Someone reminded me that I used to post videos on Youtube. So I logged in today after years of absence to view my Youtube profile and clips. This particular one reminded me of two very important people in my life, of which one has sadly left us.
I can't help but smile at the synchronised Jit Pa Ban moves. :)
Now that we've all kinda 'grown up', I wonder if we'll still do such silly moves at ktv again?
revamped jit pa ban
invasion of the ants
The Flatemate HAH and I used to always proudly announce how we never ever use the dishwasher at home; we always always hand wash our dirty dishes. Now, would anyone even think that this is a bad thing?
A couple of weeks ago, we started noticing random ants around the kitchen area. That progressed to long trails of ants everywhere in just a few days. After some investigation by HAH, we discovered to our HORROR that there is an entire colony of ants residing and multiplying inside the unused dishwasher!!! There must have been millions of them!!!
We spent a frantic afternoon: 1) driving to the nearest supermarket to get a new can of Baygon cos we used up our existing can, 2) spraying Baygon everywhere in the kitchen, 3) cleaning and re-cleaning the ant corpses left behind, 4) turning on the dishwasher to let it run for at least three wash cycles to rid it of its unwelcome residents, before we were satisfied that we've completely destroyed the colony.
If you click to enlarge the pics below, you'll see some of the corpses from the above tragedy. Of course I didn't dare to take pics of them inside the dishwasher - HAH and I were too grossed out by the scene to even fully open up the dishwasher for more than a peek!
Lesson learnt: nothing, absolutely nothing, should be left idling for too long.
words of appreciation make a difference
For the first time in weeks, I had a well rested night last night with 13 hours of sleep. I took a short stroll to work from the nearest bus stop (because my car battery went dead on me again) while listening to my current favourite korean songs on my mp3 player and admiring the small fluffy balls of cotton in the sky.
To my absolute surprise, a bouquet of golden sunflowers greeted me at work! For a moment I thought I have a secret admirer in the form of a tall, dark and handsome knight. It turned out better than I thought when I read the card and realized the bouquet was from a whole bunch of beautiful people on my project team.
This project I took on in March 2009 finally reached a major milestone yesterday. It was the construction of a brand new live-in campus for our pilot training academy in Wagga Wagga. We obtained occupancy for Stage 1 construction in the first week of May and had our official opening yesterday. It was an amazing feat by the entire team to get the premises presentable enough to receive about 150 guests including government officials and international dignitaries in just three weeks from the time we took over the buildings.
I had been working crazy hours for weeks and nearly walked out of my job a few times due to the frustration and stress I faced trying to complete the project to the expectations of the higher powers. I felt unappreciated for my own efforts and sacrifices. But seeing the hard work put in by so many other members of the team, and not being a quitter myself, I just had to grit my teeth and get whatever needed to be done, done, so as not to let all the others on the team down.
Receiving my favourite flowers and a thank you email (reproduced in part below in italics) made me tear a bit and retract what I said and thought about being unappreciated.
"Jac,
While I know I have said this privately to quite a few people in the past eight months, but certainly on behalf of myself and all the staff and Directors in our company, we wanted to say just how totally blown away we have been with the way in which you have dealt with all of us and the construction process.
We were all left totally astounded by your ability to come to grips with Architects, Interior Designers, Construction Managers, Builders and more importantly computer tech people (although we're fairly sure that the latter will not be on your Christmas card list). Your queries were insightful and always intelligent ……………………and all this from our diminutive Corporate Services Manager (--> he's referring to me; why am I diminutive?!).
We will miss our little luncheon sessions at the Airport café where you attempted to eat your way through the meat pies and sausage rolls.
But, of course, there’s still Stage 2. For now, rest and breathe the air. We hope that, come bonus time there will be a big payout to you for all your efforts (and if not, give us a call and we’ll come down to your office to have a little talk with your boss --> HAHA! This is funny! I'll hold them at their words!).
We say well done Jac and I hope you didn’t down the bottle (they gave me a bottle of whisky post the opening!) in one session.
Regards,
SC"
Well I hope all those on the team have a good rest this weekend before we start the next round of madness!!!
