Longing

Such is life... when u pick a day to behave outside of routine that u get screwed up.  

i woke up with a voice persuading me to take a train into the city instead of driving. it'd save me 'time' n worrying about car park. i drove to the train station and caught a bus because Hurtsbridge line trains were not running. oh what luck. caught a bus to Richmond (that's where the bus terminates) and caught a train to Flinders St to meet the LG gang, half an hour late. didn't help that i was craving for my 'morning' coffee. I planned my journey so that i had ample time to get one when i got to the city. ah... such is life. 

Had a wonderful lunch, thanks to Stephen! totally enjoyed my outing with the gang, eating and adjourning to Kbox to go a little crazy. i have to say it was a lil crazy cause i chipped my front tooth. HOW? u don't want to know. just know that my tooth is incredibly sensitive at the moment. can't wait for Monday to call the dentist. to upset myself a lil more, let's remind myself that i have a lunch date tmrw with my girlfriends at a Thai place LG chef recommended, it's suppose to be REALLY GOOD. :( ... such is life. 

tonight, LG was packed to the brim (to the door i should say). it was incredibly busy and perhaps a lil short of staff and didn't help that Michael cut someone's shift cause of his childishness. was i irritated at work? no not really. at times yes, kinda lightly scolded a couple of staff but no big deal. i reckon everyone handled their tables pretty well (except one) and Michael controlled his temper (except that one table).  anyway, nowadays i am beginning to enjoy LG more and more. it's strange. i don't know how to describe this feeling. i seem to be rather 'addicted' to that place. it brings me joy... in a weird way. it lightens my mind (not my body but the mind is a lot stronger). i do my job but when allowed, i turn into a kid that plays, make faces and have fun. i have no fear basically. not because i don't care about the job, but the people are such that they allow me to behave as such. =) 

anyway, we signed off at 12:30am tonight (of all nights, when i don't have my car) but we left smiling. got to the train station and realised Hurstbridge still didn't have trains. My next bus was at 1:20am. i had so much time. i sat down and looked about at people around. of course, there were the rowdy ones, drunk ones, homeless ones etc but what i paid attention to was a couple. the girl standing on the edge of the train door, the guy on the other side, both holding hands and not wanting to let go. the last train was 1:10am, clock was ticking 1:08am. the look of longing, to be in his arms a little longer, to spend that one more minute with him. i smiled and thought must be a new couple. sweet but how long will this last? there was another incident tonight, a loving girlfriend hung around the city to wait for her boyfriend to finish work. it may seem like such a small thing. but imagine just walking around the city with nothing you really want to do, just waiting for time to pass. to some, it's known as 'waste of time' but to that particular person, it's waiting to see the person she loves. one would think if you bothered to wait so long, there must be a supper or a long drive to spend together afterwards. truth is, he drove her to the train station, parked the car, walked wrapping hands around each other, sent her off at at the right platform and went home, both smiling. ah the good times... 'i'd drive a million miles just to see you for 5 mins'..... 

on a totally opposite note:

often you'll find travelling on public transport, a couple dressed in baggy clothes, man with tattoo, long hair thinking he is all that; girl looking frail and pale following behind. it is so obvious the man isn't kind. there was an incident where one such couple got on a tram, the man started yelling obscenities at the woman in front of all other passengers. all because she moved away from a seat (cause it stank), the man got upset and started yelling "why must you always go against me? why can't you just sit here? *obscene obscene* ... it started to pour. first thought on everyone's mind "why does she stay with him?". now, why? what we saw in that incident was him going 'crazy' and treating her bad. maybe there is a softer side to him at home, when he is in a 'good' mood that he showers her with plenty of love and smiles. he may be one that acts on emotions. when he fires up, he needs to do what he needs to do and she should very well understand (does he give what he expects?). perhaps, she does. she may feel bad because it was in public but she's probably used to it by now. i wonder if this is how it all starts, u get frightened, u shrink into a shell and in ur mind, tell urself 'it'll blow over, i'm not really here' and it'll be ok. it's only words. we've seen so many ads on TV, "i thought it was my fault" "he said i made him do it" "i made him angry" etc etc... u live in denial and convince urself it's no big deal. it happens once in long time and u r too ashamed to tell anyone about it. but i guess we are programmed to love ourselves, we will know when enough is enough and walk away. i sympathise with these women. i'm not sure how i'd react if i were one of them. 

