Qld Photos Part 1: Brisbane

Arrival Hall- Brisbane International Airport


Taringa.


the bus stop near my friend's place.


B.B.C. y'all. okay it actually stands for the Brisbane Boys' College.


the frequently visited Hanaro Mart(yes, it's korean).



Church of St. Thomas.





train station.


oh c'mon. you gotta love the name.

down to the City!















behold, fellow earthlings...


muaha.


muahaha.


hallelujah.(and we got 2 boxes.)








Sunnybank a.k.a. asian-town.




Brisbane River.



10 bucks for figuring out who this car belongs to.



Indooroopilly.

West End!






kampung houses at their best.






one-man band.


Hungry Jacks. damn, now i'm hungry.






can you say Domino's?

The Last Lecture

"Because if you lead your life the right way, the karma will take care of itself, the dreams will come to you. If you live properly, the dreams will come to you."

- Randy Pausch

rest in peace.

Surprise.

Singapore is not in China.

get it right.

Singapura

yes. this is the official "i'm back" post.

i'm back. hoorah.

as you can tell, i'm trying really hard to curb my enthusiasm.

okay, so i was hoping that by not writing about it, it'd still be my imagination. but the heat's brought me back to reality. and i've finally brought myself to blog.

so.

life's been as mundane as it could be ever since i returned. for one simple reason. i stayed home for 2 whole days the moment i reached home on thursday night. yes, 2 complete days at home. i didnt want to step out of the house at all. i think tampines mall would have given me a panic attack.

so what does a person do for 2 entire days at home? watch the "Life of Ryan" weekend marathon. yes. Life of Ryan. ryan sheckler. that skateboarder teen. yes me. watching yet another one of mtv's reality series. no it's not The Hills. at least he's a professional skateboarder(anna'll kill me for this). but you get it. i've resorted to watching mtv reality shows.

I'M SORRY! i'm sorry, me!

i'll snap out of it. i just need a few more days.

til then.

life is good.

i cant believe i'll be going back in 2 days.

i miss singapore so much.

the warm weather. the overcrowding population. the un-gentlemenly men. the loud women. the lians. the minahs. the mads and bengs. the wannabes. the poseurs. the whiners. the skinny beanpoles. the loud techno ringtones. the polluted beaches. the compact city. tampines mall. the competition. the stress.

yes. it's about time i went back.

now please give me a minute while i burn my passport.

it should only take a minute.

Crikey.

it's about 15 degrees outside here in brisbane right now. cold but not freezing, just the way i like it. if there's one good reason not to return to singapore, this would be it.

but of course, this wouldnt be the ONLY reason NOT to return to singapore. i could think of a million right now, but there's no point because i'd still be going back anyway. ah well. i'll soak in whatever i can right now.

so the past 4 days have been great. i guess my body's been trying to adapt to the change in weather here so i've been a bit sick, getting sore throat and flu altogether. but hey, there's always pi pa gao. it's the bomb i tell you. my throat's feeling much better.

people. i've met alot of different people over the past four days. people from different parts of the world, all residing in australia right now, and all friends of my friends. it's been great meeting new people. that's one thing i've always looked for in a great holiday.

food. ah. food. i've been popping in sooo much over the past 4 days, i'm pretty sure i'll put on another 10 pounds by the time i return. it doesnt help that the people here keep telling me i'm tiny and could eat more. really, i'm 5kg overweight in singapore as i've been told. godzilla.

my mobile's been giving me quite a few problems so thank god i brought along my bro's camera. stupid nokia and their stupid problems. oh well. more museum tomorrow! awesome.

til then. :)

hello.

i'm flying solo

to Australia

TOMORROW!

the name game?

okay so i know it's 4 plus am in the morning and i'm supposed to be asleep.

it's just that, i have a little secret confession to make, and if i dont do it now, i cant go to bed. so here it goes.

*breathes*

i am secretly in love with...

"That's Not My Name" by The Ting Tings.

YES. that annoying song that keeps playing on the radio. i actually really like it. somebody shoot me. (i didnt really mean that cos if you actually point a gun at me, i'm calling the cops.)


SOMEBODY just get her name right, already!
(it's Katie, dammit.)

mmhmm. guilty as charged.

or maybe it's because i can actually relate to her. i mean, Siew Hoon? Swee Hon? Swee Hong? Shufen? that's not my name. that's not my name. that's not my name. those are not my name.

it's no secret, however, that i do find this commercial funny.

