, and I shall return to you one day.

Proudly presenting, My Angel:

She's so poised. Yet so mischievous. So cute, yet so rascal. And yet we love her. I just can't help falling in love with her. I'm deeply in love.

Few weeks back, she went for her first hair cut.

Before

After

She looks so sad :( Probably because she doesn't like her new hair cut. Or not. I was told that she kept staring at her reflection in the mirror to admire her new hair cut for hours. And she got caught at staring at her own reflection:

Aww...Don't look at me-lah..Shy-lah..

I missed her first hair cut!! T_T But thank you my little sis, for sending her pictures to me. They ease my missing her a little bit. Just a little >_< Nevermind-lah. I have this:

That's me in my overcoat and scarf here in Australia, and that's my Angel right next to me :D I shall come home to you soon!