700. Day 4

i really cbb to go to the last day. four days later, i am super duper dark.  =/

i met some really interesting people today! don't think i'll see them again, but it was really cool talking to them. i've told a few people about this already. so there was this guy who came from wa, and lived in the desert, and then went to boarding school in perth and now lives near campus. he's a halfie with smart parents, and his mum is asian, so i was thinking "i thought usually white people lived in the desert.." his two younger siblings also go boarding school.

campus tour was so worth going to! i liked the bag (: even though it was raining, i guess we learnt how to walk around campus, through buildings during wet weather. seriously, yellow shirts make awkward situations not awkward. they had good ideas for us to talk with each other. i met a few international students. this guy from singapore was really friendly, and apparently he live on campus. it's so expensive! he has his own room, but shares bathroom, kitchen etc for over $300 a week. in some suburbs, you can rent a house for 300. and the people in his apartment are randoms of all ages...obvs he's used to the heat. singaporeans have really good english. a spanish guy-his accent is cool. this other guy from malay i think also had good english. but this mainlander...really awks because i didn't know how to say his name, which was chinese...met a guy from nsb, some people who live near cabra who i didn't know where their suburb was and vice versa. i said i live near hornsby, but they still didn't now, so i just said up north.

i had another good haul of freebies even though heaps of stalls were gone, and heaps of people didn't come. got a free drink bottle, and i went to the arc stall, and saw it was $5.50. who even buys them? i really love the asos bag. i've always wanted a cloth bag of that colour, but the ones i have have wierd print, like i would not use a fair trade printed bag. but yay asos! i've taken home over two litres of soft drink/water these past few days. i only took 3 pens in total. most of the time, when people give me stuff, i reject it. i only get stuff which i don't have or are useful. so i got heaps of useful stuff (:

i have signed up for a billion things. like to get free slushies etc, i sign up at least twice a day. lucikily their systems don't recognise i've used that email/mobile again. now i've had three passionflower flavours. i unlike their page every day to get free ice cream (: they weren't there yday...

school of optom welcome-not worth it. didn't really talk much since it was raining. out of 160+ optom/vision science people, there's only like 20 guys. it's such a girls course. similar to OT, speech path, those health sciences courses...i guess if i really want to meet guys (lol, this sounds so weird) i could've done eng. apparently, from people i talked to today, petroleum eng has the biggest oppurtunity to travel! i love travelling, but no, i'm not going to do engineering.

giant slide was cool. was going to do campus fugitive, but i figured that would be like amazing race, trying to find a person, so again ceebs.

i can sleep in tmr! ive caught buses from different times in the morn to see how traffic fits in. zomg, today, during 7ish, they cancelled trains from wynyard to north syd since a line broke on the bridge. so my bus also goes on the bridge, and masssive traffic jams, since they replaced trains with buses to go over the bridge. the line/crowd at wynyard was spectacular. it could come to par with hk crowds. sooo many people waiting to cross the bridge. read the news and they said people were going to fix it asap, "emergency service" what a joke. after taking half an hour form town hall, to wynyard them finally crossing the bridge, i looked at the train line and no one was attempting to fix it. city fail. i bet they changed their trains to Sydney Trains in june/july so you can't make a pun on it...i read on the mx that the new CEO or something is from London. pleasssssssse make a good underground subway. any reliable subway will do

i've been so busy that my phone has been running on low batteries these few days. after o-week, i come home for about 15mins dinner, only time to charge my phone, then go off again. tonight my phone is full charged! finally! don't like charging it overnight since i heard it's bad, but then again, i shall google how to maximise the overall battery life...

no one is going to go tmr. that rain. at least it wasn't pouring when i got my free stuff (: didn't see many people today compared to the other days. finally after three days, they finally got thicker napkins for the pancakes. the pancakes on a thin serviette literally burns your hand since it's fresh off the bbq thing, but they had thick napkins which we could get an unlimited number of today, probs cause there were so little people.

walked home in the rain...even though it was windy and all, i still felt warm throughout the day. had a look at the foam party at around 6. there were already quite a lot of people, but they were still setting up, so obvs no foam until later on in the night, so i didn't bother waiting. dinner at 9, how fun.

last day of feb already. time does fly when you're having fun.

New Plan

sim card activated within four hours yesterday. so quick. and calling their customer service is so much better than their broadband customer service. awww yeah, 1.5gb interenet each month. FIFTEEN TIMES MORE THAN BEFORE!!!

day 3. today i got the most pamphlets and really heavy stuff, like 3 bottle of drinks. more freebies, but again, not as much as the previous days, and this time no pepsi max, but i did win a bottle of pepsi max...

amazing race, well, that was tiring. literally running around the whole campus. i went with daniel and his friends, but the whole group was guys =/ so i was just tagging along. lost them quite a few times, but it was alright, since i just ask "did you see a group of guys running past" and they just pointed in the right direction, or another team would run past, so i would follow them. the clues i guess were pretty good, and the things you have to do was better than what i expected. no prizes for coming third ): the paper aeroplane thing was hard (it looked really hard, was ceebs to walk up to the top to fly a plane), in the end i think we kind of just pretended we did it.

so far so good. free lunch and drinks. woke up later today, so missed out on pancakes.

the personalised tour things is hopeless. everyone directing me to different places to find the people which actually conduct the tours, but i can never find them. maybe you actually need to arrive on time, or else they just do other peoples and don't come back for people waiting...

i'm really sorry guys. i met up and hanged around with at least 5 groups of people, but i just kind of ditched them and wandered off. wandering off is not as "loner" as you think. you still bump into heapppps of people, and you can choose what free stuff you want. i think people whom i haven't seen for a few years and going up to me to say high is really nice.

