Porridge

Never in my life would I have imagined that I would actually blog about porridge… I mean.. what for? I don’t even like it! Though some can be quite nice, but I prefer rice… depends…

Anyway… since I’ve been here, I think I can actually cook to save my life… hahahha cooking to save someone else? Maybe that’ll take more time…

Anyway, I just wanted to be amazed at myself for actually cooking porridge *for myself*. I never did cook. Let alone cook porridge…  Maybe I should pat myself on the back eh? ehehhe…

On to a porridge related story…

I remember when I was sick here, my housemate cooked porridge for me… I remember not finishing it.. though I kinda remember there was pork somewhere in there… and they were forcing me to eat it… in bed… Oh! They were staring at me eating too.. *Silly scene when I recall it* I forgot if they brought in their food and ate together with me or not… but it’s a very nice memory…

Cheerios now! Time to “enjoy” my porridge before it gets cold.

Time to be random?

or rather… I’ll try to be as random as I can… because! I just got tagged…. I’ve been tagged before for this one.. So.. I’ll try to do it…

DIRECTION: Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a post with sixteen random things, habits or goals about you. At last, choose five people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them.

Let us begin…

#1. I’m not a person that would talk about myself very often… frankly sometimes I wonder *wait! now I wonder* if I talk about myself at all!? Hmm…. maybe a little.

#2. I have this crappy “story” that I’m writing which is about…. “tragic love”? hahahhahah…. no lar not that tragic lar.. It’s just crappy and it’s just for me to see and be happy. No I won’t talk about it. I’m just writing *typing* down my imagination.

#3. I like desserts A LOT. I feel happier with dessert. Maybe that’s why I get fatter faster? hmm…. ….. …. …. Nah! says who?

#4. I tend to wash my hands and feet fairly often… often than most I think. Let’s see… in a day, when I wake up, I wash my feet, and then when I walk around the house and I feel my feet are dirty, I wash them again. When I go out and come back, I’ll wash them *hygienic purposes* and I’ll wash them before I go to sleep too… I think I actually like washing my hands more than my feet though… washing with soap is a much nicer feeling… hehehehe…

#5. I always wonder what life is about. Why are we here? What is the prupose of our existence?

Apparently the answer to the all important question of “What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?” is calculated as “42” according to “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. But then again, that wasn’t the right question… I don’t think they found out what the ultimate question was. Apparently, Earth’s main existence was to figure out the Ultimate question. Interesting book.

#6. I want to go to New Zealand! But……………………………… It’s a little hard now with the swine flu hanging around and all… I’ll just wait and see…

#7. I’m terrified of graduating and getting into the workforce. I have lots of doubts. I doubt if I could get a job. I doubt if I’ll like the job I get. I doubt if I’ll even get a job! I actually doubt what I have studied for the past 4 years. I doubt the choice I made 4+ years ago. Wrong? Right? I guess I’ll never know… If I change it I might have the same thoughts I have right now. So let’s jsut forget about the past and move on. There’s nothing else I can change about the past. Only the future awaits.

#8. I have a number of sayings that I quite like… such as,

“I’ll cross the bridge when I reach it”

“People must rely on themselves” *translation from mandarin*

Darn! I wanted to talk about sayings and I forget what sayings I like.. maybe I should write them down next time.

Oh! There is this saying I was talking to ZX about…. to motivate her actually… hehe

“Lazy people go nowhere.”

“So people like you and me are not going anywhere.”

#9. I… wanna be….. …. I have no idea. I’m pretty clueless in a way. Though, it would be nice if I could live by the beach and have a simple and peaceful life. *Odd for a person that is afraid that there will be sharks even in shallow water*

#10. I actually like watching all kinds of reality shows. It can be really crappy! But I’ll still find it interesting! Actually! If I’m really bored, I’ll always find something to watch on tv. Honestly, those everything cath my interest?

