Brainwashed to the core.

Happy Belated New Year!
Quiet New Years for me. We didn't even watch/do the countdown, second or third year in a row. We're such an exciting family haha.
So far the New Year has been.....same as always, lazing around.
2012 isn't the end of the world, no surprise. In my opinion, that would happen some day. But i don't think it will be 2012.

Another 2 weeks and i'm off to H.K. for 3 weeks, exciting. Planning to do some shopping there, but then H.K. isn't that cheap anymore....so we'll see what we can get. Still i wrote a list just in case. The main thing though is to EAT!! Think i'll put on some kilos hehehe.

The only thing i can think of that i'm hating is the weather. I'm not fond of being hot, luckily its been cooling for the past days. Slept on the couch for a few days downstairs, cos it was that much cooler. But still Summer hasn't really arrived yet, or so i feel. Ugh, wait till uni starts again.....camp out in the library haha. A/C ftw!!
Talking about A/C, the one at work broke down =.=" Man its hot in the dispensary, and basically the whole shop. Its cooler outside, lame. And its new, recently put in....fail. Hopefully it gets fixed ASAP.

This Saturday gonna get my fuzzball cut. Not that there is much to cut anyways, gonna grow it out again. Mum seems to hate my short hair, i thought it was alright. Something different anyways. This time my mum planned for me to maybe get my hair permed. I think just loose curls....see how it goes >_<

Still got some cleaning to do in my room, do that before i leave. And pack some day soon....

Thinking about holidays makes me think of my long lived "dream". I so wish to live in Japan. A year or two....or more. Why? I guess i'm brainwashed by animes and mangas. Typical. But Japan is so interesting without them anyways. Its just that it was through anime and manga that i got to learn their culture and traditions, which is so intriguing.
I love the traditional japanese house with tatami mats, sliding door, futons, baths etc etc. Think you can guess my dream house hahaha.
Its the Land of ALL Cute Things. Its like the inventor of "cute".
Awesome, yummy, and interesting food!! I mean who else can get a lobster out of a vending machine....or underwear haha. They are really such innovative people.
Its a clean country. Kinda hard to explain, but like the recycling, or smoking areas. Its just proper and clean. They really set an example to other countries.
The majority of the people are well mannered and are really "connected". Even strangers have this closeness...which is hard to explain unless you've been to Japan. You can really feel the community.
Festivals!! Obon, tanabata, sakura viewing/hanami, shichi go san etc etc.

Ahhh, i could on and on and on about Japan. Its just such a nice place, having been there twice.
Sometimes i have a thought, "i wish i was japanese". I'll be living in Japan, go to school there....the schools are awesome. Cute uniforms, cultural festival, clubs....*drool*. Its so much more fun. I would so love to relive my school days there haha.
Yeah, i'm totally brainwashed.
But first i've got to master the language basics, going to go do a course once i graduate. That itself is quite fun!! I can't wait. I'm already learning while watching anime...you'll be surprised how much you can learn. You just pick it up, and since you find it interesting its so much easier. Which is why people say, "do what you love". You'll be so much more attentive.

I had always thought about doing an exchange program to go to Japan, in high school and uni. But then knowing my parents, i know they would be against the idea, so it was never put into action. I'll just wait. One day i would live this dream. Maybe not the school part....but everything else. I think i can say once i've accomplished that i can die happily. Yeah....brainwashed haha.
But Japan isn't the only place i want to go. The only other place which has attracted me is Venice, the City of Water. I would like to go visit Venice one day, just for a holiday for a few weeks maybe.

Ok enough dreaming. I think i'll be depressed if i think about it anymore.

Work tomorrow....wish me luck. I hope i don't drown in sweat :|

"Si~lent ni~ght...."

MERRI KURISUMASU~!

A day of rest for the parents; a family day for the family. Festivities in general isn't a big thing in our family. I guess the only thing we do "celebrate" is birthdays and the new year count down. Oh and mooncakes haha.

Maybe we can go somewhere next year for Christmas. I've always wanted a white Christmas (yeah i know, a lot do). Though really i just want to see snow. Missed the snow period in Korea, think when we left it started snowing again.....*disappointed*. Same with Japan, no snow...but that was the wrong season altogether haha.

Anyways, enjoy the festive day...either peacefully or noisily, safely! メリークリスマス!!

Merry or "merry".

