hikari*

Sunday, April 19, 2009Y

Randomness galore

I have been working from 8.30 a.m. till 5 p.m. every single day. Sunday, my only rest day. And I am spending it playing Restaurant City on Facebook. Gosh, anyway, please gimme more ingredients and free furniture my Facebook besties :-)

I have so much I want to blog about!

So this is a random post dedicated to updating everyone about me Me ME!!!!

I miss eating crabs *sniff* Saw these big luscious (drooled even though they were uncooked) ones in Springvale last week. Gone were the days when I never appreciated seafood. Being from Sandakan, it had never been a problem to have crabs weekly or even every other day.

Some of my favourite crab dishes, which I think everyone should try, are:

- Butter crab with fried mantau at City Star Seafood Restaurant near Dataran Prima.

- Crab with Salted Egg Gravy at the late Extreme Park Chinese Restaurant.

- Crab with noodles at Pacific House near Richmond.

You know, I have a reputation for being an extremely attentive and clean crab eater (no meat left anywhere for sure!)

**********

I have departed from my dormant lifestyle for the past month. Having to work everyday now, I noticed a few other changes I made:

- Waking up at 7 a.m.

- Waking up several times at night to check the time (kiasu not wanting to be late)

- Going out without any make-up :-(

- Wearing the same coat and jeans every day.

- Skipping breakfast (a very big deal to me!)

- No snacking throughout the day :-(

- Lotsa hand movement and injuries throughout the day *sniff sniff*

- Standing at least 7 hours a day.

- Seeing a cute boss 7.5 hours a day :-)

**********

The weather is Melbourne is still as indecisive as ever. See the dark and bright clouds here.

I am still wearing the same jeans and sneakers walking to the same bus loop.

But I am no longer taking the free Monash shuttle to Caulfield for classes or exam. It dawned upon me that, things certainly have changed. I have started a new chapter in life, away from the comfort of being a student, protected by the university from the society.

Sometimes staring at that very bus stop while waiting for the bus, I can still see an image of me waiting for the free shuttle bus there, handful of lecture notes, earful of Glay.

**********

Yesterday night, was a very special night :-)

I treated Ray to dinner for the very first time using my own hard earned money *tears* And it was so good that or in a more accurate manner, we were so hungry that we finished all the food without any snapshot of it.

Later that night, we went for Fast and Furious. And it was special cause - I put on make up and wore a dress for the first time the whole week! It was such an amazing moment :-) I absolutely love dolling up. That was the very moment I was definitely sure about this fact T.T

Btw, I am loving Paul Walker now. I hope my Ray O'Connor can have facial hair like his :-(

**********

I love staying in my Marshall house.

It is always bustling with people, voices, activities - just like a very big and happy community centre :-)

Yiki and LiLet stayed here for a month when they were looking for a house. Daniel stayed over a night in the living room when his house was a bit too noisy. Oli, Ray, LiLet and others always come over for dinner together.

Other than people, we always receive stuffs - food, presents, random everythings. So this is a happy place :-)

I received a cute nightwear from Peter Alexandra from Yiki *yay!*

'We' received a box of very nice chocolates from Lindt Cafe Sydney from WooHsian *woot woot!*

The beauty of chocolates. I remember a certain lecturer saying this:

"Seeing how chocolates are so addictive and even helps release feel-good hormones (endorphin), it would probably be banned and labelled an illegal drug if discovered only now".

Labels: Drama-ful, Just Me, Out There Somewhere, Wackness

indulged at 3:33 PM

0 teased me

Post a Comment

Monday, April 13, 2009Y

Easter at Frankston Beach

If there is one thing I think every girl should have, it must be a bikini!

Okay, on the third day of the Easter long weekend, me and the girls went to Frankston Beach for 2 hours of lazing under the sun.

The weather was great - sun was shining but the breeze was cool - typical Melbourne weather. You melt and curse under the sun and you shiver and curse again under shade.

It was in impulsive decision to go to the beach, in fact we planned out the route at 1.30 pm, left at 3 pm and reached there by 4 pm. Being an impulsive act, we only brought snacks we had at home. Only those! It could have been potentially the biggest snack party ever by the beach! We do have the potential to do that, believe me.