#11. I like taking quizzes of any kind… especially those that tell me more about myself.. hahaha I find them quite hilarious sometimes… I don’t take them seriously, one shouldn’t really. It’s just for fun, nothing serious about it… maybe use them loosely as a guide… you can’t just follow what a quiz tells you.

#12. I feel I’m getting very bad at making friends. I seem to have lost basic friend making skills. Honestly! I think my people skills suck! I think my ability to speak coherently has deteriorated dramatically too! I must be keeping to myself too much. I should definitely talk more! But sometimes *or rather, most of the time…* I don’t have much to talk about. Sigh…………………………….. *Thinking of #5#

#13. My very very short term goal at this very moment is to study. Yes! I honestly should. *Looks like I’ve ran out of things to type out* It’s my final semester! I should graduate with a “BANG!” at least.

#14. I don’t like being the same with anyone else. *I wonder who does* Like for example, a person having the same birthday as you. It’s nice to know that the person shares the same birthday as you cause it’s quite special cause what are the odds huh? *actually the odds are pretty high, but never mind* But, by sharing the same birthday, it makes you less special. Or at least it makes me less special. Like…

“hey! Jenny’s birthday is tomorrow!”

“Oh!? Medusa’s birthday is tomorrow too!” *Forgive me for the name… no harm intended*

“Oh wait! I think it’s Brian’s birthday too!”

The spotlight was supposed to be on Jenny cause her birthday is tomorrow but it turns out Medusa *yes.. yes… I know… I’m sorry… it’s quite a nice name actually… the story behind it.. hmm… “what story?” and Brian share the same birthday too! So… Jenny has to share the spotlight with both Medusa and Brian now! How special can that be!?

#15. I have a very bad habit! Shaking my leg… It’s not good. It’s not pretty. I blame my brother! Hahahahhaa

#16. I’ve just set another goal for myself… a… mid term goal?

Learn how to drive properly? I can drive. But I don’t have confidence driving. I fear that I might crash into another car, I fear another car might crash into mine, I fear the car will reverse when I’m on a slope, I fear the car’s engine will die on me *releasing the clutch too soon*, I fear the car behind me which seems to be following me for no particular reason… unless… then my paranoia starts kicking in…. or! the car keeps getting closer and I get pressured to go faster… 😦 Darn! Too timid to drive?? Yes, I think so… too afraid of other cars? Yes, I think so too. Too lazy to change gears? Hmmm…. maybe too… Too lazy to press the break? Somewhat? You FAIL as a driver! Go back to Driving school!!!! Ok.

Phew! Looks like I’ve done it! Time to pick 5 people and write a reason for it… hmmm…

1. Shu Wei – Cause I think doing this tag can help one reflect on things?

2. Yeen – Cause your exams are over?

3. Michelle Lee – Ur random enough.

4. Teo Winnie – Cause you can improve your english! *It might take fairly long to do though*

5. Paranoid Bunny – Cause this looks like something that you wouldn’t mind doing… hehehhehehe

P.S. #15, I should blame myself for picking up such a bad habit. What can I do? My brother has this influence on me… the little sibling that looks up to the older sibling kind.

The Cashier

I feel this is pretty blog worthy. My day was kinda mixed, first I missed the ferry to work, so I would definitely be late. It was only 10:22am on my clock *I was only a few seconds late* if only I hadn’t ate an apple, if only I hadn’t stopped for that bloody slow truck, if only… forget it… there are too many if only’s… the most important is “if only I had woke up earlier”.

Anyway, I decided to take the bus from opposite the river instead. With “luck” on my side, the bus at 10:35am couldn’t start… hahahha tough luck… so I took the 10:40am one, it was 10:40am on my clock. Anyway, that’s most of the time related events that happened. Other than that, everything else went pretty normal. I think. Suffice to say, I was definitely late, but earlier than if I caught the next ferry.

