There is one thing that I love about Australia. The passion to raise awareness and to do something about it. Sometimes this passion may be used for other stuff which is hmmm....so-so? But the passion with cancer research and global warning is just amazing. Back in singapore, you don't notice these things much besides cancer part with all the NKF raising money with stars doing 'stunts'. But here for global warming, you get to see the other side of it or rather at least a side. You don't see a side in singapore at all. All we know is we have a clean city. That's fine.

Right now, the bushfire season is going to start because of the drought we're having. It has started in New South Wales which has damaged trees and homes. In the past entry, i mentioned about the strong winds. These winds actually spread the fire, making it worse. Apparently the wind has also caused trees to topple over, killing a motorcyclist. A volunteer fire fighter has lost his home. Scientists have already predict that this summer is going to be way way hotter if we don't do something about global warming. You can feel the pinch of this effect. Recently there were frost over crops and fruit prices are gonna rise. Already we have the banana issue where Hurricane Larry had wiped out the banana crops in Queensland. Right now, bananas are like gold. If you're eating one, you are lucky.

Next week is RSPCA week as well as the Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Research which has happen for the next 2 months I think. I love how all the brands here have contributed to raising money. Just like my favourite brand of Cereal where part of the money you spent on that box of cereal will go into charity. Everything will be pink. M&Ms, Timtams, Mount Franklin mineral water, Dove, Nivea...heaps of companies are contributing. Though the surf shops are helping, I just wished they increase their 25% will go into charity to 50% at least. I'm also looking forward to getting a pink ribbon shirt. I have two which was just clearance from JeansWest but I'm proud to wear them. For this, I'll be happy to wear pink. I still remember the day my dad was helping me buy toilet paper when he was here. I told him to buy Kleenax brand with the dogs in front cos part of the money will go into the Guide Dogs Association to help train more dogs. And people! Use the green bags in supermarkets!

Ok aside from saving the earth and all. Yesterday I had a wonderful, relaxed day at Glenelg with Renee and Suzy. It was really good therapy especially after working on an essay which I hope it kicks ass. *cross fingers* It was a perfect day as it was sunny but not too warm. We went to buy Adelaide's best Fish n Chips. Jumbo pack consisting of 3 fish n chips, with 3 boxes of tartare sauce, 6 prawns, 12 calamaris with a huge box of chips which only cost $34.95. How great is that? So we took all of these and sat on the beach under jetty to have lunch, knowingly the consequences of attracting seagulls. They were quick I might add but it was just nice enjoying food, company, the waves, seagulls too? lol.

We couldn't finish the fries so we fed the seagulls. Armies came and we were surrounded with seagulls. It's an amazing sight but they are so noisy. We sort of played around with them cos they were eyeing only the bit dangling from your fingers and it was like conducting an orchestra haha. One gull didn't have any feet. Must have lost them in a fight which was sad. Another gull was brace enough to try tartare sauce. He was so cute...he actually gestured us with his beak to put stuff into the tartare sauce that he could try. Maybe he would go for sashimi next, then again, the good stuff should be kept to ourselves. After that we played around by throwing sand and Suzy kept piling sand on my feet. So coming back here in the summer. Plus I applied for a job in an ice cream parlour there! *cross fingers again*

Anyway, here are the pictures and I'm gonna work on my studies now.


Gull Mania

Suzy picked up this shell for me. I think she said it was abalone. *shrugs*

Kids making sandcastles

Ahh! Don't squeeze me! - i did that on purpose haha.

Aww...so lovin'

Me with Renee

This was outside a restaurant at the marina

Hmm...zeren should remember this place. At least I hope he does.

This baby was whining, all tied up and waiting for his owner. I'll take you home!!

Lunch on the beach. Amazing how salt in the air gives it an extra oopmh!

Sitted on the jetty

Don't poop on me - renee

Gulls eyeing on what suzy has for them

Come on...i know you want it!

ARgh! Where's my feet?! - Suzy was burying my feet with sand haha.

This sign was behind the cubicle door. Weird.

Feels like a hurricane out there. Having strong winds and rain now. No wonder it was so nice to be tucked under my quilt and fleece with a smile on the face, though the banging of leaves and twigs on the window just makes me feel 'thank God I'm not out there' but I did had to get out there to buy the paper. Twice I got hit by the cold wind in the face, that my eyes started tearing out of nowhere. Doesn't hurt or anything.

I've been reading up my library books to prepare myself to write a kick ass essay. I have a bastard as my tutorial teacher. He said he'll take another look at my previous essay but all I got back in the post box was he just counted the words in my essay. Bloody mongral. *shoots evil eye*

Anyway, end of first week of spring break. Still have heaps of assignments to finish up. To think Tania told us to relax during the holidays. Hello? We just received two more briefs in our emails! How do we relax? But I did visit some friends. Went to Anna's house for lunch and I learnt how she cooked and most importantly! How to use the oven. We have to same old school gas oven and she thought me how to use it. After 7 months. And it's so cool that you can pop into your neighbour's house so easy and she gave me 2 big lemons from her neighbour. Thanks Anna! After that supposed to have lunch with Suzy. She picked me up and showed me her new apartment with Freya. Now I know why it cost $300+ per week. Very designer, modern with glass, round sinks, magnetic electric stove. Sheez. I brought or rather Suzy drove us to Quince for lunch where I recommended. Good to know, another thumbs up from them. Hee! A little shopping but I didn't buy anything.