I GOT MY YELLOW BAG TODAY! now to get the o-week extreme bag. I STILL HAVE YET TO GET A VODA SLUSHIE! every time i go, they said come back in 15mins since the machine was starting another batch ):  pretended i did med to get more freebies. some people knew i was a fake since they asked me questions about the lecture which i didn't attend obvs-lol.

i went for the last half of the faculty welcome, hoping for free food, but was disappointed, so i just went to the trusty CBS (:

went to plus today. doing bible study using a manuscript method. it's just the passage with no verse or chapter number or enters.

i am so dark after three days of going out in the sun for the whole day. another good talk (: i don't even have time to charge my phone ): sooooooooooooooo busy.

Day 2

my phone is going to disconnect in the next 24-48 hours, but i'm so excited! and yay for not moving to voda, lol, after the complaints and media trashing them to say they're super bad with bad service. no thanks, i will pass on signing up to voda.

soooooo, this morning. i was planning to go on the iCinema tour, but i was way too tired from dance yesterday (i'm actually starting to hurt less now, so starting to get back into it), and decided to sleep in for an hour compared to yday. the last express bus in the morn comes at 8:14, so i decided to catch the normal one at 8:40 ish. when i turned the corner, i saw a bus, and it was the express! but he just left when i arrived. since the bus does a mini loop, i ran down the normal road we drive and made it to the other bus stop where the bus shortly arrived. that express bus was half an hour late, and you could see all the angry people telling the bus driver that the bus was obviously late, but for once, a late bus worked for me. i am going to get so much reading done on the bus.
to uni: 3 buses. from uni: 2 buses and one train. peak time almost 2 hours. ok ish time, 1.5-1.75hour. IF THEY FRICKKEN COMPLETE THE M2, i can get home in 1.5hour. seriously, the beginning like 2/3kms always have a massive jam. they have 4 lanes unused and blocked since they still haven't finished it ): but at least during peak times, buses come every 2-5mins to and from city (: so that's way better than 15mins a train during peak hours

not as many freebies today. no unlimited lipton ice tea ):
joined some stuff i haven't signed up for yet to get more drinks. the turbo tub was fun. it was dizzier than normal rides since the actual thing swayed and i ate lunch right before...free lunch from another Christian group. i thought CBS was the only Christian group, but turns out there's like 10 more...free lunch on a place with table and chairs (:

saw heaps of baulko kids today. didn't see any one of my friends except dandelion. it's funny how i always bump into her.

and yesss! happy to get a nice piece of paper with a seal. i'm pretty sure someone took the box near keith burrows, but if i have time this week, i want to see where the other boxes are to see what they look like...but i just kind of tagged with these guys who went to syd tech since i knew i can't solve riddles.

i got the cutest balloon ever...after waiting half an hour...i got the last one for the day (:

another really useful talk today (:

O-Week

i think unsw has the best o-week. so much free stuff that some things i did not bother to take. legit.

walking up the main walkway feels like hk. it's crowded, and people coming up to you asking if you want to join their club, and a million flyers are headed your way. then there are the lines for the cooler stuff. i feel like i'm going to get spammed. gave my email so many times for free stuff and food...

i got good freebies, not random pens like on open days. i only got one uni pen today, the other was a really nice fabric type of pen. got this really nice notebook and dry shampoo. heaps of other stuff which is actually useful.

even the talks are more useful compared to the generic open day stuff. really liked the talk i went to today and the person who gave it. IT WAS USEFUL!

didn't bother with free fairy floss and only got one snow cone but had half of it only. soooo many free bbqs everywhere i didn't really know which one to go to. i'll go to a different one tomorrow to see if i can meet new people. hung out with actuarial people today, not sure why. and i'm pretty sure i saw more girra kids than baulko. also saw some people from primary, i kinda remember them, but doubt they know me so i don't bother saying hi, because would i talk to them if i see them around? no, it's too awkward, i would make new friends rather than making a new friend who i knew 10 years ago. lol, i might hypocrite myself, but for now, that's what i think.

gg, going to uni during peak times takes 2 hours. luckily i saw a family friend on the bus, and she told me that last monday, they changed the bus route during peak hours and instead of stopping at town hall and wynyard only, it now goes along the back streets of the city for a number of stops. really wouldn't have known where to get off if i didn't know about the change in bus routes when uni started.SO GLAD I WENT ON THE BUS DURING PEAK HOUR. prbs explains why my tripview is missing my bus route times before 9am.

i need to know where some rooms are, so probs going to have a personalised tour. like on my timetable, i have an "old main 25" what's that supposed to mean? old main building 250? because old main 25 doesn't exist on lostoncampus.

i really want to join the secret society, but it's freaking hard. riddles to solve/boxes/dressed up people to find. it just seems exclusive. didn't join anything today, but now i have a good idea of what i want to join. the food society is not a good idea despite my love of food. i don't want to eat out every week. it's unhealthy and a waste of money. i would rather save my money and go to the no.1 restaraunt in syd, even though it's 300+pp, but it high quality food. also didn't do everything today.

yay jumping castle! except i didn't have any socks, so my feet kind of burned on the plastic =/ i think o-week extreme kinda failed, but i want a yellow bag! i think i left before they started handing them out...

learnt stuff today (: i think i miss learning things, so in a way, i'm pumped/

Holiday Times

so you've probably heard me say or read that i don't have enough time, despite having almost four months of holidays. i have written every day down since hsc ended, so if you're really curious about what i'm up to, then you can comment a day and i can defs say i did something useful/went out somewhere that day.

i've calculated where my holidays went.

first of all, five trips away from home, that is, 47 days/46 nights not sleeping in my own bed.

four months is approx 120 days, so about 40% of my hols away from home.

i've spent about 7 days fully at home, no going out. (plus or minus a day)

the other days i've been out. so i've been out 66 days. some may be part days, or the whole day, or going out can just mean going to dancing or church, but it's still going out for me.

on days where i go out in the arvo, i sleep for 12 hours. so about half of the days i go out, roughly 33 days, i sleep half the day off. literally, i sleep at 12-1am, then wake at 11am-12pm. you could say i have spent most of my holidays at home sleeping.