funny how that one hour ride from the city back home got my mind thinking about such things. maybe this is what books are meant to do.  right now, i have to admit i am both physically and mentally exhausted...

my thoughts are my own...

mysterious

recently i've had quite a many thoughts that i've been wanting to jot down... but just couldn't really be bothered... 

i had a rather vivid dream last night. one of those where u really could feel the emotions of 'u' (the u in the dream). more often that not, those dreams dun leave u happy and smiling the next morning, in fact, it bugs u all day n the question 'what did that dream mean' keeps lingering at the back of your mind. at least that is the case for me. i won't say the dream involved blood or killer; car crash or death; falling from a building etc... it was something so commonly disturbing. ah well, a good night sleep will get rid of this shadow. that is, IF i have a good night sleep. but i did wake up to a very sweet sms this morning which lighten the heart a lil. =) 

the other thing i wanna blog about is stupidity. i'm sure many of us have met extremely stupid ppl in our lives, but none as stupid as one i come in contact with on a daily basis. there r some things u share with your partner; some things u share with ur girlfriends and there are definitely some things u do not tell a work colleague. telling a work colleague what u do during office hours (besides work) is the height of stupidity... especially when u have already lost all respect that we once had for u (if we did). 

on to something different, i've been climbing quite a bit lately which i'm sure i've mentioned before. last night, lynn n i went to climb again but i think we both had a bad n busy day so we were lacking the energy and strength, routes that we could finish 2 weeks ago seems so difficult last night. :( let's hope next week will b slightly better...

oops, getting grumpy. i think it's time to sleep. maybe my next post will b a happier one. 

my thoughts are my own...

25th Birthday

This is an update on a absolutely fabulous weekend i had... i shall start from the beginning... 

it started with brad walking into the office with 'happy birthday' printed all over a paper bag... hehe.. brad's gift to me was 3 different sizes of tupperware container! i really like it! tupperwares are meant to be unbreakable.. to pass onto the next generations.. haha... i've mentioned before that i like but i don't have and now i have. ;) the next gift was a box of jasmine/green/orange tea from alex, for my morning and afternoon teabreaks. hehe... then... after work, the lab (brad, alex, kat, joanna, lisa) and i went to the corkmen's, this pub about 10mins walk from uni for some drinks. it was a birthday eve plus alex's honours thesis hand in celebration (yes, another year has gone.. 3 honours students have graduated since me, in the brown lab.. i feel old). anyway, it's nice when you can leave the differences at work and head off to the pub for a couple of drinks with your workmates for some good chat, laugh, and of course gossip.. drinks at the pub lasted about 2-3hrs... 

Joe picked me up and we went for dinner at a thai restaurant on lygon st. joe seemed rather distracted during that time (later on i found out why...hehe) but he did give me my pressie!! necklace u see in the charlie's bar pics and a hand-drawn card. the card was very very sweet. ;)

so dinner was pretty quick (probably because my drinks went a bit long hehe), joe took me to Carlie's Bar on harware lane... went down the stairs n joe hurriedly asked me to go to the bar to get a drink n i stopped and looked n went 'NANCY! I SEE NANCY!' at first, i thought nancy was with her colleagues as she sometimes have drinks with them. so i went towards her table and suddenly! i saw bock and gerry! n then lynn writing a huge card... haha... i have to say, i was very very surprised. but the most surprising thing was when i opened my present from everyone (if u haven't seen the pics, go see! if u have u'd know what i'm talking about). never in my right mind would i imagine to receive such a gift... it's what i really needed and also something i've planned on buying (when i have enough cash..) but the most important bit was the thought, the heart and the generosity that everyone put into it. i have no words to describe how i felt/feel and how touched i am by what you all did for me (you know who you are). =) 

on sat, i had a very lazy day. slept all day, worked at night. even work was easy and finished early so we went for supper after hehe. n on sunday, i went shopping with nancy, bought myself a laptop bag (with mum and dad's ang pau hehe) and at night the girls brought me for a mexican/spanish dinner. i believe paella is a spanish dish but it was a mexican restaurant - Amigos! the food was good, very nice actually. dinner didn't end too late as it was a sunday but it was nice and relaxing, maybe lynn wasn't so relaxed. she was quite agitated by the waiters and totally fascinated by the table next to ours cuz they drank SO MUCH! hahahha.... 

besides the outing and the pressies and cards, i got many birthday wishes on sms, phone calls and also online msgs. i'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who wished me happy birthday. 25 years old... a mile stone, wouldn't you say? i don't feel any older or any different. ok maybe a little older... in the sense that i don't want big parties anymore. hanging out with close friends/family seems so much more appealing. 

