cooking

I have started cooking at home these two days; not because I have more free time, but my temporary housemate, Steven, gave me motivation to cook. Every time I saw him, he was reading a cook book and asked me about “what I should cook?” These books are like baits that lure me into the market-kitchen net. Certainly, we started with easy things – couscous, a Moroccan rice. On Friday night, I was seized by a whim and went to supermarket to buy the entire ingredient listed in the cookbook. Within merely one hour’s time, we made an tasty couscous salad. My fever kept impulsing so much so that we headed down to Victoria market today and bought ourselves a bag full of vegetables, herbs, and other “creative” ingredients. We ended up having an avocado couscous salad and a steamed mixed veggie couscous for Sunday dinner.

This was my first enjoyment of cooking. In the past, I enjoyed others to cook for me, given they had also bought in the stocks. Now I would more prefer to ventured out my cooking ability, from getting ingredients to preparing, from cooking to gustation. Fun of cooking rises in the process, not in the end tasting. Mmm…I wish I could have more time to further practice my cooking creativity.

Our microwave broke down for no reasons. As a first year electrical engineering student, Steven said he needed four more year of studying to fix the problem. So, we could either wait four more years or spend $80 bucks to buy a new one. As Steven’s words had no warranty, our housemates decided to go for the two-year warranty electrical machine. Another bad luck for me this year.

woman, woman, woman...

One of my AsiaLink colleague, Jim, was leaving yesterday for a new job in La Trout university. He is appointed as a Japanese/Chinese culture study lecturer, and will start his teaching as well as academic research in March. The whole AsiaLink centre staffs headed down to have a farewell lunch on lygon. During our table talks, Marylou, my supervisor, was telling me about her life and job as a senior lawyer in Hong Kong. She earn heaps of money, in sacrificed, she had to work 15 hours a day, seven days a week when a big project was in hand. She warn me that although the live in Hong Kong was wild and feverish; it was the place only suitable for young and enthusiast. She left Asian after ten years and returned to Australia and becomes a senior sectary for AsiaLink. In her mid-thirties, single, living in a share house (I assume she spent most of her earnings on glorious Branded clothes and holidays around Asian while she was a lawyer), still hanging around pubs in weekends, no plan for marriage; she had once got a restless life yet choose to be simple in the end. Is this what I want? As a female, it is always hard to balance life and work. In my feminism theory, the more a woman want to achieve, the more she has to give up. Marylou, Junie are the modern talents trapped in their high-pressure work with greenbacks in their suits; while Polly gave up her job and marries a nice man with limited money and infinite love. I don’t know which role I would choose to live. Housewife would certainly not for me, yet giving up family is also impossible. Woman, woman, woman!

I may not leave Australia as planned. I might stay on to look after my grandma. I would not set my heart at rest if I left her alone in this foreign country, knowing the futileness help from my uncle and aunt.

Another crack down

Another time of Internet crack down in our house. Again and again, I am getting sick of it and prefer to stay at school’s fully air-conditioned computer lab. This time is the phone line problem. The phone line provider Telstra claimed there would be an infinite wait to fix the network connection. Anyway, rather than soaking in the 40C heat, I would choose to lock myself in the freezing lab which has unisex hygiene system.

Starving! Starving! Normally I could not eat after 9pm, yet tonight is an exception. I was exhausted even I worked behind the bar. Having a Tiru Misu cake as supper turned out to be an ill-feeling. Indigestive mini-spot symptom plus nausea; I swear I will never ever consume any heavy food after 9pm.

I have been re-reading some touch-heart articles sent by my friends these nights. The words utter me to slow down life pace as well as commitment, and enjoy simple life at the present. I wish I would soon.

My face is flecked with pimples while lip is bleeding all the time. My body is calling to have a good rest.

snack

I have become addictive to Korean snack recently. Every Sunday afternoon, the time for my weekly grocery shopping, I would walk into this Korean supermarket opposite QVM to skim over its snack section. I have not yet left with my hands empty. Rows of exotic packaged snacks with unfamiliar snaky characters are irresistible. So as shopping in Footscray market. Various Vietnamese groceries attract my curiosity. Most foodstuffs are familiar to me, yet I have not a clue how I suppose to eat them. Rod ate Chinese sweet bun with soy sauce, hopefully I had not done something similar.

