Lollies!! It's really cool the way they make it...


Somewhere in the city...


Harbor Town


Still Harbor Town


A view from midway up King's Park. Nice eh


In memory of the men who died for Australia in the war.

Well, I'm too lazy to upload the rest here. This site is lagging!

Cheers

Carmen

Orientation started yesterday without a bang. It was seminar after seminar all day and frankly, I almost fell asleep halfway through... It was just SO boring. And the australian accent is pretty much monotonous... They drone on and on about stuff and use all sorts of weird lingo.. Ugh. My poor mind had to struggle to understand... I think I need to take that workshop on how to speak Australian English... We wasted time by writing messages on paper and passing it between the four of us. Was trying to convince the rest to go for ice skating without much success... But Janet easily convinced the rest to ice skate with a simple sentence: "Transportation is provided." Damn, wth. Anyway, lunch was Subway sandwiches which were nice though cold. Had a bottle of Apple juice to wash it down as well. Then it was back to the lecture theatre for the next seminar which turned out to be some kinda workshop on self motivation on studying and I don't know what other stuff.
We made our great escape after that seminar and returned to the Student Village where Sheena and Ka Hang picked up their faulty lamps. Next was the walk to Kardinya where they got a refund for the lamps and we wandered around buying other junk. Got a call from Joven and found out that we were to meet at Carpark 6 for the ice skating. Shu Hui in a grand show of screwing up, led us to some fish and chips place instead of Chicken Treats. And we didnt realized it till I turned to look out of the window next to Shu Hui and pointed out Chicken Treats across the road. Major blunder. Scoff down our fish and chips and dumped a whole lot of fries into a plastic bag before we hurried back to the student village in a record breaking 10minutes. Nearly died on the trip back.
Hurriedly changed jackets and dumped the fries in the fridge before I was off again. The transport was actually cars owned by the volunteers. Stood around while they did headcount and organized the loading of passengers and we were finally off! The ride took a while... Like 30 minutes or so before we reached the ice skating rink. The place was frigging packed! Shuffled around to get skates and finally we stepped on the ice. The initial steps were awkward...been a long time since I last skated but quickly got the hang of it and started moving around the rink. Tried to teach Shu Hui but the dunce simply cannot understand simple logic such as lowering your body to keep your center of gravity low. Let Ka Hang teach Shu Hui while I helped Sheena around the rink. Pretty much ditched them once Sheena could move on her own unaided and I went around on my own. Spotted some new friends clinging onto the sides of the rink for dear life and offered a hand. Sucessfully managed to teach one of them how to skate in just two rounds. WHEEE! I'm good, ain't I. We stopped soon enough and simply sat at the benches when it got too cold. Stoned and chatted there before we decided to leave. Another friend kindly volunteered to drive us back to the village while the rest went for Mackles or however you spell that. Seriously, is it that hard to pronounce Mcdonalds?! Well, our night out ended then and I conveniently fell sick LOL. Was drifting in and out of consciousness all night as my body temperature changed from hot to cold. The body aches didn't help one bit. Finally drifted off to sleep for about 2 hours around 7am and woke up at 0930 and decided that getting out of the bed for a scavanger hunt would be suicidal. Texted Shu Hui that I really can't make it and drifted into unconsciousness soon after. Fever is a major pain in the ass. But was really touched that they hurried back and skipped the barbie to cook me porridge. I'm fortunated to have caring friends even though Shu Hui spent the whole of lunch snapping at me and calling me stupid for ice skating the night before. But, I deserved it. Oh well.