(not just because Mark Zee's in it)

that tagline gets to me everytime.

the unexplainable.

how does one associate australia with shaolin monks?

i dont know but that happened in my dream last night.

and in case you were wondering, no i havent watched Shaolin Girl(and i dont intend to) or Kungfu Panda.

but hai-yak! anyway.

i've had some of the most disturbing dreams around. not everyone of them, but quite a number. i'm starting to wonder if all these tests of patience and anger that i've controlled and hidden over the years could have been the cause of the portrayal of some of my dreams over the recent years.

you know what? make a sequel to the sequel of the film Donnie Darko. make a Donna Darko. i'm available.

think your dreams are weird?

come into my world.
or better yet, dont. for the greater good.

ah. unagi.

Star-studded indeed.

interesting little thing happened at work this morning.

my brother called my mobile while we were both at work and this was how the conversation went.

me: hello?
bro: eh who do we call and what's the number to your company's AR(accounts receiveable) side?
me: *amused* huh? that's me.
bro: huh. what?
me: that's me. you'll be calling me.
bro: OH. you're in the AR side?
me: yes.
bro: so you'll pick up the call?
me: ya.
bro: umm. never mind, just give me the number.

so i gave it to him, we hung up, and a couple of seconds later, the phone at my desk rang.

me: hello?
bro: hello.

turns out, he was helping a colleague to call. but still, isnt it ironic how we went from two little chimps wrestling each other all over the grounds of our home and throwing insults at each other on a daily basis, to two grown chimps sharing the same job scope? how we went from stepping onto two completely different routes when it came to our education, to ending up talking about that same invoice?

i dont know about you, but i find this strangely amusing.

and now, a sweet little piece of news i read this morning that freaked me out for 2 seconds, and then knocked me back to earth 2 seconds later.

Death Cab For Cutie is having a concert here.

that's right. you heard me. death cab's coming to town! holy shizzam.i wouldnt want to regret not going to this, like i did with Coldplay, but now i'll have to reconsider SingFest.

that stupid SingFest.

13 more days to australia. wow.

what did you say?

the "G" word.

most of us are guilty of it. some of us are addicted to it. some just do it for fun, while others depend on it. sometimes it becomes a life and death situation, and other times, it's something to sleep on. to some, it provides pleasure. to others, it's nothing but a tragedy in waiting.

restrictions. what happened to them? why do you defend, when you know that no matter what you try to say outwardly, you're not all that convinced yourself, deep down inside? that you may go 20000 rounds in circles but it's still a circle? that the five reasons that support it dont even amount up to the one reason that doesnt?

why risk it in the first place? why disappoint when the disappointment is preventable?

i dont get it.

inspiration. solitude. therapy.

Coldplay- Viva La Vida (Live at MTV Movie Awards '08)

that was when i ruled the world.

it's not even legal, how much i'm loving this.

welcome back.

Up, up, and crash.

i was googling around last night for fun things to do on a plane when you're flying alone, but i pretty much found the same few things here and there. things i already know. read a book, listen to an mp3, watch the movies on the plane, walk around the cabin, sleep. you know, the usual. and then it occurred to me that those are pretty much the only things we can do on a plane actually. i mean, besides trying to juggle a few balls while balancing myself on the left-wing in mid air.

then, i came across this.

"HOW TO SURVIVE A PLANE CRASH"

Steps:

1. Wear long pants, a long-sleeve t-shirt, and sturdy, comfortable, lace-up shoes.
2. Book the right seats.
3. Read the safety information card and pay attention to the preflight safety speech.
4. Make a plan.
5. Keep your seatbelt securely fastened at all times.
6. Brace yourself for impact.
7. Remain calm.
8. Put your oxygen mask on before assisting others.
9. Protect yourself from smoke.
10. Get out of the airplane as quickly as possible.
11. Get at least 500 feet upwind from the aircraft.

(click on the link to read the full details of each point.)

how interesting.

mom knocked on wood (and my head) and reckoned that i was watching too much of LOST when i showed her this. which i believe, shouldnt be the case, because i've stopped watching that since the third season. a-hah!

now i wonder who left these tips behind.

jack, kate, or sawyer?

The Office (has returned!)

two wisdom teeth on either ends within a week of each other. now just what are the odds to that?

and no, i havent gotten any wiser, just in case you were wondering.

in fact, i believe i'm losing my memory and words as i type. in about 2 seconds, i'll have nothing to talk about. shocker.

okay, i see what this is. it appears as though i've become one of those lifeless souls that crowd around bus stops and train stations at evenings. you know, an "office person".

but i'll be back. when i stop seeing numbers and my energy level returns. :)

in the meantime, if it's not doing me any good, why do they have to be such a pain in the gums? stupid wisdom teeth.

and i just used "stupid" and "wisdom" in the same sentence.

