Goodbye 2007!

I thought I'd end the year of 2007 with this Farside farewell message which a friend sent to me.

Ok, I'm heading out now. Its 11pm and currently 35.1 degrees Celcius. OMG.

Happy New Year! May the new year be filled with success, love, peace, joy & happiness!

oh what a year!

This year has been an eventful year for me.

• Worked in a massive project - all the blood, sweat and tears... OMG. Long hours, late nights, weekends, yet the new friends I've made, new swear words I've learnt in French, and experience was absolutely worth it.
• Bought my first home - endless inspections, auctions, real estate agents, banks, contracts, a life time mortgage. Yet being able to stick a nail on the wall without having to worry about breaching a term on the lease agreement - is absolutely worth it.
• Painted a wall - although, I've lost a bet with Grumpy as it is still work in progress.
• Quit smoking. A disgusting habit that I was never proud of. I did it! I haven't had a cigarette for 5 weeks now.
• Got into a car accident - wasn't my fault
• Pour heaps of bottles of expensive champagne, wine, spirits and beer down the sink in a fight with Grumpy. Damn it felt really good!
• Mum came to Melbourne 3 times this year - each trip she's here, I barely spend much time with her due to work commitments. This has got to change.
• My grandfather came to Melbourne twice this year - He is an amazing person. Such a pleasure to be with.
• Grumpy's dad and brother came to Melbourne this year - It was nice to see Grumpy 'not so grumpy'..
• Lost a close family member - my aunt. Also, seeing my best friend lose her father to cancer.

Next year, I hope to...

• Travel overseas. Or even, work overseas and put those swear words I learnt to good use.
• Really enjoy my work. If not, be daring enough to quit and just bum at home.
• Finish painting my bathroom wall.
• Continue to stay away from cigarettes.
• Exercise!
• Take my dog out to the park more often.
• Wash my car. Or get Grumpy to do it. It is filthy.
• Learn to cook, or at least, help Grumpy out in the kitchen.
• Spend more time with Mum and Dad.
• Be nicer to Mum and Dad. And Grumpy. And Dopey. I must admit, I can be a bit of a bitch at times.
• Be nicer to Grumpy. Tolerance, compromise, patience > key attributes I have to work on.
• Spend more time with Mum and Dad.

Fingers crossed.

my new hobby (hopefully...)

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me....

an SLR camera... which personally, I think... he is more fond of the SLR than I am. "Pick up a new hobby" and so he says.... then he explains to me, "the aperture blah blah blah...you select this if you want more light, and this if you want less" then he goes on and on....

What on earth is an Aperture?! Why is the camera so freaking heavy? How do I even turn it on? How do I bring this out with me when I go clubbing?

entourage

Dopey (back in KL) sent me a message on MSN yesterday.

Dopey: What r u doin

Jules: Reading blogs.

Jules: Guess what? I curled my hair

Dopey: Ya I know. Yucks. (he must've heard from mum, our very loyal informer)

Dopey: U know I've been spending so much money?

Jules: Oh whats new?

Anyways, Dopey, if you're reading this, what I cannot understand is that.... while you're back in KL, why is it that I still see YOUR friends in MY house here in Melbourne every weekend?

Dopey's entourage... most of them Grumpy & I treat like family..

Little Japanesey

While my family came over to Melbourne recently for a very unfortunate reason, the only thing I liked about it was that I get to see my cousin's 5 month old baby for the first time. This little boy is half malaysian chinese, half japanese. He was an absolute pleasure to look after even though he was quite big and heavy for a 5 month old.

I have always envied friends who live here in Melbourne with all their family. They spend their weekends with their little nieces and nephews. Sometimes they take time off to babysit. I don't really have the opportunity to do that when most of my family lives in a Malaysia.

So when Little Japanesey came over, I made the most of it! At a shopping mall, I accompanied my cousin's wife and Little Japanesey into the baby change room for the first time ever. Ohh this is what it looks like inside....!

Yes, this is me getting clucky..

A few months ago, my cousin sent me pictures of Little Japanesey on the Internet..

But finally, I get to hold Little Japanesey in person!

a big loss in the family

It was just like any other day. Grumpy, Dopey & his better half and I were shopping at Ikea on a very ordinary Sunday afternoon when we received a phone call to say our aunt Ann (here in Melbourne - mum's sister) was at the hospital. Yea, whatever, OK, I'll ring her later to ask if she's OK.. that was first thing that came into my mind. Little did we know, that it was serious and it would be the last time we would ever see her.

