dinner and starbucks.

friday night vicki lou, brendan and i made our separate ways into the city, each of us a little later than the other, in order to catch up with lou while she's back from china shortly. surprisingly i arrived first, although i was running late from stopping to buy an umbrella from QV as i'd forgotten my parasol and it began spitting threateningly on my straightened hair. rain however never came it turned out. so $6 poorer i was it seems.

i'd forgotten to tell lou where to meet haha, but thankfully she had her mobile on her so all was well. vicki arrived and we chatted and then met up with lou. to kill some time before meeting up with others for tea vicki and i browsed swimwear. unfortunately for all concerned lou started feeling seriously ill suspiciously around the time both vicki and i were modeling said bikinis. i believe our fashion magazine careers are over before they even had a chance to begin...

kate and daniel messaged to say they too couldnt make it, cos kate was also feeling ill, so we decided we may as well head off to dinner and see how things went. we went to Teppansan on Russel st, which cathy takes the honor of having discovered and ordered a vast array of japanese cuisines from sushi to raw meat and okonomiyaki 'japanese pizza' or rather savoury pancake. sadly lou didnt feel any better as the night went on so she called her dad to come get her, just as brendan arrived. vicki took the oportunity to learn about 'personal' male issues i.e. the topic of discussion was 'what does it feel like to be kicked in the groin?' and had to leave the restaurant in hysterics after witnessing brendan announce something about being kicked in the balls directly in front of the waiter. after she returned brendan continued his poetic description, artfully scripted, detailing the pain 'blossoming'. probably an odd sort of conversation for lou to join in her return to melbourne, but after all we are a bit odd aren't we?

lou's dad arrived and poor lou toddled home. we left teppansan and went to hungry jacks for brendan who hadnt had a chance to eat at teppansan and then loitered for quite some time in an asian supermarket i chanced upon. brendan got some chicken drumstick crumbing powder.


and i bought some strawberry flavoured hello kitty endorsed pocky' (chocolate/ yoghurt coated biscuit sticks for those who arent familiar).


we then ended up at starbucks, where i bought a piece of berry cheesecake, brendan got a coffee and we all sat around upstairs, chatting and taking ridiculous photos of hands clasped in laps,

and coffee cup packaging converted into makeshift binoculars. haha. perhaps we were all a little tired that night.

makes for funny photos though.


vicki also tried her hand at picking her own handbag's lock, and i attempted to not have sleepy eyes in a photo - failed, clearly.


oh, but im wide-awake and slightly psychotically dangerous here.

perhaps it was the cheesecake, i didnt have any caffeine.

i wanted to catch the last bus back home so vicki went off to catch her tram and brendan and i started heading in a general melbourne central direction. i was bewildered by a weird busker in a spacesuit, not really playing music, but kind of robotic dancing with weird sound effects playing.
really really weird. the photo doesnt really do it justice.

anyways off i went home via the bus, and brendan took the train. thus ends the friday night out.

swimming and tae-bo a day of exercise.

just a very short blog tonight, cos im tired and wanna go to bed early (like i wanted last night, but other stuff happened and it didnt work out).

had a pretty good day today. i like wednesdays cos i only have one class early in the morning and then i generally spend the rest of the day hanging with the korean girls. today i taught linda how to do butterfly (i.e. we went swimming) and kyla gave me a manicure.

omg. and i also had my first experience of tae-bo. kyla took me through a session of it. personally i think louwould have loved it. reminded me of our aerobics class. guess the concept is basically taewkondo mixed with aerobics. all i knew about tae-bo previously is that about 10years ago there was suddenly a craze for it, (or at least it seemed that way), cos there were continual daytime tv ads advertising it as the latest thing. haha, i told kyla that today, she was momentarily happy and excited, but then i added that after probably 1 year i never heard of tae-bo again until i met her. haha

we did the session along to an internet video, with enthusiastic korean tae-bo instructors (and one guy in the background who has the funniest grin always, i reckon he should advertise a toothpaste haha. exercising to a video is funny, kind of like oz aerobics that was on in the mornings in middle-school hahaha. i used to love watching that while dad and i ate breakfast just for their brightly coloured leotards! so retro hahah. but while a little funny at first tae-bo turns out to be a good 1/2 hour of exercise.


and here's my pretty manicure thanks to kyla's artistic skill. i havent had nicely painted nails since china, brought back memories! i like this design, i never did a crisscross one before im pretty sure. looks good though!

woah, big spender? the sushi window incident.




