A warning.

I'll wear my badge

A vinyl sticker with big block letters adherent to my chest

That tells all your friends

I am a visitor here

I am not permanent.

The Postal Service.

Australia Day 2008.

sorry about the craziness in the previous post...i re-read it the day after i'd posted it and i couldn't even finish the paragraph where i went on a rant stating everything that i did in the lab. i am sorry but i'm turning into a boring writer!

anyway, i decided i needed a little bit of Me-time (it became Me-time because WK was too lansi to come out with me) hence on Saturday i traipsed out to The Rocks for the Australia Day Free Music Festival which had headlining acts like Evermore and Something for Kate! how awesome right? free summore. as a born-and-bred Malaysian, how could i NOT go? FREE WEI! all free things must sapu!

(that is also why i've come up with my own conclusion that WK is not a true born-and-bred Malaysian because he turned down a free concert by Evermore and SfK. he must've spent his developing childhood years in Medan or Hadyaai or something)

the concert was supposed to start at 6.30pm and i had plenty of free time before that so i decided to be all pretentious and took a tour inside the MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art ahem). there was an exhibition by this Pakistani female artist whose name i can't quite remember but can confidently tell you that her initals are SS. she had some very pretty pictures on display but some of them just made you want to go 'What the fuck?'. yea, contemporary art la. for all the wtf-ism i encountered though, i must say i enjoyed my 45 minutes in there...pretending to be artsy-fartsy and smart.

after the MCA i treated myself to a $45 lunch/dinner which included a spaghetti marinara (so-so, had 3 prawns though so that was good), a chocolate mudcake with cream (fucking made a mistake by asking the waitress to warm it up thus resulting in my chocolate ALL MELTED CIBAI!) and a huge metal cup of vanilla milkshake (not too thick, not too sweet, just nice and thin and milky!). $45 and my heart (and purse) strings didn't even feel a tinge of strain. why? because i fucking deserved it! BWAHAHAHA!

but now when i think about it, for $45 i could've gone to Belgian Bier Cafe and had myself a huge pot of mussels and 2 glasses of Stella. fuck.

anyway. pictures.




evermore was awesome BEYOND AWESOME. i like my boys grungy and emo. and SfK was really good too. although the lead singer was a bit old. so not so awesome. but still awesome. and yeala, i was not moshing in the pit down there...i wussed out and chose a spot on top of the observatory tower instead. i mean, HECK LA! what if suddenly this reall big-sized (and drunk) Aussie bogan came up and cari-ed pasal with me then how la am i gonna defend myself? takkan i hit him with my cloth (and very soft and flimsy) sling bag right?! confirmed i will kena punched in the fucking face. that's why i chose to stand somewhere safe(r) la.

i have a video summore. i realise that nowadays i keep posting up videos like i'm damn terror. but actually i am not. i am noob. just wanna make my blog more exciting. actually, i don't even know if anyone watches these videos.


Note at 00:28 this random guy jumps up on stage and starts dancing. Seconds later, the security guard hauls his sweet ass away from the stage and out of the arena. justice being served is the best kind of justice, me reckons.

and i don't know why i'm talking like an ah lian these days...my grammar is shot.

Rant.

susu-atari says:
omg d'kampung WAIT FOR MEEE!

Abby says:
ya
we go there smoke to glory!!!!!!!!!!!!

susu-atari says:
fuck man

susu-atari says:
smoke until lung cancer oso i don't care

yes that is exactly how i intend to spend my (sadly) 1 month's worth of holidays.

major headache now. those urchins are seriously wearing me down and grinding my nose into the sand. 2 days ago i was at the lab till 4 in the morning, i kid you not i fucking swear upon my life and theirs. it's completely crazy i don't know why i love urchins so much it doesn't make sense! what's even crazier was that i went back into lab before 12 noon on the very same day!

what the fuck is wrong with me!? omg why is everything so crazy and stressful it's like they KNOW i'm gonna leave in a week's time so they purposely load me down with fuckloads of work work WORK! i tell you la i go into lab at 9 every morning, leave at 6 in the evening...and then most nights i have to either a) go in at 10.30 pm, b) go in at 12.30 am or c) 12 hours after whatever time i fertilise those damned eggs OMG! i think i'm the hardest working person in the whole fucking lab lor no one works harder than me!