I was only talking to her on the phone during my lunch hour on Thursday. I was telling her Dopey was going to get a corporate credit card from his first job that starts next year. She listened in disbelief, saying "WHATT?!?!" I KNOW, I can't believe it either.. I told her. "WHAT?? Is he doing better than you??!" Gee thanks.. Then I listened to her complain about my cousin (her only daughter) who's turning 21 next month and has not changed her bed sheets in months.

She collapsed that Sunday from a severe brain aneurysm. She was unconscious since, and left peacefully the following Thursday. She was perfectly fine, healthy and only 48 years old. Until now, I still can't believe she's gone. We didn't really get to say our goodbyes.

She was our 'go to' person here in Melbourne. All of us nieces and nephews would have stayed at her place when we first stepped into Melbourne from Malaysia. She would ring every now and then just to check if everything's OK. We would meet from time to time, more often when our parents came to visit. We would also celebrate Christmas together. For the first few years, she would make a turkey, salad, dips - aussie style. However in the recent years, for some weird reason, we started celebrating Christmas in Chinese restaurants. OH well, the important thing was that we were all together and we exchanged gifts, stories, jokes, etc.

The time spent at the hospital was awful. I hated every minute of it. Looking at all the tubes come from a million different machines connected to her body was devastating. Having all my family fly from KL to Melbourne in just less than 24-48 hours was amazing (everyone dropped whatever it was they were doing, and took the next flight available) - it showed how much everyone cared and loved her for who she was. And then having all my family argue over the most trivial of things was... crap.

If there was one word I would describe her, it would be 'passionate'. She was such a passionate person. Passionate about life, church, friends, work, the community and most of all - her family.

These are recent pictures from Dopey's graduation back in March.

From left: me, mum, aunt and cousin

Top from left (clockwise): Me, Dopey, cousin, another cousin, uncle, aunt and mum.

quick one

Its been a long time.

So much has happened, and while things are slowly starting to simmer down, I’ve been chasing my tail since.
I’ve got some pics to post. Only thing is Grumpy is currently doing something to my computer. Its broken into a million pieces, and its all rocket surgery to me.
I’ll leave him to it, but that means I have no access to the Internet at home.

Dopey’s gone back to KL – that means the house is a lot cleaner, but a lot more quiet too.

More updates to come once my computer is up and running.

problem solved

The dog is now back from the groomers looking like a million bucks.

Mon chien...

Mummy, i need a bath... and a hair cut !

running running

Today I made the most of the beautiful weather. It was a gorgeous 19 degrees and sunny, perfect weather for running.

Now that Spring has kicked in, I choose to go running at the Tan during lunch. I think I’m the only person I know that doesn’t have a gym membership. (Why pay when you can run in a park for free?)

Jules: I’m going running at the Tan today.

Sydney boy: Whats the Tan?

Jules: The Botanical gardens. We call it the Tan.

Sydney boy: Oh in Sydney we call the Botanical gardens, the Botanical gardens.

Jules: Yea, well over here, we call it the Tan.

Sydney boy: In Sydney we call it the Botanical gardens.

Yes ok. We could spend half a day arguing about which city is best, but lets not ruin my mood for the nice weather.

Anyways, I’m one that likes to run by myself. And so I have my ipod with me. And I just realized I don’t have a playlist for running. So I put it on shuffle, and one of the songs that came up was Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley. That is SOOO NOT a running song. I really need some songs that makes me want to sprint all the way around the Tan. Hehe coz half the time I’m walking…

A few things came into my head while running today.

1. There are so many hotties that go running at lunch. Little Miss Whats-for-lunch reckons that the only reason I choose to go running.

2. Why do people bring their mobile phones to the Tan? Leave it at the office. Its annoying. I leave mine at my desk. Then I tell Little Miss Whats-for-lunch to ring the police if I’m not back by 2 hours. Hopefully she doesn’t have a big lunch and totally forget about me.

3. Running rules that apply should be the same as on the road.. just like when we are driving. Keep left unless overtaking. GAWDD!

4. I absolutely can’t stand people that run in groups, friends, whatever…. hogging up a whole footpath. If you want to run with your mates, that’s fine. Just do it in a line rather than a row. Coz then you’re in my way. And you shouldn’t be talking so much when running. If you want to talk, go and have a cup of coffee instead.

5. Running is not fun when you have a cold and flu.

6. I wonder if I’ll be like the mums, who drive to the Tan, come out their four-wheel drive, take out a baby pram, and the baby (of course), tie the dog to the pram, and brisk walk around the Tan….

Hmm…

Whats for lunch today, Jules?