days when i go out, i wake at 9am. last wed was the earliest i woke up at home during these 4 months-7.30am...

i've been to quite a lot of people's houses and parties.

i've been really picking which outings/parties i go to. if i have to spend some money on people who i'm not that close with, i would rather just not go at all. and if i wasn't invited to an event, i'm not "cut" since i have sooo much stuff to do at home.

i finally cleaned all the dust on my desk, and my room is now fully tidied, and the cupboard next to my desk the things inside are re-arranged! i feel ready for uni, things have been re-arranged so it feels like a new beginning. i still don't know if i should go with books or paper or macbook for uni...

i haven't really watched a lot of movies at home, but i have followed modern family and glee. unfortunately, today was the 3rd full episode of masterchef professionals that i have watched. most of the time these days, i don't really have time for tv at night. and all i've read in terms of books are the millennium trilogy. i still had heaps of books to read, but never had the time...oh, and all i've baked are failed macarons.

i've also cleaned a lot, so that's where some of my time has gone.

o-week this week, but the weather D= i just spent an hour planning a personal schedule of stuff to do and eat. so that's another 5 days gone.

Coin Collecting

room is finally clean!

spent today cleaning the cupboard next to my desk. didn't chuck much but re-organised everything.

dug out my coin collection. i actually have some rare coins. some which there are less than 5 million are rare, by comparison of normal coins which are produced in over 20 million.

i have 28 of about 30 ish designs. i don't collect the normal 50c from different years, but my oldest coin is 1967 and between 1966 and 1968, the coin is 80% silver. now they are fake silvers.

just had a look at the 20c on the website. there are about 20 designs, and some are really pretty, except they only produced 2 million of the pretty ones, so no chance there since the pretty ones were all made in 2001. 

i'm only missing 2 one dollar coins, according to the aus government's website, which i think shows the coins released to public. there's only 6 million of one, and the other one there's 20ish million... again, i don't collect the normal one dollar from different years. however, with the normal one dollar, some years which the coin was made in are rarer than others. there are 2013 ones, and these other coins which i think are scams since people sell them on their website for 30bucks...

that dark coin between the 2 dollars is actually a 2c. i thought it was 2 dollars until i checked on the website and it was a cent not dollar. and have yet to find a red poppy 2 dollars, but i'm pretty sure if anyone has ever got hold of one they probs would have kept it since it's so eye catching. (just ebayed it,  people selling it for 20 bucks =/ and that price will probs increase even more in a few years). also probs won't be able to find a 1c.

i also found a coin from africa which my bro gave to me. obvs he got ripped off when he was young, since i'm pretty sure, the aussie dollar was higher than the african currency, even if it was 10 years ago...

 my first 3d puzzle! quite easy. and i didn't cheat by using numbers! the only tricky thing is holding the pieces at the right angle so they stick together.

watched tron: legacy today. i really like the grid part. i remember watching it in 3d with my fam at Dreamworld at night. it was a massive cinema, bigger than vmax ones, and it was only my fam, and three other people, which felt like a private screening (:

Hk Cars

again, i probs mentioned this sometime before in previous posts.

but there are soooo many luxury cars in hk. talking to my uncle, he said hk has one of the largest proportions of luxury cars in the world.

seriously, each day i see at least 5 porches, and they are just casually parked on the streets, and some hk streets are dodgy, and all hk streets are super duper crowded. like people walking past it can scratch the car. i saw a few aston martins, ferrari, maclaren. etc.

i really do love my cars. maclaren used to be my favourite brand since it was the fastest car in my need for speed 2 for pc over ten years ago.

and having a car in hk is way more expensive than having a car in aus. in hk, you have to pay a further 40% of tax. then you have to pay for parking everywhere, there are no free street parking, only cheaper parking in cheaper streets. and then when you buy an apartment, it doesn't come with a parking space. you either have to buy or rent your own parking space, and it's literally just a normal car park space. i don't think i'll be able to survive in hk with all my stuff since i have no where to store them.

lso, hk roads have heaps of tight turns, very crowded street, over and under passes, bridges and also lots of public transport and people, so aren't people scared their cars will be scratched?

people in hk are richer than you think...

Costco

finally went to costco today, since parents membership expires soon, and i wouldn't have time during uni to go.

before that, went to towers and back to the apple store. took forever for them to try and fix my usb, but after half an hour of scans/re formatting, they couldn't do anything with it. oh well, it was a free 4gb usb from usyd, and luckily i already got the stuff off the usb.

finally applied for my own medicare card. line was super long, full of old people....

then i had coffee with my mum at mrs field cookies! first time having a coffee there. i think the hk one is nicer since they're softer, and cheaper, but smaller. i had a chai latte (: i love everything chai. really awkward since we had a buy one get one free coffee coupon, but the person was like you can't do it for chai latte, and then i was like i don't drink coffee, so we were about to go. and then people were lining up behind us, and i was still thinking, and then they said i could have my chai, and then we bought a cookie. so we sat down and only paid for the cookie, and then the drinks came, so obvs the person forgot to charge us for the chai. so i went back up and told her they forgot to charge us, and then i think she charged me for a large size, even though it was a medium or small. so basically i got ripped off a dollar, but i was ceebs going up to her again since the boss was next to her and i didn't want her to lose her job if the boss knew that she forgot to charge me money, then charged me too much.

why are there sooo many people at costco in the middle of a weekday? it's not that big, compared to the way people described it. like some parts are quite tight, esp the fresh produce part where you can't fit two trolleys side by side. bought 5 massive boxes of baked goods. all different types of bread. going to be haviing more bread than rice this week...

also bought the usual bulgogi meat. spent almost 200 there. and finally saw the $174 chuppa chupps. quite cheap, 17c each when you buy in bulk...

there was so much free samples. literally in every aisle. didn't bother to try everything, but i defs tried over 15 things, so i was actually not hungry, free lunch at costco (:

and second time i had pizza from costco! so big and filling (:

didn't manage to see the pianos there.

