Hawkesbury joUrNey...

and this is why you should not visit the vineyards in winter... there's nothing... except maybe the view...

finally, got some oranges... and that's the only fruit that we could pick during winter...

hmm... the box is empty, maybe we should start picking some oranges...

visited this really pretty but secluded windery just next to the hawkesbury river... too bad I had to drive and could not sample any of the wines there...


amazed by the olden days version of the mailbox... haha... at the town of windsor...

ROad tRip PaRT 3...

MoNday: this one was more of an impromptu one... cos zz is going back on wed so we decided to go on another road trip... this time to wollongong... and wanru said it sounded like "wulong de gong gong" haha... i actually got the joke...

anyway, started our journey to cronulla beach... and it was really nice cos it was a monday and not many people at the beach... but there were some surfers... and people were doing their morning stroll... jo came along to join us... and then we headed down to stanwell park and this lookout place called bald hill lookout... this time jo drove and i could admire the scenery along the way... it was freezing at the bald hill lookout but the view was really good... could see the seacliff bridge from there... which was our next destination... the seacliff bridge... along the grand pacific drive... went there two years ago with uncle et al during easter... but when we went there yesterday, there were practically nobody and we kind of had the whole bridge to ourselves... and according to silvana, it was the migrating season for the whales, so we were all lookint out for them, and i saw 2... really briefly and far away... and only like their tail and the puffs of air that comes out when they exhale were visible... but it was so exciting... walked along the bridge for awhile and there was this public toilet there that was automated... the doors, the toilet paper, the flush and the water to wash your hands... it was really cool, i should have taken a picture... damn...

next, we headed down to this place called austinmer, walked along the beach for awhile, ate ice cream... and then to the next suburb called thirroul... nothing much, just shophouses... did not stay for long there, headed down to wollongong next... it is exactly like sydney, went to the info centre to find out where are the attractions... and bcos we did not have much time left, we only visited the beach, and the two lighthouses... and the lagoon nearby... and then we decided to go to the mall to have some food... on the way back, cos wollongong was not the street directory, and the GPS had no signal for awhile... we were driving blindly for awhile and almost got into trouble... thank goodness nothing happened... dropped jo off at her house and then i dropped the rest back home...

i think these 3 days auris and i have been the furthest in nsw... since i came... it was a good experience, but the only thing was auris got really dirty... both in and out... and i can't believe zz is going back tomorrow... i am going to miss them... will post some pics soon...

ROad tRip PaRT 2...

SatuRday: zz wanted to go to these markets... and we almost got lost on the way to the first market at boot hill... cos the directions were not clear... it was really like a garage sale, where people just come and set up their stalls on the grounds... i was done within half and hour and had to wait for the rest... i was not really into these sort of markets... after that, we headed to another market but could not locate the place so zz said to just go to the next one at camden... the drive there was really nice and camden was really pretty... cos it looked like it was at the bottom of the mountains and the air was really fresh... i preferred the market there... bought a candle holder for annie to thank her for helping me recruit... we were there for quite awhile... cos it was more of an arts and crafts market... after that, we headed to picton... another historical town and dropped into the information centre to check out where are the attractions... and for some reason, my GPS took me on this really windy and narrow road to picton, and i was so scared driving on that road cos i could not see oncoming traffic, but luckily, there were not many cars...

the person at the info centre recommended we take these 2 scenic drives... one was to go look at the nepean dam and the other to this lookout place... the nepean dam was really nice... but we were freezing even though the sky has finally cleared and it was bright and sunny that day... and we were the only ones there... after that, we drove to the other scenic route to the lookout... and it was quite far away from picton and for awhile, we had no idea if we were going in the right direction... but the scenery was really nice... and there were not many cars as well... when we finally got to the lookout, it was really pretty but cold... and i wished that the trees were not blocking the scenery... the drive back down was equally pretty...

we decided to have dinner at strathfield ceci... and bcos we got there quite early... there was no queue and we were starving... but when we were driving out of the carpark, silvana lost the parking ticket and we were like stopped there for 10 mins trying to find the ticket... in the end, the person was kind enough to allow us to pass through otherwise we would have to pay the fine for losing the ticket... and then when driving out of the carpark, the GPS said to turn right, and i did not pay attention and did not realise that it was only a one way road... cars started to honk at me when i turned right... i got such a bad scare... which i guess was partly my fault, i should have paid attention to the road and not be too reliant on the GPS... cos it did a few mistakes in the past already... that was really scary... dropped them back at berala and headed home after... was really tired... luckily only working at night on sunday...

and auris was so filthy after the road trip cos it was raining for the past few days and i have not washed it for like 3 weeks...

