another trivial snapshot from me.

this picture is very loongg overdue. taken back then on december, 2005.
i was on my way to highpoint at elizabeth st, city.

Enjoy your weekend guys :)

:: 'End Of Semester' Steamboat Dinner

there we were, 6 of us, closest fellows from business system, monash university when I held a steamboat dinner at my apartment. including adrian, umar, irv, arbi, miki and myself. so, i came up with the idea of steamboat dinner since this might be the last chance for all of us could come up together.

so, about the foods. i actually had prepared for some ordinary steamboat thingy such as enoki mushroom, some vegies, tofu, fishball in any kind of shapes, and chicken meat. i also asked the adrian-umar-arbi to bring some drinks and miki, a japanese friend voluntarily made us some nice sushi. but apparently, irv brought so many seafood things. we ended up having a seafood steamboat. it was great and we really had a wonderful time. good foods, bizzare seafoods, fatty tiramisu all together have made that night was simply unforgetable :)

i had gone through the worst of anything that night. imagine this, your friend came to your house to have a dinner then he unexpectedly brought a crab, which he himself even thought it was dead, but it wasn't! so, at the first hour of dinner we did brainstorming of the right way to kill the crab, and at the end cook it. anyway, finally someone came up with the idea of how to kill the crab. then we did what he said accordingly; boil very very hot water and pour it to the crab! geezz...that was sooo violance. haha. anyway, to make this posting quick, i'm gonna tell you what was happened next in sequence. after we're sure that the crab was already dead, we decided to get away from chances of that crab would bite us or do something nasty. so, i stabbed it! yes...me! *pheewww*

then, we steamed the crab at separate pan..and voila...it turned out to be good. but wait, another was still coming. this huge squid almost made me faint. it came with everything God has ever created for a squid. i mean all the eight arms and the tentacles...oh. not to mention the ink. and the worst was i had to cut it all myself even though i have no experience at all about it. but seriously, irv really brought us every kinds of seafoods in the world. you name it. he brought a big fish's head, huge squid, bizzare crab, yummy scallop, and the idontknow white fish. and yes...it was a lot. when i asked irv how on earth he could bring such these things, he said, "i don't know. i just picked the most bizzare ones"

i served my own made tiramisu for the dessert. and it wasn't bad at all. it's full fat, for sure. but i didn't ruin anyone's diet program since they were really willing to eat it :) overall the dinner was really nice. we talked and reminisced about our uni times, and oh this is one of them; so this lecturer taught a business system subject. she's from singapore and she doesn't need to tell because of her accent. and...this lady really really really always like to talk like this: "blah..blahh..blah...you know? blablabla...you know? or "blablabla...alright? allright?" we really did count how many 'allright' and 'youknow' phrases came from her mouth but we eventually gave up because we lost counting!

last but not least, i realized how blessed i am *again* that my life are filled with such amazing people that had helped me a lot went through all hard uni times. and really, you guys made my uni experience are even worth to be remembered. keep the friendship, shall we?

just another boring weekend story...

so...let's go back to friday.i ate the most expensive pie i've ever eaten. it was a duck pie from mecca restaurant and i paid $34 for it *so unforgetable*. it was a unusual fine dining with a housemate. we were definitely spoilt that night. anyway...

ermm...on saturday i went to city in mission to get a pair of flat shoes. *okay boys, skip this part. it's gonna bore you to death* and you know what, i feel like i'd walked around the whole city but couldn't find one. geez, why these shoe designers all come up with grand design for heels but funny looks for the flats. till this moment, i've drawn a conclusion: flat shoes are severely discriminated compared to heels. fullstop.

sunday! mmm...i slept almost the whole day. i was hibernating.

monday. i watched the soccer match between Oz and Italy on monday night. i wonder if the match was a soccer match or canes film festival...cuz' that italian player played his role darned well! and the referee's controversial *read: unfair* decision was really really heartbreaking for the aussies. and i think i can't be more agree to what my friend said this morning: "i think if that referee thinks to visit australia, i hope he'll think about it again. unless he wants to die."

today: i sometimes wonder how women's mood can really be affected by their appearance. for example, i went to hairdresser to cut and dye my hair today. i don't care if it looks good or not, but i feel good about it. and it really made my day. most of my girlfriend feel that way too after we pamper ourselves. so boys, when you have a 'cranky girlfriend day', my advice would be: take her to a hairdresser would be a bright idea.

