Hot air

Translate that into cantonese and you'll know what I've been suffering for the last 4 days. For the non-asians out there, its a literal translation of a chinese phrase which means "mouth ulcer". Its been a painful time. :( Especially the putting salt on it part. Brings new meaning to the word pain. Mmmm.


Xmen 2 Premiere

Last night I went to the X Men 2 premiere event screening (wasn't the media premiere, so no actors/stars were there). But it was kinda cool. Held at the State Theatre, there was an expo before the movie with Xmen comic book stalls and other stuff, and we were given showbags (apparently) worth $80 (ermm..) The movie was pretty good. I wanna see it again. :) It sooo leaves me wanting to see X3 though. Argh. Anyway, I'm not gonna give away any spoilers here. You're just gonna have to wait till it comes out. :)




KyckStart 2003

I had a great, but very exhausting, weekend at KyckStart. The talks were great, the atmosphere fun, the music awesome, and the conversations girly. :P More about this later, coz I wanna go home.

Current listening :: "You Alone" - Emu music

Another long weekend

Ok, I'm off for the Anzac Day long weekend.. woohoo! Three day working weeks rawk! :D I'm going away this weekend to the Blue Mountains with my Glue girls, to a christian youth convention called KyckStart. Should be awesome! Will tell you's about it when I get back! Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

Photos + New clothes = Happy Kazzart :)

I've just uploaded my photos from Nate's 21st (last Sat night). Check em out!

I went shopping this morning, and ended up buying myself a new white skivvy and a cream coloured puffy coat (I'm so bad). The coat's a bit honky looking, but sooo pretty.. I really like the colour! The skivvy has this threaded string on one side which is kinda cool. :) Anyway, I was so happy with my new buys, I decided to take photos of them.. in fact, four photos of myself "modelling" the clothes.. hee... (and I just couldn't resist pulling the honky pose. :P)

Too busy to....

This easter weekend has been just absolutely chockas and totally exhausting. From Thursday night to Monday night, I've been non-stop running around doing this or that. I'm actually almost glad to be back at work, just so the pace can slow down a little! Sorry about the lack of updates. I didn't get online even once during the long weekend... amazing for a net-addict like me huh! :P

So what have I been up to. Lets do this in point form:

• Thursday night, I went to my jazz impro class at the Con. I really need to work on rhythm and emphasis in my improv solos. Looks like its back to playing scales on the off-beat. Not that I was ever really successful at doing that. :\
• After class, on the way to Wynyard Stn, I managed to lose my wallet! I must have dropped it somewhere on George St.. I was pretty upset about that. Andrew had to come out to the city to pick me up (because I had no money, no train ticket, no cards). We then went to Vron's place for Andrew's band rehearsal. Amazingly, after the rehearsal, the city police station called me up and told me someone had handed in my wallet, with all my money (around $100) and everything still in it! Wow.. that was pretty honest of the person!!
• Friday morning, I went to church for an 8:45am service, and had late brunch with friends afterwards.. then went back to church for music rehearsal (for Sunday's easter service), and then had to go into the city to pick up my wallet from the police station
• Friday night we had our Glue (youth group) social - pizza and trivia night! It was most amusing. :)
• Saturday morning, we (the Glue leaders) had a rather long (3 hour!) meeting about Glue, and lunch afterwards, then went home and begun the tidying process in my room, which included an installation of a new bookshelf
• Saturday night was Nate's 21st - lots of yummy satay sticks, chicken wings, etc etc cooked by his parents. Yummm... those sticks were absolutely delicious!! I even got the recipe off his mum! :P~
• Sunday morning I had to get to church at 8am(!!) for a music run through before the service started at 8:45am. Too many early mornings in a row.. its unhealthy!! :P Anyway, afterwards, me and Andrew and a few friends went out to Paddy's market in the city. I bought myself a new watch, a lighter (even though I don't smoke.. but its got a green flame!!), a phone cover, and a black and red dress (its really pretty!)
• Sun night, hung out with friends, went home, did more tidying
• Monday I had to continue tidying my room because pest control are coming in to spray stuff. With the new bookshelf, I now have more places to put all my cds and books!! Andrew came over a bit later and we ate pancakes.. yumm..
• Finally Monday night, went to leaders bible study group.

