18 on the 18th

my brother new straight away when he started high school, that his 18th birthday would be during HSC. well, at least he didn't have a test on his birthday. no time to go buy a nicer cake to try, so, so stressed for Monday. it's not worth much, but your performance kind of indicates how you will go in the finals, since the finals are harder. so if i do bad, then finals are just going to be unthinkable, if that makes sense...

all my brother wants on his 18th is to drink. that logic, drinking during his hsc. i'm worried that he'll become an addict, even though we have minimal alcohol at home, there's nothing to stop him from buying it outside...

when i think about it, i do waste a lot more money on birthdays compared to my brother. he hasn't even had a party w/ his high school friends...which really gets me thinking, is a 21st worth the time/effort/money...yes, it is about the memories, but still....i guess nowadays, if you don't mention the word "party" it's expected people pay for themselves....well so far all the birthday dinners i've been to is like that....

homemade tiramisu from the neighbours (:

it came with the whole ribbon in cake box with cake cardboard, so when we both opened the box, my mum and i were like "wow". homemade, was not expecting any presentation etc. well, apparently the person owns a cafe, and likes to make stuff on weekends...please give us more cake, haha. oh, uel and shanelle from MKR last season are opening up a cafe in macquarie! finally some contestant from a cooking show opening a cafe in Sydney, and within price range (hopefully). have been waiting for someone to do this. other people have, it's just their restaurants/cafes are in other states. like, those twin sisters from before, sam and bella do have a burger stand thing at Bondi markets, or some markets, but those are too far away to trek to, even if bondi junction is 15min away from uni...but markets are only on weekends..

blackforest cake-$38.50

pretty sure their prices have rose. got the same cake for my 18th as well. it doesn't taste as nice this times, since there's more canned cherries on the bottom layer in stead of sponge. and the top mousse layer has decreased in thickness slightly, so it's not balanced as well. oh well, cake is cake, and food makes me happy (and possibly study a bit harder). 

if you didn't know by now, H&M and Uniqlo opened yday at mac centre. my bus went past it, but no time to actually stop and go in. on there other hand, my bro and his friends study at mac uni, so during their "study break" they decided to visit the shops. how does my brother study, i don't know...

hk stuff was cheap, but earlier when my mum went last month, it's not as cheap, esp w/ the dollar dropping, so i'm interested to see the prices in aus. when i went to the uniqlo pop up shop a few months ago, it was definitely over priced compared to overseas.

The new iPad Air 2 is so beautiful! at 6.1mm! such a beauty. too bad they upped the price as well. the previous iPad air at 32gb was $699rrp. now they got rid of the 32gb D= so you have to get the 64gb, just like on iPhones, which is $739rrp. 16bg is way to small for an iPad, it's already a bit on the small side for phones. just so amazing. everyone i've asked who has both an iPad and a mac says they still bring their laptop to uni. but their macs are a bit newer than mine, and i don't want to bring my laptop around too much, so i have been thinking of getting one, it's just a lot more pricer than i expected. now the previous iPad air 32gb is $549. checked the prices during a lec today... and right now they're currently updating their store, so can't promise that last figure is exact, since it's just so cheap (cheap compared to the other iPads, but still moneys going...) i guess it shows how popular apple stuff

yay for Yosemite and iOS combining! sounds so time saving. will probably end up updating after finals...since i don't have time to sit and wait for the downloads to complete. but if i brought an iPad to type up notes, the thought of it being on my computer right where i left off is pretty amazing.

that new iMac 5k retina is top notch. so thin but jam-packed with pixels.

also, my dad got a new gps from work (yes, they still do exist). it's sooo slim and for a gps it's a beauty.

yay, finally got enrolled into my preferred group. now the next step is passing my pracs next week, and then all the other exams...

did another technique today, and full studied up for it. some people just master it straightaway, no problems, but when i do it, i can't do it properly or without corneal staining. i guess it's times like these where you just have to think positively and boost yourself by saying you will be able to do it (before the prac exam)

its amazing how the other day i woke up at 11am, but today i got up at 6am. 8am starts D= but it's worth waking up early to practice.

optom is so fail. one of the pre-requisites for enrolling was "PHSL" but someone put in "PHPH" and that course doesn't exist, so now no one can enrol, apart from the people who repeated, and the people who actually realised th typo and told the enrolling person, before all 100 of us spammed her email. my email probs got pushed to the button, so my desired group is probs all taken. also another subject had pre-requites which we is actually not required, so that person is going to have so much fun manually enrolling all of us.