Firstly, I can only vaguely recall what happened yesterday. Shu Hui and I brought Sheena and Ka Hang to Kardinya's where they shopped like crazy for necessities. Unfortunately, Shu Hui and I fell prey to more unnecessary stuff...
Oh well. We 'needed' it. Sorta.
Oh yea. Now I remember. My flatmates, well the females at least were watching porn yesterday night. We were so bored with the limited television programmes that we decided to watch a DVD. Apparently there used to be a separate DVD player which wasn't there. So we decided to try the inbuilt one in the TV. Took a while for one of my flatmates to figure out how to get it to open and she found a dvd in the slot labelled 'Desires'. For the sake of fun, we decided to play it. Watched like 10 minutes worth of horror film trailers before we started speculating about the actual contents of the dvd. One of my flatmates suggested that perhaps its porn and all the horror trailers were just there to mislead the viewer. She was right. After another 10 minutes, we reached a menu page with the titled of the film 'Erotic Desires' imposed on a scantily clad woman. I don't know whatever possessed us to click on play. And yea. It was porn. I ran away after the first 2 minutes and leaving the 3 women laughing away in the lounge. They came to find me after 15 minutes or so of giggling and suggested watching Saw. That we did, in the dark where two of my flatmates freaked out and we gave up on Saw I to watch Gossip Girl instead. I think I got one of them hooked to the series... Oops... Went to bed at 0111 literally zombiefied...
Today... Sheena and Ka Hang had an appointment with Bob and Shu Hui and I agreed to bring them around. Had trouble getting out of bed...was so damn tired and running a slight fever as well. I blame the changes in temperature. They brought me a sandwich for breakfast. Ham and cheese in white bread. Pretty good.
Hang around the library where we read some random books and discovered that our student cards do not work and had to make a new one. That we did and left back to the hostel for Sheena to change rooms and to grab the essential documents for setting up their bank accounts. Sheena's lucky to get a room in flat 11. Though I'm not too sure about her flatmates. Went back to campus for them to set up bank accounts and for Sheena's appointment with a professor in the chemistry department. Our growling stomachs led us to the nearest 'canteen' where we bought a large serving of wedges with sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. Ate a quarter each and decided we were still hungry and bought this combo set meal at $5 that came with a dish and a choice of rice or noodles. We picked the fried rice and some honey chicken. Fried rice was oily and basically bland but the chicken was good. Next stop, library where they made their student cards.
Then it was a bus ride to Kardinya's. To maximise our efficiency, we splited up into pairs. Shu Hui and I to get fruits while Sheena and Ka Hang went to K-mart to get table lamps. Met up after that to walk back together with a trolley and we rattled all the way back to the hostel. Where Ka Hang and I returned to our flats for a shower while Shu Hui and Sheena started preparing for dinner.
Our menue for today: Chicken Hor Fun!
My first time making this and I trial and error-ed my way through. Pour a little too much sesame oil to the chicken, splash a generous amount of Hua Tiao Jiu to the meat and a huge dollop of oyster sauce. Now that I think aobut it, I forgot about the sugar LOL. Oh well. The result was pretty good nonetheless. The pack of Hor Fun was so huge that we spilt it to fry three times with some light soy sauce. Next was cooking the marinated chicken, fish cakes and mushrooms while scalding the KaiLan. Talk about multi-tasking. Good thing I had a reliable assistant in the form of Ka Hang. Made some gravy which turned out to be too little... Awww... But it was nice. Edible for a first time. We even had a side of broccoli stir fried with oyster sauce. Rounded it off with a cup of Lipton tea overloaded with sugar and some strawberries. We have to get more of those... 10 strawberries at $2.95 is pretty affordable considering that they are fresh.
The final product:

It even has garnishing!

Well, the sugar's getting to me and there's still orientation tomorrow...

Cheers
Carmen

Garbo.

Garden City. Another hangout in Perth. This was where we went to for Harry Potter. Some new friends that we made drove us down to Garbo where we window shopped before watching HP. HP was a disappointment though. Not as good as the book. Then again, all novel adaptations to the silver screen basically sucks and Harry Potter was no exception.
Anyway, hung out with some really interesting people who really made us feel right at home although it was awkward initially. 'Lunch' was basically chips and soda which we munched on during the movie. Got a ride back to the student village too where I sat around with Shu Hui for a grand total of 5 minutes where we stared at the idiot box before deciding that it was getting way too boring. Was on my way back to my flat when I noticed the all too familiar white mini van and gave Shu Hui a call. Sheena and Ka Hang have finally arrived at Student Village. It was either really good timing on my part or simply a coincidence that I just so happened to spot the vehicle on my way back. Helped to lug their luggage to the administration building where they checked in before helping them once more to their flats. It's really unfortunate that they were given rooms that are so far apart and tiny too. As compared to mine and Shu Hui's rooms, theirs were really like a prison cell... It was a lot narrower... Perhaps its because they have a double room so technically, they are sharing with 5 other people. Still its really small. Oh well... gotta count my lucky stars that I got a room in a flat which is much more spacious and I have cool flatmates.
Anyway, dinner was pasta. Which we whipped up quickly with four sets of hands. Frankly, it was too sour for my liking. Never did like tomato paste. But its healthly nonetheless and I was really hungry. Oh well. Lots of nutrients and minerals. Walked them back to their flats where Sheena decided to stay over with Ka Hang for the night. I really wonder if they are ever gonna adjust...
Rotted in the flat with my flatmates where we gaped at obese people dancing on the reality show: Dance your ass off. Very degrading if you ask me.
Well, I'm too lazy to upload the pictures and I just realized I can't remember what happened at all yesterday. Oh well, whatever LOL.