i've finally tidied up most of my room. i am departing with my mary-kate and ashley bag which was from a showbag literally 10 years ago. i really loved mk and a, but that bag had about half a cm of dust, and full of insects inside and the plastic turned colour =/ also chucked out really old accesroies, but found my old christian dior box full of more hair accesories. i've never really been a fan of hair stuff, yet i still have 2 boxes, one bag, and four mini drawers of hair stuff...but trust me, i chucked out heaps of stuff tonight =/

finally finished clearing out a space and putting all my bags/handbags into it! clutches go in a different box...

i have enough uni bags for a different day for over two weeks, but i'll probs be ceebs, and just use the same one each week. surprisingly the cheapest bag i bought in hk seems to be the sturdiest and most practical, and i really like it (:

went to joanna's house today. nice to play jenga, and cluedo! haven't played it in so long. no one to play it with me at home ): so i decided to go to someone's house. i always get the person and weapon quite early in the game, but the room takes me a tiny bit longer since i always have only one/two rooms in my hand. and when i know the room, i can't reach it in time since i have bad die rolls, or someone reaches it before i do...

been watching too much mkr...

now i'm not sure if i should go every day to o week. i still have plenty of things i want to do before uni starts. i like my free food, but i already have enough free pens, that my stationary draw is going to burst.

CBS Welcome Day/Blog Outing/Sabina's 18th Dinner

massive day.

cbs welcome day was really worth my time. they gave us free bibles (well it was included in the $10 registration, but that's still pretty cheap for a bible). don't think i'll use it cause i would have to carry it was me all day =/

talks were good, learnt more about what unsw can offer. i liked when they split us off into faculty, and then into courses. met more people doing optom. alllll girls. there was this 1st year guy who was a friend's friend who i met at connect, but he got into med at uws, so i don't even no a single guy doing optom. totes girls' course. forever alone.

apparently for optom, you have to get your eyes checked at the clinic during sem 1, and apparently that test goes for over 3 hours and you can't focus properly after. there's this other test later this year and some people go blind/can't see properly for over 2 days. gg.

they also showed us these "secret" rooms, well rooms that 1st years don't know about. we went into a computer lab only for optom students where you had to scan your id card. coool. in the dark lighting outside the room, it looked like an exclusive room, but it's really just another computer lab.

rushed to blog outing. literally. i haven't been karaoke since year 11, so even though it was expensive compared to other places i've been to, and even though i'm quite tight on my money, i could spare it this time. and i didn't put any effort into organising etc, so i really couldn't say much (and i don't even have time to say stuff). the original voice/singer voice was inaudible ): i like to sing with the original song (not that i can sing) but it was a nice 2 hours.

then rushed to parra. i really hate going on the western line. the people are different, the trains are dodgier and are even more graffitied. on the northern line, you don't see trains as graffitied as the western line. i would even say there's minimal graffiti on the northern line.

thanks sabina for dinner! it was really good (: and max brenner (: nice to have it after a loooong time. felt like i should've bought something since we shared a fondue for two between 7 people...but the staff there didn't eye us like some white cafes if you share stuff between heaps of people. and hacking at the bday cake with our forks =/ at least there was already a candle on the table so we could light our own candles.

train from parra back to pennant hills took well over an hour. and so empty.

really big day. got home well past 11. ceebs recounting all of it.

Photo Filing

today was also spent putting photos on my hard drive and sorting out photos. i finally put the 2nd half of my hk pics, and aus open/melb pics onto my computer. then moving approx 50gb of photos around, and deleting and copying and cutting in order to save space/maximise digital space. i didn't have enough time to go through the photo which were bad. i really should delete photos straightaway if they're not in focus, but sometimes i get too excited and keep on snapping pics.

i have not sorted out any of my document folders/other folders. sorting at pics took up a massive chunk of my day.

and i think i'm becoming like bitter, buying things online. there has been a personal influx of me buying stuff online (not sure if that makes sense, i don't do commerce)

i secretly hope that i will see different people at uni every single day, so i can get through the whole week with wearing the same thing. i have a thing with wearing different clothes each day, because it makes the washing pile bigger (and washing is NOT a simple task at my home), and i feel that washing a piece of clothing frequently is not good (although i probs have enough clothes to not wash them frequently). basically my point is, it becomes a waste of water and time washing so many clothes just for uni.

Holiday Dilemmas

noooooooooooooooooooooo. that realisation that you haven't even completed 1/4 of your mental list of post-hsc things to do. noooooooooo

seriously, i haven't even baked a cake yet. nor have i cleaned my desk. parts of it is really gross and dusty.

and noooo, phone didn't charge when i went out to dancing, so i have to charge it overnight ): it's probs because i rolled my chair over the cable. luckily i used an old cable. i can kind of feel a snap inside the cable. i don't want to use my proper cable...

and nooooo, six things on tomorrow, which ones to go to? like i just got this email saying:

As this is the first week back, it would be really helpful if everyone especially the first years can make it so that we can work out bible study groups for the sem.

and the guy from connect is the guest speaker as well. gg. i really wanted to go, but then i really want to go to a friend's dinner, and then also to her house. but then i already said i'll go somewhere else the day after.

and then where to park my car tomorrow? if i'm starting out in one place, then ending up at another...

max i can pack in is 4 things for tomorrow, i think.

so sore from another 2 hours of dance. so stupid for slightly skinning/grazing me knee before a day of walking everywhere tomorrow.

don't even have time to answer people's texts/calls. soz. i even woke up earlier today to get things done.

i'm really sad. 3+ months of holidays is not enough. i now understand why people take a gap year. i think i can play for a year (it's more logical to say work, but i have no job, so i just play) and now that song from dance is stuck in my head, i just want to play, play, play, play, PLAY.