tbh, i don't really care what group i get next year since they're almost equal, (unlike this sem where i can sometimes have a 4day week). i just need to pass! all these pracs are so tricky. another prac exam next week, and we only had 1 prac each to learn/master it. not enough time! i guess everyone's in the same boat (well people who didn't repeat). it's just that all the optm lectures have at least 90 slides per hour, with each slide jam packed with words/pictures/diagrams. going through one lec takes so long =/ so worried. i know i need to study harder. 

i am actually saying this, but please time go slower. wk 11 already almost over, not enough time to study D=

large, rose flavoured ice choc-$8

finally used my free coco cubano free drink voucher. figured i actually won't have time until next year lol. the person gave me a hot one, but i actually ordered an iced one, i guess that person ordering didn't hear, so the guy who first gave it to me was pretty pissed off. then another nicer guy came to give me the drink...it's not too sweet and not to heavy on the rose flavour, quite nice

nyc apartments

nyc buildings are already giants compared to sydney's, but with this new apartment block being the highest in nyc, our buildings will be midgets! people think america is cheap, but nyc is one of the most expensive places to live, even if you live on the outskirts of nyc, or the other boroughs. apartments are super small, majority smaller than hong kong's, hence why almost no one does their laundry in the apartments since there's no space for one (unlike hk, where they can at least fit in a washing machine). so those new apartments are crazily expensive. i bet the $8mil apartment itself is super small, but i guess it's the prestige of living in a famous building and on a rich street. 

it's also amazing how fast you can spend money. if i didn't go to the US, i can go to at least 5 other countries incl expenses. like back when i went to Japan it was still a bit expensive, but now i can say it's in the category of "cheap" places overseas since the yen has dropped. UK is still in the expensive category since the aussie dollar is also slowly dropping. but place such as spain are probably on the "medium" side. 

it took over 2 weeks for the "occupy central" protest in central HK to reside. apparently the protest were actually quite peaceful at times, with people collecting rubbish, handing out water etc. well, politics is politics, and it has unfortunately made a massive split in the family. too bad one of my cousins is getting married soon. i won't be surprised if the two outspoken people in the family end up strangling each other due to politics... they are so stubborn. just let the other person talk and stop retaliating. gave up reading their messages after the 2nd day. they actually right essays to each other.

feels like winter again (: just don't like the storms. it's crazy how blue mountains had bush fires last year, but snowing this year

some people are just so brave and words can't really say much. you know who you are <3

TWP Flourless Chocolate Cake

so yesterday, it was TWP's founder Belle's birthday, so they finally uploaded their version of a balck forest cake. i really wanted this recipe, but it was part of a holiday pack download for $2, and i didn't want the whole package apart from this receipe, but they uploaded it now!

it's a flour less chocolate cake. i only made half the quantity since i couldn't be bothered to whip some coconut cream to stack it etc. my almond meal expires after finals and before i go on holidays, hence no time to make macarons, and i have been trying to find a decent cake receipe with almond meal. so spontaneous baking it is, even though i slept in....also wanted to bake after seeing all of Happy Apple's baking adventures!

super simple cake: almond meal, cacao, maple syrup (didn't have rice malt syrup, so in the end it wasn't that sweet and it didn't make the cake "stick" as well), organic eggs, olive oil, vanilla extract. so electric mixer involved because i don't have time to wash that.

was too eager and didn't let the cake cool down properly, so it kinda cracked when i opened the spring...also, i think i have kinda lost some of my baking skills...

bro started his HSC today! hope he does well. he actually hasn't asked me a single thing since he started his HSC year....

Oliver Brown ft. Salted Caramel

last monday, public holiday was spent working, but it was pretty quite so no hard work. another manager from a star far away randomly popped in to use our computers, and he saw me with my laptop...awks...and from next week onwards until the end of the year, if we sell at least 7 prada's, then we go into the running to win a prada handbag! too bad i'm not here in december, and i only work once a week, so it's pretty impossible to for someone willing to buy a pair of Prada's every single week...well anyways, if anyone out there is looking for a new pair of Prada sunnies, i can get you 40% off.

