Week 5: Me and my new (rather empty) home.

quick update because i'm still here in the lab waiting for a ride home:

it's been nearly a week since i've moved into the new apartment (a week on sunday) and i must say that the place is really starting to grow on me! in the morning, the sun floods into my room and it feels great waking up to light (unlike my old place where the light comes in like an after-thought into my room). there's something quite energizing about waking up and seeing sunlight glint off my hair making it a lighter shade of brown (vain moment) but yea. and then in the evening, the setting sun once again floods its way into my living area and all i can see when i look out the balcony is a great big ball of fire slowly being swallowed by the impending darkness.

plus, the neighbourhood is pretty quiet. there's quite an eclectic mix of people here and they're the good eclectic kinds. there are families with young kids and plenty of young adults like me. at night it gets pretty quiet and i've noticed, within the one-ish week that i've been here, that i'm the last one to fall asleep because all the lights around me are turned off by the time i walk into my bedroom. and i'm not talking about me sleeping at 2-3 a.m. since i've moved into the new place, there has been no internet therefore i actually go to sleep by around 11-12 every day. an amazing feat, i know.

back to having no internet, everytime i think about going home from the lab and the internet-less situation, i die a little inside. but to be really honest, i'm not too rushed about getting an internet connection - i don't know, i kinda like these internet-less nights (sadistic) in a weird sort of way because i get to settle down with a nice dvd (y tu mama tambien) before going to bed. it's something that i've never been able to do before because i would be so preoccupied with the interweb.

anyway, i had a minor paranoia attack on my first alone night at the new place. during the day, tammy was telling me about break-ins occurring on the first levels of apartment blocks and as i was closing the balcony door her words came rushing back to me. this was because i noticed there were two big rips on the fly screen neatly where the sliding door's handle was and down below near the latch for the door. WTH was there a break-in before that's why the place is now empty?! SHIT LA AND THERE ARE NO LOCKS ON MY FUCKING BEDROOM DOOR! panic. then as i closed the screen door i realised that he wouldn't have been able to break in without actually breaking the glass door (funny how i automatically assume that the criminal would be male HAHAHA so funny). and if they did that, the whole neighbourhood would know. and i would be safe. so i laughed. and went back to bed. but not before leaving all the lights on in my kitchen and living area. better safe than sorry you know. but, well, i'm not paranoid anymore so there, tammy, your words won't frighten me anymore *sticks out tongue*.

anyway, i really wish that you all can see it now - it is really quite lovely.

ok i gotta go now. my ride is here BYE BYE if i don't see you online in the daytime!

Week 4: Breaking dawn (no i haven't read that book yet, i heard it's shit!)

hello everyone! sorry i haven't really been blogging much these days. it's just that i've been so busy trying to sort my affairs out in terms of accommodation, visa status, work and just life in general that i've totally put writing on the back burner!

plus there's still tons of photos that i'd like to upload i.e. photos from penang, photos from my time home in general (fucking damn a lot thinking about it is making my head hurt), photos from the coldplay concert (BEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE 2009! ok..maybe not BEST 2009 night ever but definitely one of the better ones!), photos from ben's 4th birthday and photos of my new apartment!

DID YOU READ THE LAST PART OR DID YOU SKIM THROUGH!?

yes, i've finally found a place! AN ENTIRE PLACE TO CALL MY OWN (ok la, not my own though i'm the main tenant cos i need to find a housemate to ease the financial situation). it's completely unfurnished HOW EXCITING IS THAT!? i get to decorate it however i want to because i'm the main tenant (nyehehehe! you can dere-lick my balls! sorry too much Zoolander) so my word is gold! i've got all these grand plans for the living room, MY ROOM (it's huge leh, i'm thinking DOUBLE BED muahahaha!) and the whole place in general (wow, 'in general' seems to be popping up alot)!

so, IKEA tomorrow and when i've set everything up i'll intro my new place to you BWAHAHAHA! anyone in australia, feel free to visit! if you're not in australia but you have the cash to fly over, feel free to visit! if you're not in australia neither do you have the money to fly over, well, i guess i can give you some form of a visual experience *shrugs* i'll do my best!

so many things to do, so many things to worry about, so many things to think! i feel like there's hardly any time at all left to even do trivial things like lie on my tummy and read. twilight. yes, i'm reading twilight. i must say it has a pretty mediocre storyline for all the hype it has been generating. bella swan annoys me, i wish she would be less clingy and whiny and dependent on edward.