Birthdays seem like such a good time to look back and reflect on life... the happiness i feel after the celebration often makes me think what would life be without... and how blessed i am with..

i cannot imagine what life would be like without my big family, one that has brought me up with so much love and support, patience and guidance. the morals that have been instilled in me has made me who i am. my friends, from primary years to high school to college to uni to work, you guys have filled my life with so much colours. the materials in life will never compare to the relationships we have. i truly thank my lucky angel that has watched over me all these years... 

my thoughts are my own...

...

i always felt that i was the only one that truly hated my job in the lab... but i think there is someone else that feels exactly the way i do, at least at the moment. it's nice when you wake up in the morning and you look forward to a day of exciting experiments, new findings etc.. as compared to waking up, refusing to get out of bed and totally have no idea why the hell you do what you do. ah, i've felt that way too often nowadays. when you feel that a big part of your life is turning ur life a lil blue.. what do u do? you turn your attn to something else, focus on things that may put some meaning to your daily existence...but the issue being a big part of your life will always creep back in and make u blue.

anyway, things just have not been going well for me the past 2 days. i did a little more than i could handle over the weekend i suppose cause y'day it was as if i was on drugs, i felt half-asleep all day, came home n went to bed early. sleep really is so important. a person gets cranky when he/she is tired. there will be no understanding whatsoever of the surrounding or anyone really... like babies. babies get what they want, when they want.

there are times when u feel enough is enough. but how do u make it known that you are very fed up? it's so easy for a 3rd party to say 'just say it.' 'tell it to the person's face' blah blah blah.. but seriously? confrontations aint easy. we as cowards will often choose the easier path, move away, give each other some space and let it pass. at least, that's what most people do. they give the angry person space. however, there is a certain person i know who has no clue when someone is angry at her. she has no sense that someone totally dislikes her and she is still able to rub her face in your's. i'm totally puzzled. seriously, seriously baffled. it annoys the hell out of me but first things first, i have to control my own emotions. how?? argh. when a person has crossed the line, every lil shit that is done, even the slightest noise that comes out of her annoys me. this isn't good. this, on a daily basis isn't good for my health. it's either i practise 'zen' or i move away totally... or block out the shit and concentrate on the fun.

not many people will understand what really eats u up inside.. we all have problems and we don't need to take on other ppl's problems. there r times u just need some understanding....

my thoughts are my own...

Satisfaction

lately LG had been going quite well. i haven't seen Michael go nuts in awhile now, he hasn't even raised his voice at anyone (on the nights i work anyway) which has lifted people's moods, mine for sure. i go to work (on busy nights) without the 'fear', i say hello n wave when i walk in like it's my house; i tell Michael to hurry up and open the door at the end of the night cause i want to go home... i have to say i am enjoying this part time job of mine a lot lately. it helps that i've been getting wonderful customers. by wonderful i mean customers that give big tips. last saturday, i had a customer that tipped $110! that is the biggest tip i've ever seen in my waitressing 'career'. needless to say, we were all shocked. their total bill was $750, normally after spending so much on dinner; you really wouldn't want to spend anymore. however, this guy was obscenely generous. my (and Brad's) guess is that he's from US, it's in him to tip 15% of the total bill. oh well whatever the reason, bit tip = big smiles. ;)

running on that high, i went to work last night high-spirited. last night was considered busy for a weeknight and only 3 people worked but we did pretty well, no one lost their temper except a table of 5 thai women. seriously, asians aren't the best customers. anyway, those 5 women's table wasn't on my row n i really disliked them, just the way they behaved. the first time i asked them if i could get them anything they shrugged me off and waited for Michael. everything they wanted they went up to Michael and of course Michael being Michael took special care of that table. WHY? i have no idea. they did not look like good tippers. anyway, the whole time they were taking pictures of each other (yes because they are so beau-ti-ful... my ass), camera's flash kept going off. it annoyed me and i wasn't sitting directly towards the flash. so imagine what the aussie customers on the other table felt - angry. so then, the guy on the aussie table turned around and told the asian ladies the flash was irritating them. the asian ladies cast some looks at the aussie, went up to Michael and complained. michael apologised to the asians, i apologised to the aussies and made sure the rest of their night was good. at the end, i got a $20 tip from them. the asians? 5 bucks. my god... i guess Michael did a bad job. haha...

