*ce......-le-brate good times come on!*

so going on from how i love shopping for birthday presents (yes i'm still on that), april is totally birthday month for me. i know about 12 people born in april, so needless to say, having april come round every year does burn a whole in my pocket.

i should stop here and just say a few shout-outs for those who i missed on the actual day as well as those who are *extra* special to me... so jas, sarah and corbin - happppppppyyyyyyy birthday!!! =D *hugs*

okay. now that that's out of the way! i can go on to detail the happenings of last night. it's been quite a while since all the chubs have gotten together. so long that i can't actually put my finger on an actual date! so let's just go with the assumption of *a long time ago*.

after working the whole day, and going to a conference class of which only 5 students rocked up to (thus ensuring a "healthier" stimulation of discussion between the 5 students present *cough* including ME *cough*), i rushed over to duyen's place to meet the girls who were then getting ready there. suprizingly, dwen's place was easy enough to find, and after about 15 minutes, we took off for the restaurant.

i now need to digress further by adding a rant about the trendiness and "hip"-ness of the mt lawley and leederville area (of which liz and i were discussing earlier today). so here goes:

<-----rant starts here----->
i can't seem to understand how in the world a geographically concentrated area of yuppified 'idyllicality' can be squashed into an accepted and even glamourised lifestyle. like really. the whole area is just filled and is overflowing with chique and cute restaurants and cafes, bars and pubs, all of which look extremely posh and classy. yet there's somehow an underlying stench of the acceptable under-class individual, who i'm certain form the largest segment of the demographic base of 'consumers' who frequent the area. it's quite amazing at how fake and glazed an area can be - i hadn't ever realized it until yesterday. but regardless, i actually should note that i hadn't realized that perth had become so radically mainstream.
perth: the quiet, sidline city? sadly, i think not.
<------rant ends here----->

okay! so last night. it was awesome having all the girls back together. it seems like such a rare occasion nowadays that i've really started to treasure the moments when they come!

however, rather than narrate the whole night in words, i'm (as usual) going to let the photos do the talking:


a quick snap after everyone was nice and pretty with our hair done, make-up applied and smiles plastered. ;)


the birthday couple - awww how sweet!


i actually called this photo "the couples plus trish".... but no, i think i'll go with:
the-five-friends-on-the-opposite-side-of-the-table!


our attempt at a "funny" photo... such a failure... =p


but we did a nice one of course!


we were so hungry, the food took 25 mins to come out, but the food was gone within 15. yum yum though! (althought the service.....? that's something i can blog about later...!)


lassie and jas "fighting" about lassie missing the awesome strawberry cheesecake. although, they actually did look angrier in real life! i've never heard the words "strawberry cheesecake" used in such a persuasively threatening way!


kissing and making up!


skipping to trish's house for poker... this was the last hand i dealt for the night. awesome huh.


duyen with her stacks!
although, david did clear her out 2 rounds later. lol. but does that really count...? =p


so yup! overall the night was a blast! what beats an evening out with best friends huh?

*love you girls!*

birthdays... oh such fun.

i love shopping.

but better yet. i LOVE present shopping!

obviously, not shopping for my own presents. but the thrill and joy of putting together a gift which someone else will love? i love it. absolutely love it!

so it was mum's birthday last week. and dad was so sweet. he spent weeks thinking and scouting for the perfect gift for mum - a pair of 9 ct gold diamond earings. they're beautiful! and they look stunning on her too. it was so sweet. such a warmth to my heart. really.

but yes. dad went all out this year. we normally go out for dinner (i think). but it's never really anything outrageously special or elegant. and it's usually at like the atrium or miss mauds, or somewhere where dad reckons we'll get "value for money". but this year, mum hinted to a place - yu, at burswood. so dad picked up on it (which was strangely suprizing), took a trip to check it out, made reservations and then tricked mum into thinking we were dining at the atrium! it was pretty crafty and devious, even for him!

but all in all, it was a pretty awesome night - we all had heaps of fun. we looked like azn tourists though, happy snapping all through the night. and by the end of it all, i swear, i couldn't walk. 40% of that goes to the fact that i was wearing in my michael kors stilletos, but the other 60% goes towards the fact that there was just SO much fooooood! hahaha. but yum yum. no regrets! =p

so yes. here's some snaps!


rach, raph and me out in the "lobby"-esque area.


dad and mum... awwww how sweeet.


the food. oh, and there was duck too. and some salad-ish thing...
if you can call it that! (it really was 2 slices of cucumber and 4 tiny cubes of tofu). LOL. but so yum. ;)


definately a photo from BEFORE the dinner...


rach likes this shot... why? i have NO idea. lol.


so yes. all in all. it was another one of mum's b'days that i'll remember. last year's is still etched in my memory... the time we went to miss maud's and forgot to get a cake, so jas had to come to the rescue by giving us a slice from the smogasboard.. lol. =p

well! i'm off to bed now.
*yawn*

another busy day lies ahead!

and heck, it's meant to be the break right.....?

