Turned out to be disastrous!

Firstly, me, my brother were on one end of this huge wardrobe and my dad on the other end. Because there wasn’t anything to hold onto, there wasn’t any grip for the both of us, so this light but big task became quite hard, to say the least.

During the move downstairs, dad kept complaining that Brandon and I were pretty bad removalists. I mean, duh, we’ve never really moved anything before, it’s only natural. But shut up, y’know? It wouldn’t make things any easier.

So we almost reached the bottom of the stairs but as our stairway is an enclosed area, it made it all the much harder, even when it is wider than the average. His instructions were starting to confuse the shit out of not only Brandon, but me also. He kept telling us to move up a few steps, direct the wardrobe to the right side, then go downstairs. “The wardrobe is on the right side, maxed, can’t go any further!” So he sighed, told my mum to hold the other end while he went upstairs to try for himself. Still didn’t work.

Being a stubborn one, he tried again, telling us to go halfway up the stairs, flipping it around to make the wardrobe fit. We went downstairs. Ohhh, just a bit more.

And again.
And again.
And again…

Tired, sweaty (it was one HOT day!!! Come on, our shirts were practically see-through), and hurting (no grip-ness, scrapings and other accidents), we had to move the whole wardrobe upstairs again, settle it. What happens next? Dad hammered it open. Smashed it to pieces.

Goodbye ancient thing.
Finally (We all told him to throw it out before, but he wouldn’t listen. Look at it now!)

All that effort for nothing.

Oh, actually, we did get something from dad… A remark: “You guys are seriously useless in moving stuff. When we’re moving, you both move as many boxes as possible because you definitely not experienced in moving furniture.”

So there you have it, our first attempt in moving one piece of furniture out of the house.

[Nod]

It’s gonna be awesome on Saturday.
Just awesome.

Today didn’t start off too well, actually.

I woke up slightly late, and turns out mum did as well, so hence, we both missed the early walk. Mum, having the need to walk, told me to walk with her to the chemist, so after breakfast, I got dressed nicely and headed out.

A boiling hot day again, just like yesterday, it was a hard trek for me. Perhaps going in the chemist with the air con and all will make me feel better, I thought. Couldn’t wait to get in there, I sat down while mum waited for her prescription medicine.

Then I felt dizzy. Ignoring it made me feel worse. Blood pressure acting up. Shit. I told mum, and she freaked, which made me freak, hyperventilate, heart pump faster and dizzier than ever. She called my brother to tell dad I was fainting and to pick me up from the chemist. Due to the long wait for the people to get my mum her meds, she told me to go outside to wait for dad first, and if she took too long, she’d walk by herself.

I saw dad and followed him into the car, and we were both waiting outside for mum to finish her purchase. But after 10 minutes, still no mum. I figured she must’ve walked by herself, so I told dad what she said about going home first. Ticked off, he started telling me off for not being clear on anything, making him wait and all for no reason. And then he was telling me off for being on the computer too much that it affected my health. Too bothered (and unwell) to argue with him or anything, I stayed silent the short trip home.

Got home, went upstairs, turned the fan on, and called Mr AG for comfort. I told him I thought the change in conditions (from hot hot outside to air con) was what made me feel that initial dizziness, then mum’s panicked look. So I stayed there talking to him, chilling out for a while. I wonder what I’d be doing right now if that fainting scene never happened some 2 months ago… I wonder if it was something that was to happen sooner or later, or just a one off that was to scar me for a long time… just as it had.

Feeling better, I went downstairs for lunch. After lunch, I went up again to do some stuff for mum, and then mum came in saying I had a parcel. Wow. I didn’t order anything! Excited, I opened the very protective cover. “Rock ya covers off” – I won!

So I spent the whole day chilling (more like boiling up) out to the CDs, checking out items on ebay, chatting to Miss LC and talking to Mr AG (only for bits, he went to the gym and then shopped for food) before dinner.

After dinner was our ritual walk. And during that walk, we saw a couple (husband + pregnant wife) with their kid (2 years old?) a few times as we completed our rounds. I didn’t pay much attention to them until the last round, where I saw the husband look at me directly. Then mum told me he’s been doing that every time we walked past. Strange.