Back to the bikini topic. I am serious when I say that every girl should have her own bikini.

Prior to getting one, I was skeptical. Issues like body image, trouble areas, bulging tummy, impracticality, waste of money all popped up within one milisecond. But then the wise Miss Glyniss said, "No, once you buy one and you wear once, you will fall in love with it and the beach." Coming from Glyniss, this is not a very convincing argument since, she has a banging hot body which I despise grrrr.

But of course, being the curious case I always am, I went ahead and bought one. I fell in love with bikinis the moment I wore one in the fitting room itself. It was that . . . erm, amazing haha.

The reason is obviously not like the bikini altered my body into Victoria Secret material or the bikini botton tucked in every single fat cell in my tummy area. Well, the feeling was just liberating. Yeah, that is it.

In fact, I began to love my body more and had the motivation to exercise more to perfect it :-) A bikini actually boosted my body confidence, how absurd. And then you can't wait to go to the beach. And when there is no chance to go to the beach, you can't wait till the house is empty so you can wear your bikini while ironing clothes or watching drama haha.

So girls! Go out and get your bikinis now! Confession time: I bought my second bikini a month ago but it was on special at only $29 at Mambo! . . . . . well, Glyniss bought a wig (a random point to justify my purchase haha).

I wore my Mambo one that day :-)

. . . . with a long sleeveless top over it hahaha! Well, it was more of a family day at Frankston the other day and no one else was wearing one since it was 'kinda' windy. Another reason is, I won't wanna scare my readers away :-(

Going to the beach is probably one of the most economical thing to do around here. Just a drive there with a handful of snacks, a 'proper' beach towel and the right group of mates. . .boom, that becomes a happening day.

Snacking while WenJi's Ipod was on John Mayer's playlist. Playing the the sand and our toes. Gossiping and girl talk all the way. Common things but oh-so-different when done on the beach while basking under the warmth of the sun :-)

At this point, my skin is becoming like chicken wings because the sun it setting and the wind is mighty cold!

One last shot with the beautiful sunset behind us.

I am going to end this sun-baked post with,"GRAB YOUR BIKINIS NOW SO WE CAN GO TO THE BEACH TOGETHER!"

Labels: Girl Talk, Out There Somewhere

indulged at 2:26 PM

0 teased me

Post a Comment

Easter at Grampians

On the second day of the Easter weekend (Saturday), I went to Grampians with Ray and his family. Grampians is a very famous National Park located west of Melbourne and it features a series of sandstone mountain ranges, indigenious rock arts, waterfalls and great bushwalking trails.

This trip was proposed, planned and executed by none other than Mr Raymond Tan (round of applause). The inspiration for this trip came from when he went for his weekend work around Ararat. For some reasons, I feel like the town Ararat has such a nice Final Fantasy ring to it. Doesn't it sound like a town in an FF game? And it was in the middle of nowhere with dry land surrounding it! FF mou!?

The drive there from Clayton (south east of Melbourne) took approximately 3 hours (I think, as I slept for a while here and there while in the car). The change of scenery is always interesting to me. From the concrete buildings of Melbourne city to the vast lands of dry soil around Ararat.

First we stopped at Brambuk Cultural Centre which was filled with information and exhibition about the aboriginal communities around that area. Pictures were not allowed inside but there were some really good pictures which told deep stories.

Around the park, there were numerous interesting rock designs.

The second stop was to the Balconies. There was a 15-20 minutes of bushwalking included. Difficulty level? Low.

See the lake over there? I could have gone further to the edge to get a more breathtaking picture, but I was too chicken as always :-)

Most of the trees were black in colour while the floor-plants and other young plants were green as. We think these trees were probably involved in a bushfire in the past. That explains the ash-dark barks and trunks they have.

The most impressive thing is despite the damage from the bushfire, these trees are still sprouting new leaves and new greens are still growing everywhere. Such strong will to survive. Such a subtle yet powerful lesson nature is teaching us.

This is the view from the Balconies. I loved it so much that I asked Ray to take a picture emulating the poster for the movie Australia. Then we proceeded to walk another 15 minutes back to our car for our third stop.