there was this other table of 2 businessmen last night, very nice ppl. they asked me what my name was and introduced themselves. they were one of the last tables to leave, i chatted with them for a little while. as always, customers ask "what are you studying?" and the shock on their faces when i tell them i graduated 3 years ago. then they asked what do i do and why am i working at LG, don't i have a boyfriend... they also commented that i kept smiling the whole nightand everytime i went to their table they'd go "still smiling ching" and smile back. towards the end of the end, one of them went "ching!", i turned and looked and he goes "you stopped smiling, i'm getting worried", that was so funny. i said "oh you know... it's the end of the night" and he goes "time for us to go?" i smiled. hahaha... er... yes? so yea, they paid the bill and tipped 30 bucks, thanked us and left. NICE! oh another table asked for my name too. i think i need to give myself a name much easier to remember than wy ching or ching or wy. i tell them wy ching, chances are they won't remember. i tell them ching, they go "chin? ching? oh ching." or if i tell them wy "wy? as in WHY?" *faint*

anyway, it's not so much the money when it comes to tipping (ok it is, but hugs are good too, yes i do get hugs) it's also the satisfaction you feel after your table has left; that you've given them a good night; the fact that they personally come up to you to say thank you for a good night, the appreciation. most of us don't see it that way. there are people that look down on waiters. if i've never worked in a restaurant, i'd never understand how difficult or how tiring it can be. how must patience you need to put up with horrible customers or terrible bosses. some of us need to do it for a living but i believe there are those who truly loves being in the service industry because it can be really satisfying. that's probably me. lab work isn't going well at the moment. well, the work itself is going fine, but the sense of fulfillment = zero. i need so much more than what lori is offering at the moment. my purpose here is to do science, not to push some commercial company's stock price up. if i feel our research has a problem i'd like to discuss it, not have it shoved into a black hole. the feeling i get is, keep the negative thoughts to yourself, and only show what is positive...

PR oh PR... how long more is it going to take?

my thoughts are my own...

HardRock

lynn's been bugging me to go rock climbing (according to her since.. forever haha..) and finally last night i said ok. well i said ok 2 weeks ago but i hurt my back the morning i was going to go climbing so she had to wait 2 weeks till i healed. anyway, we went last night to Hardrock climbing gym in the city, on swanston st, opposite melbourne bath (for those of you who've been to melbourne). i think we both did pretty well for our first time after so long and we are not sore today.. haha...

it brought back memories... i was pretty tired after climbing 3 routes, mind you the walls are a lot higher than Summit. i was pretty damn scared when i got to the top, even half way was scary. we had to go thru the training course to start, putting on ur harnass, how to tie the fig.8 knot..... this place is a lot safer compared to summit. back then, we only had a figure of 8 for the climber. here, there r 2 rabbits ears plus figure of 8 on the climber. for the belayer, you have to be hooked to the ground. i remember once i belayed big david in Summit and i went flying up when i let him down. it was pretty funny but unsafe i guess. anyway, hardrock climbing is a lot more serious and commercialised. there were instructors standing around, making sure your knots are tied the right way and that you are doing the 5-step belay thingo.

i like the climbing... but i liked it more when i did it in Summit. after college, going there to climb but also to hang out. there weren't as many ppl and it wasn't always packed. i remember there were times we practically had the gym to us friends and the guys showing off their muscles. oh that's the other thing lynn n i noticed, ppl working at hardrock weren't climbers (well.. we don't think) their bodies didn't look like those of hardcore climbers =p

anyway.. it was nice and i'd go back but maybe at a different time cuz last night was just packed! right now.. i feel like going home to sleep. there is just something annoying me sooo terribly much that i feel like punching her in the face.

ah well... climb~~~

my thoughts are my own...

took awhile...

i haven't been here in awhile... work/lab's been quite crazy lately but i've got some things to share... i got a new car!! most of you would have known by now and i promised to put some pics up so here there are... pictures of my beautiful toyota yaris! ;) i love it! it's so cute and so nice to drive hehe.. needless to say, i've been driving around quite a lot.... heh..