Anyway, the blog worthy event today is about the cashier @ JB Hi-Fi, didn’t catch her name… poor. I was there to check out their sale. I impulsively took the “Pushing Daisies Season 1 DVD” and headed to the counter *Yes! I bought it. Rather impulsively. I don’t even know if they have subtitles! Doggonne it! Never mind… I’ll just watch it over and over again… oh! checked it. They do have subtitles… in dutch too.. that would be interesting… hehe*

I brought the dvd to the cashier, she greets me ask me how I’m doing, I say fine, how are you doing… the usual greeting. Then she asks me

Cashier: “Have you seen this? (refering to Pushing Daisies)

Me: “Yeah.” (Nodding)

Cashier: “It’s awesome.”

Me: “Yeah! Have you seen the second season?”

Cashier: “No, my friend hasn’t gave it yet.”

Me: “The second season’s even better.”

Then I forgot what happened. Most likely I paid up and she said have a nice afternoon and I said you too then I rushed for my bus. That kinda made my day. Interesting…

Shall get ready to bathe have dinner and maybe begin studying? hmmm… just maybe.

Heaven Forbid

Remember 2 entries ago where I talked about the words “Step 1” reminded me of The Fray’s “How to Save a Life”, when it was said by my tutor? Well… this time he said “Heaven Forbid” & yes. “Heaven Forbid” came to my mind indeed…

“Heaven forbid you end up alone and you don’t know why…
hold on tight wait for tomorrow you’ll be alright ”

It’s either the lead singer in The Fray sings as if he’s talking or my tutor talks as if he’s singing… hmmm….

on an unrelated note, Coldplay’s live album “LeftRightLeftRightLeft” is Awesome! *with a capital A*

on another unrelated note, The Windupdeads’ “No Denial” was stuck in my head until Secondhand Serenades “Fall for you” crept in and encrypted itself into my mind. Darn! I would have preferred “No Denial”… for reasons unknown…

Oh dear! Time to flick the lights and hit the bed… LOL *some description…*

The 412

This here post is for everyone that takes/ has taken/ will take the 412 bus from Brisbane CBD to St Lucia. Or for anyone else who just wants to know what’s my favourite part of the 412 route.

My favourite part is when it’s late afternoon, probabaly 2-4ish… get on the 412 at the city, it’ll turn left once… then after awhile it’ll turn left again to get on the “highway”, this turning is crucial because it’s my favourite part. The bus would be in the shade of buildings after the first turning then after the 2nd left turn as the bus turns out to join the highway, the bus loses the shade and the Sun just SHINES straight through the bus…

You’ll probably get blinded by the Sun’s sheer brightness but it’s really magnificent.. too me. Shade one minute and direct sunlight the next. But I normally just cover my eyes… I don’t wanna get blind so early in life…. maybe I like it cause it makes you appreciate the shade / the Sun… hmmm….

hmmm.. maybe I should film that part… but it might be a little odd….

anyway, the next time you take the 412 from the city, do enjoy the shade of the buildings and the sheer brightness of the Sun.

P.S. Boy! The violins in Rilo Kiley’s Does He Love You is really superb.

The piemaker makes me wanna eat pie!

Yes! The piemaker makes me wanna eat pie!

What piemaker? What pie?

Ned the piemaker at “The Pie Hole”. Any kinda pie, preferably with fruit in it.

Who’s Ned? Where’s this “Pie Hole?” What about rhubarb pie?

*About here, you would be thinking, what the hell is this darned robbstar talking bout?*

The cast of the Pushing Daisies outside the Pie Hole

I’m talking about “Pushing Daisies”, the tv series where the main character, Ned bakes pies and makes the dead, whoops… wakes the dead. The only catch in waking up the dead is that he can only wake them up for a minute or a living thing would die to take the place of the “dead awaken”. His pie shop is called “The Pie Hole”, looks like a really comfy place to have pie… and get fat maybe.. ahahhahah

That’s Ned  at the front, with his childhood love / First love / his one true love maybe?, “Chuck”, and the other characters that brings colour and humour to the series.