Christmas eve (though feels just like any other day).
Nothing special today. Wait, scratch that. Something "special" did happen. We sold it. The restaurant is sold. 18th Jan 2012, we'll be gone.
Mixed feelings here. Its great news, to me. A sigh of relief. Not that i hate it. My life today would be thanks to it, to my parents working there for the past 16 years to raise us up. Though on another note it was the cause of the downfall in the family. Sure we have a fortunate life; money to spend, clothes to wear, food on the table, a house to live in. But i would have to say, thanks to it, the relationship of the family became awkward. Parents argue cos of work, argue with the brother cos of work, worrying about employing people, worry about the business etc. And because of it, body aches and pains developed from the years being there.


I'm happy we sold it. Parents aren't young anymore. I know they're tired. I've been secretly thinking for quite some time they should stop working there. Maybe it's earlier than expected, i'm still not at the point where i can fully financially support them. But its great that we can do more family things, hopefully. Things that have been missing for a long time. I admit that i'm not a daughter one would be proud of, but now i have a chance to make up for that. I want to mend this awkwardness.


I told my mum we should go out for dinner that night, the 18th Jan 2012. My mum told my dad while we were having lunch. My dad pauses and looks at me and says, "what, go out and celebrate or something? i'm becoming unemployed, i won't have anything to do...". Well i didn't mean it that way. All i meant was that finally we can go out and have dinner as a family. The only day we ever really go out for dinner is christmas day. Why? Its the only day we're closed. Yeah, working 364 days....typical asian worker. Hard working. But along the way, things are sacrificed. Maybe it could've been balanced out...but as i said, we're a awkward family.


Its expected that my dad would be sentimental and depressed about it, thinking what should he do now. Would take time for him to get over it. A lot of things will change. But things change every day. Humans adapt quite well.
Don't know what's coming our way, but i'm thinking it won't be so bad. As long as there's time, we can work it out. We'll just take it slow....ly.


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Anyways, enough of family stuff. I'm happy about it. Period.


Just a few days ago i was considering getting the Circulation Booster for the parents. But now i'm not so sure, mixed reviews about it :|
Caught in a dilemma. Thinking i should ask around at work now, ask some non-virtual beings instead. But then i would miss the christmas special, save $10 haha.
Its strange though. They say on the site that we'll save $100+ but i phoned terry white for their price and its the same as buying it online. Just didn't make sense to me, we'll be saving $100+ everywhere we go? I'm sure its just some marketing facade.


Work is busy, busy, busy. Everybody trying to get their worth of the safety net. And then before you know it we'll be hearing complaints all over again about prices going up. Especially the elderly with concessions. "What $5.80? I used to pay $3 (something).", or there'll be the odd customer saying "over in [insert country name] we get medication for free". I'm thinking too bad, we're in Australia....you gotta pay for everything.


Oh and finally i have someone who understands me at work. The previous pharmacist who did the webster packing bought up the issue with me last friday. I never mentioned it to anyone. I felt so touched. Did she read my mind or something. She's taken the initiative to talk to H about getting either E/J to help me pack, since i am doing less hours. So the plan is that i will share it with J. Still to be put into action, wait till New Years is over i think. I was just so happy, was trying hard to contain my happiness when she was asking me haha.


So i guess, all is good.

Feliz navidad!!

Can't sleep, so i shall blog about the day.
Day of packing websters all day, was such a quiet day in the shop. Maybe since the shopping centre was open and the surgery next door closed early for unknown reasons, again. But all the better for webster packing, maybe not so for the boss. Meh.

Had an hour to prep up for the party. But first things first was to check emails, fb etc lol. Ended up with 15 mins to prep....good enough lol.
Haven't worn heels in agessssss, which means sore feet. How do those girls wear stilettos, i have to say i'm amazed.

Started off slow, gradually building up with people warming up to others. Had a lot of fun; eating, dancing (macarena, tennessee waltz, taiwanese dance), singing some christmas carols (learnt feliz navidad, catchy song haha), games (woo! i got to be an angel lol), setting up, help out in the kitchen. Enjoyed the two performance by a few aunties; amazing voice, and my first time seeing the chinese harp being played (besides tvb dramas haha). Majority of the aunties and some uncles kind of assumed i spoke mandarin, i only understood a bit of it. So it was mostly nod and smile, or try to speak in very very basic mandarin haha, which got me through the night safe and sound. Met some very nice people and families, and stayed with daddy majority of the night.
Even got to see two santas hahaha! An asian one and a canadian one....the more the merrier! haha.