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on a totally seperate note... it's been one hell of a week... second week back at LG after my unintended 2 weeks break. last night was busy as hell, didn't help that only 4 ppl were at work, well 3 actually cuz i dun really consider michael as one of the staff. he just does.... god knows what. the bar was filled with glasses and what does he do? stands at the cashier. at one point, i didn't even bother to clear glasses from tables cuz there was just no place for it! busy period is coming up now, christmas is coming, the weather is getting lovingly warm... LG needs new staff.

lori's been on leave this week, working from home. every so often she takes time off from us noisy bunch to write up grants and stuff. this is also the week we closely observed a particular someone in our lab. let me give u a brief example of the way she works:
Monday: in 1130am, out 4pm
Tuesday: in 7am, out 7pm <-- we tot she turned over a new leaf n then..
Wednesday: in 1230pm, out 3pm.
oh n this is even better, she was suppose to present at lab meeting next wednesday but she went n swap with some other person so she doesn't have to present next week but to do it middle of next month instead. MY GOD. and she gets the same pay as me?????? URGH. rubbish. some ppl are truly totally RUBBISH.

sometimes it's important to listen, to stop talking and listen. ur brain absorbs better what is said when u r not distracting it. can't let emotions run wild and simply confront a person... things often get said the wrong way and wrong words r used. i think this is why we bitch. we get reallyy angry/emotional about something, we go up to a close 'neutral' friend and pour it all out. to release all the bad thoughts. first to let everything out, and then filter thru what was anger and what was real.

"sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can always hurt me"



my thoughts are my own...

Long overdue

Hello.. i'm back again and thousand apologies for putting these pics up a lil late... for those who have been anxiously waiting...sorry... ;)

Marvin and D were here a few weeks ago for a short holiday. we took them on a tour around yarra valley and here r the pics we took while we were there...

My dear cousin looking all happy and ready to get drunk hahaThis was the first stop: Sticks winery

Then... DeBortoli

Having some cheese outside DeBortoli winery. Joe sure look like he is enjoying the cheese.. no time to smile for cam...

Then.... this was...yiks can't remember the name of the winery but it was on top of a hill. very beautiful.

Joe at Ferguson's

Yering Station... met Lynn and Emily there for lunch..food was good, service was bad.

Our last stop: Chandon

I like this pic...

my thoughts are my own...

Jasmine

Today i had lunch with bock and adel (bock's close friend from s'pore) at ing doi (thai restaurant). as we were about to pay and leave, i saw a group of 4 walked in n this guy looked so very familiar... although i didn't pay much attn cuz they (who i tot it was) went back to m'sia for good about 2 years ago.... i guess he saw me too cuz we had a second look at each other and my mouth dropped. i was quite shock to see him. him as in ivan. ivan, the chef from jasmine. ivan, the chef who treated me like a lil sister while i worked at jasmine. and then i looked around the group and i saw that smile, OVY! i was so surprise and at the same time so happy. i do think of them from time to time, afterall i attended their wedding. waris, remember? hehe.. ovy and ivan always treated me very well when i was at jasmine.....

ppl come and go in your life... but some would leave a deeper footprint than others. ovy and ivan have definitely made my first couple of years in melbourne a lot warmer =)

my thoughts are my own...

a nice sunday part II

this is a continuation from the post below... so please read that first if you haven't =)

where was i... back to work in the evening... while i was working, joseph called and said sisil n him will wait for me for dinner (very sweet of them)... so we decided to go to LEMONGRASS for dinner. haha... well there were some push for someone to want to eat there but anyhow, i wanted to try the food there too. i believe u need to taste the food to be able to recommend good dishes to customers ;) so we got there and to my surprise, lemongrass was pretty busy for a sunday night. i felt a bit bad to walk in when they were busy but not THAT busy that there was no table for us so we sat down anyway. haha... it was funnily comfortable. at least i was, the whole night sisil looked a bit tensed and she was sitting at the edge of her seat as if she was ready to jump up n help out if it got too busy. joeseph and myself seemed rather 'at home' so at home that we started taking pictures... Joseph seems happy with lemongrass food. well i was cuz we had bigger portions (kitchen staff knew it was us) hehe... hmmm yummm....mango magnifico (with alcohol) it was very nice, thank you stephen for making me a lychee vodkatini and this yum yum mango drink that u knew sisil will love ;) well to be honest, it all tasted so good cuz it was FOC. hehehehe..... it looks like the 3 of us were against a black sky but seriously we were in lemongrass restaurant, don't ask me why everything was blacked out behind. thinking about it now... i wonder what the other customers were thinking about the 3 of us. we were laughing soooo much so much that i teared. also, we kept joking n laughing with the waiters (paul, edgar, stephen and gary) the whole night. ah this is evidence that despite us joking around, edgar and stephen were actually attending to customers... one taking the bill, the other probably going to sit some customers down.... and this... this paul.... that was him the whole night circling around our table looking like that! hahahahaha.... he seemed possessedly happy.

