Almost a week since Fievel's passing and I have his picture as my bookmark for every book I read. After I heard the sad news, that very night I was reading '5 People You Meet in Heaven', a book given by Ke ying. I happen to be reading the last chapter and the word that was so prominent was 'home'. I cried myself to sleep that night. Sad that I will not have my little companion but happy that he's home. Yes I still miss him very much. Just that special attachment we had with each other. For those who never owns pets won't get it and this will sound silly but I don't care.

I was thinking of coming back home in June/July since I don't have any exams and I have a 5 week break. Sounds stupid but actually my intention was to come back to see the little fellow. I know my family members are reading this but sorry...that was my intention cos I miss him dearly after seeing him on the webcam. Now that he ain't there, I've decided that I'm not gonna return home, only back in december. Don't think I'm ready to come back to a spot that's empty.

My sis and her friend have talked with me and wanted to give me money as my birthday present to get a pet here. Firstly, I haven't seen a single hamster here in the pet shops I've visited. I'm not sure whether there's space for one and right now I don't want one.

As the weeks past, I'm actually enjoying living alone. I have my own space to breathe, to think and it's easier for me to work on my assignments. I don't have anyone disturbing me though there's the occasional calls from dad. No worries dad, you don't have to check or call me everyday. I'm doing fine and I'm not a least miserable. I'm being given this space to grow and enjoy myself which is fantastic. So no worries. The assignments might be heaps but I'm enjoying them because it's something you don't get in singapore. To think of it, there's this project where you have to learn letter spacing, word spacing, line spacing. The alphabets are giving me a headache but I'm still determined to figure those spaces in between out.

Making friends part. It's getting better everyday on that part. It's like every one or two days, I speak to someone new which is really great. The girl whom I thought was racist, she is now a friend of mine. She was sharing with me the other day that so far me and the other girls are the friends she know in school. I just invited her to go shopping with me and my friend tomorrow.

There was one new person I met last tuesday in my life drawing studio. She's an exchange student from hong kong. When I was packing up to leave for my break, she came up to me and asked where I was from and asked my abc friend, renee the same thing. It happened that renee was originally from hong kong but she has lived here for 7 years so she's all aussie. Here's their conversation:

hk girl: so you speak cantonese?

renee: eh no...I only remember how to speak it when I'm back in hong kong.

hk girl: how can you forget your own language? You can never ever forget your own
language. How can you not speak it?

renee: (speechless)...

I felt so bad for renee. You guys just met and you scolded her like that. Who the bloody fark are you? Moving on to another conversation during the break.

hk girl: you know adelaide is lousy...they have lousy snacks. Only sandwiches and
chips. That's all! In hong kong, you can get cheap and good snacks by the
roadside.

me(who was thinking aloud about local food): char siew...

hk girl (stares at me): I'm talking about snacks. Char siew is not a snack!!

I stare back at her. She wouldn't want to know what I'm thinking man. Farking bitch. If you hate adelaide so much, what the bloody fark are you doing here? Fark you and hope you don't ever talk to me again. You wouldn't want to see my reaction.

About my bad language, please don't mind me. Friends back home have mentioned to me that they've never seen or heard me swear this much. I apologise, I've got influences here. Good or bad? I don't know.

Hope your weekend went great guys. Temperature dropping to 21 tomorrow again. And yesterday it was 35.1 degrees. Blame in on cyclone Larry.

In loving memory: Fievel

Came home today and got a call from Dad that Fievel has passed away. I balled my eyes out because he was truly dearest to me compared to the other little fellows and I wasn't there when he went. I suspected something like this would happen before I left and figured he was a tough guy. I used to joke that I always put Fievel above zeren which is true. I watched him grow up and we have this special bond where while I'm doing my work, he'll cuddle next to me and sleep. He would play around in my pockets. Sleep on my arm while we watch tv. He was little fart face, my little boy.

So sorry I wasn't there. I wish I was. But I'm glad to know you enjoy the most fulfilling life (with tons of food) and you went away peacefully in your sleep. Rest in peace dear Fievel.