i filter jerrycans of seawater. i wash the culture dishes and beakers. i mop the aquarium floor. i count and place 50 urchin eggs into a glass bottle and times that by 100. i fill up the waterbaths and make sure the temperature is ok. i spawn the urchins. i kill the urchins. i discard their little corpses. i go collecting jerrycans upon jerrycans of seawater. i go collecting urchins. i go collecting snails to feed the starfish in the tanks. i feed the fucking starfish. and on top of all this i have to conduct my experiments! summore in the following week i have to drive down to Sydney Aquarium to pick up more urchins to kill and repeat the 12-hour experiment again..on Tuesday AND Thursday! so if you see me on webmessenger.msn.com around 2-3 am Sydney time on those days (technically early Wednesday and Friday morning la) come and say hi cos that might be the last time you get to talk to me cos i'll probably die from fatigue and work-overload in the aquarium of the level 6 anatomy lab. yes...i go online even when i'm in the lab because i'm DETERMINED to slack even though it's only 0.1% and i'm never at the computer anyway i don't care la i just don't want to be so goddam hardworking!

i'd better be getting some sort of Honour's Medal or something in recognition of my invaluable service to the Byrne Laboratory. if no medal, i'll also accept cash.

so so so! this is why i think i DESERVE to lead a life of decadence and debauchery when i come home. i fucking earned it man for all that i'm doing now...BWAHAHA!

[p.s. eh sorry la, a lot of you have commented to me privately that i've been swearing fuckloads recently...sorry la i can't help it. stress levels too high edi. it's like vomit, comes out no matter what you do...fuck la, ok i'll try to cut back la ok? promise.]

Boring post aka my aspirations.

WARNING.

The following video is not suitable for people:

who are easily aggravated or offended.
who are associated with PETA in any way.
who are animal lovers.
who believe they are on a higher moral ground than others.
who are prone to epileptic seizures (Very important: video contains slight but highly irritating strobing lights).
under 18.

if you are neither of the above and feel like spending the next 2 minutes and 23 seconds of your life in a productive and educational manner, then by all means, click the Play button my friend!



sorry la, i have absolutely zero material to write about. and when i say zero, i mean ZERO until i have to resort to such cheap entertainment in an attempt to post something up. cheap thrill man cheap thrill when the scissors goes crunch crunch crunch. all i want to do is get over the next 2 weeks as fast as possible and fucking fly home.

ahhh...you know what i wanna do when i reach home?

come come, i tell you.

i am gonna eat my ass off. i don't care. i'm gonna eat dim sum and pan mee and chicken rice and char kuey teow and pan mee and satay and nasi lemak ayam special from Murni's and yong tau foo and lam mee and the whole suite of klang seafood and claypot chicken rice FUCK LA THE WHOLE OF MALAYSIA I DON'T CARE!

then right then right, i wanna travel! i wanna go to Malacca, Penang, Langkawi, Bangkok and maybe Fraser's Hill or Cameron Highlands whichever is colder/cheaper. holiday la road trip!!! whoever wanna join FEEL FREE TO TELL ME!

and then right and then right! i wanna go clubbing and drinking and drink until i beh tahan pass out at the side of the longkang outside Maison or Luna Bar or whatever bar/club that is the happening spot at the moment. but of course, pass out oni la...not until like throw up and embarass myself no no no that won't do. i have the whole itinerary planned out:

Monday is designated rest day.
Tuesday is Luna bar day cos it's Ladies' Night la.
Wednesday is Mambo Jambo@Zouk.
Thursday is Maison.
Friday is Lap Sap.
Saturday is Tag@Loft or Velvet whatever i don't care as long as can dance and drink.
Sunday is chilling day at whichever bar that will take me cos by that time my feet sure damn pain from wearing my heels...need to sit down and recuperate and rehydrate myself la.

ya..that's what i'm gonna do when i get home i don't care.