*it's real...*

sometimes i feel like the beginnings of my posts are becoming seemingly rhetorical... i was just about to begin by saying..."wow how fast does time fly"... but then i thought... oh, been there, said that...

whooops.

mm. anyhow. okay so an update on the past week. i worked a lot... 60 hours over the past fortnight to be exact. that's about 12ish hours over my usual load, and lol. i didn't even realize i was spending more time at the office! kinda weird and strange and scary that i like going to work. but hey, i'm not complaining!

so as capitalistic and money-faced as this is going to sound... money = goooooood.

but really, can you blame me? even though i know money doesn't make the world go 'round, it certainly does make the world look a whole lot nicer!

moving on....

so i got a couple of exams back. it's funny though. for global terrorism i did a lot better than what i thought i would. who knew that all my research about zealots and sicarri would actually pay off and come in handy huh? then again, once you put more than 20 references down in your references section, i think that gives off the impression that yes, i have lifted a finger, and yes, i do deserve a good mark. so again, not complaining there.

the next paper i got back however, made me squirm a little bit. apparently my style of writing is borderline hyperbolic. and, i'm supposed to cut out adjectives from any further academic writing that i compose. okay. point taken. i should say though, that even though i was disappointed that he marked me down for it, i still think that the feedback i got for that paper was one of the best ever. finally! a tutor who tells you what i'm doing wrong and what i can do better. that, as opposed to saying "well done, phoebe" next to a tick and a score. it's so much better when you recieve ACTUAL critiques!

okay moving on from that.

i've not really had much time outside of work and study. how sad huh. i keep telling everybody (who asks) that i haven't actually been out OUT for the past month. it's horrible. i can't wait for tomorrow to be over... then i can finally regain at least a semblance of what my life should be like!

in the meantime, here's some snaps of random things i did this week... well not random random... just... non-categorical and misplaced i suppose...

TUESDAY:


me with my laksa... =D


liz grinning with her chicken rice.


explanation:
so we hit newton circle for lunch after "class". and seriously, we ordered and paid, went and grabbed a seat... and within a split minute... this guy walks out with our food steaming fresh... it was absolutely unbelievable! unbelievable to the point that we were starting to wonder what was WRONG with their cooking/food/service! but no. they get 11/10 for their laksa that day. it was sooooooooooooooooo awesome.

THURSDAY:


yes.. raph was playing dress-ups.

hahahaha. ;)

explanation:
so it was for the subi youth camp... the theme was gladiators. hence, the roman-russel-crowe-wannabe get up raph was sporting. so cute.

FRIDAY:


my makimono!




explanation:
so we were all craving for jap during the week, so mum asked me to make sushi. i kinda procrastinated it for a couple of days, until friday when rach and i finally just bit the bullet and stood there for a good hour and a half rolling sushi. hahah. yes, i shall emphasize the fact that both rach and mum helped... coz otherwise i'll be in some lot of "trouble", or at least some emphatic *coughing* about the accuracy of my efforts that night.

we had a little bit of rice left over... so rach told me to try making the makimono... and! long and behold, it actually worked! hahaa. but let me tell you, rolling makimono is a pain in the ass. go big if you can, coz rollin that small thing? seems like such a waste for the effot. lol. =p

but yup. that pretty much sums up my week.

ooh, update about my car! it finally crashed (not crashed crashed, but just stopped working kinda crashed), so i had to send it in. so now, a new ignition switch and battery later, it's finally working okie. although, the security code on the radio was turned on because of the battery change, and i haven't yet figured out how to turn it offf! so for now, i'm music-less.... lol.

well well, until next time...

-jyaaa.

my car... a herbie?

okay. so my dad didn't believe me when i told him that my car turned on without the key. so i decided to take some videographic evidence.

check it:



so just for the record, this has happened 4 times in the past 2 weeks... and not to mention. the car door is actually OPEN when the car turns on.

how bizzare how bizzare.

=p

oh. please just stop.

i keep having the recurring thought about how fast this year seems to be going by. and need i say more? it's already april!

now really, how did we manage that?

i can't believe that i've been back home for like 3 months now. it's absolutely amazing! that's like, half of the time that i was away for! and being in toronto seemed to go all that much slower. on second thought, i'm not even sure if that makes sense. what i mean to say though, is that time over there went by a lot slower because of the intensive productivity that we "achieved"... or just because of all of the things that we did! but now? it seems that everyday my life goes by, it's same old same old. i'm definately back into my "routine", but i'm pretty much on the outside when it comes to the decision of whether i like my life right now.

mum's are so wise. do you know what mine said? she told me that i'll be working for the rest of my life, and that life as a student really only does come once - so i should enjoy it! how's that for words of wisdom? she also told me that making money now isn't a priority, so i really shouldn't be bothered with working so many hours.

yet, i can't drag myself away. i know i work too much. my family knows i work too much. God knows that i work too much. yup. everyone knows it. yet, despite that... i still can't seem to stop! it seems as if i'm addicted to waking up at 6:30, showering and then fighting through peak-hour traffic, only to slave away in the office for 8 hours. i do this 4 days of the 5 workings days. how lovely.

isn't life just peachy?

i've gotta say though, and liz can testify to this... i was horribly moody today. from the moment i woke up, i knew it was a bad day. i was furthermore confirmed in this belief when i drove to uni only to find that all the staff bays were taken. in fact, i actually saw a 4 cars in a row who were STUDENTS... in the STAFF carpark! needless to say, i was pretty cheesed off. so i went to scout student bays to no avail, and eventually, after cruising around wasting petrol for about 40 mins, i had to park in the visitors carpark. which means, my parking fees this year is now totalled to $204.00. gay huh. i can't imagine paying $4.00 just for 2 hours. it's stupid. i didn't pay for a staff permit for nothing!!

okay. now i'm just venting. see what this reflection gets me?

more frustration.
more annoyance.
and just more... well.... just angry!

=(

no i'm not an angry person. i've never been an angry person. gah. i just need to sleep. i need the world to stop spinning, people to stop calling me, work to stop piling up, and lecturers to stop giving me freaking exams on my weekends!

that's what i need.

and the chances of wish fulfilment?

0.

zero.

nada.

zilch.


~ oh the blissfulness of being a student...

~ how precious...


NOT.