Encounter of a Kind

I was getting ready to leave the house. With everything in hand, and before I opened the door, I paused for a few seconds, as I always do, to make sure that I had my essentials: purse, key, phone. Okay, set, ready... open door.

I opened the door and was greeted by the sight of an Asian girl waiting in front of my unit.

We stared at each other for what seemed like an extremely long second.


As it turns out, she's a neighbour, one door away, at the other end of the hall. She heard me practicing on the piano, and actually came out and sat in the hallway to listen.

She sat in the hallway! To listen to me?!

I was rather flabbergasted. I didn't quite know how to respond.

Her name is Junna and she's from Japan. Junna arrived in Melbourne last April and is here until the end of July only, for the purpose of studying English these few months.

And if my neighbours from all the way down the hall can hear the piano, does that mean the entire floor can hear me banging away at the piano?? I have not received any complaints from anyone, so I suppose that's a good thing!

But ohmygoodness. Feeling quite embarrassed and still feeling a little flustered, I told Junna that she can just knock on the door next time and come in and listen to me if she wanted. (Having an audience might be good practice for me too!)

It is really quite a bizarre thing that happened. What's more, there was at least a full ten minutes where I stopped playing to get all my things ready to leave the house. She could not have possibly waited for me!!

I might see more of her. In any case, it's always great to meet someone staying on the same floor. I hardly know my neighbours, so even if she's a temporary resident, it's nice to know that my piano-playing can connect me with strangers. Haha.

Last!

I'm going to leave this post up for a few days. I've decided to change the URL, and just start from there. It's too much if I just leave this blog (and I don't even want to entertain the thought of deleting it!), so I think a new template and a new URL would be good enough.

Um.

I should be on MSN for the next week or so, if you want to know my new URL, just ask or email me.

nuttyceleryrabbitsticksfudge will cease to exist after a few days.

Thank you for your support, everyone!




Replies to tags:

Sharon: I'm so glad you went to watch! I know, I loved the musical, it's amazing, and how could I resist not getting the poster? Lol. I know how you feel about wanting to buy all the merchandise! I'm going for Wicked too! Does that mean you're coming down to Melbourne?!

Tee: Thanks =)

Last (?)

I know I'm long overdued for an update.

Honestly speaking, I don't know why I bother maintaining this blog anymore, if not for the sake of just updating and posting about some general event or random topics. I think the main reason why Jerry and I began this blog together was really for the intention of keeping you all updated and informed on what's going on in our lives, etc. etc. And I've come to the realization that I haven't really been doing that. I mean, heck, how many of you know what's happening with me right now?

I haven't talked to Jerry in a long time now, and I have not seen him in more than 2 years. It's easy to say, "Yes, an update is coming along soon", but I think blogging has to stem from some sort of interest too, I suppose. And I guess maybe it's just not his sort of thing? I don't know.

I'm finding that I'm starting to lose that interest too. The nature of my posts have changed over the past two years too, and it's just become more and more vague and general in recent times - okay, frankly speaking, it's just boring. Even I don't feel like reading the last few posts I've written! I censure myself so much that I'm left with nothing to share about, except for really... well, "general" events happening. I was probably more... I don't know, funny and "entertaining" in the early stages of this blog? And probably less reserved, too.

And the thing is, there are things going on in my life. There are issues I'm going through, there are so many things I'm excited for, fearful of - ups and downs, all of them. Oh, I don't know. I guess I just really need to stop censuring myself so much on this blog. But as I mentioned in one post ages ago, there is only so much you can say on a public blog.

If I were to really just let loose and stop holding back, the torrents of words that will be released would probably surprise some of you.

So I don't know... maybe it's time I just leave this blog as it is. As in, this is it - this will be my "swansong". I don't exactly know where I'm going with this blog anymore - I used to email, and I was probably a lot more open in those too..