Cheers
Carmen

Laundry Day

Spend most of Sunday doing laundry. It was then that I realized just how spoilt I really am... We took awhile to figure out how to use the washing machine and the dryer... At least we have clean clothes now lol...

Cook some pathetic chunky beef stew from a can for lunch with kailan and apples for dessert. Shu Hui's flatmate, John gave us a bowl of his beef soup. It was OMFG.
Clear soup with beef bits, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and parsely. Perfecto. A taste of home. Sorta. John's from China. A nice guy really.
Went to play basketball with some of his friends in the evening. Finally a chance to exercise... It was pretty refreshing to run around in the cold.
Went back for dinner of more kailan, sausauges and some canned curry that Punitha brought over. Ate up the last of the apples too.. I need more apples...

Okay, finally caught up to the present. More pictures on Facebook!

Cheers
Carmen

A day in Freo!

Totally forgot to blog about Fremantle... Oh well, better late than never right?
Anyway, went with Juhanans who's Shu Hui's flatmate. He nicely brought us along and showed us around. Took a public bus there. Our first bus ride! Sorta the same as SG's busses with the tap card.

Our first stop at Fremantle was a Japanese store.

Bought some rice flavouring... and we found something interesting...

Pocky for men! Yes, that's right. Now guys won't have to hide in a close room to induldge in their pocky cravings.
We stepped right out of the store and saw something fascinating. A limo! Not as sleek as I would like, but nonetheless real cool...

Went to Freo Market next. Here's an interior view...


An exterior view. Nice architecture right.
Lunch at Kailis. Beat this Fish & Chips!

Too lazy to blog more about Fremantle lol...
More pictures at my Facebook account titled Murdoch.

Cheers
Carmen

Nothing much happened today.
Had a meeting with Bob at 11am and we decided to meet up at 10.30am to make a slow walk there. Unfortunately, we ended up procrastinating in my room for a good 15mins before we finally left. Strangely enough, the trip from the hostel to the Biological Science block took around 7mins. Cool eh. This means we don't have to wake up at ungodly hours to get to class on time...
Well, meeting with Bob took a couple of minutes before we left to wander around. Stopped to chat with some new friends we made who were currently volunteering outside Murdoch Internation Office. Cool people with really lame jokes. I swear it got even colder...
The sun's blazing in the afternoon and the weather's pretty bearable with just a jacket. Headed back to the hostel to cook lunch around 2pm.

This is lunch. Curry from a cube with potatoes with skins on, onions and chicken thighs. Had a piping cup of good ol' Lipton tea too. Just what we needed to warm us right up.
Strangely, chicken thighs here are way cheaper than chicken breasts... The curry was diluted though... edible but could be nicer...
Went back to my room where I rotted for hours doing stuff that I cant remember at all.
Next up, dinner.

Omelette, sliced mushrooms in butter sauce from a can, stir fried broccoli with chicken and a serving of rice. Pretty good meal. The omelette was tasteless and a tad too dry... I need soy sauce...
Then it was back to my room where I rotted once more...

Perth Day 3

It has already been three days... Sort of.
Yesterday Shu Hui's friend kindly brought us around town where we bought a whole lot of junk again. Dinner was an amusing affair of about to expire sandwiches on offer. (That's how pathetic we are...)
Well enough about yesterday.