and ohh...i went to shark fin this morning for yum cha *chinese sytle breakfast*. from some dishes they served, one of them was duck tongue! *gasp* i've never tried it before, but since i'm a faithful duck lover, i was a bit curious how duck's tongue would taste. but the other hand, i kinda imagined how the duck feels, but anyway... and i ate them. haha. and they're good :)

picture: jelly fish in the middle, surrounded by the duck tongues! i wonder how many ducks they've killed for this only dish, not to mention everyday in the restaurant...

behold, i bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all melbournians:

"for there is opened to you this day in the city of gate of fountain *well, it's fountain gate actually. only to make it sounds more dramatic* , the yummiest glazed doughnut ever that we've all been waiting, dreaming, and drolling over. and this will be the sign to you: you will find a doughnut shop, with a green and white billboard on the top of it saying, "Krispy Kremes", located at fountain gate shopping center, naree warren."

finally. after all the waits, victorian can sigh in relief. finally. we don't have to have someone to fly over to sydney to fulfill our gluttonous needs. finally. a decent doughnut store that sell a decent doughnuts. too bad it's located far far away from my location, but it's okay...at least naree waren is more approachable than sydney, and we don't have to share our doughnuts with the attendants on the plane.

all come all yee doughnuts gazers...let's have something to munch!

i didn't turn up to federation square that monday morning as i and my housemate planned before. it was jam packed with around 12,000 people watching australia vs brazil football match.

my housemate, she fell asleep at 1 am and i decided not to wake her up. so, i grabbed my blanket and move my pillows to the living room. i strolled to the kitchen after any of these; instant coffee or milk or milk tea, but couldn't find any of them *sigh* so i took a wine glass and pour out the white wine. good stuff. at least i didn't shiver anymore after that.

it was a really cold morning. and it took a heroic action to actually plan to go out on 2 am to city and standing freezing. luckily i didn't. if i did, i'd probably look like a zombie the next morning. *did you, mase? ;) * i ended up watching the match myself, under the blanket while drinking wine. in my very own living room.

aussie lost. but it wasn't the end of the world (cup). another chance to grab on friday morning. and another chance for me to go to federation sq and join the crowds to watch the football. and may be it's going to take more than heroic action to actually go to city, by walk, for about 15 mins from home in cold and windy winter...to watch aus vs croatia match, 5 am in the morning.

you better be good mate!

:: i love melbourne (?)

as i'm currently in my final study, some favourite questions people really keen to ask me are something like this, "so, are you going back for good?" or "what's your plan after your degree is finished?".

but surprising statements (not a question) came out from couple of my friends i'd talked to days ago. they asked me at first, but when i was about to reply, to my surpise, they spontaneously said, "ahh...i know you'll stay here. you like it to live here in melbourne, right? " or "i can't see yourself leaving melbourne for good" and "you seem to enjoy living in this city very much, don't you?"

fyi, these friends i had a brief conversation with are not my very close friends. i mean, i do talk with them more than once, but never really talk about what i feel or what i think. you know what i mean... and these two people also happen not knowing each other and the conversations were not at the same time too, so i was really curious how on earth they could say such a thing, came to such a conclusion and dubbed me as a loyal melbournian...

i wonder how these people could end up wild guessing about me because i really never said it out. as long as i can recall, i've never worn a t-shirt with I LOVE MELBOURNE plastered on it, or use a kangaroo keyring for my apartment keys. or even boomerang for room decoration. not even drink from a cute koala mug. i don't even have any single of them.

"how could you tell, my dear fellas...i wonder???"

no title for today. apparently nothing appears in my mind right now.

i finally managed to make a NY cheesecake two nights ago. i started at 11.30 pm till 4 am for the last touch. i could barely stay wake up while waiting for the cake in the oven. and in order to prevent a massive cake burning in my house *and at the end putting my reputation as a domestic goddess in jeopardy haha*, i watched the ukraine vs spain match till it was finished then bugged my friend who was working in texas far far away. to kill my time we together tried to reminisce our silly school anthem and one of the hardest indonesian traditional song. it was hilarious and effectively made me stay up till the whole cake process was finished.

and yesterday was definitely my socialization day. i went to uni to share some friends my cake. it was really nice thing to do. then, i went to John Medley library to borrow some books. afterwards i went to my auntie's house and reached home around 8.30 pm.

and this oh-not-so-socialized-girl has decided to stay home today. snuggling in the blanket while finishing her book. i've been thinking to learn to make my own mochi and triple chocolate cheesecake near in the future.

now i know what's the today's title: a domestic goddess, i am.