Me and Ed the Locksmith.

today i waltzed out of my apartment and left the keys behind me.

now, i'm AUD90 poorer because my money waltzed out with Ed the Locksmith.

many thanks to Eugene Liew Eu-Gene! without you, i'd probably still be sitting outside on the kerb right about NOW (4.53 pm Eastern Standard Time, Sydney). i owe you a drink. any drink!

so kids, remember to always bring your keys out with you. if not, i advice that you take up locksmithing. which other (realistic) job pays you AUD90 for less than 5 minutes of work?

nothing, that's what!

To which the answer is Yes.

no. seriously. why the fuck am i still here?

Daniel Come back.
Nikki Come back.
Zingi Come back.
Melanie Go back!

to less serious matters:

work at the lab has been going well. i'm running a second set of experiments now. before this, i was experimenting on the effect of temperature on urchin larval development by subjecting them to various temperatures. now, i'm going one up: experimenting on the response of adult urchins to various temperatures.

haha.

yes...i subject urchins to a form of ancient heat torture.

see, this is how i do it: first, i place the urchins in varying degrees of temperatures ranging from that of their normal environment (~22degsC) down to 17degsC and up to 30degsC. i place them in the respective temperatures for 30mins before i proceed to cut them open in half ALIVE and remove their gonads (in layman terms: eggs and sperm) to test for the synthesis of a certain protein that is produced when an animal experiences extreme heat a.k.a. heat-shock proteins.

fuh. did you read all of that? good.

anyway, i discovered something interesting about urchins the day before. apparently, they're capable of making noises. especially when they are heat-stressed. 15 minutes in to the urchins being submerged in 30degsC waters, i started hearing funny sounds i.e. babies crying.

now...i'm not generally superstitious or afraid of things that go bump in the night (fingers crossed), but those sounds gave me the shivers, especially since when i pointed it out to my lab partner and she told me that she couldn't hear anything. well, i was working in the building for the faculty of medicine, for crying out loud: you know, where they store dead bodies and all...so i wouldn't be too surprised if the sound of babies crying that i heard were that of the little foetuses stored in jars on display in the anatomy museum below us.

haha.

being a brave soul, i went out of the room to figure out what unholy spectre awaited me. and to my horror, i discovered that the sounds were actually coming from the urchins submerged in the 30degsC waterbath!

oh my fucking Polo suitcase what the fuck!?

and now, i'm emotionally scarred. i say a little prayer each time before i plunge the edge of my scissors into the interior of the urchin. sigh...how many more innocent urchins must die before we get to the bottom of the enigma that is climate change?!

n.b. incidentally...i've been out in the field twice this week collecting yet more urchins...and each time a local on the beach asks us what we're collecting, we'll say Urchins! to which they'll follow up with the next question Well, what do you do with them? Eat them?! to which we retort in a mighty fine voice No. We don't eat them. They're for research purposes. We're doing something on climate change!

oohs and aahs ensues. scientist i am. but do i feel remorse?

The year that was.

god damn.

it seems as though the annual post where i recap the highlights (or lack thereof) of my life the year before is continually being delayed. but as the saying goes: Better Late Than Never! Slow and Steady Wins The Race! Wear Your Seatbelt and Arrive Alive!

anyway, if anything, 2007 has taught me to be truly independent! this was the year where i finally moved out of cherrybrook away from the shackles of adult supervision and established my own little domain! moving out has taught me that i'm a much better cook than i'd initially thought i was!

i now know how to:

1. cook nasi lemak complete with sambal ikan bilis, kangkung belacan, and curry chicken.
2. make kuih dadar.
3. cut a pineapple, watermelon and mango.
4. distinguish between the various types of vegetables available at the supermarket.
5. EAT VEGETABLES!

ya, that's all i can think of right now. of course the selection of food that i can cook extends further than nasi lemak etc and kuih dadar but i lazy la wanna type everything down.

ALSO!