I almost finish a book called Power Pose, which is written by my Professional Writing lecturer Carolyne Lee. Reading her book is like having her lectures, swimming in her feverish emotion cloud. She is not a bad lecturer, in terms of engaging with students, yet not in academic teaching. Damon once criticised this subject as: “吾知她教咩.” True. There is no such thing of learning how to write. Knowing the basic rules, the rest lies on your capability and willingness to practice.

Last night, I talked a customer about my potential career path in marketing. His immediate comment was: “It was easy.” Compared to engineering and other more professional disciplines, arts is always the easiest. Whereas, I can not imagine myself using four years to learn about blueteeth, or telecommunications, or any other engineering. It is a bounding area reserved for guys.

I just read the recent entry on Tessa’s blog about the sexie life happened in her house. My term-housemate was having sex with a girl next door! I was so irritated with this guy, who is a qualified rascal lawyer. Afterwards, he could sense my icy attitude towards him and quickly slipped away from my eye sights. Thank God, he is moving out in two weeks.

self fullfilment

January has slipped away in a quick pace. The first month of New Year is approaching to the end next month, and the rest of my Asian friends has and are going back to China for our traditional Chinese New Year. I am not fancy to Chinese New Year anymore, neither to the red envelope. I can sense my maturer attitude. Today, I prefer to give rather than receive.

Yester I had met with my HEWSO team members to have a pre-project social interaction. Everyone is ambitious with great attitude. There is a girl, Jenny, she has involved in various community works and got wide experience in community base. Look back to myself, I am not interested in community works although I have the contacts and have to work 40 hours as part of SALP requirement. The area I am interested in is more about cultural and creative base, which I will do several projects in the coming new uni year. Anyway, I am looking forward to the ABS project which will release on the coming Thursday.

I am conducting a new year plan at the moment. 2005 will be another restless year, however, I don’t want myself to be busy for achieving nothing. A self assessment is needed to better achieve a greater self fulfilment.

Another good report in TIMES is about the issue of Twixters. In the new age, people stay in school longer and reluctant to get out off their parents’ shelters. Even those finish their prolonged education, they still drift in life and work in the industry different from what they have learnt for years. This all come down to choices. We are facing too many choices that full-grown men and women try to experience as many areas as possible and enjoy themselves in their 20s or even 30s. I wish I could become one of the twixters, whereas I know I will not. I have a passionate dedication to live and want to achieve something I have not yet found.

ENTER

I had a big dinner tonight before I start another battle for my economic. Not really enjoying my meal. Why? It is too hot in Melbourne. I eat only because I have to otherwise I don’t have energy.

The tertiary ENTER score had been published on the newspaper on Monday. Surprisingly, this year’s ENTER for most of the courses drops down slightly. University seems to be easier to get in, while the tuition fee for both local and international students rises up significantly. One thing caught in my eyes is the ENTER for our Media & Communications bachelor degree is ranked as a third place after Medicine and law. Why is it hard to get into a course like this? I dare say it does not worth this high. A friend of mine just gets into RMIT Bachelor of Public Relation. This one does not even require an ENTER. Presumably, the RMIT one is more practical. However, up to today, I don’t really wish to pursue a career in PR. Basically, PR is a higher level of messenger.

A brand new year, the same old days

Ok, I finally have time to sit down and have a proper meal, so as to record how have I been in the last two crazy days. As usual, Monday and Tuesday are the busiest days of the week. I had six hours non-stopped lecture/tute class in these two days, with five hours sleep as a complement.

Economics is a devil; it confines me in the library everyday while days are being fabulous outside the window. The fancy images in my dreams now change to economic figures as I have been thinking about it in the whole day.

Apart from the above, nothing interested has rippled in my life. Ow… Tina is going back to China for Chinese year. Wish her a safe trip and a joyful holiday.

After days of heat wave, Melbourne presents us another perfect weather for another relaxed Sunday. I spent the afternoon lying myself on the Yarra riverbank to enjoy the balmy sunshine. One book, one bag, and one pack of snack; shoes were scattered around, this is the life I had been longed for ages. From next week on, I have to reel back into endless of meetings and piles of school + office works.