had a freaky (but also amusing) encounter this afternoon. i shared it with vicki via sms and related it to kate and sarah at uni. as i was walking towards my favourite sushi selling shop window on londsdale st before heading back to the uni to help a friend checking through her assignment i got that eerie feeling like someone's watching or more paying too much attention to u. there's this remarkably pig-look-a-like man on the bus somedays too and he gives me the same creepy feeling, cos i felt he was looking at me sometimes, but then thought 'oh no, it's all in my head' but last week one day we happened to be on the same bus again and he was looking at me. so i'd randomly glance up and stare near him and he'd look away.

thankfully he's not someone who likes to catch ur gaze. he really makes me feel quite sick actually. fat and sweaty and piglike. and old. i dont actually know why he stares at me. i hope it's simply cos he thinks my makeup is really bad or something. or maybe its my bright hair. anyway. im one of those people who always watches where other people are looking on the bus, via the use of the reflection in the bus windows. i've done it since yr 6 and i think it's cool. u can watch someone on the opposite side of the bus, while seemingly looking out the window, i.e. the opposite direction to where they are. it's through this that i found mr. piggy was watching me. annoyingly. anyway back to the story of today.

i had that odd feeling where something just doesnt feel right, and glanced to my left where a 30-something businessman of indian looking complexion had quickened his pace to overtake me. as i was in a hurry to go and meet my friend, i also quickened my pace, and being the proudly quick walker i am overtook him quite quickly and finished walking the block to where my sushi shop is. i was umming and ahhing over which type of sushi to get and had just decided, while fishing out my coins when i heard a 'do u want me to to buy that for u?' from just behind my shoulder. in surpise i recognised said business man as the owner of the voice. he'd followed me for a block it seems. i dismissively brushed him aside with a quick, 'oh no, it's alright' and started a conversation with the sushi girl. he didnt get the hint and go away.

actually i had to restrain myself from bursting out laughing at what he'd said cos it's absolutely ludicrous that he offered to pay a whole $1.75 for my sushi roll. HAHAHAHA does this not strike anyone else as hillarious? i've always idolised vicki's tale of her unfortunate date who offered to pay for her salad...and suddenly i had an offer to pay for a sushi! a sushi! hahahaha. im glad i didnt laugh actually, cos that would've been not nice, but im free to laugh and laugh and laugh now.

so i got my sushi and went to walk off, but he decided to try his luck again and asked me to let him take me to lunch. he asked me twice and i dismissed him twice, while trying not to be too rude, cos at least he was asking in a polite way. but no DEFINTELY NOT interested. was rather freaking out of course! so anyways i took my opportunity before he could ask a third time and rushed off to jump on a tram taking my beloved sushi roll with me. many a time through the afternoon i took careful glances around my shoulder just to check there were no more being followed incidents. don't u hate things that make u paranoid in that way??

but yes, that's my random little story from today about the complete stranger who wanted to buy me sushi (woah! big spender) and take me out to lunch... .
..but what i'd like to know is ..'why me???' :~|

winter ---> spring beauty.

the cherry blossoms are out!!!!! so spring must slowly be coming. when i was young i always thought that cherry blossom trees where amazing cos in a time when nearly all other flowers stopped, it was only in winter that the cherry blossom would come alive. i later worked out their blooming is basically in preparation for the coming of spring. i still class them as a winter flower though, 'cause they always seem to disappear again before spring actually comes...then again perhaps they're meant to bear some sort of cherry blossom fruit in the spring? oh i dont know. i just think the silly pink and white trees look pretty!

best part of winter is when i can walk around my neighbourhood and see the cherry blossoms blooming. best decision ever of the manningham council was to plant cherry blossom trees on at least ever 2nd or so nature strip. it looks pretty.

yesterday was the first day i noticed the flowers in bloom, and so today i picked my first mini twig of them. here it is, sitting on a page of my notebook.

so gorgeous! im currently pressing one of the flowers in my japanese textbook...so i will find it in a week or so when we start the next chapter - haha!


other matters. i decided to advertise for a language swap partner for chinese online, so i can regularly take advantage of someone's native chinese speaking ability and not feel guilty (as they likewise take advantage of my english, free of charge) on this australian site:

http://melbourne.gumtree.com.au/melbourne/melbourne-skills-swap_2950_1.html

it seems quite good..and i've already had 4 replies back in 24 hrs (3 were from the same girl who seems rather eager, which is both nice and a touch off putting at the same time), im considering the other girl so far, not over emailing matters but simply because the 1st girl (who sent 3 emails) said she was from Taiwan, and i think that could be a bit problematic for me. truthfully Taiwanese people strike me as very cool, (not that i've ever met many that i know of, but in their dramas they are cool haha. oh dear, i need help)

no the main problem is im not too sure of the accent differences between mainland china and taiwan, and it also struck me that i think they use the old more complex characters for writing...hence why subtitles and karaoke are often evilly written in traditional complex characters. grrr.