Just when I find a tv series that I would religiously follow, it gets cancelled… 😦 saddening news. My guess is it came out at the wrong time. The first season was interrupted by the writer’s strike and the second season lost quite a lot in the viewership. Maybe that’s why the axe fell faster than it should have. It was a nice series. Witty, lots of alliterations, tongue twisters galore… and… they speak fairly fast, not “Gilmore Girls” fast, but still fairly fast sometimes… and then “Olive”, the lady in pink, breaks out in song occasionally… that is fun! what tv series suddenly has a character starts singing her emotions out?

Anyway… apart from making me want to eat pie, the piemaker has also made me want to buy the DVD for the series… is USD53 too much for 2 seasons of Pushing Daisies? I have no idea… will I watch it over and over again? I have no idea…. I’m just so tempted to get it! Man! I wonder how much it is in Malaysia… hmmm….

anyway… what pie should I eat? I only have Apple Berry Custard Pie. Apple Berry Custard Pie it is.

Step 1…

Whenever I hear my tutor say “Step 1”, The Fray’s “How to Save A Life” gets into my mind… at the start of the song where they go “Step 1….”

oh dear…. hmmm… I don’t think I’ve ever blogged before I attend my classes.
Just woke up approx 1/2 and hour ago, ate my breakfast and the smell of some instant noodles is in the air *not mine… but it smells nice*
The Sun is shining brightly, the air is crisp and cold *actually it’s not really invigorating, but the cold air is nice… at least it’s not warm…*
Rock music playing on winamp, for reasons I don’t know.
Thinking of what I’m going to do during my break later…. hmmm study? read a book? do nothing at all? sleep? Highly unlikely…
Ok… I shall stop the “crap” *crap to some might not be crap to another* and say “Cheerios!”
Have a nice day today and may you be succesful in all your endeavours today too.

Buddha’s Birthday @ Wesak Day

hmm…. but Wesak Day isn’t here yet… nvm that, I guess Brisbanites celebrate it earlier! Anyway, time for pictures and less “talk”.

Oh… before I begin, I must say….

Nudie Crushie called Karma.

Nice packaging, cute little human like mascot, looks really good to drink and Yes. Yes. Yes. It’s the best darn juice EVER! No seriously. It is! No wonder it’s expensive… hmmm….

Anyway.. get back to the main topic.

A storm is coming... will it be a wash out?

The lanterns at Southbank

The lanterns were deliberately put up for Wesak Day, they didn’t even hang them out during CNY, odd odd… it felt more like Chinese New Year on Wesak Day. hehehe…

There were many stalls selling erm… chinese food? Asian food I would say. Carrot cake… mmm… Bachang… mmm… not exactly mmm… in Malaysian standards but it would do for now. Better than nothing mate…

The Sun goes down on the lanterns, and me.... =(

After eating, eating and more eating.. oh yes… and taking pictures, pictures & more pictures, it was 7 ish and the fireworks are about to start.

Double fireworks... hmmm maybe quadraple.

Yes Australians like fireworks, or could it be the Asians that like it and they just put it up for us… hmmm… highly unlikely… They have fireworks on Christmas, New Year’s Eve, Riverfest, Buddha’s Birthday, Australia Day.. and many more which I don’t recall… or could it be all?

Up, up and away we go...

Looks like stars in the galaxy, if you ask me.

I like that green and orange one at the bottom, looks very “star” like…. I think I’m getting better at capturing a picture of the fireworks, timing wise. I just use the “fireworks” so it’s nothing great, it’s all in timing I think.. hahahha.. Ok time to flee…. Cheerios peeps!

By golly! The semester is ending!

Oh dear! I won’t be a student in weeks… =( I was studying half way… *ok.. maybe trying to study* and then BHAM! It occured to me… I only have 4 weeks or less of lectures left! =( this is not good… 😦

I still want to be a student!

I don’t want to face reality.

I don’t want to find a job and be working for the next 30+ years of the rest of my life not realising what life really is.

I wanna travel the world.

I don’t want a dead end job.

What if I can’t find a job in this current economic situation, which isn’t looking very good with the “swine” flu spreading?

What if I get to find a job, but I hate it?