And that was my long weekend, in a nutshell. :)




Tough times

There was also a particularly emotionally draining and stressful situation on Sun night, where I had to counsel a friend. Not that I'm complaining about it, coz she's a close friend and its a joy to be able to help her (and others) through these tough times. I feel priviledged that she trusts me so, and has such respect for my advice. I do feel a bit unqualified to be giving all this relationship advice, even though I've had a fair amount of relationship experience. I still worry about giving the wrong or bad advice and making things worse for her/everyone. How does one know that they are doing/saying the right thing?

Anyway, I really feel for these friends.. I can really feel their pain.. its like it echo's in my own heart. Man, I'm so not cut out to be a counsellor.. I'm very glad that I'm not a psychologist or anything. I don't think I'd be able to handle it all day, five/six days a week! I think I'd get too emotionally involved. Maybe its just a girl thing. Or maybe its just coz I've been through it before, so I have an emotional understanding as well as an intellectual one. Still, I'm glad to be able to, and I do want to be able to, help my friends through this difficult time.

Current listening :: "If you believe" - Rachel Lampa

First dustings

Alright! It seems they've had their first dusting of snow for 2003 at Perisher Blue. Woohoo!! I sooo can't wait till the ski season! :) Please let there be lots of snow! I've already started visiting the ski.com.au forums in anticipation of this year's season. Last year, I was there every day leading up to my ski trip, getting excited by the ski talk & reading people's weather forecasts.

So, in anticipation of the coming winter, here are some very amusing tips to get you ready for season 2003, taken from a post on the forum:

1. Visit your local butcher and pay $30 to sit in the walk-in freezer for a half an hour. Afterwards, burn two $50 dollar bills to warm up.
2. Soak your gloves and store them in the freezer after every use.
3. Fasten a small, wide rubber band around the top half of your head before you go to bed each night.
4. If you wear glasses, begin wearing them with glue smeared on the lenses.
5. Throw away a hundred dollar bill-now.
6. Find the nearest ice rink and walk across the ice 20 times in your ski boots carrying two pairs of skis, accessory bag and poles. Pretend you are looking for your car. Sporadically drop things.
7. Place a small but angular pebble in your shoes, line them with crushed ice, and then tighten a C-clamp around your toes.
8. Buy a new pair of gloves and immediately throw one away.
9. Secure one of your ankles to a bed post and ask a friend to run into you at high speed.
10. Go to McDonald's and insist on paying $8.50 for a hamburger. Be sure you are in the longest line.
11. Clip a lift ticket to the zipper of your jacket and ride a motorcycle fast enough to make the ticket lacerate your face.
12. Drive slowly for five hours - anywhere - as long as it's in a snowstorm and you're following an 18 wheeler.
13. Fill a blender with ice, hit the pulse button and let the spray blast your face. Leave the ice on your face until it melts. Let it drip into your clothes.
14. Dress up in as many clothes as you can and then proceed to take them off because you have to go to the bathroom.
15. Slam your thumb in a car door. Don't go see a doctor.
16. Repeat all of the above every Saturday and Sunday until it's time for the real thing!