Have been making lots of phone calls to catch up with family relationship these days. Talking with my beloved cousin, Krist, I found myself more and more unfitted with the Chinese society. Options are open to me, what will be my choice?

Dreams kept slipping into my sleep these two nights. I haven’t had dreams for a long time, mainly because I am always too tired to spare a single cell to enact its creativity in my brain. Semi-holiday relief my stress and allow good things jump out, even if they are in dreams.

The recent TIME issues a special report on the investigation between happiness and money. With no surprise, money can not equal to happiness. When human reach a state of gathering enough money for their basic needs, the extra add-ons are redundant. A simple thumb of rule: the more you want, the more you have to sacrifices. The sacrifices weight a lot more than the value earned for most of the time. Examples are countless, happened in the media as well as around our daily life. I am a simple girl with a simple mind, what I want is just a simple life with happiness.

The condition of my hair turns downwards suddenly. Strands of hair drop out everyday……

Still bad

Bad lucks keep flooding to me still. A cut accident happened at work merely 15min after I started. How could you imagine a rough plastic bucket edge could cut a finger to blood bursting? I was sent to First Aid immediately. Watching the red liquid kept coming out from my poor little finger, no pain was felt, yet I was horrified by my blood replete hand. Tears dropped from my eyes uncontrollably. The rest of shift ran quite smoothly, so as so that I could only have three hours work which took me two hours on the public transport!

The tram stop outside my house are doing the reconstruction currently. Transport to the city is very inconvenient. On top of that, these three days Melbourne was boiling in the hot air. Dust mixed up with aridity in the heat, you can imagine the feeling, right? Shit, it is absolutely shit!

As a girl, I should probably act girlier rather than being too independent. There is nothing wrong of being independent; however, in theory, things can not be too excessive. I have been given people the impression that I am strong enough to look after myself in every aspects. Tonight, after having drinks with my old fellow friends on Brunswick St, I walked home on my own. Although it is not far to walk back, whereas at 11:30pm, should a girl be walked back home by her friend? I did not scare at all. Lonely was the word. Seeming accompanied with heaps of friends in my life, who is the one I can trust in the end? These days, people are becoming more and more selfish for their personal goods.

Melting

My bad lucks do not seem to ease by far. The whole day had been wasted on the unnecessary incidents. At the start of Wednesday morning, I found myself leave the pen I used to write with at home. The free “add-on” lecture I attended at 9am was sucks; the topic was about moral which I have learnt in almost every other subjects. The fat boring Professor satirized me when I left the lecture theatre merely 15 minutes after he started.

In the melted hot afternoon, I went across from one end of the campus to another end to attend an “economic experimental game I signed up on Monday. However, by the time I reached the appointed room, which was 10 minutes early, the lady told me it was already full. All at a suddenly, I felt insulted by the Australian way of dealing with time and promise.

The feeling of dissolved in the hot breeze, mixed up with my PMS, dysmenorrhea and the hormone effects on appetite, my half-vaporized body was in an edge of collapse by the time I reached Hanna’s home.

For the rest of the night, Hanna and me watched the “Sound of Music”. A classical Hollywood storyline accompanied with beautifully lyricized vocal performance. It brought our memories of old days, the days we were young and unworldly.

My determination

A new start for another busy year, another busy week. My life tasks keep rolling bigger and bigger. It is a good thing in this long three-month long summer holiday. The list of things I am doing and I will be doing are:

Continue my corporate membership project with Asialink. This well funded organization may help to extend my contact in the Australian society in arts area, which I am pretty interested in.
Summer school is my big thing. I have enrolled in a pretty hard economic subject. On top of that, I am determined to learn about marketing, so I attend extra two marketing subjects lectures, which weighted 8 extra hours a week.
I will soon start a university competition, HEWSO, with an assigned project from an Australian company. The hint I over-heard was my group’s organization will be ABS (a government commerce department). Time and commitment for this one is stressed long before and I am going to take on the task with no easy escape.
A student host for 2005 orientation. I have been long to become a student host since my first year. Apart from this long-hold desire, I will be issued a book voucher worth a substantial amount of money in reward.
Lots of party and catch up with friends in the nighttime. With no assignment stress, I will go out almost every night to meet with those beloved long-disengaged friends.