I’m still in the office…

And in the office, I’m constantly eating… it doesn’t help that I sit very close to Little Miss Whats-for-lunch who asks what we’re going to eat for lunch each day at 8.30am.

She took a lolly from my desk just before and sent me an email after.

Little Miss Whats-for-lunch: Your lolly tastes yuck

Jules: Give it back.

Little Miss Whats-for-lunch: Too late all gone

Jules: Always the case.

Little Miss Whats-for-lunch: Stop taking those BPs jules

(BPs meaning bitch pills…..)

enough of work already...

I came in to work today and was immediately greeted by this reminder when I logged on to my email.

First thing that came across my mind was.. party time! My best friend is coming from Syd to visit! YAYY!!!!!!

And then it dawned on me.. OMG, my life is dictated by my Outlook calendar. How pathetic is that?

Which explains why I haven’t been blogging much.

Coz I’ve been so caught up at work. I look like a miserable zombie. I had to run to the department store during lunch to buy emergency concealer for clubbing tonight. To hide my undereye circles. I look like crap. Seriously.

Its been work work work.. late nights, weekends…

I sent an email to one of my closest friends here just before.. we work in the same project together. I asked her how to make a traditional filipino style fruit salad. I’m having a housewarming party tomorrow, where she’s not invited to. And she knows it. Hahaha no, really, its Grumpy’s housewarming party. Its mainly Grumpy’s friends thats coming.

Jules: Hey, can you please find out the recipe to that yummy fruit salad?

Little Miss Filo: OK, let me email my family.

2 mins later.

Little Miss Filo: Below is the status of your query. Further investigation is needed and you will be informed shortly.

Jules: OK, so I’ll put this as ‘Outstanding’. When do you think you can provide an answer? Have you tested this? Are you comfortable with providing me this recipe?

Little Miss Filo: Flag it as Pending status..... Answer will be provided today. I have tested the final outcome and have validated it. I am comfortable with providing you this recipe however I am not able answer your queries relating to the technical aspects of this product.

OMG!!! WHAT the hell?!?!??! Work has gotten the best of us. We really need to get out of the office!!!!! and get our lives back!

Time with the out-laws

Since moving into our new home, it is only normal that our parents come by to Melbourne for a holiday and primarily, to make sure that money (for the house) wasn't spent on expensive cars, handbags and clothes instead....

I had my 'out-laws' visit recently. Grumpy's father and Bashful (Grumpy's older brother) came to stay with us for approximately 2 weeks.

Historically, I've never had much contact with them for as long as I've been with Grumpy. No conflicts or anything serious, but its just due to their 'more quiet than normal' nature.

Although not much has changed since, I'm actually glad to say that Grumpy's father and Bashful has been opened up more towards me this time round. Mainly for 2 reasons.

Number 1, I've been on my best behaviour (or at least I'd like to think so - patient, no tempers flaring, diligently cleaning the house, making their stay as comfortable as possible).

Number 2, I've been on my BEST behaviour (I took 2 days of annual leave to spend time with them. One day out of the two, Grumpy was away at work, so it was just me, Grumpy's dad and Bashful).

I'm posting some pictures of the time spent here with the 'in-laws'.


This is actually one of my favourite pictures. Grumpy's dad has always been more on the reserved side, rarely expressing affection out in the open and generally, not much of a 'dog' person at all. But guess what? He loves the dog. MY dog. Anyone who likes MY dog remains on my good books.

Bashful, Grumpy's father, Grumpy & I at a Belgian restaurant.

The two most important things in Grumpy's life. Family and Beer.

Also, I asked some people at work about the wineries at the Yarra Valley and so, I was able to come up with a definitive plan for a trip to the vineyards. It consisted of start times, finish times, which roads to use, which vineyards to visit and where to have lunch. The trip turned out to be a success. More pictures...

Domaine Chandon. Beautiful winery. Came with a free tour as well. 'Free' izzz goooddd.

I have to stop dressing up looking like a 30-something suburban mum with 2 kids in a Kathmandu vest on my days off work. My brother, Dopey, is constantly reminding me that.

This is where the champagne go through the 'riddling' process.

This is a guy cleaning the wine barrels.

I told Grumpy this would be a lovely place to hold a wedding reception. Spectacular views.

Giant Steps - This is where we had lunch.

And we resumed to another winery.

Gorgeous blue skies, the sun was shining ..... the start of Spring. My favourite time of the year.

I have no wine tasting skills whatsoever. Everything tastes the same to me, although I generally prefer white compared to red. I pick a bottle based on the price first, then I check out the year, the packaging, and if it came from a winery that sounds familiar.