some might think it's weird to go eat at where u work but i think it's kinda nice...once in awhile. firstly, we get really good discount, we get good service (well fairly good from paul... didn't serve us share plate!) hehe... the 3 of us sat there n chat till they close, we were chatting when they were cleaning up n after awhile sisil said let's help so we got up n help but didn't really do much also just a lil bit. hehe...

well michael saw us and said hi to us and he was the one who gave us that excellent discount. i think michael's changed a bit since the arrival of his daughter. he seems less angry... for now. one thing is for sure though, no regrets working in LG, the friends i've made there are FA-BU-LOUS!

a nice sunday

Katherine, Paul, Edgar
Shang, Stephen, Sisil, Joseph, Wy

It's Monday again and as always ... i dun like Mondays but today doesn't seem so bad maybe because i had a good weekend. i did have to come to work in the lab on Saturday and Sunday but i managed to spend 'some' time with lg friends too. yesterday was our lg outing, had yum cha (dim sum) at Dragonboat Chinese restaurant.


while we were walking there i walked past Jasmine Thai on Crown... every now n then when i'm there, i'll peek just to see how it's doing. this time, it wasn't there anymore....yup... jasmine closed down. i heard frank mentioning it earlier this year i just didn't think it'd really happen. while i was there, business always seemed so good especially on weekends. then again... that was 5 years ago so who knows what might have happened. ahh memories of Jasmine... my first job ever... how innocent and naive and inexperienced but without Joanne, Ovy, Ivan, Nooei, Mei Yee etc... my waitressing 'career' wouldn't have started.


......back to my day with LG gang...... =)


after yum cha, while we were deciding where to go from there Joseph and i did some silly stuff... eg. take pictures with an elephant that was outside crowne plaza hotel... haha... the ' ah siaos' of the lg gang...





anyway, we ended up in galactic circus in Crown. played some games, i really suck at this 'drum' n DDR games, gosh.. but it was embrassingly funny.... played some basketball game too, 4 of us played twice n each one only got one ticket at the end of the game. how pathetic. u know those tickets were u collect after a game to exchange pressies. the guys played daytona too. guys as in shang, stephen, edgar. what was paul doing? hmmm... watching ppl i guess hehe... we were at the arcade for a couple of hours and after that paul, edgar and stephen had to go to work; sisil, joseph and katherine went wandering around the city; shang went home and me.. went back to the lab to continue the experiment i left halfway from the morning................. there is a part II to this day.... ;)



click on the pic if u wanna see it BIG!

...

If everyone else sees it but you... is it self-centeredness that blinds you?

Being on the same page is very important...

i think it's all headed the wrong way......



my thoughts are my own...

On a cold dark quiet night...

you dun know what u've got till it's gone... we hear that so often but u've got to experience it to truly understand what it feels like. n when it's gone... it may never come back, how sad n depressing that feels like...

i'm reading a book - 'mercy by jodi picoult'. her books always seem to get me emotionally (esp when i read 'my sisters keeper'). some might think such books shouldn't be read, that it makes u sad. but i think books like these can sometimes make u see outside the box.... maybe u can try to comprehend what a person is feeling when he/she is going thru events u have never experienced.....

sacrifice without expectations... it's impossible. it's impossible to totally have no expectations AT ALL. there will come a time when the imbalance of it all tips the person over. but as long as there's love, appreciation, gratitude, respect and kindness.. it may make the giving person a lil more giving?

i dun like winter. i dun like mid year maybe.... it's july already. 2008 hasn't been the best of year for most people... there's been so many unpleasant news, health, wealth, career, happiness, relationships... hopefully the next half of the year would turn around................... =)

my thoughts are my own...