ANYWAY.

another thursday is here! what is this, like, my 4th thursday here? cool.

Week 3: I GOTS THE MONAY!

hey HEY everybody! i received my first ever signed-contract REAL job pay slip today! yes, my first EVER pay slip in my entire life (Ed. note: ok, i've been paid before by other random jobs that i've done but nothing as substantial as this so they don't count)!

I GOTS THE MONAAYYYYYYYYYY!

i've been telling a handful of people about this joyous occasion and the very first question they all asked me was what i'd do with the money?

well, to make it easier for everyone and myself, i'll just put the answer up here.

the money is going towards rent and food on the table.
there.
i can be responsible if i want to, okay?

Week 3: Like an umbrella on a rainy day!

today, i made a pleasantly surprising discovery. however, in order to tell you why the discovery was so pleasant, i'll have to track 8 hours back from the time of said pleasant discovery.

it was 10 in the morning when i was about to leave the apartment and the sky looked like it was about to rain. i was looking for my umbrella but, in the aftermath of my drop-everything-and-run departure of and subsequent return to sydney, the house was in a mess hence Operation Discover Umbrella was rescheduled for another day i.e. tergendala.

8 hours later, i was pottering about the lab on my hands and knees trying to plug in the computer's monitor screen into the power outlet when LO AND BEHOLD! my umbrella was right under the table!

you know that feeling, when you find something that you've been looking for for so long when you least expect it? when you're just minding your own business (while cursing under your breath because you're crawling about on the dirty carpeted floor that was last vacuumed during the dark ages) and suddenly it appears out of the blue? that feeling? SO GOOD!

as i started to rearrange the folds of my umbrella (because it was left...untied; i'm guessing i must've left it there on the very last day and forgot to take it back), i realised that maybe i shouldn't be so hard on life itself. obviously it's still capable of springing (good) surprises on me whenever it wants to. hmmm.

Week 2: I guess Apple products have their uses after all.

today i discovered, what is quite possibly in my honest opinion, the best invention in the world! and no, it's not sliced bread. i discovered the power of the portable iPod speakers and the infinite pleasure it provides when used in the bathroom!!

i plugged my iPod in (the speakers are Hanne's by the way = hint: Buy me one for my birthday please, anyone?), selected my rnb list and suddenly! like a burst of pure joy, Usher (Love in This Club!) started playing! it was like january 2009 all over again!

fuck it man, if i can't go to mambo or phuture i'll damn well bring mambo and phuture to me.



the above is what i would've been doing tomorrow night if i were back in malaysia. i guess i'll just have to content myself with the bathroom sans friends (and clothes, if you know what i mean *leering*). fuck this shit. what are beaucoup bucks compared to zouk?!

anyway, another thing i discovered is that i can shower within the timespan of kanye west's harder faster stronger and half of chris brown's forever. i know. chris brown. but it's my favourite song! anyway, i figured i'm well within the shower duraton allocated by the NSW government to curb excess water use due to the ongoing drought. SO GIVE ME THE FUCKING PR STATUS ALREADY! ok. let me apply for it first, then give it to me ok? i'll save you tons of water unlike some lowlife citizen scum whom i saw watering his grass (GRASS OK!?) yesterday.

yes you heard me. he was standing there, hose in hand and watering his fucking lawn. wow so many F words today.

Week 2: An open letter to Death Cab For Cutie.