ROad tRip PaRT 1...

went on a road trip with zz, silvana and wanru on friday, sat and monday...

FRiday: the weather on friday was really shitty, started to rain when we were starting on our journey, our first pit stop was this 'little sleepy town' called Pitt town... when people say 'little sleepy town', it means nothing to see... which was exactly what pitt town was, nothing much except this row of shops and farms... and it was raining so heavily, that we could not get down to walk and explore the area... so we just drove around the town for abit... saw huge lands, and alot of vegetable farms... then we proceeded to windsor... more shops to see and the rain had stopped for abit... walked around the area, took pics... then drove to tizzana winery which was along the hawkesbury river... when we got there, the man introduced and allowed to sample some of their wines... and bcos i was the only driver, i could not drink and could only watch them drink... but i bought a bottle of wine... along the way, we saw lots of animals... like horses, cows, sheeps, and we even saw alpacas... then we stopped for abit at this church nearby that was supposedly the oldest presbyterian church in australia... then we proceeded to richmond... the weather cleared up abit, and so we decided to stop by the penrith valley orange farm to pick oranges... then we went on to erniskillen orchard... well all i can say was the picture in the brochure looked nicer than it really was... but the scenery was nice though... then we drove back to richmond, and ate dinner there before heading back to berala where i stayed over for the night...

silvana and i watched the movie the forbidden kingdom, and i was so looking forward to the movie... and my advice to those who have not seen it... DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME... it was so stupid... i thought it would be like an action chinese movie bcos both jackie chan and jet li were in the movie... but they made it in english... and they even had the chinese wise men speaking in english... which was so ridiculous... and it had no plot at all...

FReeziNg...

this whole week has been quite uninteresting... it's still raining almost every day and so cold... it's like 10 degrees at night... anyway, euro 2008 is here... and i am so upset that i could not watch the matches, cos they are all either really early in the morning or they are not shown on tv here, cos football is not a popular sport here... i went to look up on the champions of the previous euro 2004 and found out it was greece, and remembered watching most of the matches in singapore, even waking up in the morning just to catch the live matches...

i am confirmed going to melbourne... booked the tickets already... and realised that i should not have booked the tickets so early... cos i will have problems getting to the airport, cos auntie and uncle and michelle will not be here too... alamak... so stupid, i should have thought about it before booking... and now cannot change already...

nothing else, not very happening at the moment... oh, might be going on a roadtrip with zz and the girls this week... but dunno where yet... hopefully the weather will clear up and not too cold...

MY FinGeRs ARe crAmPing...

i have been thinking about this since monday... it's about work... for some reason, i was actually glad to see L at work yesterday when she came in... and i kept thinking to myself... how really weird is that... cos as some of you might know, she was like my number 1 hated person in woolies at that time... i called her the evil woman... recall previous posts... and now... she's like of the few people at woolies who i actually like and get along with... to me, that's just really weird and i just have to vent a little...

anyway... went to karaoke again... on sunday with the girls... cos joan was leaving and they decided to go sing for one last time... too bad we did not get to sing for the whole day... well... wanru's got some really incriminating videos of us singing the group songs... and this particular song called 'ben xiao hai' was stuck in my head since that day... i had fun... going to karaoke with them is always fun cos they are simply hilarious... with their actions to the songs...

this week is going to be boring week again... cos i have like heaps of interviews waiting to be transcibed and analysed... why can't somebody invent a machine that can type the words out as they are spoken?? that will definitely make my life much more easier...