What time is it?

in approximately 12 hours, the diploma will land in my hands.
that long, hard, wonderful, painful 3 years that i'd spent working for it. it has come to an end. so long, rainbow coloured skies and chocolate covered pavements. the world is officially black and white.

oh, graduation. the bittersweetness of it all. i cant figure out if i'm going to be happy, sad or just plain bored at the ceremony.

but whichever it will be, one thing's for sure.

i dont have to go to work today.

score.

smile...

You cannot run away from weakness;
You must fight it out, or perish.
And if that be so,
why not now, and where you stand?

- Robert Louis Stevenson


John Mayer- The Heart of Life

...and hang on tight.

godzilla.

a couple of days ago, a lady that my friends and i met on the streets called me at work, asked for my height and weight, told me i was 5kg overweight, and then proceeded to ask me to join her wellness program.

woah, woah, WOAH. i'm 5 kg overweight! i did not know that. actually, neither does my bmi, because according to calculations, i have a bmi of 21.6, which is apparently within the healthy range. wait, so who do i listen to? the lady i met on the streets, or my bmi?

you see, i'm not even going to hide it. i'm 1.52m tall, and about 50kg heavy. that's right. i said 50kg(and now y'all are probably going "OMG, she's like, so totally fat!"). who knows? i might've even put on a few more pounds while at work(havent ran in a week). look, i'm not even going to blame it on heavy bones. that's right. it's not my bones. it's all me and my fats, baby. uh- huh. i am a total mass of 50kg.

i'm a little teapot, short and stout.

but wait, doesnt my bmi say that i'm healthy? well here's the simple truth. i am physically acceptable, but socially overweight. ah, gotta love that word, "socially". if you take a look around at most girls around me, everyone seems to be taller, skinnier, and definitely weighing much lighter.

so there you have it. socially overweight.

doctors tell you you're healthy, but society says you're NOT! who do we listen to? society of course. what do doctors know anyway? do they know the latest gucci? the latest prada? the size double-zero? NO. who gives a crap about what all these medical people say? society rules us all.

not.

i rule myself, and i rule my body. and if my bmi says that i'm healthy, then i guess i am. granted, i've got a lovely pile of fats to get rid of, and i'll do that by a thing called exercising. yes, that healthy thing. it'll take me a while, but i mean, if all else fails, i'll sacrifice...and go on a pure subway diet. sure worked for this dude. oh, the torture.

that delicious, juicy, parmesan oregano torture.


(no i did not draw this.)

the Art of Rejection

"We have reviewed your application thoroughly but regret to inform you that you have not been successful in your application. We assure you that the University Selection Committee had considered your application to the fullest extent before arriving at this difficult decision.

With best wishes."

the fullest extent. right. i believe they took one look at my GPA and went, "next." to be fair, even i wouldnt accept me with a GPA as low as mine.

yes, the rejection was well predicted beforehand. i mean, i knew this was one of the three universities that was too prestigious for me right from the very beginning. but i just had to try, you know? no harm done, they said. agreed. and this letter only did nothing but proved me right.

and since i had already expected this even before i did my application, there's really nothing for me to be upset about. ...right? is that how it works? i guess this probably makes me the first member of my family to not make it to a university that i had applied for(particularly this one)... but hey, at least i dont have the lowest score for scrabble this time round.

come on. Monty Python said to always look on the bright side of life. that's right. i'll purse my lips and i'll give a whistle cos this will help things turn out for the best.

just two more months.


two.

note to self: i am the master of my fate, i am the captain of my soul. and i'm a mutant.

f.r.e.e.

i found something to love about my office.

the air-conditioner.

the weather these few days has been ridiculously hot. so hot, so humid, and so stuffy, it's almost suffocating. the temperature outside seems to be a wee bit cooler than inside the house, which basically stinks for me, knowing how much i hate going out. okay, my own problem.

a nice cone of Ben & Jerry's cookie dough would've done the trick, but free-scoop-day just had to be on a tuesday afternoon.

this was taken on last year's free-scoop-day.


this year, all i could have was this.


the image of it.

speaking of free stuffs, Coldplay released their new single, Violet Hill, off their album Viva La Vida or Death and all His Friends for free downloading on their website. one week only!

a new album would mean a new(tiny little) chance of them coming back down to singapore for a third concert. in fact, bring Travis along. have a reunion concert here all over again. do it, blokes. i'm there.

short fingers crossed.