sometimes i feel the need to shout my parents something, so after work i met up with them. bro is always at a library somewhere...can't believe his HSC starts next week already! i walk past OB every time i go to work, and i saw the new salted caramel drinks which i wanted to try. the PB in my suburb is always busy, and esp on a public holiday, had to wait a bit to get a table

salted caramel iced latte-$6.50, regular cap, large green tea latte

waffles for one w/ ice cream-$8

was disappointed by the drink. the person came up to the table with a regular iced latte, but i said i ordered salted caramel, so she went back to put 1 pump in. i had it, then still couldn't taste any caramel, so i went up to them to ask to have more. i saw the other girl put in an extra 2 pumps then stirred the drink. it was slightly sweeter, but a very subtle salted taste. so it you want an actual hit of salted caramel, don't get this drink. also tried a bit of the green tea latte, and it was nice, but since it's a large, i think it would become a bit too sweet towards the end.

felt a bit indulgent, so shared a waffle between the 3 of us. ice cream is technically $2 here, it was alright, but melted too quickly (well it was a very hot day). yay for waffles.

and everything i had today i'm not supposed to it...

oh, the other day my manager shouted froyo! haven't had yogurburry froyo in so long, was really refreshing. a medium size with 3 flavours and toppings is $7.50. it's yogurberry branded machines/cups etc, but it's not an actual self serve store. 

and your not so typical macca's burger right at castle hill...

can't believe wk 10 already passed.

mid sem break was non-existent as expected. worked half the time, since i really need that money. it

before the break began, optm made us sign a sheet which says they will have a prac exam on a day outside the official unsw end date. prac exam times came out and i finish on the normal unsw last day of exams! better than having an exam when exams are technically supposed to be over according to the unsw exam period.

finally got around to getting a new camera, and i did gets my cash back (: something small, not too overly fancy in features. i originally thought about getting an ilc, but the sony a5000 screen resolution is so grainy, it really makes you doubt that it can take high resolution pictures (even though the mp are pretty high), and the a6000 takes 11 photos a sec, and i don't need to spend $1000 for those extra features which i'll never use.

after a whole week of assignmenting, need to catch up on stuff. never finished catching up during the break ): and finally my group responded! with 12 people for group work, it's pretty tricky. i guess they decided to actually say something since the group debate is on monday. what's really stupid is half are marks are from ranking each other, but when you're partnered up with someone in the group (i.e. 6 pairs working on one point, which a lot of the other groups are doing), you end up with everyone contributing equally. initially the first person emailed the lecturer and said it's not fair to rank people and he replied that we have to learn to "evaluate". how do you do that by ranking people? then i think after half the grade emailing him about the unfair system of ranking people for half the allocated marks, he said he gave up and we don't need to mark each other in our group. which probably means another 10% extra weighting for finals...my point is that lecturers do crumble when quite a few people angrily voice their opinions.

my final finals timetable (they altered it 2 times after the draft #optomlyf) is ok, 1/2 days between each exam...but i actually don't know nothing D= that mostly online course, like have i even learnt anything...?

Night Noodle Markets start today! but i know everything will be overpriced...

craving so much food atm, but need to save money...

been overeating these past few weeks, even though i haven't been out a lot D=

Eye Ball 2014-A Black Tie Affair

eye ball (our optom ball) was on last friday night, i originally wasn't going to go, but since my friends were going, and i managed to get a ticket which was sponsored (only 40 per grade, and if you're on the waiting list, then you have to pay full price, and even getting a ticket at that price i hard), but i'm glad i went this year. i also have heaps of dresses i have yet to wear, so yay for these occasions. really fun night of dancing, photo taking (yay for photo booths), and mingling (:

just a few snapshots of the night

table

menu

food was alright, i got all the dishes i wanted (:

haven't had raw salmon in so long!

ended up having 3 soft drinks and 2 sips of red/white wine

cheap wine. you can actually taste good quality stuff from cheap stuff like these. well it was unlimited alcohol and soft drinks, so for the price we paid i guess it's ok.

lamb shank fell off the bone, but could still be more tender

cheesecake was more on the cake side

first time going to Dockside. the dance floor looked small, but it actually enough space. optom balls always have a limited number of people allowed to attend. i also saw the same dress on different people in 3 colours. these halted neck but not really tie up dresses were quite popular. i actually got this quite simple dress from Zara almost 2 years ago in HK. really do wonder if australian fashion is that slow...oh, H&M is opening soon, 16 oct, but too bad i need to study ):

darling harbour lights

selfies at 2am, because i can hehe