Lincoln/Last Connect

so many old people at the movies during the day =/ i saw that the 12pm and 3ish session for lincoln were full, so i was scared that the 10am session were full since they didn't show the 10am sesh on the screen.

tbh, i didn't really like it. i only watched it because it was nominated for so many awards and it was 2.5 hours, so you get more out of your money by spending more time in the cinema. not into american history, so didn't get parts of it, like i got the jist of it, but when people laughed at what they said, didn't really understand it =/ there wasn't enough humour and not even action. just talking talking talking, kind of felt like watching a documentary. unlike les mis which was about french revolution and i found that wayyy more interesting. the only commendable thing i have to say is the guy who plays lincoln actually looks like lincoln the real person.

used my $8 student monday ticket, and my mum used a free ticket which my bro got from school. then after a lot of persuading, and showing the email, i got a $1 small popcorn. last month, they sent cheap tickets to see django unchained, but it was a mistake, so they gave us cheap popcorn. i couldn't even eat half the box. it was sooooo salty ad buttery and fattening. so we still have over half a box of popcorn at home. i don't understand how people can finish a large popcorn by themselves. well, i guess the guy balanced out the saltiness as he bought a large frozen coke.

also got this free wrap and milk since my bro had a voucher, and then lunch at 3, so i spent a minimal amount of money today!

towers has changed heaps. first time going in over 3+months i think. they now have a legit nike store, which you hardly see in aus. saw a sign which said staff required for a cafe without the whole "experience needed" tagline, but i don't want to work at towers, waste of time to get to considering i don't have a time for a job on weekdays, if that makes sense...

last connect today. it was really nice spending the past month going there on a mon arvo. apparently they had 60+ pizzas left...well according to my friend. really wanted to stay for dinner...hopefully i'll see the people i've met around uni.

picking outings to go to because i don't want to waste money =/ soz.

my diary came today! so fast since i ordered it last thursday. so technically only friday and this morning was as the working days. well technically a family friend helped me buy it, since my dad's credit card somehow didn't work, but it worked normally at the shops. they said it was a mini-present for doing well in the hsc, lol jokes, but whatever, yay diary!

i have at least 5 events on the 20th. too bad i can only physically go to max 3.

wahhh, so busy with stuff, even though i don't work.

finally watched a full ep of masterchef professionals. haven't seen one full one in so long.

also took out 20 more pieces of clothing which either i don't like or they didn't fit and had no sentimental purposes.

i've decided i love straight hair with a tiny wave, hard to explain.

and looking at photos of rel in hk who have awesome food adventures. next time i go hk, i will stock up on snacks, more than clothes. i'm going to start writing down places to eat in hk, unfortunately, the list might be filled with a lot of 5 star hotels, which i don't have the money for...i'm poor and need a job but i have no time for a job. first world problems =/

i really need to stop taking so many phots. even if i have a super duper 43728479378932tb hardrive, i can probs fill it up before i finish uni. before uni starts/when i have time, i shall go through my phots and delete stuff, so i have a more succinct hardrive with less photos of the same thing. seriously, what was i thinking, taking 30 photos of one cake? or taking 50 photos of parents cutting down a tree....the only exception where i will fully spam my camera in the future is when i go to disneyworld/america.

i have less than 100gb on my laptop. gg. need to clean/move stuff before uni starts...

time really truly does fly when you're having fun. does not seem like i've been "playing" for over 3 months.

HK Phones

i think i probs have mentioned this before, but here is a more proper post.

heaps of people in hk have what i call a phablet, ie samsung note 2, which is more popular than samsung galaxy s3. i asked my uncle why, and he said people have "lou far" as in, people's eyesight has gone bad and they need bigger screens.

thus, not many people use iphones ): which can probably explain the decreasing shares (i have no idea how shares work, but i know decreasing is bad)
there are some people with iphone 5's, but not much since they don't sell it instores, and you have to buy it from the website. they have heaps of iphone 5's in the mobile places where you can bargain, but i don't trust those places since they're probs fakes, which is why i got mine from the legit website.

when i went 09-10 summer holidays, everyoneeeeeee had an iphone. i guess times have changed ): like even old grannies have smart phones, and all my aunts and uncles, even the 60+ ones have smart phones.

it's quite funny to see them use it.

kids also have smart phones =/ they used to all have ds's and psp's, but i guess the smart phone technology has taken over...

HK Toilets

did this post a while ago. i shall give you people who haven't been to hk before an insight into my last trip, through a mini series (which i shall someone fit in into my busy like before uni posts)

i love hong kong toilets!

ten years ago i wouldn't have said this, and neither three years ago, but now they are super duper nice! most of them are nicer than australia.

they are sooo trendy, esp if you go to the branded department stores, as in big brands which only sell stuff like LV, coach, swarovski, agnes b (which isn't popular in aus) etcetc. like there is this toilet in Harbour Town which has a massive tv screen to tell you which cubicle is free and there is a voice and arrows around the toilet. there were also two cleaners standing there to point you in the right direction.

a lot of the toilets have those ropes, like the ones they have in cinemas, so people line up.

i would take photos of the bathrooms, but it would be too awkward. all the department store ones i went too were defs interior decorater designed. so trendy and pretty. like there are there ones which have a massive oval-ish basin . it's hard to desccribe.

and everyhing is automatic in hk.

oh, THE ONE AT THE UPPER HOUSE WHERE I WENT TO HIGH TEA HAS THE MOST AMAZING VIEW for a toilet. you're on the 49th floor, and while you're washing your hands, you can see the mountains on one side and the city view on the other. and you can see eagles flying in your line of sight. that was the only time i took photos in a bathroom in hk because everyone takes photos at high tea.

another toilet which was "upper class" had these masssive cubicles. like soooo big. bigger than some people's toilets in their houses.

even the yum cha places had nice toilets. out of the whole month, i only went to 3 dodgy/not clean toilets.

every time i go to a toilet, there is always of person cleaning there. it just feels so clean compared to aus, which is super weird, since i used to hate hk because it felt super unclean.