:: trivial #1

why there isn't anyone comes up with a glorious thought of creating another kind of police department or new line in army forces for special area such as 'old pervert extermination'? they are just too much around in melbourne nowadays. and please beware all melbournian girls and ladies, because these guys are super-ultra disturbing and too annoying. unless you're interested, tell them that you're allergic to caffeine so the invitation to get you to the nearest coffee shop is the worst idea, ever! now, get lost!

:: SAP-football-x-men3

i'm finished with my exams *giggling*! to be honest, the exam was hard and been studying for SAP R/3 subject for last whole week had made by mind gone bananas, my eyes to the lowest level of sober, and the revelation of truth that IT is not AT ALL my thing. fullstop.

okay...let's skip the exams drama. the sadest part of my exam preparation was the fact that i had to skip the football match between australia vs japan on monday night. a girlfriend did ask me if I wanted to go to one of the city pubs to watch the match, which i had,must,should declined. i got an exam on the very next day, i even missed the match on tv. and i really missed a good match. a really really good match. *sigh*

but i'll make it up on 19th! haha. australia vs brazil is definitely gonna be cool. i have always supported for brazil and argentina for years. and this upcoming game would be very very interesting, since i live in Australia where all these people here worship sports faithfully. and i can't wait for the athmosphere of this city is gonna turn out to be...i'll bet the whole city would be flood by 'socceroos' supporters, going yellow and green from the top to toe and cheerfully join the crowds on the streets.

on another topic, i finally watched was X-MEN 3 last night. *okay...i heard that GASP* just realized i haven't got a chance to go a cinema since two months ago. And FYI, i've never watched x-men 1 and 2, but i can say x-men 3 is a good watch. And another FYI, if you are about to go for this movie *which is very unlikely*, please remain seated in your cinema seat even until the movie's finished, and all the credits rolling because... there is a very last part of this movie after that long-long credits. yup most people have missed this part, even myself, and my friend just told me last night. aahh...that is why patience is very important.

i think i should hit the cinema again very soon for this movie. and i've been craving NY cheesecake, and i'm making one tonight *finger crossed*.

:: i and God, last saturday

last saturday, i had this must-go schedule on my agenda started from 10 am. i had a prayer meeting at church. since i'm one of the workers at my local church so it's a compulsary to attend the meeting every month.

and the slacker me was trying to avoid that meeting cuz i was thinking to go to the library instead preparing my exam this tuesday. but...i didn't feel good about it. so, on friday night before i went to sleep i made an agreement with God. i said, "God, if you want me to go to the meeting, please wake me up tomorrow morning and i'll go. otherwise, i'll go to the library instead." it was around 12 am.

then i lied on my bed preparing to sleep. but after around 30 mins i still had my eyes opened wide. so another threat to God, "seriously God, if you want me to go then i need my sleep. i don't care how you do it, but please just make me fall asleep."

it didn't work.

fine! i woke up around 1 am and turned on my computer again. after some useless browsing then i finally decided to take an ultimate-hard-to-do-decision, i will clean up my room! then there i was, throwing those rubbish bag to the rubbish chute, sorted things out cuz' another donation day is coming, cleaning out tables, wardrobe, and finally finished at 2.30 am! *gasp*

i went straight to bed while sincerely doubting my capability to wake up early in the morning.

and whadayaknoww???

i woke up 'several-hours-later' and my immediate action was looking for my mobile phone. *okay, i don't have whatever-kind-of clock at my room. even an alarm clock. even that.* and i was checking out my mobile and taa daaa....it was 7.30 am! i was like...okay...this is a bit too early. so i tried to sleep again. but i guessed God reminded me of our agreement last night because at the end, i couldn't sleep. i woke up as fresh as the baby born who just has slept for 10 hours straight. I thought at that time God surely said: "seriously, I want you to go."

i guesses i just had to go. God won. and even though i lost, i didn't regret even a little that i went to the meeting that day. it was a good day. and so for the entire day.