The out-laws have left. For some weird reason, I didn't feel the least bit annoyed with them or felt like their presence was any bit of an inconvenience. I sometimes feel that when some family members (apart from Mum and Dad) come to visit. I know, I'm bad but its true. Maybe I should stop calling them the 'out-laws' now.

party

Malaysia celebrated its 50th year of independence on 2 Fridays ago, on 31st August 2007. It is a different feeling though, living here in Australia, yet feeling proud to be Malaysian, and most importantly, missing home. I text-ed my Malaysian friends here first thing in the morning, just to remind them of Merdeka day. That Friday night, we had a party for everyone at work (totally not related to Merdeka Day). But before I took off to head to the party that evening, I logged on to thestar.com.my to look at the photos of the events in Malaysia... to remind me why I still call Malaysia 'home'! Apart from that, it was just like any other day.

It was a pretty fun night....

Cheap champagne = massive headache.

Here are some pictures.

Jules & the girlies.

This is me doing the Posh Spice pout. This guy who sits in front of me reckons it was more of a Drunk Spice pout.

We played Celebrity Heads. Person with the sticky on their foreheads are meant to guess who they are... "Am I male?" "Am I American?" "Am I a pop star?" "Am I in sports?"

Audience only provides 'Yes/No' answers.

"Am I a celebrity?" well duh, hence the game.. Celebrity heads.

I know, I look so red-faced here. Damn the alcohol.

One thing for sure, despite the fact that champers goes straight to my head, I am proud to say that at least I don't end up like a complete idiot in front of my colleagues and then being the topic of everyone's emails on Monday morning. I may be a cheap drunk, but I am no tragic drunk.

Birthday girl

On Monday I celebrated my 25th birthday. No big party or anything, but I've been very fortunate to be surrounded by lovely family, friends, work mates and of course... presents, flowers, cards, etc. To top it all off, the weather has been fantastic! Nice and sunny... what more could a girl ask for?

So much is happening at work in the past few weeks, in and out the office, swamped with emails to follow up.... I've been chasing my tail since.

Wensdy night, we did a 'girls night in' at my place to celebrate my birthday and also a bit of a housewarming thing. I've been living here for 2 months now and have yet to organise the official housewarming party! (I'm so slack at times)

The 'girls night in' which was meant to be NOT THAT BIG A DEAL, turned out to be quite a full-on event. We went to Victoria market the day before during our lunch hour to buy the groceries. Prepared some stuff at night. We had to organise who was driving to work, who was taking the train, how everyone was going back home, etc. But at the end, it was such a fantastic night.

One of the dishes one of the girls whipped up. Deeleesshhh!

If there's anything they love, it would be pulling a prank on me on my birthday. My present was a box full of crap from the Reject Shop. Typical....

Awful looking placemats. Just what I wanted!

Dishwashing liquid, box of 99cents tissues and cupasoup. Only because I've got a mortgage now and can't afford these luxuries.

Finally, I got the real thing, and it was a Country Road vase, which I picked out myself at the start of the week while they pretended they weren't going to buy that for me. The dog looks like he's going to wee on the ugly placemats soon enough. hehehe..

Finally, a birthday cake from David Jones to end the night.

Lucky stars

I must admit, I love fancy jewellery, especially expensive ones, but I don't have any (maybe one or two, plus they are not THAT expensive anyways) and I don't wear them every day because I can't be bothered taking them off, putting them back on, taking good care of it… and most importantly – losing it!

Today my outfit to work seemed boring. Maybe it was because I was assigned to a boring task and couldn't care less. So I thought I'd wear a ring which Grumpy got for me last year, just to lift the spirits a little.

This guy at work said "Ooh, nice ring, never seen you wear it before!" I do wear it.. only on the odd occasion. Do you know why?

A while back, I wore that ring nearly every day. If I washed my hands without taking the ring off, even after drying my hands, I could still feel it wasn't completely dry, due to the way the ring was designed, water gets caught in between. Annoying. Since then, each time I went to the ladies, I'd take the ring off, place it on the counter, wash my hands, dry it, and put the ring back on.

One day, one of the managers came up to me, "Jules, don't you wear a '_____'* ring?"

For some weird reason, I thought it was a trick question. I don't like to flaunt that ring, but if she's thinking I do, then its no good. I went… hmm.. yea…. Err.. why?

"One of the girls from the other department found a '_____'* ring in the toilet. They think it's real" (oh you reckon?)

I looked at my finger, it wasn't there!