Monday Blues~~

Monday morning... i feel so sleepy and so not in the mood for work. doesn't help that it's freaking freezing nowadays. gosh... no idea why the wind's been so strong lately... and all that creepy noises u hear in the middle of the night due to strong wind.. *eeeee*.....

can't believe my weekend went by so quick! was really looking forward to a relaxing weekend but it turned out to be rather eventful. saturday night i went to a world vision charity dinner organised by Aunty Pin. she organises one every year. unlike last year, this year there were games and raffles! i won 3 pressies!! woohoo so lucky! got myself a tub of honey, honeycomb (yummmm) and a set of shaver/scissors for hair cut. haha.. one day.. maybe one day i'll try to cut my own hair. oh, we played this game as well: 5ppl/group. what u have to do is list down all the things u can think of, that u appreciate, is grateful for, things we have here that the less fortunate kids don't have... the group that comes up with the most wins. guess how many my group came up with? 16... the winner got ~75 *embarassed*. but but... we did win the second game! same concept but this time, anything that has to do with olympics (we came up with 73). it was really funny cuz we came up with really random things like tall people, short people, sushi and what not. hehe...

sunday was lemongrass outing day. had lunch then we went karaoke. pretty good to K in the afternoon so much cheaper! the LG gang can't hang out at night cause someone is always working. ven wants to organise a day trip to Mt.somewhere for skiing. not sure if that'll happen cuz when sisil doesn't work, edgar has to and if edgar doesn't, sisil must... so...... we shall see...
ah... there's a new member added to the group so here's a pic of Joseph... the youngest of LG gang...

Stephen, Shang, Jenny, JOSEPH
Shan, Ven, Edgar

after my day with LG, i had dinner with lynn. that crazy lynn made me eat sooooooo much at BC. i didn't say no when she ordered so i guess not really her fault but STILLLL ..... she's the one who had cravings. wahhh last night go home stomachache. hahaha...

think the next LG outing will be basketball. i look forward to that, haven't played sports or sweat in a long time!

damn i hate mondays.....

my thoughts are my own...

Back in Melb

Well I’m back in Melbourne. I’m sitting at the arrival hall writing. I’ve had the worst flight in a long time! It started with me finding someone already at my seat when I got there. As it was, I wasn’t feeling exceptionally happy when I walked into the aircraft. I just showed the air stewardess my ticket and she shooed the random person away. She was sitting with her sister so they had to be separated, it was a family of 6 (?) traveling with a 4 year old. It was all good when the sisters insisted on sitting together so the seat next to me was left empty (it wasn’t a full flight). If u know me well enough, u’d know the night I fly back to Melbourne, I am normally pretty tired. The moment I get on the plane I knock out n sleep till I land. I normally don’t even eat. But today… TODAY…. all thanks to that freaking noisy 4 year old, I think I slept a total of an hour. I actually watched 2.5 movies. Gosh, usually I don’t even watch ¼ of a movie. Every time I closed my eyes n actually fell asleep (which was harder than normal to do) I hear her cries. Oh I should emphasize, its not just cries, it was SCREAMS!! Freaking screams!!! And the mum had to speak really loud over her screams, the mum was like ‘sayang sayang.. diam diam diam’. I was so tempted to shout ‘DIAM LA BODOH!!!’ urghhhh… well I am obviously extremely cranky. I think someone should come up with some ‘light medication’ for kids while they travel. Esp kids that r spoilt n scream their lungs out. There were babies on the plane too. They cry; they don’t freaking scream!

My week in KL was like most other KL holiday. Packed full of events nightly but day time was all right. I think I had some decent rest during the week days. What did I do? Hang out with the family, shopping, hang out with friends, karaoke with the cousins + aunt & uncle... The shopping was ok this time, I did buy stuff but because my sister was so busy working I didn’t go crazy. That is a good thing; I was kinda on a budget anyway hehe… glad to say the family is still as fun as ever!!

The yum cha sessions with friends were hmm indescribable. That is because I don’t know to call it lame, funny, entertaining or…… kidding la cempakans! I think only the cempakans will understand that sort of level of jokes. Haha.. jokes that are constantly targeted at some poor souls. I guess that’s how Edwin shows his love and his way of bonding with the guys. Hahahhaha he’ll so scold me for this. It’s ok Edwin, u can just admit it! The friendships that were made in high school somehow… are just incredible!

One thing I noticed though, was people in KL work till so late. It’s kinda crazy. And when you see them after work and ask them how was their day they’d just scrunch up their faces or frown or give u a shrug n say ‘bad’, ‘tiring’, ‘stressful’ or something along that line. So :( … but I guess no one is truly happy at their job and if I had to work till 7, 8, 9pm every night, I’d be grumbling too. Never worked in KL to understand how it is there. Maybe I should give it a try?