During Christmas last year

Took this pic on the day I left. Caught him drinking my water..from the mug

His article with his bro, Finn

His famous naughty face

His new found play pen

When Fievel gets too greedy

His reflections

A sketch I did from the pic above.

Love you boy.

Fievel
26 June 2003 - 20 March 2006

'There are two tragedies in life. One is to lose your hearts desire, the other is to gain.' - Bernard Shaw

I got this quote off watching the season finale of One Tree Hill. I downloaded it last year but never got the chance to watch it. Yes I like the show. It's not just a high school, small town tv series. It has meaning to it. Characters that I can relate to. Just be glad I'm not saying desperate housewives cos that would be so off. I'm glad there's a third season.

Watching the news now. Some tow company took the wrong car and scrap it. Huge problem especially it's an inconvenience without it. Scary! Biggest news is the tropical cyclone at North Queensland. Huge coverage and looking at the pictures, it's just way too scary. I don't know what I'll do.

Another news I've read from the Advertiser is about Singapore showing the commonwealth games. It says 'It is understood the broadcaster, Mediacorp, had refused to pay the price asked by the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union, which holds the right for Asia.' Hey you guys back home get to watch the games, I'm still stuck with the big fat tree. Whatever it is, go Aussie go! Come on guys, you know it's pointless to cheer for Singapore in the commonwealth games but i'm glad to know that at least one singaporean made it for the finals for women's swimming. That I'll applaud!

Another article I've been reading. (Been doing alot of reading during my free time) It's about Mean Girls from cleo mag. Yeah the lindsay lohan movie? This is about the mean girls in real life. Girls sticking in cliques, girls dissing other girls, girls purposely torturing a girl whom she thought they were her friends. Yeah, high school ethics but it's being carried into the working world. I totally agree with what the writer was saying and I've comed across my fair share of bitches and guess what? Till today, they've got the word 'bitch' engraved at the back of their heads. *big evil laugh*

Got a problem with my balcony door again. Key won't open it. Trying WD40 and i'm crossing my fingers it'll work. I need to water my dying plants!

Ok time for another booby story. After class at the bus stop, I was waiting for the bus when this woman walked out from the bank. Yes she's blond! And she had this sleeveless blouse which shows how huge her tits are. She's got an ok body but as she was walking, she arched her back (usually people just straighten their backs) and kept looking at her boobs bounce as she walked. She'll look at them for 2 steps, look up for another 2 steps, look back down for 2 steps and it goes on till she reaches her destination. Conclusion: she has a fetish for watching her boobs bounce. Well, it'll entertain her on her way to her destination. What she did already entertained me enough to write it in my blog.

I just received the sweetest sms. Ok, not sweetest but it'll make you go awww. A friend of mine lives a walking distance near me. Her mom and her are going to bake pancakes and cookies over the weekend and she asked if I wanted some. I told her it's too troublesome but she insisted she'll bring some to my place on her way to church which is opposite my place. I was like .....awwww! *sniffs* God bless her!

Today zeren will be flying off to India for his training. I'm gonna miss him more. We usually get to chat and see each other on the webcam on weekends and we won't be able to do that for 3 weeks. Zeren, please be careful over there! Don't run people over with your tank and do take care! *hugs*

I attempted to make my mom's oyster sauce chicken using her recipe. I just copied down the ingredients and all but I mixed it up. It's supposed to be the chinese oyster sauce but it turned out to be the western oyster sauce chicken. I subsititued salt with herbs and put oyster sauce not in the marinate but while cooking. This is the result. No worries, it tastes nice somehow.

Oyster Sauce Chicken with baby spinach

I have a big thing for fruit tarts so I couldn't resist trying one from a bakery near my place. Looks so pretty but it's actually lethal. Usually you drip little wine into it but this one is filled with white wine taste. In less than half an hour, I was feeling alittle light headed and had to take a nap. Beware of australian fruit tarts!