But at the same time, one part of me is not quite ready to hang up the boots yet - one option is that I'm considering changing the URL - all these past posts will still be here, but I'll probably change the way I blog. (And I will let you know the new URL if you ask, I suppose.) And then I won't hold back so much.

I love writing. I really do. And that's probably why I'm not ready to "kill" this blog.

So... check back in a week's time. If I've locked this blog, then.. that means "the end", I suppose (if that does happen, it doesn't mean I won't ever blog again, though). If the URL has become non-existent, then I've probably decided to change the URL, and will blog more openly in that new environment.

I'm of the opinion that public blogs really thrive because of the readers - knowing that someone's reading does give you that inspiration to go on sometimes. So in the meantime, thank you for still reading this blog, despite how stagnant it's become.

Interval

As expected, the first practice duet session went hilariously bad, but it was great hearing all four hands come together. We managed to muddle through almost the entire first movement. It sounded pretty good for the first time, I'll have to say; we're meeting up for another practice next week.

Easter break is finally here! Time flies - three weeks of uni over, and now we're on a 10-day break before the "real" work starts coming in.

I'll be away for Easter camp from Friday to Monday; it's gonna be awesome and expect God to work in amazing ways!

It's been a crazy week, and I'm glad for the break. Will update again when I get back.

Another "everything" post.

=/

Why is it that when I finally sit down in front of my laptop, my fingers on the keyboard, with all the good intentions of blogging, that my mind becomes an instant blank the moment I see the empty space in front of me?

Something interesting did happen over the weekend - haha, but that's for another time. Maybe if you remember and ask me about it, I'll tell you about it. Lol.

Coming to yet another end of a week - I now officially have one class on Friday (which was initially free, sigh), after I changed my Ensemble class. The good thing is that I won't have to reach home at 7 pm after class on Wednesday now.

Thinking about whether I should do the LRSM..

Piano duets this semester - exciting! Finally met up with the girl I'm partnering with; we'll be playing Mozart's Symphony No. 40 for 4 hands. We'll be trying it together on Tuesday morning. (It'll probably sound hilariously bad.)

I need to start doing my readings, make notes, and begin on serious preparation for my 50% politics essay. (I know, it's only week 2, but I have absolutely no intentions of leaving everything to the end of the semester and swot vac, which is our one-week study break, to cram everything and, well, everything. Frankly, that would just be too much for even an old-time procrastinator like me.)

It's my sister's birthday today - happy 17th! (Doesn't 17 seem ages ago for the rest of us reading this?) Can you believe I wrote the birthday card about a week ago, and it's just been lying there waiting for me to mail it? (Sorry, Karen, I will post it tomorrow. Haha. And you never told me that the cat was pregnant?! And now she's given birth on your birthday?! Doesn't that mean she was already pregnant when I left Brunei?! And isn't she still a kitten?!!)

I had the oddest dream last night - weirdly enough, there were meat pies in my dream. I was very hesitant about eating them - an after-effect of watching Sweeney Todd, probably; for some reason in my dream, I really thought that it was human meat, and refused to eat the pies. *Shudders* And I dreamt I had a really awesome pet dog, and my old cat, Chilli, turned up in the dream, too. They didn't get along. (Which is quite odd in retrospect, because the cats and dogs back home usually get along really well.)

Yes, I get bizarre dreams often.

And for a post which started out with me having blogger's block, it seems like I have a whole load of material suddenly.

X_X

Everything between then and now.

The new semester of another new school year has begun; third day, and it's already a whirlwind of classes, lectures, and activities.

Third year, and I feel "old". To think that I was one of these first-years a couple of years ago.


Hillary won in Ohio and Texas (!) - amazing victory, especially after her dissenters were already writing her off after a string of defeats over the past week. But despite her victories, she still has a tough journey ahead of her. Obama is still leading in delegates, and the Democrats are still nowhere near to actually having a clear nominee. On the other hand, the Republicans have chosen, and Huckabee has bowed out of the race and given McCain his endorsement after yesterday's Super Tuesday II.