Shirley's 18th

thank you Shirley (:

house was so wonderfully coloured and decorated. soo much food and lollies, except i didn't eat heaps since i've eaten too much stuff even though i'm not in hk.

yay for pinatas! haven't hit one in so long. and haha, sardines. and yay for star shaped sunnies, which you can't see through but they're funky (:

i sometimes ceebs to socialise. like, i won't ever see some people again, and even if i do, it's probs just walk past them and say hi. and i'm really picky about outings i go to. i've skipped over 5 outings so far because they cost money/too far so spend too much on petrol/not much point. i still have heaps of stuff to do. haven't cleaned out everything yet =/ 

also saw wreck-it-ralph yday, it's pretty good. missed out on some parts, but i liked the concept (:

was nice seeing everyone (: and cutest birthday song ever.

City Food Adventures

aww yeah, i'm satisfied (:

went to pancakes on the rocks. had the blueberry one. they used canned blue berries so i was disappointed. the time before i had the apple one, and i think their apples were slightly canned, well tasted on the canned side. and the time before i think i just had normal ones. their pancakes are really good (well ofc you expect them to be). next time i might go for savouries. it was almost full even during the day when people are supposed to have work. and they are sooooo filling, what a filling brunch. i guess prices are ok. first time going to the rocks on. they have more franchises now, according to the website.

caught the free cbd shuttle bus, i think it's like the 2nd time in my life. went happy lab! it's soooo cool. now i finally now where this guy at my church buys them from. he has the round flask ones, and he takes a different flavour each week, thus my bro has had most of the flavours without going to the shop.  i bought blueberry pie in a test tube, even though it's pricey, it was really nice, plus i had like 6 or more free testers there. and the store was crammed with business people.

sydney westfield food court really is different from a normal westfield food court. not a maccas in sight. everything gourmet. i can't believe there was about 20+ people lining up for $4 per piece macaron. sooo expensive, more expensive than zumberons (which are 2.50 each last time i checked, and i have still yet to go there, but it's bit of a trek...) didn't buy the $4 ones since wayyy too many people lined up. i've already had my fair share of various high tea macarons, and macarons made by other people, so i wasn't craving them or anything.

actually, there were heaps of people lining up at everything gourmet and every food shop at westfeild, all filled with business people. i would like an office job for a few months, so i would be able to try everything there, but no way office job for a life time, i would totaly become faaaaatttttttttt.

I HAD THE MOST AMAZING FROYO TODAY. FROYO CRAVING SATISFIED! sooooo good. the chai is the best! i love everything chai. chai tea, spice chai tea, chai latte, now chai froyo. yumm. defs worth the 3.20/100g, compared to normal 2/100g. compared to supermarket yogurt which is like 6 bucks for a kilo, it's not worth it, but chai froyo and also salted caramel froyo was so good! also had biscotti which i think wasn't portrayed that nice, but still good. the whole climax of biscotti is the texture of it's hardness compared to the flavour. the green tea wasn't asian enough, and the mixed berry was actually sour, not yogurt sour, but raspberry sour which wasn't very nice. yogurt world is kind of like praus, sweeter than other froyos. their spoons are the sturdiest take away spoons i have ever seen, so i decided to take one home (: i actually quite like the sourness of yogurberry. i doubt i would even bother to go to a noggi. and also ceebs to try wow cow even though they also have interesting flavours.

also had a tiny bit of strawberry cheesecake from moochi. the texture wasn't as icy, it was more like yogurt so =/

CHAI FROYO IS MY FAVOURITE SO FAR OUT OF ALL THE FROYOS I'VE TRIED! i can eat a massive tub any day.

managed to click through every single pic on google's logo. took some time.

Ripped off from buses

literally jumped out of my bed today when i woke up 10mins before the bus came.

turns out the bus came 15mins late, and there was heaps of traffic, so ended up even more late than i anticipated.

so i got out my 1-2 sections travel ten, and i was like to the curry guy, can you cross it off two times, and he was like no, go buy a my bus 2.
so i ended up paying, but then he charged me 4.60. looked at my receipt, turns out he charged me adult, one way. FIRST TIME I DIDN'T SAY CONCESSION AND CHARGED ADULT PRICES. every other time if i forgot to say child/concession, they still would not charge adult prices. i look 5 years younger than i am, and he obviously new i can get concession, yet he still charged me full price.

went to buy a ticket from wynyard to circular key. didn't end up using the return.

then before i left, i bought another travel ten 3-5 sections. went on the bus and the white guy was like no, you need to buy a mybus 3 (6+ sections). i asked him can you mark it off twice, and he was like that's not how you use it (despite other friends who have succeeded in getting it marked off twice). seriously, does that mean i need three cards for every different length of bus journeys i go on? well to that guy i do. so i told him how this morning the bus driver told me to buy this one, and he was like, well i can't mark your card too bad, and so i just gave up arguing or else the whole bus would just death glare at me since the bus at its first stop was going to leave. i made sure i said concession.

and that bus is the bus i plan to take for uni since during peak times, it comes every few minutes (and then after peak time it doesn't even come at all)

now i have a 3-5 sections, which i won't use since i plan to buy a mymulti. i'll probs use my 1-2 or 3-5 for my odd journeys to parra.

it's ok, i have cheated the system before...travel tens are also travel 20s. except you have to do it strategically....the guy this morning actually checked the back of people's cards to make sure they weren't used...

basically i spent more on transport than everything totalled today.

i hate washing clothes

i officially hate washing clothes.

it's such a looong process, especially in my household.

we have three washing machines, plus a dryer (last year we still had 4 washing machines) i have to separate my clothes into black stuff, then dirty clothes, home clothes, going out clothes, different colours etc and since the clothes are like are "delicates" so i have to put them into washing bags and different bags for different colours, and there are about all the colours you can have.