Disappointed i didn't manage to take some photos. But everyone was busy anyways, so i guess it will just be a night to be remembered. And of course, Anny and Tro did a good job being the MC's haha.
All in all: good food, good company and good entertainment is a good night!!

You know....

...that feeling when you rushed to do something and thinking you are finally done, but then realise you missed something and have to do it ALL OVER AGAIN.

Yes that's what happened to the pharmacist tonight.
He rushed to do the troche, did it perfectly and all. Just 10 mins past closing time, ready to go home....just needed to print out one last sheet. And then BAM, he realised he forgot the flavouring. Oops.
He has to redo it all over again. I would hate to have been in his position. Wanting to go home already but have to redo one troche. He told me to go home, i feel bad about it, but like he said "there's nothing else you can do here than wait". Which is true, i've pretty much closed up the shop already, everything's all set to go.
I wonder if he's still there....maybe not. Doesn't take that long to make it.

Its like the saying "slow and steady wins the race". Sure that's the best way to approach things. But in this day and age, being slow isn't economical or efficient. In chinese we have a saying, but i'm not sure how to translate it. Basically, its along the lines of when you do something do it fast, accurately, and presentable. Or in the case of food; to be quick, yummy and presentable. Westerners are always amazed at asians in any asian country. The most common thing they mention is at how fast we do things.

Not sure if i'm not used to the western culture, although born as an Australian, ABC, but i hate eating out at western restaurants. Its bearable if with friends, but if i had a choice i'd rather not go. For example, you go out to a fancy restaurant and order a steak. The restaurant is rather quiet,not busy, but you wait for at least 30 minutes before any sign of the steak appearing. And all it takes is about 10 minutes top to eat it? Ok so maybe your supposed to enjoy the food and eat a bit slower. But that all that waiting makes you even more hungry. I could've gone home and make a steak in 10 minutes. What is there to do? Spice it, flip it and plate it. And whats with asking how we'd like the steak. I have yet to have a steak which is done according to the request, medium rare. If you can't do it, don't ask.

But that's not the only thing that ticks me off. The size!
Massive plates with the tiniest portions (or salad more than anything else) topped off with the highest prices. Nothing about western food appeals to me. All i can say about it is, you can pretty much do it all at home, for part of the price and be much more satisfied.

Same with eating out and ordering a salad. I don't see the point of buying a salad when you are going out to eat, hence i'm not a fan of stores like Sumo Salad. Why pay for something you could've made at home. Even buying sandwiches is a bit iffy to me. But various reasons like wanting to be healthy, didn't make your own lunch or something else i can understand. But salad is a different story. Maybe its just me, when i go out to  eat i wanna eat something i can't or have difficulty making at home (or other reasons). Otherwise what's the point? For the sake of spending (or waste) more money?

So once again, i ended up ranting about something else. Typical.
Results out tomorrow night. That time of the year again.

Learning more about you.

Being a bit occupied yet free, decided to look up on how to take polaroid photos. Yes i know, aim and shoot. But no i meant like....the skill? How to produce good photos, getting the right angle etc. in one go.
Anyways, nothing came up to what i was expecting, though i wasn't looking in depth anyways....but i found something interesting i should note.

Here are two small things on the technical side that will affect how your photos turn out: how they are developed and the temperature. Don't shake your Polaroid. Contrary to popular belief, and a popular song, shaking your picture doesn't make it develop any faster. Vigorous shaking can actually damage the image and cause blobs in the picture. Minimal shaking probably won't affect the image very much but in order to get the best picture you should place the photo on a flat surface and not disturb it until it is done processing.

To be sure to get the correct colors in your photos, store your camera and film in room temperature. Film that is too cold may turn out with a blue tint and film that is too warm may turn out with a yellow tint.

Something we were doing wrong today...shaking the image. Well it did say on the instruction pamphlet, i let it slide. But now i know it can cause blobs, maybe i'll have to alert everyone. The film temperature, not really sure how i could control that besides keeping it in a cool area, out of direct sunlight?


I guess its a trial and error to see how i can get good photos, play with it more. The "bad" photos are actually not so bad....quite funny most of the times haha, like the "paranormal" hand we got in one of them today haha.

Getting hot and sweaty, down and dirty.

The most fun, awesome, best......limited vocabulary haha....BBQ ever!!
The food was yummy, and someone bought alcohol hahaha. Didn't get to try the other bottle, next time XD


Wind sailing is really awesome!!! Today's weather made it a great experience, being smooth and all. Singing and having everyone passing by looking at us, acting like pirates, stranded for a moment when we couldn't catch the wind haha, speeding in the water, racing with the others, wet bums....it was worth it. Should go longer next time. But too bad no kayaking :( Wanted to row a boat! And unlucky that some people had to leave early, though it was still enjoyable. Do it again some day....maybe a different venue? But i wanna sail with the wind again!!