Dear Death Cab For Cutie,

I love you. I really do love you. I love you so much so that I'll have one of your songs be the first song played on my wedding day (Passenger Seat) as well as my funeral (I Will Follow You Into The Dark). If I could go back in time, I'd probably play one of your songs in the room at Templer's Hospital where my mom gave birth to me just so that your song would be the first thing I hear when I enter this world (The New Year - I'll explode out of the womb in a frantic burst of drums and guitars).

When you came to Sydney during my 2nd, 4th and 5th years here, I was there at every show singing/shouting out the lyrics to your songs, taking a million photos of you working your guitars, drums and mics on stage and buying any merchandise that you had to offer. If you had come to Sydney during my 1st and 3rd years here too, I promise you I would have gone to watch you play because you are just so good up close and live!



Like all relationships however, there are bound to be some moments of disappointment. I have watched you play in three shows and you've still not played A Lack of Colour.

What gives?!

I know that as an indie band, you probably like to shy away from the commercially popular so as not to seem like a sell-out (case in point: your penchant for playing in small venues like Enmore theatre and Home bar). I blame The O.C. for turning A Lack of Colour into a commercial giant (another case in point: bald guy standing in front of me in Enmore last week kept shouting "Play the O.C. song!" while I felt like rubbing some DeepHeat Muscle Relaxant Ointment on his bald head).

Perhaps you do not like to be associated with The O.C. and who can blame you? It just so happened that A Lack of Colour is one of my most favourite songs of yours and I think it is a real shame that I've not been able to hear you sing it to me LIVE. So please, think of me and my little broken heart and PLEASE play the song when you next come to Sydney.

I've even taken the liberty to set the music list for you for your next show!

The New Year (start the show with a BANG!)
Blacking Out the Friction
Coney Island
Different Names for the Same Thing
Expo '86
I Was a Kaleidoscope
Lightness
Marching Bands of Manhattan
A Moviescript Ending
Photobooth
The Sound of Settling
Tiny Vessels (Noticeably absent from most recent show, WHY?!)
Title and Registration
What Sarah Said
Your Heart Is An Empty Room.

Encore
I Will Follow You Into The Dark
Passenger Seat
A Lack of Colour
Transatlanticism

Feel free to mix up the songs in the middle because, obviously, you are the musician and I am only a fan who worships the ground that you walk on, so you would know which songs are better suited to follow which. However, the first song and the encore songs should stay as it is, in my humble opinion.



Come back to Sydney soon, love!

Love you long time,
Melanie.

Malaysia Uncovered: Day 5 - Penang, o Penang, the pearl of my Orient!

penang was the final stop in our trip around the country and it was right here that we separated from the cousin and her squeeze. i spent the next 3 days exploring the island with my mom, which might not sound very exciting but strangely and surprisingly enough, it was great fun (yes i said it mom, so you can call me now to gloat about how i put the words great fun and mom in the same sentence!)!

to highlight how much we loved penang (cheap food, friendly people, laidback island atmosphere), we actually extended our stay by one more day - simply by uttering these little words, "eh, let's stay another night" and "ok". my poor dad would just have to endure one more night without his wife and kid around.

ANYWAY, less talk and more photos. on the first day we traipsed around penang town, visited the cheong fatt tze mansion (which is a MUST because it is so pretty!), went on an architectural heritage walking tour (really good too!) and finally ended up in gurney drive at night (which was rather dismal, actually). ya, our itinerary might seem a bit boring to you BUT IT WAS GREAT FUN OK? ok i said it, i'm a history and cultural junkie so whatever.

pikchurs!


the entrance arch to the mansion. how did people get so rich last time?! why am i not the great granddaughter of some impossibly rich chinese man?!



oHAI! finally a decent photo of myself.





my paling dikegemari, favouritest photo of this bunch!


oHAI! this is my mom blending in with the surroundings and eating a bowl of cendol.


one of the many old houses we saw on our architectural heritage walk. it amazes me how simple shop lots like these had such intricate designs - and apparently the door used to be covered in gold leaf until it got scraped off/stolen! why are penangites so rich ar?! maybe i should look into marrying a penangite.