Fruit Tart with white wine

Autumn at last

Finally experiencing the beginning of autumn. Temperatures are dropping especially at night. I'm writing my blog, wearing my light jacket. But I'm not surprise if it shoots up to the 30 range again. Oh well, I'm still going to school in my thongs(slippers, not underwear).

Today I asked the girls I hang out with whether is it me or is it hard to socialise in the uni. They agreed with me and mentioned that it was so easy to mix around in high school but it seems harder here. I can't figure out the reason but this shouldn't be the way. I miss crapping around with friends back home. There's a certain amount of crapping I can do here with the people. Like I see this guy in my class who always sits alone but he's a jovial guy. I figured I go talk to him and you can see how happy he was to have someone to talk to. There are a couple of loners and I regret not sitting next to skater guy i met during lecture. Yes he was alone and I know the feeling of sitting alone by yourself.

Been mentally tired over the weekend. It's been terrible drawing. I passed up my work but i have to redo some of them which sucks. Lucky I have the scanner and photoshop to do the necessary adjustments. Suddenly I realised life drawing isn't so bad. I've been using up black markers like nobody's business and I didn't have time to clean the house. Even though I'm really tired today, I'm gonna work on my drawings so that I can clean up the house on my day off tomorrow. Gonna collect my quilt which I dearly miss now. I woke up in a cocoon today with my blanket.

Alright...I promise pictures of the unit. So welcome to my crib. No interior designing here.

9 drawings

my workstation

Living and dining

kitchen

my bed with my dolphin

bathroom

my little verandah

my rose before withering for autumn

my favourite daisy before it died from the strong heat

War Against the Ants vs Guilty of Plucking the Pretty Flowers

So let's begin with the smart ass ants that have been creeping through the tiny holes of my ceiling above my front door. First they enter through one corner, I sprayed them and they died. The next day, they enter through another hole in another corner that I never knew existed. Sprayed them and they died. 2 days later, thinking I have won the battle. They came back from the previous hole again. The more I'm killing, the more i'm thinking the union of ants will come attacking me in my sleep. Cos as I was watching tv, 2 of them quietly crept up my leg and arm. I had to do the smacking and they are the fattest juicest buggers i've seen (compared to the other ants). Imagine at 8+ at night, I'm taking out the vacuum cleaner to clean up the living room so that I can watch tv in peace.

Today I walked to the supermarket and got ant baits. You could hear the evil laugh ringing in my head. Ant baits only exclusively for the australian black and brown ants. They forgot to put the bits fat and juicy in their description. Anyway, stuck them on the walls of the most likely corners. I still got myself another can of insecticide. Believe it that I use more insecticide compared to my air freshener. So we'll see the results in 3 months.



What's up with plucking flowers? I have this drawing class which has given out 2 long term assignments which requires theme journals. I think there's another one coming up with colors. (no!!!!) Followed by homework with typography and garden studies. Yes it's the garden studies which requires me to go round plucking plants and flowers. I don't have the heart to pluck those really nice ones from people's gardens. I don't want some aussie old lady in a shower cap, chasing me down Mary Street. Cos that street has wonderful flowers. Already one guy saw me picking up some wild flowers outside someone's house. I quickly shoved them into my bag and picked up the pace. Having that 'oh dear! someone saw me! I better run!' kinda thing in my head. I'm thinking australians are really into nature and it's a sin to pluck any flowers of any kind especially they pride themselves to making them all pretty.

The weather is seriously crazy. Beginning of last week, it was in the 27-29 degrees range and it jumped up to 34 degrees. Yesterday it was 37! My gosh! But it felt more like a 32. Today's supposed to be 34 again but it's gonna rain soon. Luckily I got back in time from my ant bait shopping. You can hear the wind blowing outside and leaves falling. There's gonna be a huge drop to 23 degrees tomorrow. Somehow I know it's going to shoot up to 30 again. And this is autumn??