God just always knows what the best for me. His blessings are sufficient, i will not lack of anything.

givethanks:before-sleep-daily-routine i have a room for myself to sleep. i have heaps of comfy pillows, warm blanket to cover my body from winter cold and little bear i can cuddle each night. in addition of that, i also have a picture frame which keeps reminding me that 'i am loved', a book *currently veronica decides to die by paulo coelho* to kill my time, ballet performance flyer i took from uni today *me, wanna go and see it :D *, and a cup of hot tea is just perfect for this cold winter night.

i'm blessed. even from glance of the corner of my room, i know i am. there's nothing in your life you can't thank God every single day.

:: 5 years from now...

last night I received an email from a good friend of mine who currently resides in singapore. I think she's kinda in a deep agony. she sent me two or three emails yesterday, but this miss-so-busy has been SO busy,,,I just don't have time to reply a long long email. may be I can do short. but that wouldn't answer her question. so this is my reply. cuz I know you'll read this, girl.

she asked me: "What's my vision for the next 5 years from now?"

when I read through her mail...I was like...doomed?! The thing is, this is a hard core question. at least for me. to be honest, I just don't have time to type a reply. but the main reason is I don't even know where I'm gonna be NEXT MONTH, so i'm pretty much dumbstruck by this whole VISION question. let alone what my life will be in 5 years.

you might think i'm such a planless girl in this whole world even she's got no slightest idea of what she's been wanting. the problem is she knows what she has always wanted, but she's just sickly worried if it isn't the best one for her.

who doesn't want the best in life, anyway?

ps. hey you, this is part of my reply for your mail. currently i just don't have time to justify every bit of my so-called 'vision'. my advise is: cherish your day, like there'll no be tomorrow. it does sound cliche, but it works.

cheers.

:: When three careless girls live together...

7.30 am this morning, three girls were about to leave theie apartment. One was going to uni for test, one had to work, and another girl gotta go to library to study.

And in the middle of the rush, suddenly one of the girls said:
V: Where's my keys? I couldn't find them.
M: Where's my socks? I always couldn't find the other pair.
S: What? You can't find your key?
V: Ahh...don't bother. Let's go.

M: Wait...I still couldn't find my socks.
S: Well, you can use mine, but they all have been used...hehehe. Interested?
M: No thanks.
S: Do you have ones for her to wear, V?
V: Mine? I don't think so though. Just wear anything...

...after 5 mins...
M: I wonder why everytime I wash my socks in the washing machine, they always come back differently.
S: What do you mean?
M: Yeah..each time I wash four socks (2 pairs), at the end I get four different socks. They're not in pair anymore.
V: That's impossible. May be they're just discoloured. I also always have a problem with socks. Everytime I wash them they just never come back to me in pair together. I think everybody has the same problem with socks.
M: But it happens to me!

...5 minutes later...M still couldn't find her 'other' sock...
S: Hey, wear mine. I've found one! Well, it's just half pair though. Wear it with yours.
V: Yeah..who cares anyway. You see mine? Even though they look similar, but I got Nike on my left and Reebok on the right.
S: Yeah, me too.
V: oh..yeah...it occasionally happens to me when I wear pink bear sock on my left, and stripy pink on the right. Well,,,at least they are still in the same shades :P

M: I hate it!!!! *still couldn't find it*
S: Wear mine!
M: Well, fine. I just wear mine then. But they are mismatch.
V: But you're about to wear your boots right?
M: yeah...anyway.

V: Anyway, let's go. We're late. One of you, lock the door please. Remember I don't have keys ;)
S: Bye home, take care...

Then these three girls left their apartment building, each of them was wearing different socks on their feet.

:: Things I Want to Remember

Hi, it's me! Back to write again...

I've just had my exam this morning. One test is down but still have another exam coming though.

Like usual, exam period is very exhausting. Both physically and mentally. In contrast to my last exam periods, I've been trying really hard to 'enjoy' this semester exam. My master program will be finish this semester and it means no more uni tests and assignments in the future and please get rid from the suggestion for taking PhD program :P

To let you know I am a person who is never satisfied. Now I've been bitching all my assignment and test at uni, but probably I also will do the same when I get involved in the workplace someday. And at that time, I will surely miss my assignment, test, etc. That is why I would like to write things that I would like keep in mind, in case, 5 years later, I will envy the future uni students.

Three weeks a go: I remembered so clear how I hated it so much when I had to go to uni for group assignment taht Sunday. I almost cancelled the meeting, but I guess what I was going to do was just prolong the conclusion of my assignment. So I forced my self to go to uni, half hearted, and sleepy eyes.