What if I quit that much hated job and can’t figure out what I want to be?

What if I never find out what I want to be?

What if I get stuck in a rut and never get out of it?

What if I never get to figure out the purpose of my life, or the purpose of mankind in general?

The Earth is dying as we speak.

*What exactly was the topic of the day again? Oh yeah.*

The semester is ending! Have I accomplished anything?

What was I set out to do here anyway. I have come to realise that I didn’t quite set a target for the purpose of me studying here… I should have thought about it real hard. It just felt like a really good experience. It is a good experience, but I still feel like my old self, I don’t feel like I have grown or have I? There isn’t really a gauge for things like this now is there? Here, I get much more independence, I have to make good / bad decisions on my own, get to travel where ever and whenever I want, have to take care of myself and hopefully there are people looking out for you.

What about my studies? The main thing that I was set out to do?

It isn’t as smooth as should be. I’m just putting the same effort I have been when I was back in Malaysia, heck maybe even more, but it doesn’t seem reflect on my studies. Maybe cause when I’m supposed to study I start to think about things like this and have that sudden urge to blog and that darn internet and laptop is so darn accessible!

What about friends?

Well… let’s see…. I’ve kinda kept myself to Malaysian friends… then again, I don’t really have foreign friends, it ain’t that easy… maybe a handful… but Malaysian friends are always there.. and again so darn accessible! hahaha… just kiddin… I guess there are pros and cons to it. One, you’re in a foreign land, you should mix around with people of different nationalities, if you wanted to make Malaysian friend’s stay in Malaysia! Secondly, with Malaysian friends, they understand what you’re going through cause u’re in the same situation. Others might not understand, and they might think ur english is horrible.

What about life as a whole?

I think I talked about it under the first question. *Hey! How did I end up here? Forget about the main topic, this sounds more interesting!* My life like I said, feels the same, I get to buy what ever I want, eat whatever junk I want, have all the chocolate to myself, though sharing would be so much better, trying out different things, trying things that I would not have tried *did I? hmmm…. example? hmmm… rollercoaster?” I got to go hiking and visit beaches and man! Australia has so many beaches! Tried all kinds of different food! Seen so many sights, touched a kangaroo & koala. Heck! I even fed a kangaroo and I’m terrified of animals! So it’s good so far, just that by being here, I gotta buy my own groceries, which makes me feel like an auntie. Then again since I’m buying it myself, I get to eat whatever I want… hyuk hyuk hyuk….

What about Brisbane itself?

Frankly, I’ll miss this place when I go back. From the citycat, to the punctual buses, to my classes, to picturesque UQ, to the food, to the markets, to the lazing at home and doing nothing, to having gatherings for no particular reason, to the easy availability of pork to it’s peace and safety.

It’s a nice place, it’s not a city kinda city, but I’m not a city kind of person. Maybe cause I’ve been staying here so I prefer here to Sydney/ Melbourne though each has it’s pros and cons. Brisbane is more country like, but I like the fact that it’s more nature-ish. Plenty of places for you to hike, climb, do stuff outdoors, camp & fishing? Plenty of beaches to hang out at… though they aren’t that near. It can be pretty dull at times, but I’m a rather dull person who spends so much time at the laptop I wonder why I off it sometimes.. hahahahhaha….

Brisbane has it’s own charm, it ain’t a city like how Sydney is, it ain’t a happening place like Melbourne, but it’s a quiet and peaceful place which suits me just fine. The interesting stuff is fairly easily accessible. *I wonder how many times I used accessible in this entry, all because of that darn assessable income!*

Whoops! looks like I outdid myself by not getting back into topic and talking bout a whole different topic all together!

I’ve began to take pictures of things that are a huge part of my life here but cannot be found in Malaysia. I might take pictures of my everyday life, to document what I do everyday, however mundane. My time in Australia is running out, though there are still a couple of months, but they can’t be done in a day. It takes time.

Alright! I’m starting to ge t a little emo-ish, so I better get back to studying and erm… yeah! study it is!