Today, we went to see Professor Bob for certain things regarding our course and such. He is a really nice guy who would always go an extra mile for his students. I will have to see him tomorrow... Apparently my course details have yet to be updated. We hurried back to our hostel after making more deposits to BankWest amid the rain. The weather here is really strange. It can be all nice and sunny then *BAM* Rain. Within seconds, the freak shower will be gone and its sunny once more.
And I thought Singapore's weather was nuts.
The winds here are pretty chilly. Freezing cold at night and in the mornings.
My housemates are pretty cool people. We keep to ourselves mostly with casual conversations held in the hallway when we happened to meet; other than that, its really quiet here.
Anyway, had a pathetic 'lunch' of milo with cereal and some beef jerky which tastes suspiciously like dog treats though that does not mean I have tasted dog treats, mind you. We went to the 'nearby' K-Mart next where we overloaded our trolley with more stuff. The trip back was hell. Didn't help that I almost went into hypoglycemia due to lack of glucose. I nearly fainted during the trip back T_T
The trolley isn't exactly fully functional... It tends to roll sideways instead of straight and it was really hard to control. Worse thing was that there were slopes on our route back... and weather just had to decide on another bunch of freak showers except this one lasted more than the expected two minutes. We actually sheltered the trolley with Shu Hui's umbrella instead of ourselves. Pathetic ain't it. Shu Hui was even screaming "QUICK! MUST COVER THE BREAD!"
So well, back to our hostel where I lugged this really cheap set of 16 pieces of dinner ware to my room since its on the ground floor before helping Shu Hui with the rest of the groceries to her apartment on the second floor. There's no way I'm gonna cook in my kitchen. It's a bloody mess.
Dinner was an interesting affair. We bought some really huge sausages made of bogus meat that tasted pretty good. Although they looked like they were leaking out when we broiled them before pan-frying with butter...

This is dinner. Baked Potato, brocolli, rice and the giant sausages.


This is Shu Hui with her burnt rice that strangely, tasted like popcorn...

Well that's it for today. I haven't done anything else save for rotting away in my room...

I just realized that this page has died for around two months... Opps. My bad.
Well, I'll be leaving for Perth in three days. Feeling excited yet scared at the same time.
A part of me is raring to go, longing for an adventure. Yet, another part of me is afraid to step out of my comfort zone.
Still, it will be a learning experience.
I'll keep this page updated then.

Carmen

12 hours till check in at T1... Almost...almost... HOKKAIDO!!!
For cooler weather!
For sakura!
For crabs!
WHEEEE!!!!!
I cant wait!

The bags are packed, everything's ready!

Oh well, to pass time, here are some updates on my mundane life...
Worked for 14 days at The Pampered Pet Corner located behind MPE.
The people there are nice. But the job scope...
Back breaking is an apt description. I prefer bathing the dogs to drying them...
At least you will only get wet when you bathe dogs. When you are drying dogs, you get furry and you sneeze the entire time.
For minimum wages in a labour intensive job, I guess the employee welfare is pretty good as compared to most places. Like I mentioned earlier, the people there are really nice. Wouldn't mind helping out once in a while though not as a full-time job...

Talking about full time jobs, STC offered another post AGAIN.
Remember the *cough* person? She resigned.
From what I heard, she was pretty upset that the HOD didn't ask her to stay.
Less than a week after her resignation was tendered, I was offered a permanent job there -.-
And less than a week after she officially leaves the company, I was offered a part-time contract job there. Seriously, get a hint.
Oh well, they are desperate. If the money's good, I'll take it.
Doesn't hurt to have extra cash on hand when I'm studying. That and I can be filial to my parents and grandmother by giving them part of my paycheck.
I'm such a good kid don't you think? LOL. Self praise is no praise.
This is starting to turn into a ramble.
Cant be helped. My fingers cant stay still when placed on a keyboard.
A good thing too. It goes to show that the daily writing is paying off.
On another note, I finished my first ever fanfic. Boy, am I proud of myself. My FIRST ever! After slightly less than a year of breaking out into the fanfiction community, I finally completed a series. Good characters so its not too hard to create fiction on them. Lots of plot twists and story lines to play around with. I cant wait to write the next one already.
Been churning out garbage for Writer's Bureau as well. Not entirely satisfied with the results but I'm working on it. I need another source of income...

Apart from Hokkaido... we are going to Phuket as well!!!
Water! Sand! Bitch! Beach! Seafood! Party! Transvestites! Sun!
This is going to be one really great month!