Being a patriotic internationalist I am, I wish everyone a happy Australia day! =D

Today was certainly different for me as I recount what happened.

I met up with AG near my house at about 9:30am and he drove back to his, stopping by the shopping center to buy some prepaid envelopes first. We hung out at his place until 2pm as we had to meet someone at 3pm to sell his xbox 360.

But before the meeting took place, he made me paranoid. Meeting place: Liverpool library. This isn’t the safest place in Sydney to be dealing money and exchange at… In fact, might be one of the worst. And what if the buyer actually brought a few people, snatch and run? Or worse yet, hit and run with the item? I cursed myself for arranging the meeting there carelessly, though AG told me the shopping center would be worse.

Didn’t turn out that bad actually. We went and sat under the shady part with the xbox 360, and a group of 3 guys of around 18 years old came up to us, the buyer in front. He whispered, “xbox?” and we said yes. I told him to check it out before paying, and his mate advised him to check the weight of the console and hurry up and leave. While he was paying us, his mate remarked “he is terrible at maths”, did the transaction and we parted.

Wow, first time doing a face to face transaction for such an expensive item at such a dodgy place, and everything was fine!

With the money, our next destination was the laser hair removal clinic. I went in, asking if there were any places for me to do the treatment. She told me to wait because there was a client inside, and gave me some forms to fill out. She informed that the treatment would cost $85 a session and that we generally need 6 to 8 treatments.

After that, she motioned me in. Nervously, we went into the curtained room and she gave us some glasses before the treatment.

Me: Oh, so you’re going to do this on me?
Lady: Do you have any problems with that?
Me: Ah, no. Not at all.

What I was meant to say was, “I thought you were a receptionist” but that sounded sort of rude.

I was so fidgety, asking about the pain and everything. She shaved me, telling me that the hair needed to be completely gone before laser-ing.

And the scary bit happened. Which didn’t turn out to be that bad, I guess. It stung a little, the area a little warm, but it was over after 5 minutes. She told me to come back between 4-6 weeks for the next treatment.

We left the place and bought sushi nearby (we were starving). 2 rolls each and we shared a baby box because we never really had it before. Carrot (ok), pickles (ok), cucumber (ok), tuna (yum!!!), Salmon (which tasted like ham…), fake crab meat (ok) and I don’t remember the last one, which was ok as well.

So we went back to the car, headed to the City. The whole trip there, I was the biggest stoner ever. I tried to sleep but kept talking, eyes closed, exhausted. Got to the City, found a good car parking spot (we were pretty lucky!), I put my “Something for Kate” top on and we took the train to Circular Quay (which was 2 stops away, costing me, concession, $2.60 return!).

WOW. So many people. Such an Aussie mood!

Hearing Paul Dempsey’s voice (from Something for Kate), we approached it as fast as possible, me being more awake then ever. They had finished playing “California” (we missed it, but I’ve already heard that song live about 5 or 6 times) and onto “Like bankrobbers” already. Eventually, we made our way to the front (again, pretty lucky considering how many people were there).

AWW! I *heart* them!

I managed to take a few pictures on my phone and my digital camera as well.

They ended up playing quite a few songs actually!! Songs not in order:

• California
• Like Bankrobbers
• 3 Dimensions
• Monsters
• Transparanoia
• Cigarettes and Suitcases
• The Astronaut
• Cassandra walks the plank
• Oh! Kamikaze
• The futurist
• Electricity

Plus I haven’t seen them in forever, so traveling all that way was quite worth it.

After they went offstage, we started walking back to the station as it was well past my curfew (7:30pm)… hopped on the train back to Townhall and AG drove me back home. Turned out dad was already sleeping by then, so everything was cool.

Inconsistency.

If this one didn’t convince you, listen to this:

I had 2 items to post the other day, so I took both my envelopes and went to the post.

Details about the items:

Just by looking at these measurements, do you think that’s consistent at all?

• Same measurements
• Same weight
• Packed the same way in same-sized envelope
• Same person serving me

And yet they are charged SO differently!
Why is one a large letter and the other is a parcel?
They contain the exact same product inside!

So needing to send it out as soon as possible with no other posts around, I decided to let them charge me as they like… just this one time.

