I've got Internet! It's dial-up till about next week, probably, but who gives a mackerel?! It's Internet, yay! In the meantime, you have no idea how shocked I was to see 'Dialing' while I was connecting it.

Has it been 10 fricking years since I last saw that?! It almost feels like it!

I've decided that besides my pay, it helps that I arrived at work yesterday only to find out that I've been scheduled to work beside 2 hotties. To be blatantly honest, my pay is crappy by Australian standards. I say by Aust standards because I know the pay is RM 3 an hour in Malaysia. =.= But then, Australia has a system called award wages, meaning you get paid according to your age.

As the equation goes, I could be working as hard as a 20 year old, or possibly harder, and they're still getting a higher pay than me. =( Yes, that is bloody miserable. This guy asked us about our vacancy and when hottie told him that the boss is looking to employ juniors that are 16/17, I added, "That means whoever he can pay the least (thinking: like me)."

I shot my mouth off, but so? :P The guy who made the enquiry liked my honesty.

Ah fucking well...

On the other hand, it was an absolutely kembangifying episode yesterday when one of the hotties told me that everyone says I'm one of the best workers, based on speed. I love him already! Betapa sweetnya to be known as that, even if personally, I think it's untrue and I'm the one who when given the job of cutting apples manages to get more on the floor than into the buckets. =P

And just to let you know brag, I can cut apples without a cutting board. Syok sendiri. ;)

One day, I shall learn how to cut them the right way without being in danger of cutting myself, even if it looks mighty scary. I've been told that I shouldn't use my way when the boss is around, and that he might even hit me. Is that a Greek thing?! Well, if he does, he's going to lose 'one of his best workers'. I might tell him the first time I don't appreciate being touched at all, but the second time around, no negotiation. Nada.

Oh, and I still find it strange that people go, wow, when I say that I get English, Malay, Cantonese, Mandarin and Hokkien. *shrug* Lots of people I know can. But I guess hottie doesn't know any of them.

And OMG, a few Japanese dudes yesterday came up to me and spoke in Japanese!?!! Never mind the fact that I understood what he said, but DO I LOOK JAPANESE TO YOU!?! :P It's not that I understand-understand Japanese. At first he was speaking in English, and began nudging his friends. Okay, something dodgy's going on here. Then he said, "Tapioca insert-something-Japanese-here?"

Dude. =.= We're not a bubble tea cafe. It's a juice bar. And in any case... I'M NOT JAPANESE!! Which PART of me looks/makes you think I'm Japanese? The part with the big eyes? The kopi susu complexion I have? Or the part where I swear in Hokkien?!

I cleared the air and they flocked off. I never thought that working in a juice bar would be anything like this, but if anything, it's been entertaining. Besides a lot of hard work!

Which guy would ask a chick out, then tell her he can't make it when she changes only the venue? Or that it's okay when she cancels on the second attempt to meet 'cause he has stuff to finish up anyway?

Us females are complicated? Try the men. Fuck, they baffle me so. much. more.

Forget it, I'm going to work later. At least work is straightforward enough; I bust my ass off for you, you pay me.

Ah shit, that sounds so wrong. =P

With Marketing, I have to memorise the 4 Ps of the marketing concept, as told by the lecturer:

Product
Pricing
Placement, and
Promotion.

And for my Psychology test last week, what easily went into my head, thanks to my lecturer, were the 4 Fs that were the functions of the hypothalamus:

Fight
Flight
Feeding, and
Mating.

Don't you wonder why I find Psychology much easier to study? ;) Psychology wins hands down. It takes the cake, and the damn icing too.

Happy Merdeka, guys! :) It's a rainy day here in Brisbane and the end of winter here is always strange; it's colder than the core of winter itself! How temperamental, hey? Anyway, I completed the Project Happy Malaysia yesterday, and I hope you guys liked it and it instilled a bit more cheeriness in your day. All of you over in Malaysia have absolutely no right to sulk today; it's a holiday!

Anyway, I was going to write an emo post today because this one was written in a postcard by me a few days ago and I've been waiting and waiting to put it up, since Blogdrive has been PMSing. But then again, it's Merdeka. :) I shan't rain on everyone's parade just cause it's raining here. I wrote something less emotional during lunchtime.

Some confusion in the air,
a little disbelief to spare,
from the ones who slipped away,
to the ones that couldn't stay.

An echo of sentiments went silent,
the expectations altogether fallen,
with the water that drew its own course
and the found, no longer lost cause.

So.. afraid.. of.. you..