then, each washing machine has a different process. if i use the liquid stuff, for one of the machines, i have to dilute it with hot water, so it washes better. then also with the machines in our backyard, i have to walk all the way to the other side to turn on the tap for the water to start. if i use powder, according to my mum, i must dilute it with hot water, or else the powder will "scratch" the clothes. if i don't do that, then i have to put another liquid/other washing detergent in so it won't scratch, but apparently it's expensive, and we just get the stuff which makes clothes nice.

i haven't even got to hanging up the stuff yet. we also have three places to hang stuff. normal laundry line, if it's raining, under the pergola. since the pergola isn't sunny, so after it hangs in the humid-ish air, i take it back indoors to hang them and then have to sort and etc etc

my mum and i hate washing clothes the most. i would even vacuum the whole house. all you do is move everything off the ground, unlike washing which is a three step process. even cooking you stay in one spot, same with washing dishes. sweeping etc is also easy, since you do it in on go. washing consists of three goes which, for my house, have to move indoors and outdoors. and only allowed to use the dryer in desperate situations. not sure why we even have one when we don't use it....

finally finished reading the millennium triology today. only the 1st book is really good. law in courts seem fun. also watched the movie. was surprised daniel craig was blomkivst, did not think he looked the part, actually a lot of the characters didn't look like they did as the book described it. like berger isn't even pretty. movie wasn't as good as book, obviously, but i guess it did it's best. and i learnt something about using my mac from the movie! mind blown. it was a simple thing, never actually thought of it before...

after half an hour, i managed to get rid of 11 pieces of clothing because they didn't fit. i wonder if i can organise everything to fit into my wardrobe before uni starts....

Yum Cha at Granville

people at church were talking about how it is really nice there, so i fully winged my way there today since i didn't no the address (and i'm starting to really hate three, it roams too much. once i turn on my mobile internet, it sometimes connects to E, which is the roaming and more expensive 3G internet, and then whatsapp connects to it, so i get charged for internet usage, despite having internet as part of my cap)

it was alright. i think i have wayyyyy to many good yum chas. like i've been to the three michelin star yum cha in mongkok two times already.

the price at granville were ok and the portions were also ok. it was pretty full considering it is a week day today. food was ok, not as great as people described it.

Average's Housewarming Party

thank you average for hosting it! your house is soooo cool. first time i've seen a 2nd sink in the food pantry. and thanks for the food. the only time i get to have curry food is when i actually go to a curry person's house. it was spicy, but just tolerable for me.

poker is fun. was starting to win, then started to die. i would never ever gamble with real money.

nice to see people.

met more people doing optom at connect (:

feet hurt.

i hope i will survive when uni starts. i don't have a job, and neither have i wrote a resume yet. oops. i just have no time since i'm out every single day. i keep track of every single day since post-hsc in my post-hsc notebook, and in the three months so far, i probs have spent less than two weeks at home, and when i'm at home, i read/watch stuff/chores/think of where to put clothes etc, so even at home i am so busy. my desk is really messy, despite not doing any study.

MacMasters Beach

everyone seems to be saying it, so happy chinese new year. tbh, i don't really care. i already got a bag full of red packets last month to compensate for my lack of getting them this month.

had plus retreat at macmasters beach, central coast. plus is like youth group for uni people. apparently quite a lot of people are leaving since they've become a "worker" so then you move onto cell group, which is like working people's/adults bible study.

between us, we had 4 houses. our house was the most inconvenient, but the kitchen was aesthetically pleasing, BUT it had a leaking kitchen pipe, so we had to have a mop on stand by when washing dishes...

this guy is an amazing cook. yesterday, including people who only came up on sat, he cooked for over 40 people by himself. well there were like 2 other people helping him prep, but he basically cooked a feast in a normal kitchen.

i really liked the house we stayed most of the day for the talks. it was "tarzan's" treehouse. legit. it's made of beams and heaps of wood. like it's only one floor, but elevated with wooden beams and inside there is a wooden ceiling, and wooden floorboards, and wooden outdoor furniture. gg if termites appear. and that house was directly opposite the beach.

beach still had blue bottles, but not as many as last time during schoolies.

lots of leftover bread and milk.

talks were interesting. the topic was work, but a some parts were based on actual work as in a job, but there were other stuff and theological stuff which made it interesting and got us thinking.

5th trip away from home.

a good few days spent (:

hmm...kind of dug myself into a whole last night...damn.=/

i guess going central coast tomorrow for a few days is good. i can't wait for the talks and stuff.
5th trip away from home since hsc. i think it's a lot, well my record so far for overnight trips in one holiday. also, 8 plane flights in 2 months, i think i am content.
and avoiding cny dinners where family friends will spam me with questions about atars and what not. saves me the trouble of explaining etc.

so dad brought home a coffee machine yday, and i don't know where. it looks a bit half commercial ish since it's bigger than normal ones.

and i woke up before 8 today! first time in forever at home.

soo many events. not sure if i should go or not, because petrol is expensive.

i like sushi. been having it for the whole week. healthy-ish and no washing up and filling.

Project Puzzle

i started doing the puzzle about three weeks ago. 1000 piece. it took three days (the third day was a 2-week break since i needed to find a decent board).

easiest puzzle ever. apart from the corners and edges, there are only two different shaped pieces: horizontal or vertical.

halfway through, i decided to cheat and use the numbers on the back.

the only hard thing was actually putting the pieces together. even though the picture fits and number fits, you still have to force the pieces together since they're bad quality. now i know what good and bad quality puzzles are.

then today was spent glad wrapping it. but it didn't work since it didn't stick the the pieces, and it couldn't keep upright. and since there's no place to actually put it up (and we also don't have a 75 by 50cm frame), only possible solution was to put it on top of my wardrobe, fully glad wrapped and sticky taped down to prevent dust from collecting. it took like 30+mins to figure out where to put it + glad wrap etc.

and i didn't lose any pieces even though i opened the puzzle like 10 years ago! (there was a part when i was doing the tulips and i thought i lost a massive chunk of pieces, but turns out i just put the massive chunk in the wrong place...)

i have an another opened 1000 piece disney puzzle, but i don't think it's worth doing. i think it would be the same style, where the only pieces are horizontal/ vertical ie basically shaped.