Current listening :: "Love like this before" - Faith Evans (remix feat Fatman Scoop)

Reminiscence

Last night I looked through an old journal from around my senior high / 1st year uni years. It was very.. interesting. Quite an eye opener really, to see what I was like back then, the things I did, what I thought about, who I hung out with and the guys I had crushes on!! Actually, it was kinda embarrassing at times. I was so.. young.. and immature.. and boy crazy!! :P

It was really nice to be reminded of events back in time. I wrote heaps about things I went to, people I met and what I thought of them!! Here's an interesting entry from Mon, 1 July 96:

Guess what - on Saturday night I went to this harbour cruise dance party. It was great, though the DJ sucked. But I still had fun & some of the music was good. It was organised by this guy at Epping Boys for year 12's only. Lapman invited me to go & I met quite a few guys there from Epping Boys. Lapman's group of friends were really nice. I met this guy calle Jonothan - he's really nice and chatty. Another guy called Mark - he's nice though not as chatty, but better looking. [insert: Hahahahah, did I really write that?! Oh, and M - try not to get a big head :P]

Anyway, thats enough revelation from my secret diaries for now! Maybe I'll post snippets from other sections later! I gotta dash to leaders bible study.

Current listening :: Revenge Is Slow - Bluebottle Kiss

Who's your daddy?

"Give me noise! Give me sex! Give me dirty!!"

"I wanna see feral!"

These are just some of the motivational words coming from the mouth of Michael Boyd - our dance teacher last night at the SDC. My usual class (intermediate jazz with Ramon) was cancelled due to some private function in Studio 1, so the class was combined with Michael Boyd's new Interm/Adv JFH (jazz funk hip hop) class. I'd been meaning to try this class sometime anyway, so last night provided me an excellent opportunity.

I really enjoyed the class! The routine was soo much fun! Let me explain those "motivational words". :) It was a pretty "dirty" routine I suppose, but it totally went with the song - which was Gerling's latest EP - "Who's your daddy?". The routine wasn't vulgar or anything.. no crotch grabbing etc.. it was just very.. out there, lots of posing and very expressive movement! It was a bit 80's - the sort of routine you'd make short, sharp "Ahh" sounds to whilst performing (if you hear the song, you'll understand why)! There was floor work involved too, which I always love in a routine!

Anyway, its really hard to describe a routine in words. I'll just have to show you if I see you! The warm up and across the floor sections were standard Michael Boyd style - fast, funky and loose! A style I always find quite difficult. But this class wasn't as funky as his old latin/funk class, and it was a little more technical, which made things easier for me.

So now I'm pretty much sore everywhere.. yet again. Michael Boyd's classes have always been hard on the body - my battle scars from last night include a slightly bruised pinky, light bruises on both knees, and a pinched nerve (or whatever it was) on the top of my left foot. See how much fun dancing can be! :)


Updates

I've finally gotten around to adding another photolog to my Photos page. I took the photos almost a month ago, but only put it together just then. Clicky here to have a geezer.

Current listening :: "Born to make you happy" - Britney Spears (yah yah, I know its Britney.. but I need a Britney fix every now and then :P)

Happy One Year Blogging Anniversary

I can't believe its been exactly one year since I started blogging. Where does the time go.. *nostalgic sigh* Starting with my first (very deep) entry:

Testing my first entry to this blogger thing.

I've managed to ramble on about myself to an unknown (and known) audience for a whole year now. Amazing. :)

I have to admit, the nature of this blog has somewhat changed over the past 12 months. Starting with the intention of being an online diary of an anonymous writer to let out emotions and thoughts, through two layout changes, to now - a full-blown website with photo gallery, "live" webcam, guestbook etc.

It's been a bit difficult to work out what to write, now that many friends who know me in real life know about this blog (btw this does not include those that I have given the url to and definitely does not mean they should stop visiting!). Still, I find myself limited in many ways that I wasn't when I first started. I dunno if this is a bad thing or not. Sometimes I contemplate moving my blog to regain relative anonymity. Or maybe I should put up a sort of disclaimer like LuckyKat has done, or just use this generic blogger's disclaimer. At any rate, I tend to more often than not write about the inconsequential and the inane, keeping the content "safe". This may also be because I'm just too darn lazy to write anything more deep and meaningful!

Anyway, so here we are. Happy one year blogging anniversary to me. :) I might be moving to real hosting soon, with my own domain name and everything. I already have a domain name, but I just haven't got around to getting hosting for it yet.