I experienced the coldest morning ever since my time here on friday. I had to wake up early for an 8am class. Even though my heaters were on, I was still walking around the house with my jacket. I was thinking it must be me. As I walked towards the tram line with my jacket, it was freezing. Again it must be me cos there's people walking in their short sleeves and all. Until I got to class, there were a couple of people wearing their jackets as well. Then one girl said 'Is it me or is this morning really cold?' Everyone nodded to her statement. So it isn't me. Phew! Over the radio, I heard that it was 14 degrees that morning. Sheez and it was 32 degrees that day. Thankfully for that wardrobe of thicker jackets. Might use those on fridays next time.

Tomorrow's a holiday! Adelaide Cup Day meaning more time for me to do my drawing. I'm so looking forward to using a computer next semester. Anyway, here are some weird things I did to for my project at home. Enjoy your weekend!

Flowers I picked

Choosing the 7 'J's I needed for my alphabet studies on my wall

enough is enough

I have had enough of this particular person who keeps clinging on to me for life support. For goodness sake! You're an international student who's here to learn and especially learn to stand on your two God given feet. Just because you may look up to me like a big sister doesn't give you the farking right to suck the life out of me. You want to change your timetable to be in the same classes as me? Forget it! All the more I will ignore you. I don't care whether we're from neighbouring countries or what. Stop messaging me everyday that we'll work together on this or that. These are not group assignments, these are called individual assignments. Individual as in one person. One's creative thinking from your brain if you ever use it. I may look like a person who is nice but there is a limit to it. I'm not going to spoonfeed you with information or help you with your work all the time. Stop calling me during lectures looking for me to sit next to. I am also struggling myself and I don't need to struggle with you or for you. There is also limit to help. You can only ask so much cos the rest is all up to you. I have had experience of people who feed off me back in secondary school and I don't need another bloodsucker on my tail! You can be angry with me for telling you off but enough is enough. Be independent for crying out loud if you have any backbone left!

Wanted

Looking for a 3 inch, 8 legged insect known as a spider. Thick black fur and runs like a speeding bullet. Caught the fellow standing on the counter and when I left to get a magazine, he disappeared. This weekend I'll be on the hunt for him. I don't want to clean up its nest in corners so best it accept its fate sooner or later.

Think it's the weather. It's way too hot. 35 degrees and this is supposed to be the beginning of autumn. I don't know how to tell the seasons as singapore is just rainy and sunny. That's all I know. I was expecting autumn to be cold or something but it's just like summer.

First week of school and I'm being piled with assignments and homework. I have to watch the opening credits of Desperate Housewives to identify the type of artwork that is being used and named the artists. When the lecturer mentioned about this assignment, you should hear all the dudes groaning in pain. And I'm like shit! I'm not familiar with those kinda work only using the da vinci book as the reference to the art pieces.

For anyone who has read or watched Harry Potter, I have a pair of twins just like Fred and George Weasley in my class. They are very much like them except they have thick, curly brown hair. Love to talk about anime and they're complaining about desperate housewives non stop. I find that the guys are easier to get along compared to most girls in my classes. They stick together as a clique and I have encounter one who didn't want to sit next to me. For whatever reason which mostly it does point to the 'R' word. I'm hanging out with a bunch of 18 year olds. Desperately I'm hoping to meet more people my age cos it's a little tough discussing some issues. And they always have their guardians or parents picking them up from school. Sometimes I wished I will establish friendships like the ones back in singapore. Another irony is my landlord came to visit me to collect her letters. Had a little chat with her and even though she's australian, she herself is telling me that australians are not as friendly as they are made out to be. I just told her it's the younger generation. It's the opposite in singapore. The older people here are much more open and welcome unlike the younger ones. Wonder why this is so though.

I'm enjoying the bus rides here. Get to see very interesting people but I don't like the waits though. I was 10 minutes late for school today but luckily the lecturer walked in like 3 minutes after I did. Phew! The buses have a timetable to follow here but they are usually not on time. Think fridays I'll go for the tram. I heard it's more regular and it's a 2min journey. oh goody! I get to wake up later. Prob try it on monday to see how it is.

You guys enjoy your weekend and Jingyue! Thanks for your lovely postcard! It's being displayed in my living room. Take care!