"harry panic"
I have been travelling to Wagga Wagga (located midway between Sydney and Melbourne) for work a fair bit in the last one year. The original inhabitants, the Wiradjuri were the largest Aboriginal tribe in New South Wales. In their language “Wagga” means crow and repeating it means the plural ie. Wagga Wagga means “the place of many crows”.
Now, I call it the "Land of a thousand crows and tumbleweeds". This winter sees Wagga Wagga half buried in these yellow stuff that clings to you. An entire house can be totally engulfed by them in just under 45 minutes. The locals call it the "Harry Panic", I wonder why.
A work partner finds it so fascinating she has to dive into a pile every time she visits Wagga. Here are a few snaps of her having the time of her life.
30 seconds
It was crowded
Yet there was just him and her.
The noise in the club blended with the pitter-pattering of the rain
And was drowned out by the thump-thumping of her heart.
She sees a sun in that great big smile of his
It brought warmth amidst the winter rain.
A glorious picture of a field of golden sunflowers
Came to mind on that cold dreary night.
Those petals of yellow and leaves of green
Even if just a thought, they never fail to make her smile.
The smell of his seasoned leather jacket
Was a respite from the surrounding cigarette smoke.
The gentleness in that brief greeting hug
Made her forget the cruelty she was shown just before she spotted him.
And the irrepressible sincerity she received in those first moments
Paved the night ahead for long engaging conversations.
She who is always happy but always sad
Was completely happy throughout
From that first 30 seconds beginning with "Hello, we finally meet."
To the last 30 seconds ending with "Good night. I'll see you again soon."
the 'square hat' event
Earlier this week, I was invited to a friend's graduation at the University of New South Wales. Although I've attended uncountable Cadet Pilot graduations in the course of my work, this was my first time attending a Uni graduation in Australia. I was mildly surprised that the convocation ceremony was scheduled in the evening, as in, by the time you have the scroll in your hands, there will be no more daylight for outdoor photoshoots with friends and family.
Oh well, we went ahead anyway to take lots of photos with the proud graduand without his scroll in the hour before the ceremony. It was an overcast afternoon with a few spread out showers but we did manage to get some reasonably decent pics.
Left: With the graduand. I've seen him graduate first from our pilot school in 2008 and now from Uni. I wonder if I'll get to attend a third graduation of his in the future.
Right: We were the only invitees from work. The honour! I reckon I look better in that hat than the one graduating.
Lastly a group pic. Funny faces instead of the usual serious poses.
Sigh. I feel old among these kiddies.
night in with the girls
A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of girls from work who all live a street away decided to stay in for a quiet movie night. Dinner was instant noodles with special ingredients - tea leaves egg and spicy marinated pork cubes.
Noodles being cooked.
Ta-dah! Our special noodles. Tastes super yummy!
Here's the professional noodle chef preparing our dinner.
Left: Hamster!
Right: Designated washer.
A brief conference on the carpeted floor followed as we shortlisted the movies for the night. We had to shelf the chinese movie night plan to another day as Aussie Flatty Dude was around too.
The movie selection panel sprawled on the carpeted floor.
All the chicken legs lined up on the huge comfy leather sofa facing the huge screen.
A very relaxing way to spend a Saturday night. We just need a wider selection of more interesting movies on the list. On this night, we chose to watch The Blind Side without a clue what it was going to be about, and were very pleasantly surprised by how much it touched us. Next up, I am eagerly awaiting the animation How to Train Your Dragon.
brilliance of the autumn sun
In case I haven't reiterated this enough - I really really love my bedroom.
Besides the warm fuzzy shadows cast by the leaves in spring, I also get such glorious orange beams of the setting autumn sun on my bedroom walls.
I wonder what winter has to offer to my walls?
you're beautiful
I am currently halfway through the 16-episode Korean series You're Beautiful - 미남이시네요. It's about this girl who steps in to pose as her twin brother to assume his role as a new member of the very popular idol group A.N.JELL when he had to leave the country for a while to correct a botched plastic surgery. Initially disliked by the group leader who's also the lead vocals and composer, she slowly falls in love with him, and subsequently got herself entangled in a love triangle between him and the guitarist. The drummer also harbors a one-sided love for her despite not knowing she's a girl.