Oh well, at least buyer 1 received item #1 today.
That’s right, the one charged with a cheaper postage rate!

Someone explain this to me… because I don’t get it.

What a peculiar day, I must say! I thought so, my friends knew so, and Tim (the one whom I described the “incidents” to) said so.

But first, some “normal” things.

At uni
Normality

So my 2 week summer course ends today with a 40% website presentation and a 30% final exam. Of course, even though it was a general education course, I was still pretty worried about the whole day.

So I got to class, ready yet nervous for the presentation, thinking that we had to explain every code that we used for the website and all. Turned out I had nothing to worry about at all! -_- He told groups of four to log into the school computers, load our sites and kicked us out of the room. Literally. After marking, he told us to come inside, grab our medium if we used one and then kicked us out of the room once again. Easy.

So we went to the law library, into the seminar rooms so we could “study”. As all study sessions proceed, we ended up cracking Russell Peters jokes, talking about some really random stuff, snacking, reading the papers (uni offers round 1 out today, how exciting!)… and towards the end of the “study session”, realised that we were all screwed! Well, not Andy, but the rest of us were!

Because the class was pretty big, the teacher decided to split the group into 2 to take the test. LC, HCl, Sharon and I barely made the last 4 spots for the first test session! Phew!

Skip skip skip.

The test was pretty hard >.< Yep, a gen ed final exam was actually hard! I mean, what the hell? Some of the stuff we didn’t even learn about! -_- GAH!

Outing: Food
Weird incident 1

Meanwhile, outside was raining. Rats, why did it have to rain on my birthday? It hasn’t in how long? I don’t know. But longtime!

But seeing that it was my birthday, we decided to double date with LC and HCl.

So first off, to eat!
Ichiban boshi!

We arrived and there was a huge line. Huy wanted to go somewhere else to eat but I didn’t want to because:

• I was too bothered
• It was raining: hard to get around
• I like eating at Ichiban Boshi~~

So we asked one of the waitresses (who looked European but spoke fluent Japanese!) how long it would be till we get to go in. 20 minutes. Ok, 20 it is!

So after checking out Kinokuniya (a huge bookshop), we came out to wait with the guys. Then… something weird happened.

Some girl and her friends walked past our group, and she kind of stared straight at me, talking to her friend and all. All of us took notice of this but decided to ignore that.

AG: It might be because she thought she knew you from somewhere.

And still, the staring continued.

LC: Could she make it anymore obvious?!

And then suddenly, I saw her eyes make a dart to my chest area, staring ever so intently.

HCl: Maybe she’s looking at your badges…

So again, this was ignored, and her head stuck out a tiny bit, eyes still at my chest. At this stage, I was starting to feel a bit… uncomfortable.

AG: Maybe she has bad eyesight…?

Her eyes wandered up and down a tiny, then fixes on my chest.

HCl: Man, if I wanted to check out your badges, I wouldn’t full stare or anything!

…

Waitress: Number 68.
Me: That’s us!

And I took my things and hurried the heck out of there. Okay, that was “Incident #1″. The meal was great, with AG drinking a lot of water while finishing up my “very hot ramen”.

Outing: Shopping
Weird Incident 2

We got out of the building, and still it was raining. LC said to go Myer, so we did. Somehow, we ended up at the lingerie section. HCl wanted to go to the games section so I shoo-ed AG to go with him while we girls had some “alone time”. We did actually, but with one more person… And this is the beginning of “Incident #2″…

Me and LC were checking out hot hot bras when a saleslady came around and started introducing all the products to us, telling us what they are made of and how “spectacular” and “stunning” they all are.

Saleslady: The change rooms have very long lines so when you both are ready, I’ll pop you into our special change room.

So LC and I must’ve grabbed 6 items each, giggling about how to escape from the saleslady because man, have you seen the price tags on some of these? And I know I definitely can’t afford things this much!

Ready!

Saleslady: So I’ll pop you in first, Wendy (she got my name wrong but oh well, I’ll be Wendy for a while)
Me: Oh it’s a single change room?
Saleslady: Yeah.
Me: How about we go in together Julie?
LC: *drags me into the room, pulls the curtain close*

Inside…

Me: Man, this one costs $190!
LC: Yeah, but they’re hot. I’m going to try this one first.
Me: Maybe I’ll try this one. *Whispers in her ears* How are we gonna escape?!
LC: Don’t worry. Hey, reckon she thinks we’re lesbians?
Me: *looks in mirror* Yeah actually.