No indications to signpost my way
No idea what it is I'm gonna say.

I hate you illegitimately.
Love to hate you,
hate to love you.

Well, if you didn't understand that, believe me, that's perfectly understandable. Okay, you guys can all be my Thelma. I.. um.. got to know a guy at the party last weekend, and I gave him my number. After that, I refused to give him my name. See, I thought he wouldn't call. At all. Forgive me for sounding crass, but I thought it was a one-night thing. And that was that. But he smsed me on Sunday, which I didn't get, since he got the wrong number, and then through his friend, managed to get my number again.

He has called to ask if I would like to go on a movie on Saturday. The Malaysian part in me was jolted back to reality when Trinity reminded me that people go on dates to get to know each other better, unlike in Malaysia where only couples go on dates. I realised last night that so much in me hasn't changed. I might speak with an Australian accent, I might not know much about Malaysian news, but there's an essence about me that cannot be changed. It's the upbringing that did this to me. :) Aiks, digression!

Anyway... I am secretly quite afraid of what to say next if he calls, or if we go on that.. date. Thinking about it now, I've really never done dates. Lol. It really is disorienting! It's like having all my expectations ripped from me, and all these questions are hounding me. What does he want? He doesn't know what I'm like. I don't know him! And I keep reminding myself that nothing is going on. Absolutely nothing. Which is why he asked me on that date. Oh God, I am scared. to. death.

I'm going to be studying like MAD till 5 on Saturday (that's when my exams end). I hope that's enough to take my mind off this. Otherwise... well, just shoot me.

My blog over at Blogdrive is somehow suspended since Blogdrive won't load and I think I've lost my comments. So, this might be temporary, or it might stay. :) Let's see how Blogger fares against Blogdrive, okay?

Anyway, I've been asked by Vincent to write on Project Happy Malaysia. This couldn't have come at a worse time. Not that I'm unhappy about Malaysia, but rather, I'm still Internet-deprived for about another week, and I have two exams on Saturday that I have yet to study for. Not to mention the fact that I have a presentation in less than 2 hours and I'm definitely not in the mood to stand up in front of people who don't want to listen to me rambling on about nothing.

Rubbish aside, I can think of a story now. When I was much younger, possibly about eight or nine years old, my family and I were out on a Sunday at One-Utama, which is the most famous shopping centre in my area. Back then, it was big, but now after including another wing, it's a massive place. It was just grocery shopping and aimless walking around as our family time together. Unlike Australia where shopping malls are quiet during weekends, it was packed as sardine, and everyone seemed to be content with just being another random shopper, paying a dollar to park their cars there and walking around a big shopping mall with no agenda.

I don't remember who was pushing the trolley; I was standing on the trolley's horizontal legs and watching the people go by, wondering why the hell sales were that captivating. Then we noticed something amiss. My younger brother was missing.

Panic engulfed us all as we looked high and low for him. It was every family's nightmare in a crowded shopping mall. I believe my father went off to the information counter to page for him and my mother just continued searching and searching. Fast-forward, I was in the car, peeking out the window, thinking hard as to when I last him, when he disappeared from sight. He's two years younger than me.

We might've prayed, though not together; we're not religious. We tried brushing away horrid thoughts of possibilities that no one should be condemned to have. Almost everyday, there's news of these horrible things happening to children. It's a global curse, almost. Oh God, what could we have done? I wept silently as I continued to look out the window. Please, don't let anything happen to him.

And then my father got a phone call from him. A lady had found him sitting alone in tears and lent him her phone to call my father. She also offered him a lift to get to where my parents were. The details are a bit blurry now, maybe slightly inaccurate, but I believe that's how it went. To say that we were relieved was definitely an understatement. Overjoyed might just be the word to describe how we felt.

See, when I read that poll about how discourteous Malaysians are, I really was in disbelief. How could anyone have made such a large generalisation? When there exists people like that lady who pretty much in my eyes 'saved' my younger brother, I am not inclined to go with the flow and quote the statistics to anyone who will listen. There will always be defiant minorities everywhere. What, there're no rude Australians/British/Americans? Of course not. There's always that possibility that the chosen sample did not represent the entire population. In my case, I was so, so sure that that possibility rang true.

It's not hard to remember why I love Malaysia and my fellow Malaysians when I reflect on times like this. :)

Last Saturday, Trinity and I went over to Jed's to celebrate his birthday. Really, it was meant to be on this Tuesday, but who cares that it was a bit early? We bought him a book about beer and... *holds breath* baked him cookies. Oh. God. Who would've thought that we can bake?!!