Oh, any cat lovers, check out this cute and rather funny/silly picture.

Current listening :: the sound of my work colleagues chatting

Klutz

Grr. I just managed to spill tea all over my light blue "Bens" tshirt & some of my jeans. Argh. A work colleague who observed the event quipped "Still haven't mastered the art of drinking from a cup, I see". Grr. The tea bag got caught in my fingers and jerked the cup to the side as I was holding it.. hence spilling tea over the right side of my tshirt & jeans. I managed to wash most of it off in the bathroom, and am now sitting uncomfortably in a still damp tshirt & jeans. My tummy is cold. :(

I'm just glad my cam wasn't on at the time! :P

Current listening :: "Moon dance" - Van Morrison (*sigh* This song is so awesome! Love the piano solo!)

Frustration plus

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! STUPID STUPID BLOGGER!!!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! #@#%!%^*$!

I just spent the last half hr or so writing up a post. And then accidently pressed some keyboard combination which loaded the archives page.... and lost my post!!! ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(

Ok... breathe... calm.... think daisies and wild flowers and whiskers on kittens... ahhhh... Now lets see if I can remember what I wrote.


Par-tay analysis

Its all over.. *sighs with contentment* What a busy weekend. I think I am actually glad to be back at work (well sorta). Andrew's 21st party on Saturday night was a success! The night went by in a blur for me, with constant running around churning out food, taking pictures for Andrew, having a bite to eat and an occasional chat to a friend in between. By the end of the night, I was exhausted, and my feet and back were killing me. But I think people enjoyed themselves. They definitely enjoyed the food - those pizza wheels were absolutely demolished! I know Andrew really enjoyed having the party, and that makes it all worth it! :)

I'm glad we decided to make gourmet party food, instead of the standard party pies etc. Good food makes all the difference at a party.. next to good background music of course.. oh and appropriate lighting schemes ("Did I stumble on some bad lighting?" hee hee). If you're interested, the menu consisted of:

• marinated chicken wings (honey soy and bbq seasoning)
• mini pizza wheels & cinammon wheels (made with puff pastry, tomato paste, herbs, bacon, cheese.. and cinammon and brown sugar for the sweet ones.. yumm..)
• potato wedges with sour cream & sweet chilli sauce
• toasted turkish bread & dip
• cheese (brie, havarti, cream with garlic & herb) and crackers
• fruit platter
• vegetable sticks and dip

Many thanks to Vron for the recipes & and helping out on the night! And a extra big thanks to Ernie for coming with me to shop, cook, and clean! This guy is tireless! From the time I picked him up at 2:30pm, to the time he left at 12:30am, he didn't stop working! I shudder to think what would have happened with the food had he not been there - he cooks twice as fast as me - and we were late anyway!

The place looked very impressive. Though, I think the lighting scheme didn't *quite* work out. The candles looked very nice. Andrew did a good job with their placement. :) (And the kerosene torches outside rocked!) But everyone was clumped over with the two tables of food, which happened to be right next to the well-lit kitchen, which kinda spoiled the whole dimly lit, jazz club feel. Ah well. I think everyone was suitably "wowed" by the house anyway. It is pretty huge. We held the party in the open plan living area - which is about the size of 4 spacious rooms put together! The 50 people we had there barely filled half the area.

The live musician (Andrew's friend's brother) definitely made a difference with the atmosphere. Live music always does. This guy, Raymond, did pretty well, playing and singing jazz classics on a beautiful sounding jazz guitar. Anyway, I think I've rambled on enough. Am feeling kinda sleepy now, after stuffing myself with lunch (leftovers from the party)! *yawn* Oh, I took lotsa pics with my parents very nice digital camera. I'll put them up in the gallery asap.