Cheers!

carmen

Kill Joy.

Kinder Joy.

Frankly, I don't see what's the joy in it. It's not like Kinder Surprise when you bite down on the chocolate egg and SURPRISE! you find a plastic egg containing your toy inside. With Kinder Joy, every moment from when you first bought it, you go 'WTF?'. This further escalates when you open the 'egg'.

Here's how to eat Kinder Joy.

Step 1: Buy it.


Step 2: Peel the tabs apart to get two halfs.


Step 3: Remove the spoon. (With the words Kinder on it, no less.)


Step 4: Peel open the orange wrapped half of the egg with the many question marks. Go 'WOW' at your unassembled toy.


Step 5: Eat the other half with the chocolate.



And there ya go. The white chocolate portion tastes like condense milk. The two biscuit balls with hazel nut chocolate filling tastes like a Ferro Roche rip off.

And I do NOT know why the pictures ended up upside down.

Kinder NO Joy.

Zoo!

Yesterday, we went to the zoo! The last time I've been there was too many years ago...
Went with Mark, KW, Michelle and her illegitimate kids cousins.
Quite a few changes... the petting zoo was changed to Kidzworld.
With I think 6 ponies? No more chicks to squeeze unless you count deep fried chicken from KFC. We did witness a goat brawl there though. Strangely, the strangled cries of pain sounded like a grown man yelling instead of the expected baa-ing from the goats. Weird and freaky. Pretty wet day considering that we walked beneath pathetic umbrellas for like 2hours? Missed the feeding time for the lions and the white tigers due to poor planning. Though we did feed the kangeroos for $5. Weird roos they are. They were the long hair type...not your usual short hair roos in new zealand. And they dont exactly hop, they use their fore limbs like crutches to pull themselves forward. Most of the animals were sleeping...only till like 6+ when the zoo was closing, finally the jauguars were awake and prowling about. The first time we saw them, both jauguars were taking an afternoon nap sprawled on the logs in their faux habitat.
The best exhibit so far... must be the Fragile Forest. The lesser mousedeer was so cute! Mark was totally smittened by one mousedeer so much so that he was plotting ways to deernap the darling.


KFC at the entrance. We havent even entered and Mark looks bored already


Michelle's kids


Jimmy's cousin?

This one is hilarious...

An Elephant Skull and Michelle. Its more than half her height!




An elephant tusk and Michelle.


World's biggest (and smelliest) flower. It looks plastic though...

Aww...I dont have any pictures of the mouse deer... T_T

Strengths?

To defeat an opponent stronger than yourself, you must not be weaker than that opponent. - Takamachi Nanoha (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS manga)

Wise words indeed from an anime character.

It really got me thinking about my strengths and weaknesses. My initial thought was 'Crap. I dont have a strength!' mainly because I'm pretty much a Jack of All Trades. Capable of doing anything but nothing that I particulary excel at.
However, certain events have allowed me to see myself in a different light. I do have a strength. Something that I'm better in than others.

Manipulation.

How apt for someone like me. The ability to twist facts and truths for my personal benefit. The ability to manipulate others and events to my every whim and fancy.

Not a very respectable personality trait but nonetheless very useful. For my will determines the onset of the chains of events. *Snorts*

There's no need to sabotage the bitch. All I ever have to do is to manipulate the events and the situation. And there you go, you royally screwed yourself.
Start looking for another job for you are about to lose your current one.

chortles
carmen

YES. I have made the best decision in my life. The decision to resign.
A record I'm sure. Resign within the first week. LOL.

Csas 3 is a sham. They conveniently forgot to teach us how to write a resignation letter. CV and resume are all mandatory to get a job. But we should be taught how to leave a job with grace as well!
Should have done that a long time ago...
Should have known that no matter what kinda crap they promise, it would never actually happen.
Should have realized that there are always pricks in any organization.
Should have learned my lesson that it doesnt pay to be kind.

From this day forth, Carmen will be mean. I will not relent to lies and deceit.
Instead of always taking other's into consideration, this time, I shall consider my needs first.
SCREW YOU BITCH. Respect must be EARNED.

Rot in hell, for your time is running out.

O.O

I have completed the Mission Impossible.