And yes, I've actually been following the US elections since late last year - it's actually quite interesting, but at the same time, confusing. The US political system is crazily complicated.

I've decided to take up a second major after re-evaluating my degree - have got just enough points left for that second major. Have no idea how it'll turn out, but I'd probably still focus more on my intended major anyway.

Politics is completely new waters for me. I've tested the waters, and it's exciting and daunting, to actually learn something "new", and that feeling of eagerness is something which I haven't felt in a while now. Wading into it, and trying not to feel overwhelmed by the currents. I chose American Politics and Society for this semester, and especially with the current events, I figured that this subject would make for a very interesting study.

The extremely thick coursepack with a gazillion articles and readings, which is
insanely expensive for a bunch of papers thrown together and merely binded.
Oh, the trees.

I've decided to go for the Guys and Dolls musical after all, after managing to sweep up several people along with my expensive taste in arts and entertainment =P.

I finally got around to watching Sweeney Todd on Tuesday night with Caleb (half-priced Tuesday tickets!) and OHMYGOSH. At the end of it, I just sat in my seat, blown away and still lost in that world which Tim Burton has re-created and adapted from the musical. He's an amazing director. Now if I can have the opportunity to watch the musical itself, which is apparently much darker and much more mind-blowing. (I would so love to get a Sweeney Todd poster.)

The throat-slitting montage of customer after customer was a bit on the gruesome side for me - I was covering my face for those scenes; I can't really stomach these kind of scenes. Lol! But wow - Stephen Sondheim's music is incredible. (Incidentally, he also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story the musical.) I need to get my hands on the soundtrack! I especially loved the song between Mrs. Lovett and Mr. T about the different types of pies they can make. Morbid, but wow! Haha. My other favourite song is the one about pretty women between Todd and Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, who surprised me with his singing; in case you didn't know, he plays the role of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films).


The trailers shown before the film began featured Vantage Point - Lydia told me that it's a really good movie, and we'll probably go watch it next week once it comes out. But the trailer that REALLY took me by surprise was - "SHUTTER". Yes, the American version. Hahaha. So weird! It's like - "spirit photography, it's real, yadayada". I wonder how successful this remake will be. Asian horror movies normally incorporate a lot of cultural references, and most of those will probably be lost in translation in the remake. I remember watching the original Thai version in the cinema. Yes, with my hands covering my eyes half the time. =P The ending completely creeped me out, with that twist, and it took me about a week to recover. I enjoy horror movies, and the thrill and chills that it gives, but it's the aftermath which I dread. Horror movies aren't too healthy spiritually too. Lol.

This post is all over the place. I'm quite excited for this semester actually. I'm determined to make the most out of this year, especially after a horrible second year.

Till the next post; adieu!

Gaah.

I am feeling super sien-ed. So not in the mood to study. Sigh. Even looking at that piece of paper with the funny lines and squiggly things on it makes me want to groan and just climb into bed and bury myself under the covers.

School starts on Monday. My exam's on Monday.

Summer flew. Literally. Today is the coldest day yet since I came back - Autumn's certainly not delaying her arrival.

The Degraves household is complete again! Lydia came back yesterday, and the four of us, together with Dawn, went for the final night market of the summer at Victoria Market. Today we re-arranged the living room, to give it a different sort of feel, after a year of the same layout. I'd like to rearrange my bedroom as well, but I can't see how.

I realize I've never posted up pictures of the apartment nor my bedroom. An idea for a future post, I suppose, especially if I don't know what to blog about. (Another realization: I'm still very much wary about blogging personal things, hence I try to keep most of my posts general and non-specific.)

Hmm.

This blog needs something newwww. Does ANYONE want to co-blog with me? SERIOUSLY.

Musicals, operas, concerts!

Listening to the Phantom of the Opera original London cast recording never fails to move me. I am brought back to the theatre once again; the feeling of sitting there at Princess Theatre and watching the story unfold before my eyes, and the beautiful, soaring music soar through the air - it's magical. If there's a next time, I'd definitely go again.