The third stop was McKenzie Falls. I have heard about this place a lot. Mostly from Amy&co about the silly pictures they took there during MUMSU Easter Camp 2007. So I was quite anxious to see that place as well.

The walk to McKenzie Falls was different. Instead of bushwalking, there was a lot of stairs. But towards McKenzie Falls, everything was downhill so the difficulty level was just moderate. I sailed through this part *whistles*

And when I finally reached the base of the waterfall . . !!

. . . this picture was supposed to look damn impressive okay!? But the Bollywood couple over there just wouldn't budge and stayed there like a statue for what seemed like 10 minutes! In the end this supposedly AMAZING capture of McKenzie Falls became a cheap Bollywood themed wedding picture wuwuwu.

All the leg muscle and energy exerted for this. . . shot. . . urgh. .

Even the shot of me and dear McKenzie Falls looked awkward as I think Ray was trying to avoid capturing any aura of the couple here :-(

Disappointment evolved into anger later when I had to climb up the same stairs I took to climb down earlier. Difficulty level was high up till don't know where. The steps were uneven, steep and narrow. I was panting, sweating and cursing the couple who ruined my McKenzie experience wuwuwu. Actually I just wanted to blame something for the stupid climb up. Made all my efforts in the gym seem like a waste only sniff.

The last and final stop was at Boroka Lookout. Quoting Ray, "I left this lookout for the last cause it is the most beautiful and the easiest one to walk to. If I brought you all to this first, I bet you would have lost all semangat for the other places." Smart. But I still gave him a smack for it.

But he was right. It was AMAZING.

The endless rolls of land.

The clear shadows casted onto the ground.

The horizon blurred by sunlight.

A perfect picture of peace.

(I would have uploaded more pictures of the scenery from Boroka Lookout but Blogger is not letting me do so. Prettiness overload I think. Or maybe it is rejecting unpretty picture cause coincidentally the next picture has me in it T.T)

We ended the day as happy little campers as we crammed into Ray's car and drove all the way back to Richmond for Vietnamese food before crashing into our comfy beds for a sleeping marathon.

Labels: Out There Somewhere

indulged at 12:04 AM

0 teased me

Post a Comment

Sunday, April 12, 2009Y

Easter housewarming

This Easter long weekend has been jam-packed with plenty F's (fun, friends, etc not the other F). On the very first holi-day (Friday), Ray had his housewarming party.

After a month of househunting, Ray and LiLet finally found a nice place near Monash Clayton to call home. The best thing is they are currently living with someone they know :-) SerLey.

It was like a reunion for the class of Bachelor of Engineering 2007 and MUMSU Easter Camp 2006. In a nutshell, it was a massive catch up session.

The four of us are still going strong but new faces have joined our group :-)

Most of the Halls bachelors have become either the man of a house . . .

. . . or the man behind a successful woman (muahaha). While 2006 couples lived through an LDR, . . .

. . . new 2007 couples emerged!

But the same old things that hold everyone together still remain.

Hills of carbohydrate with hordes of proteins enveloped in fat before the sugar is served.

The kiasu-ness spirit lives almightily in every card game.

SOME of us still eat quite a lot.

SOME of us still have problem posing normally.

It was a great night which ended with a friendly game of poker where Ray got stuffed when his double Ace got ruined by WenJi in a historical game. One we shall all remember.

Labels: Out There Somewhere

indulged at 11:27 PM

0 teased me

Post a Comment

The F's

It is Easter Sunday today :-)

What are you all gonna do?

Where are you all gonna be?

How are you all gonna enjoy the day?

When are you all gonna go out?

Why are you all still reading my blog?

Time to go out and soak up some sun!
Holidays should always be filled with families, friends, fun, fatigue, food! All the F's ( nice ring to it, eh?).

Pick up that butt now and off you go!

Labels: Out There Somewhere, Wackness

indulged at 10:58 AM

0 teased me

Post a Comment

Thursday, April 09, 2009Y

Shoujo power go!