For the first time in weeks, I actually managed to wake up on my own when the digital clock still states "A.M." I'm so proud of myself!! Yet, I'm so screwed.
Work starts tomorrow and my sleep-wake cycle is still whack. No thanks to sleeping only around 2 or 3am and waking up at 2pm. Somehow, no matter how many hours I spend sleeping, I'm still tired...
Oh well. A repeat of SIP begins on monday. Time to bid sleeping in late goodbye. No more sashimi outings... All for a measly pay of $7.50/hr. Pathetic.
At the very least, there's still the chalet to look forward to... WHEEE!!! I cant wait for the chalet!! The look on Princess's face would be priceless!! (Cues manical laughter) If this chalet succeeds which I'm sure it will, we should consider planning a graduation trip! Langkawi beaches?
Better stop while its still 'morning' LOL

Cheers
carmen

System Down

Dictionary [Decrease]
Grammar [Decrease]
Vocabulary [Decrease]
Initiate Mode [Shu Hui]
Initiatizing...
Completed.
Standing By.
Select [Start]
Program Running.
Warning. This program is not compatible. Please switch to Default mode to maximise functionality. Select [OK] to enter mode selection page or select [Cancel] to continue.
[Cancel]
Program Running.
This program is not compatible with your system. Please select the Default mode.
Disable warning.
Alert! System unstable.
Alert! Functionality decreased by 90%
Alert! System Malfunctioning.

Now restarting.
System down.
Installation of Glucose unit recommended.

Thank you for using Windows-Brains. Good Bye.

It has been barely 10 days into the new year and I have taken MC twice in a week. Yay for welcoming 2009 with illness. To summarize the events during the past few days, I spent more than $200 to consult different doctors. 2 with a GP and 1 with a consultant at the National Skin Center. It all started with a case of rashes, headache, body ache and fatigue. First consult with a GP and he said that its just insect bites. Gave me some cream and medication for itchiness. A day later and more of those blasted red spots appeared. So its another trip to the clinic again. GP insists that "It's healing!" still, it sure as heck doesnt seem like it. Took a blood test for dengue just in case and the results came back negative. Back to work the next day still with those damn red spots and the body aches. I seriously feel like I just got ran over by a 5 ton truck. So another shitty day began with the same old long bus trip and the normally 6 mins walk took me 10 mins from the limping which hindered my speed. Damn. So waited for the sup and left for the very isolated blk 30 and my routine task of starting up the equipment. Was wrestling with the control serum bottle when I realized that I couldnt flex my fingers. Looked down and immediately went "WTF!" My index finger resembled an over broiled sausage. Oh well nothing I can do about it then. Went through the whole day with a useless left hand. COuld hardly flex my index finger. Wasnt much of a big issue that night with family. Till the next morning. Another shocking revelation after I brushed my teeth. Left hand felt numb and when I looked down... OMFG! Swollen index finger, swollen palm. WTF is going on here?! Panic attack once more. As if it wasnt bad enough that I overslept and woke up at 6.18am. Went to bug Daddy to bring me to skin center later on before going back to sleep. The only thing good about this morning was the extended sleeping hours. NSC was nuts. Waited and waited and bounced from room to room. Consultant there said its puzzling. He thinks its an allergic reaction but nothing is concrete. Took blood once more. Bah. Twice in 3 days. Without a doubt, I'm gonna feel damn shagged the next day. Could hardly clench my fist then..only slightly better now though it itches like a bitch.
Hmmm..what else. Oh met Dr Jomer on the bus yesterday and took the entire bus ride with him. KILL ME PLEASE! He went all the way to tampines interchange to top up his ez-link..dont people usually GIRO it to their bank account?! Well, I do. Never had to worry about running low on funds in ez-link courtesy of Daddy.
Person A is still nuts. Dont give a hoot anymore. Already gave me a 3 for appraisal. Nothing else Person A can do to me. Found out more interesting stuff from others. They really dont seem to like Person A. They were telling me their opinion of why things turned out this way. Apparently in their opinion, the superiors are all for hiring me and the reason why Person A is nuts is cause he/she feels threatened. LOL. Then again, Daddy said the same thing too. But still, I've never intended to continue working there. Non-conducive working environment. No way man. Though it is nice to hear that the vets and the assistant managers have a good opinion of me. LOL. Arrogance is never good but still..WOOT!

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