I bought the poster last year when we went to watch. Beside it (in the picture) is the Josh Groban poster I bought when I went for his concert last October - which was really good, too! At the end of it, I managed to find the back door and got his autograph!! (Along with other fans who managed to find the stage door as well Haha.) A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, probably. Anyway it was so cool to have been this close to him.

Wicked is opening at Regent Theatre in Melbourne this year, and there's no way I'm missing that! Guys and Dolls is going to open soon at Princess Theatre as well, but I've yet to decide if I want to go for it, too. Both are critically acclaimed and award-winning musicals. There's too many things happening! A few notable operas are being performed by Opera Australia this year as well - Bizet's Carmen, and Puccini's Madama Butterfly. I want to go for everything! I need MONEY.

Whyyyy do I love the theatre and arts?? And why are all my hobbies and interests such high-maintenance ones anyway! Books and CDs, rather than clothes and accessories, suck my bank account dry instead. I need to ... control. But these things aren't there forever. You'd never know when you get another chance to watch that particular musical in the theatre or the opera being staged, or that particular artist hold a concert.

Sighhh...!

And in a blink of an eye...

Where did all the days go...?

Of everything and everything

You can't miss that which you never had or experienced. But you can yearn for it.


When rules are made to broken. We were studying the structure of fugues in class today, and I have an excellent lecturer who does such a good job of explaining, that what may appear difficult will made you go, "Ohhhh" with understanding in an instant. And once we got pass the general overview of fugues, he went on to mention all these "exceptions" where the rules of fugue writing may not necessarily apply. And that got me thinking. Aesthetics may take a precedence over strict counterpoint writing sometimes; it's up to you to discern whether it should be this or that way. But that line, that boundary laid down by those rules... sometimes, breaking the rule does not have to sound as bad. What if it's necessary.


It's funny how a single piece of information can instantly change your mood in less than a second. To be feeling contented and at peace one second, and the next you are upset and irrationally angry.


Hopes and dreams which can daunt you or urge you ahead. What may seem impossible does not have to be impossible.


If I had a penny for every regret professed on this earth, I'd probably be a millionaire many times over.


The desire to be heard and to simply speak out, but pride and dignity gets in the way and you remain in the silence of your world.


Faces on the street you pass. Sometimes I wonder about the person behind you, who is talking on your cell; you, who looks so tired; you, busy and caught up in your own world. We're all passing faces in a sea of egocentric individuals.


When you get past a certain point, and you look back and am amazed at how far you have come. Not in terms of achievement, but in the person. The "me" now and then, two vastly different people, characters which may be hard to reconcile.






And of course I know what day it is today. Happy Valentine's Day to all out there! It just feels like any other day to me; apart from the occasional adverts and red decorations on businesses cashing in on one of the most lucrative days of the year. Call me blur (okay, fine, I am blur), but the realization that almost all the coursemates I hang out with are attached, was one which dawned upon me and a fellow unattached friend a few weeks back. (And she pointed it out first, btw. I'm not desperate or searching at all, thank you very much. Lol.)

After class today, Alamby gave out beautifully wrapped small packages of chocolate to everyone. That was really sweet of her; she said that her mom helped her the night before. Lol. She had a bagful of chocolates with her.

There you go, my only valentine ;p (she's in the 'attached' crowd, fyi).


Anyway a few friends have planned (yet another) game night tonight - the so-called "Lonely Hearts" Club. Hahaha. I've been introduced to all these new games in the past year or so, and they're all awesome, award-winning games. Try out Super Munchkin if you can get your hands on the game - a wicked, scheming game which encourages cheating, hehe. Extremely fun.