Two weeks a go: Group assignment report was due. After a night chat with a groupmate, finally we were done. Got it submitted and had another individual assignment to go. Then I started to do this assignment and went for consultation in the middle of the week. Went to library during weekend from 4 to 9 pm. And on Sunday, I was so blank with the extra question given, I just didn't know what to write and what to do. My groupmate came to my house, hand me his assignment cuz' he asked me a favour to submit the assignment for him. I tried my best to finish the extra questions and finally finished three question till' 4 am. In the morning I woke up early to do the last question.

10 days ago: I finally received the feedback for both assignments. They were really good actually. Thank God for that. But another assignment was coming up again. So again I spent my time at library on Saturday morning till late. And on Sunday, I went to Borders cafe not for shopping or read a novel, but trying hard to break the code (please note this was ABAP Programming code, not Da Vinci's ;) ) reading thru the lecture notes and research paper found. I was so pressured cuz' it was three more days before the due date.

7 days a go: Went to the last lectures and last tutorials this week. The last of the semester, oh, those may be my last ones in my life, too. It felt like a mixture of excitement and anguish deep inside my heart. Knowing I am not gonna sit as a student anymore and getting excited of what the future may offer my life after this stage. Then I went to library again till late on Tuesday. I, amazingly by grace, finally finished my final assignment that night. I stayed a whole day again at library on Thursday and left my Friday as my day off.

3 days a go: I went to library again from 11 am to 9.30 pm. I and my groupmate studied together in front of library window. We had been there since we felt too hot due to sun exposure towards the window until felt too cold because of the night breeze. But all together, we managed to go through almost half of the topics and left the library at 9.30 pm.

2 days a go: We managed another study meeting. Unfortunately the library was closed at 5 pm, so my group mate decided to have a study group at his office. Three of us including her girlfriend went through our thick and deadly lecture notes and past exam papers till 10 o'clock at night. If I think about it, how funny it was to study at someone's office I've never visited before. But his office is a good place though, and I was sitting on someone's cubicle. I assumed she is a mom, cuz' she put quite a lot of pictures of her cute daughter and bubba. Oh, they are so cute...

A day a go: I woke up early because I had to reach uni before 11 am. Yesterday was very cold, foggy, wet and windy. Wow, what a complete package. After a brief consultation with a tutor, the study continued again at Matheson Library. I was so heavily tired, and starving, and nervous. Yeah..nervous! I got this exam on the following day in the morning, nervous sounds so normal, doesn't it? I planned to sleep early last night, but I couldn't. I slept at 1 am and set the clock to wake up at 6 am tommorow morning.

Today: I couldn't sleep sound last night. I had a big and quick breakfast very early today. And in 1.5 hours I sat on my exam, compete with time, read the questions keenly, got stuck within numbers, and exercising my pelvic muscle like I always do during my Pilates class *seriously, I was utterly in desire to go for toilet, but I couldn't!* After the finish of the exam, I and some friends were involved in a great exam discussion. We were laughed, puzzled, went-aaahhhhh or now-i-know or 'what-the-heck' conversation. But we definitely ended with best wishes for one another.

I will remember these things I went through for the past couple years of my life, I will remember when I was so worn out, the only-God-knows hours stay in library and labs. I will remember the feeling of depression when I was stuck in the middle of the topic, reading it for hundreds times but still couldn't get it. But I also cherish the moment, when there were times after struggling and almost dying with certain topic, I finally found the answer. I will remember walking home from Clayton, caught a late train and got cold during the trip.

I will remember the smell of coffee, my must wake up drink in the morning. I surely will reminisce the foods at Monash cafetaria, which are sucks.

I will remember all the prayer I've ever said to God, before and after the exam. I will remember those restless nights, and oh...the i-don't wanna-wake-up-yet mornings. I also will remember all my close peeps saying, "It's okay, I know you'll do fine" or "Remember, it's only by grace", or may be simple advice, "don't sleep late tonight. that will make you feel good tommorow morning". Or may be an enlightment words, "HD yeah!" :D

For some people, may be what I've been through is nothing compared to what they had done or have been doing. I believe some people out there do work harder than me. Regardless of that, I cherish my experience as a part of my life. Someday, when I need to look back again... here is the point where I will go to.