For 4 months, I stopped buying things for myself like clothes or whatever. You get used to just looking at them and go 'yeah it looks good but what's the point of buying'. I thought I treat myself but I can't seem to buy nice stuff for myself. I'll bet all the girls would be like there's something wrong with Claire. Well, there's good and bad. Simplified. But I do need to find a place to sell off some clothes.

I have an obsession with Halloumi Cheese - the cheese that never melts! So gonna get some and grill it with my George Foreman Grill. Ha!

Sorry no pictures this time round but I do have a quote I came up myself while staring at the ceiling.

'If you make mistakes, you're only human. If you don't learn from them, you're a fool'.

The sound of dripping water hitting against the pail in my bathtub is so familiar. It sounded like Fievel was biting his cage again except this sound was slower and more consistent, unlike the vibrations this fartface of mine made. I started to think of my best mate, Fievel. And I was looking at the picture with Finn and him. Man I miss them so much. I was closer to fievel cos he's the naughty one and they favoured finn over him. Slept next to me and I miss messing up his face in which after that, he'll give me the 'what the hell' look on his face. Haha!

Anyway, these two better behave up there cos Steve Irwin has enough crocs to handle up there. Well at least they are in really good hands now. *grins*

I like the way he sleeps on my chair

There is prejudice in the real world which is a sad thing but in a school, there should be a limit to it. Why am I saying this?

I was clearly aware of a teacher (not mine thankfully) who sits in the main lecture shooting the stares at me. What have I done to deserve this? Nothing. I was walking along the row in front of her with my other friends to get to the other side to sit closer to the front. Without looking up, she says 'Please sit in front so that Stuart doesn't have to tell you guys'. I told her that we were just trying to get through to sit to the other side. She looked up clearly wanting to continue with her remarks when she stopped to take in what I said and said a simple 'oh'. Even before this incident, she has shot stares at me. I knew she was watching me, even when an aussie friend of mine slapped fives with me. After class, I spoke to a friend of mine and I finally said the 'R' word. Racist.

Most of the time, you forget you're asian until you have a couple of aussie people who will remind you with looks and attitudes. I'm fine with that. It's their country after all. My friend was sharing her story after I said the word racist about another teacher (who has given me stares before) who teaches her, doesn't like her and another asian guy in her class that much. But it is really frustrating when it comes to a point, you judge a person's work by their colour and marking by it. I so cross my fingers that this teacher is not doing this to my friend. She is clearly talented and trying her best. There is heaps of international students coming here to study and these people shouldn't even be teachers at all. I'm fine with the reality of prejudice but not in a classroom. A line should be drawn there.

On the other hand, within my own classroom, I'm fortunate to have a great teacher who stands up for what is right. Even in class, she spoke to me quietly on how to improve on my work, providing suggestions which I'm gratefuly for. Though she surprises me and my friends sometimes. In a good way no worries to show that she is still human when it comes to swearing. Also, I feel that this term, my friends and I are bonding closely together. Recently I provided a suggestion to two of my friends about sharing a place together and they actually did that. We're talking about cooking and inviting each other to each other's places to have a good meal. Particularly this week, I have another group of friends who are asking me questions about me. They want to get to know me and likewise, I would like to do the same. It's really cool especially when one of them said that she (a true aussie) wants to show me around or have a coffee. Both of us had trouble with our first essays. The tutor marked us unfairly and we're standing up for ourselves and having them remarked by someone else which I hope will do something about it.

Now the spring break begins. Rest for me and a chance to touch up on my work and meeting up with friends to go places. Renee and I were joking about this messed-up club since both of us are nutty. Nick was like 'so how do i get into this club?' You have to show your crazy side once in a while. Have a good laugh about something. Suzy has now joined the club after she threw twigs and leaves at me out of nowhere. Hmm...time to plot payback. *evil laugh*

Picture time. First two are from the newspaper series on the 100 years of news in South Australia. A great collection. Enjoy!

Grenfell street, City, 1905 - A very busy road now with tall buildings. This is also where I catch my bus to develop my photos, up to the hills and to the airport

King William Road, City, 1910 - I travel on this road all the time when I head to the city and when I walk home

Oops! We found ourselves at Cocolat again *grins*

Suzy gives 'peace' to the very spring green at Fullarton Road

*gasp* there's blood!! Actually I still had red paint on my hands and I didn't know I left a mark there.

Dishes I've been trying out.

Sweet N Sour Pork with capsicum & onions (stir-fry sauce from Woolworths) :D

One of the best pasta I've made so far. Garlic fetachinni with garlic and onion tuna, panchetta with baby spinach and rocket.

The basic Braschetta (successful second round, first round I rubbed too much garlic. Eeks!)

Next on the list, chicken curry which I promised my teacher I'll take photos of and chocolate pudding for the holidays. Cheers mates!