Articulate, Taboo, Pictionary - classic games, still fun, but can feel quite old after awhile. Bang! is a fun diversion should one feel the need to rest the intellect. For serious scheming, Citadels will not disappoint. Settlers is another one I tried out last year, requires a lot of thinking as well, but haven't played it enough to get a real feel of it. Another game along the lines of Citadels and Settlers (city-building and stuff) is the cute Carcassone, which is very fun as well. I hope we get to try out Ticket to Ride later on - another interesting game which we haven't tried out yet, but has been lying around.


(Well, this is a change - I think I had a post where I was raving about RPG games about two years back. Now I'm this seemingly geeky persona who enjoys "intellectual" games. =P)

Welcoming the Year of the Rat

Happy Chinese New Year!


CNY reunion dinner was held at Sun Sun's place with a group of friends from OCF, so it was a really great night. Come to think of it, this is my second time away from home for CNY... the first time was when I first went over to Perth. My homestay parents had plans for the night (no, I obviously wasn't invited), and I was looking into spending a lonely night by myself, if it weren't for church friends who called me and asked if I wanted to go over to their place for dinner. In retrospect, it's quite miserable to imagine that I would have been all alone on what is considered an important tradition, especially for us Chinese... So this year, it was nice to spend CNY reunion dinner with friends, who really are our family overseas..

It was a potluck dinner, and the food was marvelous (undoubtedly, hehe). After a hearty and satisfying dinner, we played Articulate (which my team won, yay!) and then a round of Bang! which took quite awhile for the uninitiated to learn, but a really entertaining game once you get the hang of it. Sun Sun decorated her apartment with a bit of CNY decorations, which looked really nice, and she even bought one of those CNY karaoke DVDs, so we had to 'endure' the whole "dong dong qiang which I came back early to escape" (in Kingsley's words), the atmosphere certainly felt quite CNY-ish. Lol. One thing I do miss, though, was tossing the yu sheng, which was something my siblings and I use to laugh and enjoy over, as we try to outdo each other in seeing who tossed the highest.

The family (with the exception of Charles and I) went back to Ipoh a few days ago... my mom called me from my grandfather's place Wednesday night, after I reached home, and it was great just talking to my mom, but after I hung up, a yearning for home and just hearing her voice made me wish that I was with them... The parents are staying with my grandfather, and the younger two siblings decided to stay at my uncle's place... I wasn't too surprised to hear that. Haha. My mom told me that my grandfather (whom we call Ye Ye in the Cantonese dialect) can't walk anymore, since his legs are quite weak now... it's been a few years now since I've seen my relatives back in Ipoh. Xiao Ku (my father's youngest sister) visits Ye Ye three times a day to deliver meals... come to think of it, I haven't gone back to Ipoh since my grandmother's funeral..

But anyway, I'm thinking too much again. It's certainly different spending CNY away from home.. Being in a foreign land and all, the festivities are really different. It's not as 'in-your-face' (to put it blatantly) like back home, where a trip out will see you being blasted with noisy CNY music and red decorations everywhere you go. In fact, I'd say that if you weren't aware of it, then you wouldn't know at all.

It's a rather cold week, weather-wise. Not that I'm complaining. Summer's been surprisingly pleasant.



It's already the second month into the new year. How fast time is flying. And this year will already be my third year in uni. And I still have absolutely no freakin' idea about what I want to do after graduation. It should be cause for alarm. But I don't want to think about it yet. I've still got two years to go anyway. This five-year course may seem long, but in a way, I'm almost glad, because it means I don't have to worry... yet. It's scary, too, because if I was doing a straight degree, then I would have been graduating this year. (Okay, that IS scary.)



I really hope you all have a great CNY wherever you are! Miss you guys.

Hmm.

I was organizing my music on iTunes (all part of the process of settling into my Mac), and was doing Queen songs, when I realized that all the Queen songs that I had happened to be composed solely by Freddie Mercury himself.

O_O

I wouldn't call myself a Freddie Mercury fan, although I do greatly admire his talent. But anyway, it felt slightly jarring that I happen to like Mercury-composed Queen songs.