JuNe ALreAdy...

the korean bbq was a success... although not everyone came, but I really enjoyed myself, eating and chatting... i dunno really know why anna said it changed owners but everything seemed the same to me... the food, the layout... the only things that was sucky was the way there and back, missed a turn and missed the turn into the restaurant, had to do some illegal uvees... and on the way back, got honked at by this idiot... and of course, having to smell like bbq for the whole night and the next day... even after showering... prisy came into the room and was like, oh man, you room smells like the 'zhu rou gan'... haha...

heard back from the OT conference, did not get to do an oral paper... was asked to do a poster instead... did not want to do it initially cos it's so expensive... but my supervisor and everyone was telling me that it's a good opportunity so i guess i am going after all... it's in melbourne in september...

went to berala that day and had steamboat with the girls... it was a cold and wet day... so it was nice to have steamboat... chatted and ate alot... can't believe that they have been here for a year already and about to go back soon... i will miss them... cos i could always count on them to understand my singlish sometimes and speak chinese with me... and go karaoke...

watched enchanted that day... i quite liked it... really cheesy but james marsden's character is just hilarious... and secret... by jay chou... it started off really slow at the beginning, and the stupid disc kept pausing and repeating... but it's not bad... quite sad actually...

INdesCriBLebLE...

today was a really exciting day for me... dun think i have been this excited for awhile... number 1) Our Hep C article which we wrote last year as part of the OTTP subject got published in the Hep C Review magazine... really really excited and happy cos it showed that the hard work and effort that we put into that article was not wasted... and not to mention it will be good for the portfolio... i am really thrilled... cannot describe the excitement and joy at seeing my name published... although it's not really a formal formal magazine, but still seeing your name on a published material is really really exciting...

Number 2) bcos we will be having our korean bbq gathering tonight... hopefully the rain will hold up cos the weather this week is really wet and cold...

definitely a good day...

BuSYyy...

i was so bored that day doing the research that i went to look around on this website... and found this new jap drama called absolute boyfriend... and guess what... the lead character is this really cute guy which i liked from gokusen 2... hayami mocomichi!!! haha... wonder how many how many episodes there are in the show... watched rogue assasin that day and the show was ok... prefer jet li to act in chinese martial arts shows more cos he actually has kungfu stunts in those shows but in the english shows, he used guns and swords... not much kungfu stunts... heard that the show fated to love you is really nice, i am so waiting for the show to end... so hard to resist the temptation...

wednesday we drove up to blue mountains wentworth falls for the interview... the drive there took about an hour and a half... the air is really fresh but nothing really much to see... trees and more trees... and speaking of interviews... i have like 6 people participating in the study... which is really good compared to the one i have last week... and it's all thanks to our coordinator... she helped me to recruit... i really have to thank her cos she really helped me alot and she did not have to do it... in fact i think she's done more for me than my supervisor...

anyway, after driving back from the blue mountains, prisy and i decided to go karaoke in the city... haha and the only thing was it started to rain when we arrived... so it was really cold as well... but it was nice... but it was weird how i used to have endless songs to sing before but now i seemed to have so few songs and prisy has more songs than me...

WeEk 12 ALreADy...

auntie and uncle are back from singapore... appareantly it was really hot over there...
the week following camp... nothing much except same old boring stuff again, but finally out of the 20 emails that i have sent... one person emailed and said she would like to participate in the study... seriously... why can't more people be like this lady? it's only a miserable hour out of their schedule... not like i am asking them to give me half their days... and plus, i am going to them so they dun even have to travel...

went to uni on thursday... met up with zz... had lunch and went to do our stuff in the library... the plan initially was to go hang out at their house and watch movie... but they were all busy with their assignments... and saw my supervisor on my way to the library... and she asked me if i could wait for her till 4pm cos she wanted to catch up... 4pm went and passed and it was like 430pm and she still has not msged me... so i decided to go look for her... and if she was not there, i am leaving... when i went to her office, she was there and we went through my draft writing and talked abt the camp... and the interview on wednesday... we left ard 5pm and went to zz's house... watched stardust (i think this must be my 3rd time) with silvana... actually quite liked the show... had dinner with the girls... felt paiseh cos they were all busy doing their assignments... their lives are so much more exciting and happening than mine... sigh... wished i could travel ard like them... oh and we finally caught up on our backlog of csi and medium...

NErD cAmp PARt 2...