Failed Macarons/Troupe

i felt so sad today, like depressingly sad (or the saddest you can feel when you're baking doesn't turn out right)

adriano zumbo's macaron packet mix looked so easy! he even has videos and super detailed instructions. but i think what went wrong was that i took 30_mins to sift a packet of almond meal, by then the mixture had rested wayyyy too long. i only have this small thing, it's not even a proper sifter. someone please buy me a proper sifter and i'll pay you back! or tell me where to buy one for cheap. found some on ebay for 6 bucks. not cheap enough for me. actually, i have no idea how much they cost...

but the macarons turned out sososo bad, it's not even worthy of a photo. like they had feet and all and tasted alright, but they stuff to the baking paper.

i guess the more detailed and complicated you get with piping bags, drawing out circles, the worse it becomes. donna hay's ones turned out super nice (apart from the fact the ganache was super sweet), but her's were so simple: just spoon the mixture onto the baking paper.

don't think i'll attempt to make macarons from scratch for a while...also, i want a cooking blowtorch...
it's probs because i haven't baked in months...so i lost my baking skills..(?)

dancing again today. so sore, well just legs since we didn't do any ab stuff yday/today. but it's my first time joining troupe! it's going to be intense, but hopefully heaps fun. never had the time in primary/high school, and even if i did, my mum wouldn't be able to drive me to a quarter of the places (i still think she doesn't know how to use the gps properly...)

once uni starts, i'll be soooo busy. mon and tues night-dance, wed night-plus (it's like youth group at church, but for uni people), then sunday church. which doesn't leave me much time at all, since i finish uni at 5 or 6pm like almost everyday, and also i have three 9am starts. i do have chunks of breaks, and i probs want to be social and meet new people, but my head will tell me that if i don't study/do work, then i'm going to fall behind wayyyyy too quickly....just need to use time wisely.

Back to Dance/connect #8/driving unfairness (?)

reading the 2nd book of the trilogy. it's not as good. way too dragged out.

so bro started driving on sat (funny how most of my friends are learning to start to drive now). IT IS NOT FAIR. he had his first lesson in wet-ish conditions, and he was allowed to drive at 40km/h. then sunday night after church dinner, dad took my bro out to drive at night, and my mum allowed it! not fairrrrrrrrr. i wanted to drive everywhere anytime but my mum made me do 3 lessons before i could drive with my parents. but my bro just casually gets to drive at night on his 2nd hour. just because he's a guy doesn't mean he is better than me when i was on my L's. 

then there's the problem that i have to share my car. but then i do have a choice of three cars, so i guess i can let my bro drive the old one, and i'll just drive my mum's car and she'll just drive the bigger one if it just happens that we all need to use a car at the same time...

just because he was better at me in racing games doesn't mean he has more confidence compared to when i was a learner. oh wells, can't complain. full licence next year! 

soooo many people at connect today. at least 3/4 times as many as last time, so couldn't really move around to talk to people easily. but i still managed to meet new people (: and learn more stuff (: lots of people said it was there first or 2nd connect. i guess last time it was nice having dinner at the church so you could talk more. i wished i stayed for dinner today, but dancing started today.

legs don't hurt yet. so sweaty and i fill real unfit. but it's good. i need intense exercise. 

The Millenium Triology

i've hardly gone in contact with anyone for the past two days. i didn't even turn on my laptop yesterday.

that's what reading good books do to me. i do check fb and whatsapp on my phone, but it's only for a glance.

i finally started to read the Millennium triology which i bought over 1.5 years ago and never opened the package until a few days ago. it's good (: finished the first one. it's so wrong though, but i like a good mystery (: i guess it compensates for the lack of bbc's sherlock holmes. the adds for elementary don't seem that good.

i feel my reading pace has slowed down even more ):

the only recreational books i read last year were hunger games. all the other books were English related...

bro started school on fri. i had to read his school newsletter to see if he was serious since they don't publish their calendar. he started doing his homework at the beginning of this week. he is going to fail. and he still games like crazy. oh, and he's in yr11. i've kept reminding him the gap between is 10 and 11 is larger than 11 to 12 in terms of workload. then he's like "all my friends also game" == bad influence from a boys school. or maybe that's just normo.

and i watched glee today. recognised that song from twilight "a thousand more", but it's so anti-climatic in glee. i find that nowadays, glee has less songs, but it's still good considering it's in its 4th season. the song is really nice in twilight.

i don't think i have time for a job. i want to really spend these last few weeks relaxing. like after this and uni, you'll be working all your life until you retire and never will have such a long holiday unless your a boss and just tells other people what to do. and yes, experience is good, but hopefully it won't be too late to look for experience during uni. and money is important, but that is why, fellow bloggers, i will only go out to people's houses, or jamberoo (since i have yet to go there), or weddings, and will try my hardest to not waste money (unless it's delicious food then i guess i am willing like the Quay). ok, i think i contradicted myself, but it makes sense in my head (:

last week, we got this really cool invite, nice and simple but cool. there was this slit where you put the butterfly through to open/close. haven't seen that before. oh, i also collect wedding cards. it's defs been a trend since gfc for people to ask for money not prezzies.

i actually have quite a lot of stuff on my list of things to blog. i was planning to make macarons/go swimming today, but it's raining ): so time to read...and i was hoping to clear out a cupboard to put all my baking stuff, but i ceebs. i've finally tidied most of the area around my desk, but my desk is mesier than hsc, and my room still has quite a bit to go...

but seriously, i don't think i'm going to get my post-hsc list done. not even half. so i guess if i work, it will get in the way of this freedom that i will never have again until/if i become successful or retire. way too much stuff to do before o-week. i seriously don't understand how people can become bored. i'll tell you guys if i get bored. highly doubt it though.