This summer will be another full-on but productive break for my personal growth.

My first criteria of my future husband is he must have at least half features of my dad. There is no man greater than my dad in terms of technical support. Even though he is thousands of miles away from me, he could still fix my computer problem within three hours! No format, no backups, no hazard, what he did was simple directed me to download several online programs to kill the virus and improve my computer process system. Before I asked him, I had consulted with three computer “experts” (one is a graduated software engineer, one is second year computer science student, one is qualified to be a IT consultant), and all of them told me to format the machine. One even physically came and checked the machine, but ended up with a mess interface for me fix up. Now, this machine icy machine functioned properly as well as efficiently; thanks for this beloved man.

Another bad incident happened to me on this Sunday. I dropped the best Italian ice cream in Melbourne while I only licked in two tastes of it. Damn!

I am going to spend a substantial amount of money to change my hair style completely before school starts. I hate my curly hair, which is born nature.

A celebration decency

The evening on New Year’s eve, Ziran, Brian and me had a discussion on the decency of Melbourne’s million dollar firework celebration. Despite of the Asian tsunami catastrophe, our Asian lord mayor was under attacked again for refusing to withdraw the celebration. My judgement is, Australian has done a great job in helping does affected countries, and we also did appeal during the fireworks, what else more should snob ask for? A time for joy and sympathy was turned into a political battleground by those democratic politicians.

Today’s weather reminds me about the winter back home. In Guangzhou, the chilling wind blows into your bone with miserable raindrops splash all over your face. In post-Christmas Melbourne summer, the crap weather remains. The only thing changed is more people turn up in the city.

My computer seems to work properly for my unreasonable switch on/off operations. Hopefully the virus has suicided itself to sympathize my unfortunates. Despite on its/their mercy, I still choose to format the machine this weekend in case the soul of virus comes back to live one day and all my stuff go shit. The initial sign of virus ghost has appeared – MSN starts to become weird and could not function correctly now.

More than lucks

My misfortune is like the contagion that one comes up after another. Two more stroke of bad lucks today.

Incident one Act 1: A red top depigment that made the rest of my white clothes becomes pink. Even though I like pink and I like to do a lot of D.I.Y. things, it doesn’t mean my pearl white working shirt and dance skirt have to turn white also. Discovering the incident, I hurried out to buy a big bottle of bleach.
Incident one Act 2: By the time I began to bleach my clothes, I found another full bottle of bleach in our laundry!

Synchro Incident Two: Knowing the weather will be changing quite dramatically today, I hung back about doing laundry today. As the heat wave got into my room bit by bit, I finally decide to do the washing. Not long after putting clothes in the backyard, God started to pull water into Melbourne city landscape. Swearing was the best way to relieve my emotional flux, while half of my white tops were still in bleach!

To make myself feel a bit of luck, I have to believe a saying that: “Good lucks will come to you soon after so many unluckiness.” It is like tax cut/rise taught in economic. If I had so many bad lucks now, good luck will not be far.

Curse and Blessings

Tones of bad luck few days into 2005. A virus has invaded my computer; IE obstructs viewing on hotmail; a yucky gum stuck on my only high-heal today; and my toe heat the corner of my room door again! Despite of these entire wicked incidences, human warmth is always good. Lots of blessings waved to my heart for my sincerity and hardworking.

In the daytime I had a farewell lunch with Miyuki, a MediaComm fresh graduate who is going back Japan for good. After living eight years in Melbourne, I wish she could be capable with the different lifestyle back in Tokyo.

For the whole night, I could not stop grinning. A very nice candle fragrance was given from my manger as my Birthday present. In return as my thankfulness were my kissings on her.

21st presents list:
- A delicate necklace with a star pendant (Miyuki)
- An aureate necklace (Jason)
- A pair of postiche crystal earing (Flora)
- A pair of colourful earrings and a piggy coin purse (Tina)
- A pack of rose candle fragrance (Anna, my manager)
- Two packs of body lotion (Jingmin and Adeline)
- A glass margarita cocktail (Ziran)
- A French fine dinner (Lina)
- An e-card (Krist)
Tones of blessings. Thank you very much to all these beloved friends.