Oops... accidentally pressed the post button...

anyway, it was really nice scenery once you get up there... but nothing really much to do at night... so we had dinner and played some board games like balderdash and taboo... and the bed was alright, they provided us with 2 blankets, but the pillow was so flat, it was literally non-existent... i could not sleep for the first night and plus, it was a double bed and the person sleeping above me kept tossing and turning and the whole bed kept shaking... it was horrible...

The next day, it was a full day from 10am-6pm... my brain felt like all the brain cells were dead and i had such a bad headache at the end of the day... and the food was bad... and cos i helped to prepare dinner... which was a bbq... i was assigned to cut the onions... i was like shit i have never cut onions before and i dunno how... and this girl was like oh just cut them into rings will do... crap, i dun even know how to do that... so i just did what i thought was supposed to be right... and thankfully, it still came out okay... and tears were like flowing from my eyes... the food also sucked... after dinner, we had dessert and we played uno and bluff and poker... but after awhile, i went to bed... it was too much for my brain... the second night seemed better and bcos there were 6 of us sharing a room, the rest woke up so early, like 730am and i had to wake up too cos of all the talking and moving around...

the second day was not as draining but it was so boring... and i had to do my little presentation on qual analysis... i honestly think that the camp is not productive for me at all... cos i dun have my materials and my own environment... so really i did not do much writing... and most of the girls also thought so... but when we mentioned to annie about maybe instead of having a camp, just do like a whole day at uni, where we dun have to sleep over... she did not look too happy... anna and i both agree that the most productive thing to do next semester was instead of having tutorials every week, we should just have individual consultations... i think that would be much more helpful...

it was good to be back after two days of being in the middle of nowhere and be among civilisation again... and of couse, sleeping in my own bed, with no one moving the bed the entire night...

NErD cAmp...

I decided to recount the entire 3 days 2 nights camp that was like a nightmare from hell...
okay, left home on sunday afternoon to meet up with anna at west ryde cos initially the plan was to catch public transport to church point wharf... but anna said she would drive instead, so i caught a lift from her... and at west ryde woolies, i went to get all the foodstuff that i was assigned to bring... which was 2l of milk, 2l of tomato sauce and 4 humongous onions... so i was lugging like 5kg on each hand... 5kg of food, another 5 kg in my bag cos of the laptop... remind me never to bring my laptop anywhere ever!!! and a bagpack...

on the way there... we almost overshot my destination cos when we passed the marina and went further away from the water into the forest, both of us were like okay we better pull over and see where we were... and true enough, we passed the marina and was driving into the national park... so we had to reverse and drive back down... and the journey there took us about an hour... and bcos the parking there had to pay... anna parked like on the roadside which was a 10 min walk from the wharf... my hands were red already from carrying the food and my bag from the car to the wharf... got onto the ferry, when we arrived at Hall's wharf where the hostel was, it was like pure hell... we had to climb uphill for like half an hour before arriving at the hostel... i almost died on the way up... i was really exhausted from carrying all those heavy stuff... i was really tempted to just dump the food bag... i swore never to go there again!!!

PAiN in tHe A**...

on wednesday, it was a rather routine day for me... doing my research stuff at home and then ard 5pm, got a call from michelle and prisy asking if i want to join them for dinner and movie... i was like hesitant cos it was getting late and the movie was like at 9pm... but somehow, i got persuaded to go anyway... we drove to the city and had dinner at this rather posh place called Alio... where apparently, they have hand-made pasta... and in the car, michelle was like telling us how nice and yummy the food there was... at the place, i had a look at the menu and could not understand what it was talking about... anyway, the food were all given some very fancy names... so prisy recommended that i order the gnocchi... which is like some potato thing stuffed with cheese, i think... i did not really like it in the end, cos there was a strange taste which michelle said was the cheese... anyway, i was so full after cos i had a late lunch that day...

after dinner, went to watch iron man at the ritz... which is like this olden days movie theatre, where we went to watch beowulf that time... but the theatre that we went to was really nice... felt like i was going to watch a concert rather than a movie... and the movie was nice than i thought... really cool technology... and it was funny as well... i would give it 8/10...

anyway, break time over... back to boring stuff again... i was browsing through this article talking about doing research and something said in the article really had a deep impression on me... it went something like doing research can be hard work at times, even though you are doing something not related to your research or trying to relax... you always have the research at the back of your head... no matter what you do, it is like a cloud hanging over, so you can't truly relax and not think abt it...
which i thought is so true of what is going on for me now... even though say i am watching tv or doing something else, there is always the thought of the research at the back of my head... and it's already may, and i still have not started data collection... how...