Of picnics and film sets.

The filming right outside is really a first for me. I've never seen a real film set before, nor a live shooting of one, so it's quite interesting. Even as I'm typing this now, I can hear the director's voice (at least, I assume it's the director) shouting, "Action!" over the boomspeaker. Haha. It's interesting to see Flinders St. Station made up to look like 1940s Melbourne.

Went for picnic with Andrea, Adryll, Kingsley and Ian at the Royal Botanic Gardens late this afternoon. Today's weather was absolutely beautiful; 28 degrees, sunny, but not hot. The wind felt refreshingly cool in the sun. Summer has been surprisingly pleasant so far, even though I was told to expect raging heat.

Pictures!

Royal Botanic Gardens, picnic by the lake.


Blueberry cake I baked


A round of Citadels


The set!


The black sheets set up along Flinders Street, blocking access to the set

Couldn't get a clear picture... gaaah blame it on lighting, and I hate using flash if possible... The soldiers are near the tram. Apparently they're using the old, classic Melbourne trams. Looked really cool, with all the vintage cars on the set as well, and the non-soldier actors and actresses dressed up in 1940s fashion.


Another blurred picture. Sien.

Most of my shots came out in a quite 'cannot-make-it' status. But anyway this person here took really good pictures of the set. I should have gone in the morning to take pictures, probably. Lol. While I stood there in the crowd watching, they re-did the same scene three times. Can't be easy to shoot a movie, especially with the big crowds of nosy people clambering to get a good vantage point. (Yes, including yours truly.) The security had to repeatedly tell the crowd, "No flash, please!" when they were about to shoot a scene.

They're packing up tomorrow morning, I think. Now to wait for the series to air next year to catch those scenes I saw this evening. Haha.

A few hundred metres from fame. Lol.

It's funny how pain works - it passes, and you can't seem to recollect that agony you went through; it all seems like a hazy phase. And thinking about pain brought to mind the incident with the ceiling fan. When I think back to it, I couldn't recall any pain, just a film of sped-up memories and the rush to the hospital. But anyway, I woke up today feeling sort of better, although I decided to just have porridge for the unwell stomach. For once, I don't feel like eating anything much... sigh.



Exciting (or not) news: Flinders Street is closed from Russell to Queen Streets, from 10 p.m. tonight until 9 a.m. on Sunday for the filming of Steven Spielberg's The Pacific, which is the sequel to Band of Brothers. The exciting part is that I stay right outside Flinders Street. Lol.

It's quite a major thing for the street to be cordoned off though - Flinders Street is quite a busy one, which will probably be quite an inconvenience to many motorists and pedestrians. And the trams, too. The signs telling people of the closure have been up for a few days now, but I'm sure the general public would know why. I expect many people to probably crowd around the area to catch sight of some of the action going on. And oh no. I hope that it won't be too noisy for the next two days, seeing that it's a war-related drama...

According to this site, people hoping to get a close look at Tom Hanks or Steven Spielberg will be sorely disappointed, as they are not in Australia at the moment. Lol. Well, guess you can't have everything. =P


UPDATE: Okayyy, I just heard REALLY LOUD screaming outside. It's either a bunch of crazy drunk girls, or it's related to the filming. -___-

Long day.

Dammmit, I had the worse stomachache ever today. The walk home was the longest 15 minutes I have ever known. I normally enjoy walking home, but the six streets from Little Lonsdale Street to Flinders Lane seemed a million streets to me tonight. When I got to Bourke Street (halfway through), I was screaming in my head and wondering how much more of the pain I could take, and just praying that I don't faint or something. By the time I reached home, I just wanted to collapse and rest. Blame it on gastric. I suffer from gastric attacks quite often, but I hadn't had it in a while now, so all the way home I was just trying to breath properly, walk properly, trying to make it home without collapsing in the middle of the street or something.