2007 was the year which saw me travelling the most. from the start of the year, i went to places like Bali, then later to Melbourne, Heron Island, Newcastle to Cairns ROADTRIP!! and finally, Melbourne once more. i've never been to the airport so many times in a year in my life...and i hope this trend doesn't end here.

ho-hum.

so boring la my life. what else ar?

oh ya! i learnt that february and april are bad bad months for me (has been for the past few years SIGH), talk is cheap and is precisely just that: TALK, trust no one and believe in nothing. very cynical, i know...but ultimately life's lessons.

umm..ok la. byebye. missing each and everyone of you guys..i'm coming home soon MUST LAYAN ME OK!?

ok la..if you're bored, you can read what i wrote for the previous years...omg i sound so optimistic and cheery back then. what a fool i was.

2005-06
2006-07

actually, now that i have re-read them...i realise that i sound super depressing in them. what the hell.

The start of summer.

back when i was a kid, christmas day was my most-est favourite-est day of the year, second only to my birthday, which was my absolute MOST-est FAVOURITE-est day of the year! i remember when i was kid, i had presents galore, and i especially loved it if my relatives from australia came down for an xmas visit because that would mean MORE PRESENTS FOR ME!

3 weeks before christmas, me and my mom would be busy putting up the christmas tree. the ornaments that we used were the sames ones from as far back as i could remember: the same silver angel who stands at the top of the tree, the eight little greenish-silver fairy/angels which i loved so much and always wished that we had more, 16 gold hearts and 16 silver hearts simply COVERED with respective gold and silver dust that always ALWAYS leaves my fingers covered in glitter, the assorted metallic coloured christmas balls and finally, gold and silver tinsel. yea, the tree was super rojak...BUT I LOVED IT!

anyway, as i grew older, the glamour of christmas wore off. i thought i was getting too old for the hype that i'd experienced when i was littler. and this year, i was determined to believe that christmas would be yet another lacklustre affair, what with the passing of my grandmother and the absence of my parents. but as a dutiful aunt and niece, i returned to cherrybrook to celebrate christmas and discovered that christmas wasn't missing after all!

i had a fabulous christmas eve dinner prepared by my much-shorter-yet-much-older cousin. and on christmas day itself, i had a grand time seeing josh and ben tear away at their presents. somehow they reminded me of myself when i was their age. and it was good. however, being woken up at 6.45am by an 8-year-old and a 3-year-old jumping on you wasn't so good.





bah. kids these days.

continuing on.

after christmas, i was off to melbourne for the 2nd time this year. this time around, however, i was hanging out with a completely different set of people. which is good. because change is always good. anyhow, i never used to believe the melbournians when they say that you can experience four seasons in a day when you're in melbourne. but after this trip, i certainly WHOLE-HEARTEDLY do.

melbourne weather is spastic. wait. it is beyond spastic. it is like a woman who is continually tripping on PMS. it blows hot and cold. IN ONE FUCKING DAY. on new year's eve, it was 40degsC. i kid you not. after experiencing mild mid-20s temperatures in sydney, that 40degsC was a huge blow. two days later, it dropped to 24degsC. ok cool. i can handle that. the day after it went back up to 38degsC. and then later at night..it dropped to 20-ish.

what the fuck is going on down there?!

but other than the weather...i had a great time. didn't really do much wandering compared to the first time i was there...cos i practically did almost everything then. well, almost. this time around, it was more of just hanging around the city being a complete slacker. oh, and part-time chef and poker extraordinaire. hehehe.

and another summer begins.

Newcastle to Cairns - 5.

before i begin, let me just clear up a misunderstanding:

i did NOT write the previous post. i chose to believe that most of you would have been able to distinguish between my genius literary skills with that of an imposter. yet, only nikki was able to tell difference..BAH!

anyway, because i made a promise, i shall refrain from disclosing his identity. needless to say, it was done out of pity because he begged me not to do so. haha.

anyway, the following is just the last bit of the Newcastle to Cairns roadtrip. Cairns oh, Cairns (and the whole of the eastern australian coast). how i miss thee.







now go click play for the last time!

hottie

fuck fuck fuck.. teen is fucking hot

away for the moment...will resume on January 8, 2008.
by the way, i know it's a day or two late, guys...but as tradition accords it, Happy New Year!
may 2008 hold great expectations for each and everyone of you.