and the other problem is that these days i am all too indulgent of the chinese way of thinking that im worried i might accidently offend the girl at some point by saying something to do with taiwan being part of china, which of course they and more than half of the world belive is not the case,but i am forever having to verbally acknowlege/ agree to chinese people when they quiz me on taiwan being a 'province' of china. cos taiwan can never be mntioned by itself without it being re-inforced that taiwan is taiwan province. ah it's all quite silly. i generally steer clear of polital issues and just smile and nod. but yes, im concerned i could stuff up at some time and say the wrong thing and i dont want to offend anyone.

hence i've decided i will wait until the weekend and then see how many replies i have and which is the best.


but can u possibly know how guilty i feel having replies in my inbox from strangers willing to swap languages with me and i've as of yet given them no reply.... and if i dont choose them for my language partner should i just ignore them and not reply, or should i somehow reply to them... but i cant very well say 'no - i dont want to study with u' ...that's terrible!

the more i think about it i feel obliged to email the taiwanese girl and just meet with her and help her out with english anyway, cos im sure she's a lovely girl, but then meet with another girl for my purposes. but then that's silly and im letting my english-speakingness be taken advantage of. after all the aim of this exercise is to help my rapidly dwindling chinese skills. ...
oh, what do i do? why do i have to be so damn willing to help people all the time...generally as i've found over the last year or two, at my own inconvenience?? if someone asks me to do something for them, or help or assist or whatever the word 'yes' or 'sure' always pops out of my mouth as soon as i open it or even consider what im saying. and annoying are the consequences.


i shall stick to the plan and wait out the week and then see how many replies i have and if any look promising. hopefully with more replies it will be easier to not worry about them all individual, but just look at the batch and say ' i think this one will work, let's try it'.

that's the plan. and now it's bed time. oh to be able to fall asleep at will, instead of laying awake half the night stressing over a 6:30am wake up call....

but yum cha with cathy tomorrow. hurray!

Brownies.


i cant be bothered typing much today, so it shall just be photos mostly. i made brownies today, for the first time ever, during my h/w procrastination. cam was on the computer, and mum and dad went to the island taking mums laptop with them so i had no internet access and hence got a fair bit of h/w done in the end.

but nevertheless here are some brownie pics. im not very familiar with them, but i reckon they taste about right.

p.s. does anyone know if the name brownies has anything to do with the brownies that u find in the bottom of the garden?

i always liked brownies, as in the pixie fairy breed. they're cool. (perhaps it stemmed from poem books by Cicely Mary Barker).

i wanna have an enchanted wood party one day. and i shall serve many a sugary fairy inspired treat. butterfly cup-cakes will be a definite too!

^_^

Lasag-nee

just a quick blog for old times' sake, while i take a short break from my 'china since mao' subject readings (it's a really good and interesting subject btw!). im making good use of my day off by doing some study and recovering from my cold. thankfully it already seems to be lightening off which is great. colds are always long and annoying.

yesterday afternoon i was completely exhausted and i went to sleep at 4pm, waking 4 hrs later at 8pm to an utterly dark house (cam was in the study, but the door was shut so there was no light). i was so disoriented. i couldnt see or focus on any clocks so i had no idea what time it was and cos my body clock was out of wack i thought i'd slept until 2am or something. haha. funniest thing is probably that i was quite regretful of the fact that i'd obviously missed dinner - and mum had cooked a lasagne for cam and i.

garfield loves lasagne too! a cat with good taste.


as it turned out though i found it was only 8pm, mum was at a church meeting and dad was working until real late (ok thats just his excuse and quite naturally he is of course having an affair....with the packet of lollies in his desk drawer no doubt. i swear he is always eating lollies everytime i talk to him on the phone at work!) and yes, so i preheated the oven and cooked the lasagne up. meanwhile i had a shower, mainly to wash off all the mascara which had made its way into my left eye partially blinding me, making my cold and headache seem all the more distressing haha, and just to try and feel a bit more in order. it worked. as is the way with being sick though i couldnt finish my small serving of lasagne so thanks to the invention of gladwrap, i covered it up and saved it in the fridge for todays lunch. ^_^



lasagne is simply the best!! i think i've had a few slightly dodgy ones the last few times we've had it (which is off course not all that often) and i was beginning to feel it was no longer my favourite. (i've noticed my tastes have been changing over the last year or so, things i used to love are just meh atm) but no, lasagne is still up there at the top of the 'awesome foods' list in my books. got to be homemade and not vegetarian though of course!



mmmmmm. it's yummm! tomato-y and creamy at the same time. the perfect pasta by all accounts!




on a side note for sarah, lol:
i just looked for photos of lasagne online and saw a website named 'wildoats.com' hahaha i couldnt stop thinking of our convesation from wednesday about sorghum and the sowing of wild oats!! hahah