SUn dAy ouT...

on sunday, in order to fulfil the girly theme, i asked prisy to put make up for me... and after that, caught a train to the city and met up with the girls... when i saw them, my first thought was wow... they all wore something different than what they usually wore... and then we headed to my fav korean spicy beef place to have lunch... we ended up all ordering from the korean stall... hmm... the spicy beef with rice is still so yummy... and after lunch, wanru whipped out these pieces of paper with cupcakes and dung drawn on them... and then she explained the rules of the voting game that they thought up... so we each had to give the cupcake to the person who we thought exceeded our expectations in terms of the way she was dressed and the effort she put in... and the dung to the person whom we thought could improve further... well... thanks to prisy's skills... i got two cupcakes and a cowdung...

after our voting game, we proceeded to big echo... and for some reason, we had 7 people so we could actually sing for the whole day but they refused to let us... so we could only sing for 3 hours... which i thought was bullshit... and the room that they gave us was shit man... looking at the seats made me think of amelia... cos she would refuse to sit on the seats that had patches... it was quite funny... i think we all had fun singing our hearts out... going karaoke with the girls are very 'energising' as they would actually stand and dance to their fav songs... and not just sit there passively and sing... haha... too bad i had to leave early for work... hopefully we could all go again and we will get to sing for the whole day next time...

and on the train, i had a nap and cos i did not have a mirror on me, i did not realise that the eyeliner had smudged the whole bottom part of my eyes... and i walked all the way to work and through woolies and only when i got to the washroom, looked into the mirror and went oh crap...

Out WiTH tHe oLD, in wiTh ThE nEw...

one week now, and i am still waiting for the people to email me saying that they are interested in participating in my study... alamak... starting to panic... what if I don't any replies back??!! (deep breaths andrea...)

last weekend, when i went to work, found out that our top 2 supervisors are leaving permanently... not that i "bu she de", it's just that they have been there since i started... and now more new faces in the store than "old" faces...

prisy came back early from work that day... and we drove to rouse hill... just the two of us... i like the drive there bcos the air is so refreshing and you can admire the houses and not much traffic... like going on a mini road trip... went to the city to get the digital voice recorder for my interviews... quite cool, works like an mp3 player... but this can only record voices... went to uni yesterday for tutorial... got back the feedback for my presentation... and one of the things i got marked down for was bcos i wore trackshoes... apparently it was not formal enough... i was quite annoyed... it was not even like a formal presenation anyways... and after that, went to zhenzhen's surprise party... ate cake that silvana baked... two actually... then had dinner and chatted... quite looking forward to this sunday... hmm... girly theme huh??

HeLLo MAy...

the next day after uncle and auntie left for singapore... the green car cannot start and we had to call the insurance company to come change the battery... and we were saying how things always are breaking down on us when uncle go away... cos the last time this happened, it was also when they left...

went to lunch with amelia at the korean place at epping... i did not really like the food, it was like soup and vegetables more than anything else... and it is quite expensive... still thought that we have finally found a nice korean place to eat rather than having to go all the way to strathfield... but ceci's still better... and then went to service my car... apparently i was a month late and they rang me to inform me that i have to bring in my car for service... had to wait for like 2 hours, so i decided to catch a train down to hornsby rather than just sit there and wait... and the service was really expensive... imagine me having to pay over $200 every 6 months...

went to uni on thursday for tutorial and to meet up with my supervisor... we finally were given the green light to start recruiting the participants for the study... so i have already emailed them and hopefully they will reply within the next few days... and i also have to go get the equipment... hopefully i will get 10 people to participate... cross my fingers...

been watching this anime called vandread... it was actually not bad... the fighting scenes were cool and it's like transformers... and a few other movies... like doom, alien vs predator 2 , resident evil 2, arthur and the invisibles... and amelia lent me a few shows as well... but they are all quite old... will have to control myself...