TGILD this thursday.

elementary, my dear watson.

everytime a plane flies over my workplace, i dont hear a thing but the ground beneath my feet vibrates. it's like a miniscule earthquake that happens every half an hour. ten points for guessing where my office is located near to. just act like you really needed that ten points.

here's a little view from the restroom area in the office.


well, it's secluded enough.



more clues?

also, over lunch, a lovely colleague of mine asked me if i was pure chinese. that makes her the 105th person to think that way. i'm really as chinese as it gets. three of my grandparents were from china. i'm as yellow-skinned as the simpsons(which is an honour). ...or maybe it's time to sit down with my parents to find out the cold, hard truth. was i or was i not, picked up from the thrashbin near our home?

in other news, my graduation gown arrived on thursday. honestly speaking, i wouldnt call me making it to graduation a miracle like some of my friends do. it's really more like a mystery. but as always, some mysteries are meant to be left unsolved.

case closed.

see you later, elevator.

i flipped through an old photoalbum today.

look, i know gwen stefani's really cool and all that...


but look who originated stripes, prints and a quirky pair of shades?
that's right, i aint no hollaback girl.

anyway.

after much anticipation, the lift by my house is done.

our lift is done. yes, our lift.

i know my excitement has been puzzling to a few people but they dont understand. having "our own lift" was something that anna and i had been wishing for since we were kids. sure, we had wanted an internal one then, but hey, a decade later, this really is good enough. and for it to be only 15 steps away from my doorstep is just a gift.

two nights ago, i passed anna a box of egg tarts through the lift. only, the box took a solo trip down, leaving anna to retrieve it out of the lift safely when the liftdoor opened on her level. wow, this is like a dream come true. screw a trip around the world. this is waaay better.

okay i kid.

me and my partner-in-crime...

...wishing for an internal elevator.

not a quitter.... well, not yet.

okay.

ouch, by the way.

this really should've been a two-parter.

the week's been unbelievably horrible. horrible.

it was monday morning and my room started to spin around me at a high speed. it felt as though i was sitting in one of those spinning tea-cups at carnivals. what made it worse was that the giddiness elevated everytime i tried to lie down. *beeeeeep* lying down actually made it worse. and then the pukes came. incessantly. bloody nuisance.

oddly enough, the family doctor whom i've been seeing for 18 years was on leave that day. it was the first time i've actually seen him on leave. 18 years of my life. yes, the odds. i stared at the needle the replacement doctor jabbed into my left deltoid. it felt good. a fetish for needles, maybe. i liked it.

now my deltoid however, is seemingly bruised. right now. i read somewhere that it's normal to get bruises after a jab because it probably went through a blood capillary or something. but it sure looks diseased.

look, even my BCG's turned yellow.

i apologise for the disgusting image. sorry.

i felt better on wednesday afternoon but the bloody nuisance came back to haunt me by nightfall. it's like it went on a lunch and dinner break. if it was a thing, i would've murdered it. in cold blood.

and then i was late for my first day of work on thursday because the transport that my recruitment agency told me to wait for didnt even show up. turns out, they actually made me wait for a bus that has stopped transporting workers for aeons. when i tried to call the bus driver whose number the agent gave to me, it wasnt even in use anymore. great stuff there. great impression.

work. to put it simply, i hate my temp job. dont get me wrong. my colleagues are pretty nice and friendly people. yes, that i dare say. but i think they all innocently thought that i was actually an accountancy diploma holder or something because i've been tossed real accountancy and more.

look, if there's one thing that they should know, POA was that one subject that i scored a D7 for during my 'O' levels. which was why i swore never to do accounting ever again.

i really should've been interviewed.

2.5 months more to go. i'm really, honestly, truthfully, un-exaggeratingly dreading monday. this is SIP all over again. damn it. what i'm really looking forward to is JULY. but what's really getting on my nerves is this fever that i'm dealing with right now. my voice is gone and my nose is wearing Adidas. impossible is nothing, huh? bloody nuisance.

ok tonight, i tried to play scrabble.

great letters.


i got rid of the "R" and the "O" and this is what i got in return.


i really must've offended someone who probably knows voodoo. look, i'm really sorry okay? whoever you are. really. please just stop. okay, how much do you want? a dollar? a googillion bucks?

oh look, it's sunday already.

SOMEBODY WHACK ME, PLEASE! KNOCK ME OUT!

The Breakfast Club

"They only met once, but it changed their lives forever."


i managed to catch this today, 23 years after it's release.

now this is old school. for real.
who the hell goes to detention for 8 hours and 54 minutes?