Current listening :: "Georgia on my mind" - Ella Fitzgerald

Nego thoughts

Life has been waaay too busy lately. Even though work has only been moderately busy, everything else has just been piling on top, until I feel like I can almost not handle it. Ugh. I hate having so many things to remember that my brain feels like its crashed and I can't recall even one of them. I hate the feeling of doing something so difficult that I despair of being able to do it at all, much less finish it on time (reminds me of uni assignment days! :P). The feeling of helplessness, things being out of my control, is the one thing that really makes me stress. I'm normally quite laid back, but when I get like this, I don't handle things very well. Found myself binging last night on chocolate to try and just destress. It sorta worked. :P

*sigh* I need a break. :( I hate to be so negative and all.. but life kinda sucks at the moment. Hopefully things'll be better next week. Its just this week, with writing my first study (since like 4/5 yrs ago) for the Glue girls (and boy was it hard), organising Andrew's 21st present, Andrew's 21st food, Andrew's 21st whatever!

SARS

Just found out yesterday that an old high school friend of mine, Thomas, who moved back to HK when he was in like year 9 or 10 contracted SARS. How scary. He got it whilst working at the Prince of Wales hospital in HK. Fortunately he's fully recovered now. He was one of the first people to recover and be released from hospital actually, and is immune to the virus now.

I was chatting to him on ICQ and he tells me that he was interviewed by The Australian newspaper (the article is in todays paper if people wanna grab a copy) - seems he made it to front page, and there's a nice big photo of him on page 10. He was also interviewed by 60 minutes, which will be airing on Sunday 13th April.

Current listening :: "I'd still say yes" - The Braxtons (such a beautiful, classic slow jam - Ramons' been using it for our lyrical routines lately :))

The asian parent epidemic
Ok, I'm feeling pretty peeved at the moment, so bear with my little rant. Here is where the story begins..

This morning, I got my dad to drop me off quite early at the station because I planned on visiting Koorong before catching the train to work. (I needed to look at some stuff for my bf's group pressie). Anyway, I spent a good half hour in there, getting prices, comparing different books etc. Then I caught the train in.. and I had just arrived at Wynyard when my dad calls me saying my boss called home asking for me. Now thats quite unusual, because I wasn't even late. I was arriving at normal time, and have arrived later than this fairly often.

So my dad was freaking because he thought my boss was calling because I was late or something stupid like that. So I get in to work and I find out my boss was calling home simply because: a) he didn't have my mobile number, and b) there was some work that I had to do for this person, and she was becoming anxious about getting it completed - he just wanted to know whether I was coming in today (I was off sick yesterday), and if not, he'd get another to complete the work.

Anyway so it's all cool, I do the work etc etc. Then I get this suprise call from my mum asking where I was (whether I was at work), and to give her my bosses name and number. What the?!? She must've found out from dad about my boss calling. So she's being silly and thinking I'm getting in too late. She actually wants to call my boss and ask him what is the starting time for my work and whether I was getting in too late. I, of course, refuse to give it to her. I mean how unprofessional would that look, not to mention embarrassing and downright bl..dy hindering awkward! I really think she has no right to meddle in affairs to do with my work! I mean sheesh!!

*ok think caaalm.. deep breath in.. deep breath out..*

Well, I feel a bit better now. But I still am stuck with the problem of my mum wanting my bosses number. I managed to stave her off by saying I'll try and find out "official starting times" (not that I think there even is such a thing here!) She wants me to show her a document from HR as proof, or something ridiculous like that. I'll see if I can get my hands on one I suppose. Though I really don't think one even exists! Oh, and she threatened to find out my bosses number by herself (by calling up and enquiring) if I didn't give it to her.

*sigh* I think I need to move out. Real soon. Anyone got any vacancies?? Please?!?

There was one occasion a while ago where I was complaining about to an Aussie friend about my parents chucking a fit over me coming home too late. This friend then commented about how cute/sweet it was that my parents were so concerned about my going out too much/coming home too late. And I was sitting there thinking "What on earth are you talking about? It ain't cute or sweet in the slightest!! It's absolutely, frustratingly annoying!". Its times like this I really wish I had Aussie parents.

Current listening :: "Beautiful Collision" - Bic Runga