Tried a bit of poi, and of course i sucked. Ended up self beating....yeah. But its interesting. Lots of photos, of course our personal cameraman haha. Wait till he uploads lol. Wish we could've taken photo whilst wind sailing, or even record us lol....gee it was hilarious on the boat. Got some good polaroid photos too. Finally figured out how to focus/position with a polaroid after experimenting with Tro while waiting for a train home. Got a good photo from it :D


Had some intense cricket, showed how out of shape i've become. Panting after a few runs, i'm ashamed hahaha. But it doesn't matter, we won. Woohoo!! Daddy and daughter combo ftw haha. Finally did some form of exercise. The observers were lying around, relaxing. Tro squirming around like some squid/octopus, and also enjoyed my lap pillow. Don't think i enjoy the grinding though hahaha!


Took some more photos to finish the day. Posing, climbing some trees haha, back to our primitive instincts? But damn wind had to blow my hair in my face, bad angle :| I gave up.


In the car heading home, we started to discuss the next plans. We have lots to do!! Hope we can do most of it. Everybody's gonna be busy next month, and most would be leaving in Jan...like me :)
The list gets longer and longer: ice skating, movie, board game cafe in Northbridge, darklight, bowling, rock climbing, adventure world, fremantle.


I'm exhausted now. Throat is really sore, too much singing and screaming haha. I'm also feeling like a burnt sausage (so dark), its only the first summery day too. Have a tan on my back, but that's ok. When winter comes it'll even out again, like it does every year haha.


Man....good day, good memories.

Days of my "life".

Supps were sent out yesterday, possibly still more to come. And i haven't received one, a blessing or not we'll see. One more week to be fully free.
But forget all that for now.
Nothing interesting has happened besides one or two outings. No surprise there.

Felt like starting a new blog, but too lazy to commit to it. Got the spark when i was reading Post Secret. Don't we all hide a lot of things from even your closest family/friends. Maybe it wasn't intentional, maybe you just couldn't bring yourself to say it openly. Afraid to be judged, afraid of ruining the present and possibly the future, or maybe you just didn't have the courage. Various and numerous reasons as to why we keep a secret/confession or two...or more. I know i have heaps. Tend to hide the truth in fiction....yes i lie, we all do. Maybe i should keep a diary of truth. That sounds interesting. The only thing is i hope no one ever finds it to read, now i need to find me a good hiding spot haha.


BBQ tomorrow, going to be fun and good weather....i wanna kayak!!


Random: i like basketball. But of course i suck, i'm so much better in my imagination....

Was thinking i should visit the public library and go borrow some books out to read. I haven't been there in such a long long time. Not ever since i started finished high school i think, and started to buy the occasional books. Good times, library was my favourite place in and out of school, borrow all these books to read. The max amount allowed. Made me feel kinda responsible too, having a library card of my own, being able to use it whenever i like haha. Reading all day and night, not sleeping (or study haha). 

Last year of high school they decided to make a library club....of course i joined, but damn why in my final year!! We got to read new books and decide if the library should keep it, was pretty fun. One sad thing though, i remember wanting them to buy a series of book, they only had book 1 & 5. They never bought it, i even requested twice :( But that doesn't matter, i came across them in big W one day and bought them myself. Now i'm having this urge to indulge myself in a book. I still have pile which i haven't read. Some were from my aunt, where some of them are series....and she didn't exactly buy them all. 

Pet peeve: to have a missing book from a series, or even worse book 1 is missing. I can not read the books i have in hand unless i have the whole series, or is absolutely sure i can obtain it somewhere. If i buy it, has to be every single book. Why buy book 2, and maybe 4. So when you want to read it again...go to the library for the rest, what if they don't have it? Or just read the ones you have? Annoys me. Kinda the same with movies/anime/manga, basically anything that's a series.
Anyways wonder if the library will take my old books. Doubt the secondhand bookshops will like them, or sell.


Still have to clean my room, maybe next week after results. A room makeover is what i need. Get rid of all these random useless things which i kept cos i felt heartless throwing them away (you never know, you might use it ONE day). Actually i'm still like that, but i'll try.
Should see the dentist soon too.
And the exercise i was meaning to start....