My next mission: To participate in a Run. *Or Marathon (in tiny whisper)*

My inspiration being the Run for the Kids event organised by Herald Sun on the 5th of April. This was a fund-raising event for charity where around 30,000 runners participated either in the 14.1 km or 5.7 km course. Woo Hsian, being the President figure of all time, initiated this to everyone in our gang. And only Ray joined. Gasp? Hardly a gasp-able moment, isn't it?

Honestly, I had no confidence in my stamina and strength. So, instead I volunteered to become the photographer and cheerleader instead. Ray, WenJi and I departed early freezing morning to Flinders Station to see something quite amazing.

A long line of people walking towards the starting point like ants trailing towards a pot of golden honey. I have honestly never seen that many people near Flinders before. Not even during Moomba! You see runners of all kinds - the Colour-coordinated, the Branded, the Muscly, the Flinstone-themed, the Youngsters. The most amazing ones: Daddies or Mummies running with their babies in prams. Cuteness.

Although we were both non-runners, we were the important people or supporters behind the runners. Something like the sponsors *jeng jeng jeng* (Notice my Aaron Kwok hair coming out again, sulk)

It was fun just being there. And when the race was starting, everyone rushed to get their place. Family and friends and even pets stayed at the sidelines, cheering and barking (lame?).

What was inspirational was actually this view of all the runners (this shot actually managed to capture only 1/4 of the crowd). Everyone having a common goal and everything having to do with charity. The vibe from the runners, their high spirits, the meaning behind this Run, the excitement in the air - more than inspirational. (The arrow is pointing at the two ants we sponsored).

I began this post by saying I had no confidence in my stamina and strength. I now end this post by saying I want to build up my stamina and strength.

Okay. It is not really the end of the post because since I did not run on that day, I had a lot going on with my other fellow non-runners in the city.

Started the day with none other than a Big Breakfast along Southbanks. I love Big. I love Variety. I love Meat.

. . . yeah, people like Me. Inspired people, haha.

After the race, all the runners were given grapes! The results were out since yesterday. The top male runner did the whole 14.1 km in approximately 42 minutes while the female winner completed it in approximately 45 minutes. Isn't that impressive? So impressed I am still that I still remember his name - Martin Dent and the female Olympic athlete (well, I am inclined to remembering things about guys). As for our sponsored runners, I will have to ask for permission before revealing :-)

Not allowing any time to rest, we proceeded to the Melbourne Flower and Garden Show.

There is something about flowers that makes a girl sweeeeeeeeeet. To you. To everyone. To the world. (Note this, guys)

There is also something about flowers that drives a girl to her own little or huge fantasyyyyyyyyy world. Ignoring you. Ignoring everyone. Ignoring the world.

Don't remember the name of this flower but Oli loved the colour combination here.

I so want to be like these two statues. Lying gracefully on a bed of flowers. Naked and rocking a hot body. Probably I will put a bikini on, nyahaha.

After browsing through the stalls outside, we entered the hall. It is the hall where students from Melbourne Uni take their exams and the hall which used to send a shudder to Eric.

And upon entering the hall, my girlish fantasies came alive full blast! I could literally see myself staring straight ahead, body straight with a flashlight shining from behind and mouth open gasping at the sight of. . . endless rows of beautiful flower decos!

These are called England or English Roses. I love the pale hue of pink.

These roses epitomize romance. I am utterly in love with this. Utterly.

Somewhere along the lines, did you actually guess any of my fantasies? No....?

Now, to the more creative and edgy ones. . .

These were designed and dressed by RMIT students.

Although I am not a big fan of Elmo (especially after the laughing ticklish Elmo came out), I thought this was extra cute. Notice that Elmo's nose was actually made out of a yellow rose in full bloom.

The most interesting part of the Alice in Wonderland deco. So sweet.

A guitar-ful of oranges! I dedicate this shot to Mr Stephen Chu. I dedicate all things guitar to him. This is you 2009 birthday present.

And more more MORE MORE FLOWERS xoxo.

I received a particularly sweet surprise as well. It was extra sweet probably because I was totally engulfed by my own fantasies or my eyes were shining with romance. I was in my own shoujo manga world, for goodness' sake!

Labels: Girl Talk, Light Bulb, Out There Somewhere

indulged at 1:01 AM

0 teased me

Post a Comment