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.