And I thought I ate properly today. I hope never to go through that pain again. After classes in the morning, I had Korean food for lunch with my coursemates, chocolate and Danish pancakes for dessert after; met up with a few friends for KTV, and then finally a lovely Chinese dinner with them after a great session of singing. So where the heck did I miss a meal?! I had a sandwich (my 'breakfast') in the break between classes this morning, so I obviously was not depriving myself of food. Damn you, gastric!!!

I need to do my assignment, but I think I'll just sleep early tonight and wake up early tomorrow to do it and hand it in. After my hot shower and just drinking plain hot water to relieve the stomach (I don't think the stomach can endure any more food or liquids-other-than-water), I'm exhausted from the Battle of the Walk Home. The pain only became really bad towards the end of dinner. I'm almost amazed that I actually made it home in the state I was in. And that's not even an exaggeration or a hyperbolic statement.

The unfortunate incidents in the life of a cat ^^

Just a little something about the cat. And something to update this blog.

I like this photo. Shaun the Sheep was on TV, and it's not the first time that the cat watches the television. I've noticed her on a few occasions where she really watches the TV. It's very amusing. But on this occasion, she was apparently so intrigued by the sheep moving around that she just had to "investigate".

I was told by my sister a few days ago that the cat got locked in the Audi for the entire night. I couldn't stop laughing at that. Especially since this is the second time, and both times were my mom's "fault". Haha.

The first time was when my mom went to the bathroom, and she inadvertently closed the door on the cat, so that was an entire afternoon. I kept hearing her meowing throughout the afternoon, but I had no idea where she was, and thought she was just being... you know, cats meow, so it's just her. Then my maid came into my room somewhere between 5 and 6 p.m., and asked me if I've seen the cat.

I told her no, but I've heard her meowing for the whole afternoon now... She told me that she's searched the compound of the house, everywhere, and the cat was nowhere to be found. She left my room to search the other rooms, and I listened carefully. The meows sounded like it was coming from the balcony somewhere near my brother's room, so I went into his room and was about to open the balcony door when I noticed the shut toilet door...


...found the poor cat standing behind the door when I opened it, still meowing. She looked at me for a second, and RAN out. Ungrateful cat! Haha. I could not stop laughing. Oh my gosh. And later that night, it turned out that my mom was the one who had used the toilet, and didn't realize that the cat had gotten in somehow. Poor, poor kitty! LOL.

The same thing happened with the car - I think she must have been getting out groceries and stuff from the Audi, when the cat must have got into the car, and my mom, of course, closed the doors without realizing anything was amiss. She only discovered it the next morning, probably when she wanted to drive the car. My sister told me that my mom spent the afternoon cleaning the car - nothing major, just cat fur everywhere.

Stupid cat. Lol. But I miss her and home. Oh well.



On other matters, I am LOVING my MacBook. It's about a week now. It has all these really cool functions. I like the Widgets, and simply the flexibility of the entire interface - it's so easy to switch between open applications simply by moving the cursor - a feature called Expose. Apparently this is now featured in Windows Vista, and it's called Windows Flip. Haha, whatever. =P And the two-finger scrolling on my MacBook touchpad is extremely convenient too. There are a lot of other cool things, and I'm enjoying discovering and learning them.

I'm still making the slow transition from my old laptop to the Mac, but there's a definite difference between using both the Windows and Mac OS now... Before making this switch, I've only used Mac occasionally, especially since the uni computers are mostly Macs, which felt daunting and odd before. But now that I'm learning my way around the Mac interface, I'm starting to think that Windows is just so... rigid. I don't really know how to describe it, but yes, I am DEFINITELY enjoying using the Mac.

Apple, you've got me sold. Hahaha.

I did it.

Everyone, meet my MacBook.