The best New Year’s Eve present ever ^0^

Since I have had broadband access at home, troubles keep irritating me. One week on installing hardware for my computer to adopt the LAN in new home; two weeks on finding the filter problem that prevented us to use the net; and now, I don’t know how many more weeks it will take to fix my virus problem.

The virus disaster was blamed from my passion for Kasey Chambers. I was so eager to download her music that agreed to download an unknown software from a dodgy website. ~CRY~ I want a friend who knows IT. Jacky is in such a remote, and Dad is lost in cyberspace for days. The only hope I am going to grab will be my software engineering friend.

The severity of this virus is not that strong, I even know why I got it and how it damaged my system. However, I don’t know how to kill it. My feeling is like, you like you have got a worm within your body but you don’t know what to do with it unless you go to see a specialist. A high price is expected to paid, or you can wait to die.

Currently, a religion debate about the faith for God rose from the Asia tsunami disaster. They question why does God take away human lives in such a manner if he loves us. The defenders’ explanation is “no matter what God has done, he has reason. Human should listen to the call from him, and follow whatever he has planned.” Is it this true? If we put away what we have and followed God, why should any aids out there day-and-night helping those sorrow creatures?

May God bless the tsunami sufferers

After days of celebration, tonight I eventually sat down and watched news in details. I could not hold back my tears while I was watching the tsunami catastrophe footages. Fear, sorrow, rumour, diseases and tears are flooding with unkind weaves swept across the south Asian region. In front of nature, human beings are defenceless. There was one heart-touching report showing that a rumour of tidal wave was “coming again” would stir a great reaction among those horror-stricken people. “People here are too scare. Those can not run could just watched and wait for whatever would happen (footage: an old man that could hardly walked was watching young guys running pass him with fear clearly shown on his face)”. Contagion is becoming serious issue after showing piles of dead body in media around the world. May God bless all those sufferers. Amen.

I “s-cream” in the New Year

Happy New Year to everyone who can or cannot see this post. 2005 is unfolding in front of us now, what are plans mates? My best wish is to be happy and completely get out off the myth I have been indulged in for months.

I have been spending the whole New Year’s Eve having ice cream. The amount I had eaten equals the whole lot of the past year. Sometimes I want to obsess with something healthy to reward my long-on-going diet scheme. The worse bit was I had Souvlaki as a very very late supper several hours into New Year’s Day. Once in a year, there is nothing to be blame for enjoying the first day of an unknown year. Whereas, I can only take joy in the first half of the day, for the rest of that, working for money is my plan =<

City was packed with thousands of people last night. Great live bands were playing in the major open spaces in Melbourne city, with sweating people pushing each other along Yarra river to enjoy a breezeless New Year’s Eve. Couples of my friends were scattered in different location in the city. After meeting up with them to give my New Year’s wishes, I joint with my aunt, grandpa and two little cousins. The eventful City was not a good place for year kids and old people to stay long. Pushing hard against crowded young Aussies and suffering from the vibrant hip-hop music, they could not wait to see the midnight firework but left early back home. Next year, I might only ask my older cousin to come with me; it would be more fun if I do it this way rather than asking the whole family out.

After seeing them off in the station, I went to a de luxe apartment of a friend of my housemate. The apartment was on the 19th floor in South Bank. The panoramic view of Melbourne city discloses in front. My first time to count down to a new year with groups of friends in Melbourne, 2005 would be another challenge yet unforgettable year. The following firework was a present to every Melbournists. It was not spectacular, whereas joys came from where you were and who you were with. The purpose of this man-made joyfulness was to bring into a time to unit long disengaged friends.

These days I was hanging out with my two new housemates: Ziran (a dissolute lawyer) and Brian (a “classic” student). I felt like going back to my first year and hanging out all the time. However, summer school starts next week; I will soon get back to my busy track of life again. Ziran is working from 9 to 5 everyday, Brian will go back Taiwan for one month. I don’t think our happy time will come back again. Be real, no one can have fun all the time. No works, no gains. Maybe we would gather together some day in the future, when we may all change - rich and famous, happy and content, or myth and slump. Cheers, 2005!