EVentFuL Week...

zhenzhen and chunyi came to sleep over that day cos they were planning to go to the central coast the next day... so they came and met me at woolies and went back home together... watched miss potter with them... on hindsight, i never would have dreamed that they would actually be here in woolies... it's just really weird... and on tuesday, i went to sleep over at their place cos it was quite late after dinner so stayed over for a night... it was nice, just hanging out, having dinner, catching up with them, cos they are going back soon and i have not really seen them since uni started... had wraps and pumpkin soup for dinner and bavarian for dessert... i was so full that night...

went to uni on thursday... planning to organise a farewell party for them sometime in june... saw some people whom i have not seen or spoken to for awhile... and i am still waiting for ethics to get back to me... and in the meantime, i am planning to invest in a good gps... i think it would really make my life easier...

it was the anzac day holiday on friday but i was not rostered for work... so prisy and i initially planned to go to the city for karaoke after facial... so we went for an early morning facial and we found out that alot of the road in the city were closed for the anzac day march, so thank god we checked before going... so in the end, we went to strathfield for lunch... hmm... ceci's korean food... and it was raining quite heavily that day... a nice day to stay in and have some hot and spicy food... the facial lady actually recommended a new korean place at epping where she said that the food is not bad... but too bad it was closed that day... so in the end, after lunch, we just went back home... watched this new anime that prisy recommended... and we went for dinner... supposed to be a surprise dinner for one of my uncle and auntie's friends... the food was not too bad actually... the only thing was the steak... it is just my luck... of all the steaks, mine was the really bloody one. it was dripping with blood... i was so grossed out but i did not want to appear wasteful, so i just tried to ignore the blood and shoved it down... and we stayed at their place till quite late... i was really tired by then and cold...

RAiniNg All dAY...

nothing much happening this week... but it has been raining practically every day... and the weather is becoming cold as each day passed... did my pilot interview a few days ago, and i thought it went quite well... and I am not that pressured anymore... before, i was quite pressured cos everyone else has already started data collection... so hopefully, I can start the real interviews soon... still stuck trying to write the lit review... it is really hard... cos everytime, i have a different idea of what i think the focus of the research study is... and i keep changing the stuff i write...
anyway, i shall quit whining about this boring stuff...

bought a new external hard drive... was not planning to buy one, but after the advice and horror stories i heard from others, about losing their documents, i decided to invest in one... just for backup in case...

and i finally finished watching the anime... thank god... it's out of my system now...

ANime mAraThON...

went to the new shopping mall which just opened a few months ago at rouse hill... it's different from the usual malls in that it's open and not enclosed within air conditioned surroundings... and the drive there is quite scenic if you are driving during the day... cos you will get to see lots of nice mansions with huge spread of land... and if you are lucky that day, you can even see a few cows and horses along the way... sigh some of the houses there are really nice... with nice lawns... but maintenance will be a nightmare, but they probably are rich enough to hire professionals to do the job...

and these past few days, after prisy's constant nagging to watch another anime, we decided upon this really old (according to her) anime called fushigi yugi... and now... I am so addicted to the show it's not funny... and if you are a female, you can't not like tamahome, one of the anime characters... i have not read of anyone who does not like him... but the lead female anime character can be really annoying sometimes... and the guys in the anime all happened to like her... even though she is so annoying sometimes... but i have to say, i liked the show even though i have not finished the show and I read that it was going to be a sad ending... and i blame this all on prisy... she keeps asking me to watch these animes and then i get hooked on them and i can't concentrate on my work... prisy, it's all your fault!

AUtuMn's HeRe...

it's been sian these past few days... nothing really happening... but for the past few days before thursday... I have been having some pretty freaky nightmares and after waking up from the nightmares, it was so hard for me to go back to sleep... and i suspect the dreams are bcos of the presentation that I was preparing for on thursday... and it's really weird cos they seemed so real like they actually will happen... touch wood man... but I slept really well last night after the presentation which led me to confirm that these creepy dreams were a result of the stress over the presentation...

did not do anything much, except working on my lit review... helping out with anna's lifting project... and watching this new anime that prisy introduced... called last exile... it was quite boring initially but after the first 2 episodes, it got quite interesting... and when we finally finished the anime today, and prisy was like... see i told you it was good...

and autumn's finally here... temp these days are like around 20 degrees and it's going to rain the whole of next week... miserable... you won't catch me anywhere outside unless I have to... haha...