Don't You Forget About Me- Simple Minds

but i loved it. :)

The Bucket List

before i caught this movie, i had absolutely no idea what the story was about, and normally, i wouldnt watch a movie that i didnt have a clue about. much to my joy, the movie was simply enjoyable. a simple idea carrying a message so simple: live your life to the fullest. literally.

as i sat there in that cinema watching those two dying old men complete their different tasks(big and small) on that list, i felt a tad bit of shame and envy altogether. sure, it's only a movie. and i dont speak for everyone, but i think somehow, one way or another, most of us are guilty of not having lived our lives to the fullest. at least up til now, we havent.

it's a bit of a shame, isnt it? here we stand, healthy and strong, with decades left to live, but we're not ready. so the question is, do we really have to wait til we're dying to actually live the remainder of our lives to the fullest?

and then comes the envy. with everything, comes money. and with money, comes restrictions. truth is, the reason many of us havent had the chance to "live our lives" is because we simply dont have the privilege to.

but i remembered something the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, had said on Oprah today. "You are the hero to your own life's journey." how very true. if that works, maybe the simplest things in life fulfills us. maybe.

maybe everyone should own a bucket list. i have one. to many of us, it's probably a list of things that we know we would never be able to do, but at least it's a list of things that we dare to dream of doing in this lifetime.

who knows? maybe one day we'd actually be able to do those things.


Say- John Mayer (The Bucket List)

way before we kick the bucket, hopefully.

tagged by annaballerina.

so here goes...

Part 1: On The Outside
Name: Swee Hoon
D.O.B: 27 Dec 1988
Current Status: single
Eye Colour: black
Hair Colour: black. brown under the sunlight.
Righty Or Lefty: righty.

Part 2 : On The Inside
Your heritage: very chinese(with Suatao and Hainan Island). and a little bit of a peranakan. but mostly, i like to think that i'm filipino.
Your fears: dolls. wax figurines. hearing teenagers use the word, "emo". crowds. losing the people i love. my future.
Your weakness: chocolates. subway. youtube.

Part 3: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
Your thoughts 1st waking up: 5 minutes more.
Your Bedtime: 3 to 4am.
Your most missed memory: when life couldnt get any simpler.

Part 4: Your Pick
Pepsi Or Coke: hm. coke...light.
MacDonald's Or Burger King: macdonald's i guess.
Single Or Group Dates: single for sure.
Adidas Or Nike: adidas.
Lipton Tea Or Nestea: lipton.
Chocolate Or Vanilla: chocolate by a mile.
Cappuccino Or Coffee: mocha?

Part 5: Do You?
Smoke: never.
Curse: *beep* this.
Drink: nope.

Part 6: In the past month
Drank Alcohol: nope. iced-milo, i had aplenty.
Gone to the mall: yes. with an empty wallet.
Been on stage: nope.
Eaten Sushi: never had one. heh.
Dyed hair: nope.

Part 7: Have You Ever?
Played a stripping game: nope.
Changed who you were to fit in: fortunately for me, i think my friends accept me for who i am. ...or maybe that's only what i think. never mind. ignorance is bliss.

Part 8: Age
You are hoping to be married: 20. wait, that's this december? ok, 26.

Part 9: In a Guy Or Girl
Best Guy Eye Colour: as long as i can see his soul through those windows. okay, too much.
Hair colour: decent enough is fine.
Short Or Long Hair: short. for sure.

Part 10: What were you doing?
1 min ago: this.
1 hour ago: freaking out because i thought my mp3 had been corrupted.
1 mth ago: trying to accept the fact that i was really done with school.
1 yr ago: embarking on a journey that ended up haunting me for the next 8-months.

Part 11: Finish the sentence.
Love: is a battlefield.
Feel: like pooping.
Miss: the times when "emo" wasnt actually a word.
Hate: thinking about my future.
Need: to accept.

Part 12: Tag 5 people!
anyone who's reading this can do it. :)

the sms.

about 20 minutes ago, i received a text message from one of my girl-friends whom i had met earlier tonight.

her: hellos. jus askin...wht do you actually think abt me? do u think we wld be happy tgt?
me: um, no? wth is that? haha
her: huh actually.. i think i kinda like you. dun tell XXX(another one of our girl-friends).

hmm.

me: haha eh you drunk ah
her: no la...really. i think i'm falling for you. wanted to say this just now but didnt have the guts to.

uh-huh.

me: oh okay. i think i'm falling for you too. falling down. HAPPY APRIL FOOLS BITCH. whee.
her: HAHA idiot. bt i think quite fun lol. you fell for it right! HAPPY APRIL FOOLS lol!

first "straight" prank of the day.
haha.

stupid april fools.