Obviously, Betty Crocker was the best help ever. Hire her, everyone. ;)



See that solitary cookie shaped like a star? Trinity insisted on making it, lol. And I solemnly swear that maybe next time, I'll just eat one whole big bowl of cookie dough by myself. Forget baking!



It's not Famous Amos, it's just the product of 2 gluttons watching the clock impatiently. Yummylicious. ;)



Some serious cam-whoring at the bus-stop. I suck at using my Nikon, it's bad with shaky hands! It's either that or get blinded by the camera flash.



One word: POSERPAN!! There's something wrong with people these days, tee-hee.
(Trinity reckons he looks like Utt, the MTV VJ. What do you guys think?)



See what I meant about shaky hands?!!In any case, Jed does not look like Jed here. But the beer bottle ought to be evidence that we did not stuff him to death with cookies that night. ;)



Damn.
Damn.
DAMN.
Is this incriminating or what?!
I'm sure you noticed that we all look sober and awake and... sane.
Either that or maybe AA should be notified the next time we all group together again.

Blogdrive loves me again. ;)
I'm moving my Project Happy Malaysia post over here!

One of my lecturers can't pronounce dichotomous. You won't believe how she says it.

'Dick-tohr-nor-mers'

But I was the only one itching to burst out laughing. I suspect half the class wasn't listening at all. :P

And I've been tagged. Why, you evil man, Munak? Whyyyy?!

- what made you happy this week?
I got an extension for one of my assignments, and I got paid. :)

- what made you sad this week?
Remembering my grandfather. It's still surreal...

- are you contented with your life?
I'm not ready to die, if that's what you mean.

- has someone made u happy lately?
Trinity: "Your life has been so undramatic of late". Heheheh.

- what do you plan to do to him/her?
I bought her the best donuts in Brisbane yesterday. Definitely pwns Dunkin Donuts/Donut King any day!

- how are you feeling at the moment?
Relatively relaxed considering I have an exam in 2 hours. %^&$?!

- what/who made you feel that way?
I've memorised my stuff well!

- are you the type of person who easily gets hurt?
Hmm... a little bit. I don't know. I suppose I hurt when most people do.

- do you cry?
Your tear ducts are stuck if you don't.

- have you ever been to a point in your life that you’ve thought about giving up?
On life? Probably, but not seriously enough for me to even take myself seriously.

- last movie you watched?
Errr.. some silly mahjong Cantonese movie.

- with whom?
My family. :)

- last song you heard?
I had on the Chinese playlist last. I don't specifically remember which song.

- last thing you bought?
A book about beer for my friend's birthday.

- last place you went?
The city last night.

- last food you ate?
Weet-bix with milk and honey.

- last thing that made you smile?
This morning when Trinity asked me why I'm waking up at 6, 7ish. Like I have to ask for her permission to take a piss, lol!

- last thing you heard from your parent(s)?
Study hard. :P

- last thing you said to your parent (s)?
Bye, love you.

- last thing you said to one of your friends?
Whatever I last said to Trina. Something about exams.

- last thing you read?
Hahahha, like Munak said, this fricking question! (Okay lah, if it's referring to a book, it's Paulina Simmons' "Tully")

- last person you called?
My manager at work, telling her it's impossible for me to turn up at 8 am when the bus only leaves the fricking stop at 8.

- last person who called you?
My aunt.

- last person you msg?
David, telling him I'm done with his review.

- last person who msg you?
Trinity, to tell me my CD arrived (my other prize was the Dave Chappelle's Block Party DVD!).

- last person who gave you a testimonial in friendster?
It's either Kyels or Shi Yen. :)

- last person who messaged you in Yahoo Messenger?
I don't use Yahoo Messenger anymore.

- last person you’re with?
Trinity lah. She's still sitting next to me, studying so hard, lol.

- last person you kissed goodnight?
Probably my mom.

- last person you kissed goodbye?
My sister. Poor thing was crying at the airport... until my dad handed her the parking token to work the machine! =P I got pwned by a parking payment machine, for heaven's sakes!

- last person you think of before going to sleep?
Last night, it was Jeff Buckley singing 'Hallelujah' cause Westlife wouldn't shut up in my head when I needed some quiet song to fall asleep to.

- last thing you’re goin to do before going to sleep?
Err... brush my teeth! I'm oh so hygenic, kan kan kan?!

** Tagging is silly, so don't make me look silly by myself! ;)
Merv, Averdim, Trinity, and whoever else sees this, you're it!