She added "they tried locating the owner all day, but no one has claimed it. Then they're asking me now and when they said '_____'* ring, I said.. I know a girl who wears such a ring!"

"Omg… omg. Its mine! Omg!!! I can't believe I don't even realise its missing!"

So she brought me to the other department, and the manager from there said "finally we found the owner! Is it real?" (Why is it that I get question all the time?)

While I did reward the person who found it, I was feeling relieved. Yet I found myself overwhelmed by the fact that I was so careless and that there are still good people out there, honest people!

Then I thought to myself, if I had LOST the ring, I had 3 options:

1. Pretend I never had such a ring. Grumpy would think I'm a schizo, but he probably does anyways. It would just reinstate his thoughts. Haha this is quite a bad option, but not too bad.
   
2. Buy exactly the same ring again, with my own money though, and not tell him I lost anything. I might have to starve for a whole month, maybe two. This is also not too bad an option. However, I don't really want to use my own money.
   
3. Tell Grumpy the truth. Worst of them all – no more expensive jewellery for me…. He will stop buying. Period.
   

From that experience, I have learnt to be very careful when I remove my jewellery and place it at anywhere else but my jewellery box. I thank my lucky stars that I got back my ring.

(* left blank intentionally…)

winter

Nothing exciting has been happening lately. Its winter so I don't expect too much. Two weeks ago, I had to work on a Saturday due to a project milestone. We worked from 8am until 8pm. We were given cab charges to come in and to go home. We were brought to a nice restaurant for lunch, provided heaps of Tim Tams and 'snakes'... Yet it took me 3 days to recover after that weekend of work. Hehe Mum reckons we're spoilt compared to my peers working back in KL.

On Wensdy, Grumpy and I celebrated our nine years of being together.

I look so drunk just after 1 glass of wine.

Last weekend, I embarked on a journey to rediscover my artistic roots! I'm painting my bathroom walls. I intend to do some wall art.

No, not a feature wall. Each person I tell at work about painting my bathroom walls, they say "You mean a FEATURE WALL??" NO! Feature walls are easy… hehe its just a matter of having one wall which is a different colour. But wall art.. you would require 'some' creative talent.

No pictures will be posted yet, just in case it doesn't go as planned and this artistic journey goes to a complete halt. Grumpy took a $200 bet with me when we first bought the house, if I will finish this bathroom wall project by 2007. Bring it on! He came home from work that Saturday and said "WHAT? You've only done one wall? What about the other three?" Jeeezzz.. relax… painting the walls by myself seemed a little bit harder than I expected. But I still enjoy it… I take my time when I paint… while listening to Amy Winehouse.

I also brought the dog to visit our local dog park for the first time. I'm still exploring my new neighbourhood. I love border collies, they are intelligent, playful yet so gentle and obedient.




And finally, our sofa arrived this morning. Took about 6 weeks to arrive. Yet Grumpy reckons I paint too slow. It looks rather bare. I'll probably get some cushions to go with it soon.

Gwenie gwen gwen

I've always been a fan of Gwen Stefani since I was 14. I'm a huge No Doubt fan and I've been to a No Doubt concert held at KL in my previous life. Months ago, when news arrived that Gwen Stefani was going to have a concert here in Melbourne, I was so excited. I rang Grumpy straight away and asked if we should attend her concert. He gave me a rude 'NO'. Then I asked the girls, no one really liked her THAT much and there was no point me dragging them to her concert because it would just kill my Gwen moment. Friends at work started to sympathise and soon enough, I was getting pity invites from the weirdest of people.

As her concert was approaching, everyone came by to talk to me about Gwen. "Jules, still no one to go with?" oh yeah.. not funny.

Her concert was on Friday. 2 days before (Wednesday), I emailed Grumpy and said "Do you want to go to the Gwen concert this Friday?" I wasn't expecting a reply as he doesn't normally respond to my emails (ignorance is bliss – to him). He actually said Yes, and so I dashed to the nearest Ticketek, and got myself 2 tickets. Then I started getting emails saying "I've been told you're going to drag your boyf to some girlie event" hahaha as part of every rship… 'give & take'!

This is what happens when you buy last minute tickets. You get crap seats. We were really close to the stage though. Regardless, it was money well spent! She opened the show by stepping out from a cage singing to The Sweet Escape.

She's so hot. Notice the Harajuku girls..

It was a sold out concert. Filled of 12,000 predominantly female fans. Going to the toilet was a nightmare as the girls queue was endless. Grumpy came out the boys loo saying "You can actually go into the men's toilet. There's only like 5 guys here at the concert"