I got really motivated to master the guitar and to resume my drum lessons while watching this series. Obviously my favourite characters are the guitarist and drummer. They are so damn cute! And yes they are all members of a band in real life - I love men who can play music. ;p I find the lead singer really ugly though - what's with the heavy eyeliner?!?! and cannot understand why he's supposedly the most popular among the three (in the story).
Below shows a scene in the series where they had their first performance. Tell me how can one not like the cute drummer with the cheeky lopsided grin and bunny teeth?
ps: Now I am inclined to take up Korean language class instead of Japanese as initially planned. :s
little black dress
This is my current favourite triple scented candle - Glasshouse Manhattan, Little Black Dress. Besides its subtle scent, I also love the black colour of the wax and its elegant name.
I bought this at Moontree on a roadtrip to the Blue Mountains via Leura. I also got two smaller round candles:
Green Tea - a very gentle, soothing blend in a light jade green
Waterlily - fresh and light... sunlight on a lotus pond in a calming sky blue.
Ah.... such tranquility....
parties in march
We are now already in the month of May and I'm only just updating the fun times had in March... my bad. But whatever.
March was a month of parties. A bunch of us invaded a workmate's apartment and ransacked her liquor cabinet.
After a few practices, we got quite good at mixing our drinks.
We are now also experts at cutting limes.
One of the objectives of these sessions was to lead someone who just turned 21 astray.
Another was to find an excuse to dress up a bit. We have been too deprived of opportunities to showcase the prettier side of us.
And another was to unleash our inner wild and make our fantasies a reality.
The workmate's flatty was astonished to discover the invasion into his apartment.
To our horror, not a single decent club was open on the Easter long weekend when we finally psyched ourselves up to hit the town after our brief hiatus at the apartment.
Nonetheless, there were lots of giggles and laughs. And that's all that matters.
stand by me
I love my orange capo.
It's been kept quite busy lately as I try to learn to strum Stand By Me by Ben E. King.
It is a fairly easy song to learn with only four chords: G, Em, C and D. My only difficulty is trying to connect C and D smoothly. For some unfathomable reason, I keep getting the fingering wrong for D - wrong fingers on the wrong strings. Must be a psychological thing.
Below is a very useful tutorial video if you are interested in learning it. Have fun!
high tea at the victoria room
I organised a birthday surprise for a girlfriend from work where I made bookings for a massage at a spa followed by high tea at The Victoria Room. We missed the massage due to a bad traffic jam and radiator problems with my car that almost led to the engine overheating, but arrived in Darlinghurst in time for the much anticipated afternoon tea.
Someone once told me he gets a real kick out of capturing that look of disbelief and rapture whenever he takes a friend to The Victoria Room for the first time and told me to keep a lookout for it on my girlfriend's face. Sure enough, the rapid change from a look of boredom to one of girlish ecstatic delight within seconds of leaving the plainly painted external corridor and entering into the richly decorated interior of the dining establishment set off a proud sense of achievement in me. ^^v
This is one section of the sophisticated dining room decorated in British-Raj style in the specially designed ambient lighting. Depending on which table you get allocated to, you'll get a different dining experience in a different setting each time against the various backdrops of decorative screens, luxurious drapes, rich wallpaper, splendid paintings and lush palms.
Left: Took us a while to study the cocktail menu in the candle light.
Right: Mini sandwiches, assorted sweeties and scones kept us nom-nom-ing the whole afternoon.
Here I'm helping myself to a red velvet cupcake topped with creamed cheese icing. Heavenly.
I swallowed the dark chocolate cup with chocolate mousse, cream and fresh raspberry in one gulp. Mmmmmm......
Left: My date for the nice afternoon of genteel dining.
Right: That's me looking satisfied.
Not wanting to turn on the flash for the phototaking lest we disturb the other patrons - which explains all the above dark photos, we eventually had to turn it on so that the server can get a decent unblur pic of the two of us. As you can see, we cleaned out the tiers of goodies.
It was an afternoon of extreme indulgence. Totally enjoyed it. Living the high life indeed.
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