What a week this has been. Another tragic accident. Another australian icon, Peter Brock was killed during racing. He was 61. Apparently he's the Steve Mcqueen in rally/motor racing. Everyday we still get news about Steve Irwin and it was really nice to see a repeat of Better Homes & Gardens where he allowed cameras to his family, his wildlife passion and his zoo. But there is the one person who will spoil all of this. A feminist in London has claimed 'Nature has taken its revenge' who simply has no thought for his family suffering. I'm glad alot of people has hit back against her. Just hope his family gets through especially Teri Irwin revealing that Bob (his son) has been asking 'where's daddy?' Another touching thing was the children in a queensland primary school. The children formed a huge 'Crikey' on their school field using themselves so that Mr Crikey can see this from heaven.
News Link: Yahoo7 News

Another interesting trend that has been starting. You know how ladies would buy a dress in a certain size and they will work very hard to fit into that dress one day. Now ladies will buy a dress, and pay to get their boobs enhanced to not a C but a D or a Double D or a E to 'fit' into their dresses. The local designers have started the clivage trend in their dresses with plunging necklines. Somehow I feel the first one is a whole lot better than the second.

On wednesday, three crazy girls called susie, renee and claire went about doing stuff during their 4 hours break. First they visited the pet department at Harris Scarfe since the next bus will come in 17 minutes. There, one beautiful golden retriever pup stole all the girls hearts. An extra soul stole Claire's heart that she decided to name it Thumpa (Bambi's ice-skating buddy). There, the pup did stuff to entertain the girls. Chasing her tail and bumping her nose into the glass by accident. Somehow paying $695 for it seems worthwhile but I didn't have the cash and I knew she'll make great company for someone like me. Darn landlord's rules.

We finally found Chocolate Beans. It's way smaller than Cocolat but the enriching smell of chocolate and the warmth is enough to tempt you proceed. We had a special chocolate drink each and share 'A little indulgence' where you get to taste every bit of everything which includes a slice of mud cake with a piece of chocolate on top, with cream on the side, white chocolate sauce, milk chocolate sauce and mousse. The sauces and mousse were all in shot glasses. We dared each other to drink a bit from the shot glass and we were nuts. Simply crazy and it was heaps fun. But I don't think i'll be going back there soon. It's a once in a while kinda thing if not, my throat would be gone. *tipsy with chocolate*

It's been freezing cold for the past 4 days. It's spring and I think God decided to put back the rain he owed during winter. I was nearly blown away literally again which is really embarrassing. The rain and strong winds made those days the coldest days ever for me. *wraps blanket tighter*

Thankfully we've got an extension for our essay. Phew! Yes, I am better now except for that nightmare....*goosebumps*

Look at her face

I wish i had her...


Chasing her tail

Thumpa

Wait a minute...these tiles looks like the splats i did

Cocktail menu for you guys

My rose hot chocolate (tastes like turkish delight) & Suzy's Mint hot chocolate

Now you see it...

Now you don't...

Our own poison which we avoided

Tipsy Choc Fans

Renee's soup mug with chocolate tea

Haha the 20 inch monitor Macs in the lab

It is really sad that Steve Irwin has died. I froze when I heard the news and it took 5 minutes or more to finally sink in. For those who has watched his show on Discovery, naturally you feel like you know the guy and his passion. The world has lost a good guy who died doing what he loved.

Bad stuff and news just keeps happening one after another over the weekend just after the carnival. I do start to question myself why and I have lost my smile. Fake smiles are still there for my cover up. Only one bad thing has gone away today but the rest will stay with me for a long time. I'm just praying every night for strength. I need to be strong. My friend asked me whether I was ok today. I told her I'm not feeling good now but I will be fine...eventually.

Another funny thing about life. I think some of you might get this. I needed to walk back from uni today and when I popped in my earphones. I had Daniel Powter singing 'Bad Day'. Yeah that would be over the next few days. Then Feeder came on with 'Tender'. When it came to 'cleansing my soul' lyric, it started to drizzle on me. Then the painful song of Gavin Degraw came on. Oh boy... Followed by a rock cheerleader song by the Go Team, cheering me on? Lastly it ended with Greenwheel. My favourite song from them saying 'I'm alright...I'm alright...It only hurts when I breathe'. All of these songs were in alphabetical order. Funny life can be eh? Just wished i had Santanta and Steve Tyler's "Just Feel Better" to finish everything off.

Carnival pictures that I promised you guys. Mom and dad, you don't have to check up on me. I will be fine eventually. So don't worry.

The riders at the beginning of the competition

Jack Russel Pup

Showdog before the judging

Bulls having their hair blowed dry

Judging Criteria

Who's the prettiest bull?

Me and susie

Strawberries dipped in chocolate

A bite outta mine

Sheepdog looking after ducks

Sheep

Woodchopping

Last axeman

Axeman cutting in holes in poles to put planks in climb to the top

Groovy Chicken

Eggs Judging

Susie with Homer

Ferris Wheel

Curious Alpaca

More alpacas

Goats Judging

My prize after a game of clowns

Woodchopping video