Yes, I've decided to take the plunge and get a MacBook, after much consideration. To be honest, I've been thinking about switching over for a few months now, ever since my laptop crashed on me. Well, guess what - it crashed on me again a few days ago, and that was it. I think it's something to do with the hard disk, but frankly, I've had enough of Acer and Windows' infamous Blue Screen of Death. I swear, I've seen it so many times that I just shake my head and sigh when it comes up. The old laptop still works, but it's still quite whacked, and will crash without warning. And it's been three years anyway, so I figured that I might as well get a new laptop.

Ta-da.

I almost couldn't believe the greeting in the manual. Haha. Seriously, though, I really do want to believe that! =P

I asked Adryll who's a Mac-user to help me out when I went to buy it, so he did a lot by explaining while we browsed in the store. That did help immensely, but I was actually still quite hesitant right up to the point where I was already at the counter, watching the salesperson making the transaction. My brain was going, "Oh my gosh, are you sure you're ready to make the switch? Are you sure you want a Mac? Are you sure you don't want to just stick to good ol' Windows?"

My new, white MacBook! It's all still so foreign to me.

After buying the MacBook, I spent the entire afternoon with Adryll explaining the basics and information that I needed to know. It was information overload, especially after classes in the morning, and by the end of the day, I was exhausted.

It's going to take me a few weeks to get the hang of this. I'm typing out this blog entry on the Mac, and even just this makes me realize the fact that I still need some time to learn where everything is. It's so tempting to go back to Windows, where everything is so familiar, especially after years and years of using the Windows interface.

I should be more excited, I think, but until I adapt myself to the Mac interface, I doubt I'll feel very happy yet. Lol.

The One with the Sale

Today is a freakin' 41 degrees blistering Celsius. I was dying in the heat, while walking back home.

It feels slightly jarring to come home to a dark, empty apartment, especially after living with three other housemates last year; they should be back some time in February, but until then, I'll be by myself. I'm getting used to the solitude - it's quite nice, actually.

While walking home today, I cut through Melbourne Central and the shopping malls in between all the streets - firstly, it saves journey time, and secondly - AIRCONDITIONING. I have NEVER been happier for the invention of the air-conditioner.

AND - I passed by Virgin CD store along the way, with all these huge SALE posters, and decided to check out what cheap movies they might have on sale, so I won't be entirely bored at home - and guess how much Friends DVD were going for.



$19 per season.


Yes, NINETEEN BUCKS! I have never seen it sold so cheaply before! What a bargain!!!

Of course, I couldn't resist, bought season 7, and upon reaching home, promptly switched on the TV and watched episode after episode while eating lunch.


I think I might return to the store again to buy more seasons. It's so tempting to buy all 10 seasons. At $19 per season, what's more, original DVD sets, it is so so so tempting.


I hope the sale doesn't end soon! (Oh my gosh, I sound so - fan-girly. I'm starting to creep myself out. Haha.)


It's supposed to be 40 degrees tomorrow. My coursemate asked me to a KTV session, so I'm looking forward to that and avoiding the heat.

I miss home and driving! =(

Sigh.

Back in Melbourne.

two-oh-oh-eight.

2007 seemed to have just simply flew by. I don't really want to do a lengthy post about the past year or a typical 'reflections on the year gone by' sort of thing. That year's over, and - well, frankly, let bygones be bygones.


We've all changed. From those carefree days back in SAS, would any of us have expected us to be where we are now? Maybe some of us expected it. Or perhaps some of us surprised at the magnitude of the change. But in spite of everything that's happened for each of us, wherever we are, I really do hope that for most of us, the friendships will still remain. Like what Juan said in her most recent post, I'm not exactly great at keeping in touch either. Most of us, probably. But that won't keep us from trying, right? At the risk of sounding nauseatingly mushy, I will stop before I ramble on anymore.

So.

Here's to another year ahead of us - a fresh start; new memories to be made and laughed and talked about when we're old with walking sticks; moments of happiness and great fun; turning to friends when we just need a shoulder to cry on; exams and stressing over assignments (procrastination); last-minute cramming (we never learn, do we? Lol); relationships, family, friends; life.


Here's to 2008, everyone.