KL<-->Melb… I’ve traveled this route so many times yet none of the trip I leave is ever easy emotionally. I’ll need a day or 2 to adjust and get myself moving back to how it was…. for life to go back to ‘norm’… I suppose?

my thoughts are my own...

Evelyn Ong

Let me tell you about a suppose to be surprise that turn into a 'scare' story...

I haven't seen eve in a long long time.. and this holiday (yup, me home for a week) before i came back , i was told that eve is home which got me really excited, but that person realizing he might have spoilt something, told me eve would be gone by the time i get back so.. :(

but when i arrived home, some people (more than 1) told me eve is back. hehehe... of course i was really happy but looks like it won't be a suprise anymore. so anyway, on saturday night, su-yin came to pick me up, it was a girls night. i was casually walking out of my house thinking i'm sure eve is gonna be at the place we are gonna meet up. ... then suddenly this person just jumped out of the dark and went 'AHH!!' and i got scared and screamed!! that crazy evelyn ong!! su was just happily laughing inside the car. ish these ppl!! madness. it was funny though!! hehe... too bad han missed that bit of fun. but we did described it to her when we picked her up from bodega. poor han yin, sitting there by herself waiting for us thinking we were gonna have drinks there. instead, we just picked her up n drove off to sing song...

so here are us....

Monkey face eye, wy with red eye :(, Su-yin

Han, Eve, Wy, Jess/Su-yin

Wy & Eve at La Bodega night before Eve flew off.

the 4 of us haven't gone out together in ages n it felt good that night to be with the girlfriends u grew up with. how we've changed... moving into different phases of life.. yet remaining close. eventhough i haven't seen eve for more than a year, that night when i saw her it felt like i just saw her y'day. i guess that's what close friends r all about. =) oh oh and i got to meet Ben. FINALLY!! after sooo long!! at least i got to meet him before the wedding. hehe... really looking fwd to eve's wedding, i suppose when ur close friend is getting married, u urself will feel that joy, excitement and happiness too... or maybe i'm just nuts. haha...

brings u back to old times.. high school days, friends all around, life was easy and simple, u had the closest of ppl to talk about anything under the sun without the slightest bit of embarassment... life was good.. life is good when u have friends u grew up with around...

hello again

hello peeps!! it's been awhile eh... well the past few months have gone by pretty quickly without me having enough time to sit around to blog, or maybe i was just lazy....
so after a bit of 'persuasion' .. i'm back to share a bit of what's been going on in my life the past couple of months. hmm where should i start... let's go backwards... the most recent n interesting event was us moving into our newly renovated lab. the office and lab is now segregated, unlike before we sat and worked in the same area. so now, we can eat in the office and not worry about 'contamination'. the lab looks really good, the office is kinda small for 8 ppl. then again, not everyone is in the office at the same time. when we are, it just feels too damn suffocating.
so here are some pictures of the new lab/office...

left to right: Lisa, Michelle, Wy, Alex, Joanna, Emily, Anggia

This is Alex looking for his cells in the incubator

Michelle looking at the microscope, Lisa in the biohazard hood and me? taking something out of the waterbath i think.... Michelle at the centrifuge.. i should note, it was Michelle's last day so she's in most of the pics. hehe.. this is the office. Blue door <-- main door into the office. On the left is a row of desks for 6 ppl. behind where Lori is standing is her office.
lori's office door is right next to my desk (seperated by a filing cabinet) there.. if you can see where lori is standing is my desk... small huh? it is pretty crammed... when the girls start talking all together it gets a bit too noisy. sometimes, lori will close her door on us which means 'u guys r interrupting my work'. lori seldom closes her door, when she does it's cause she has a meeting or important phone calls. the other day, the girls were chatting and all of a sudden lori shut her door. i tot that was really funny, well i wasn't talking so it wasn't a slap to my face. hehehehhe... i should also state, unlike the corporate world, each desk do not have a phone. all 8 of us share ONE phone. sucks....

so just to recap - Brown lab members: Lori, Emily, Alex, Anggia, Michelle, Lisa, Joanna.
Brad wasn't around as he was in the U.S.

So tat's lab. it wasn't that great the past 5 weeks cuz brad was away and i guess i dun get along exceptionally well with the girls. we r ok just not close. i have a lot more fun talking to alex and brad. yes... bock's gone. he handed in his thesis in april and is now happily enjoying his life in singapore. no no, he hasn't gone back for good. he'll be back in melbourne sometime... :)