Curtain opens.
Shock.
Covers up.

Saleslady: Oh WOW, this one really pushes up your breast, LC. See how it gives you that lift?
Me: Yeah, it really does LC. Looks good.
LC: Yeah shite!
Saleslady: And the red looks absolutely spectacular on you, Wendy.
Me: I like it actually.
Saleslady: Now hurry and try these one on, girls. *points to see-through red lace bra, disappears out of room*

Me: That was weird!
LC: Mm. *starts changing* Can you turn around while I change into this one?
Me: Yeah. *hangs around, too embarrassed to try anything*
Saleslady: *pops in* Hi Julie and Wendy, how are you girls doing?
LC: *covers*
Saleslady: Wendy, why aren’t you changed? Oh wow! Look at you LC. Oh come on, don’t be shy, we all have breasts.
Julie: But my nipples are showing. *uncovers* Oh wait, you can’t see them much.
Saleslady: So what do you think?
LC: Yeah I like it.
Saleslady: Now hurry and change into this *indicates to the see-through black lace one and disappears behind curtain*

By the looks of this, makes me wonder if we had a choice anymore? So anyway, by now, we started changing quickly and freely in front of one another before she pays an early visit…

Saleslady: Oh WOW, you both look very stunning! BOTH of you should be advertising for this! So what do you think?
LC: Definitely like the black more then the red.
Me: Yeah, I agree with her. And I like this too.

Okay, this goes on for at least another 15 minutes with many “you look stunning” or “this is so HOT on you” (and the like) before we both finished changing into all the clothes we took in. AG called to see where we were so I told them to wait for us outside the lingerie section. So much for being lesbians now…!

Saleslady: So what do you think, girls?
LC: I like the black, not the other. *sees the boyfriends coming back*
Me: Me too, I’m just showing him.

Man, she seems either quite:

1. Keen on checking out breasts, or
2. A very persistent (read: pushy) salesperson.

But they most likely don’t get commission, so I don’t see what they point was.

And we just hung around, the four of us. I think the saleslady must’ve took the hint because she went into the change rooms to serve another lady, leaving us to decide.

Plonk.
RUN!!!

And that was how we escaped.
That was fun!

Evening
Dinner

After, I got home and freshened up a bit before going to have family dinner to celebrate our birthdays (Brother and I have birthdays on the same day and month). We had some very delicious seafood, took some photos and then went home feeling satisfied.

That night…
Chatting online

I explained the whole story to AG. “I think she’s a lesbian.” he says.

And then I repeated the story to Tim to have this said, “Yep, definitely a lesbian. You could have asked her for an orgy and got her fired!”

After all, I thought it was because of my new hairstyle… or the outfit I was wearing… Which led Tim to one conclusion, “You’re attracting the wrong gender with that haircut.”

Sounds flattering, Tim…

So there you have it, my very interesting 20th birthday.

So we had a task yesterday in class for summary 3 (which is worth 10%) and the teacher said to do it in html. I got home, felt shit-faced and fell asleep on the couch for 3 hours right after dinner, woke up and started on my html summary. After spending quite a bit on it, I finished half of the summary, uploaded in my server, linked everything up and made sure it looked nice and all. And ended up sleeping at about 2am.

So today (I’m in class right now), we had a lab activity which was pretty confusing so I went up to the teacher and asked if we had to hand in today’s task to which he replied no. So then I asked if any of the lab tasks are included in the test. Again, no.

That’s great!

Then I double checked to see how we hand in summary 3, and he told me in hard copy. Apparently, the html was yesterday’s activity and it technically wasn’t compulsory to do it in html.

DAMN.

And everyone else thought we had to hand it in html too! >.<

Last night was the first time I have attempted to do some work for this course, and today I find out that it wasn’t necessary.

Still, I got some practice I guess =]

So summer school started today… well not really, it started yesterday (Monday) but I only got a call from my friend telling me to enrol yesterday (long story)! So hence I skipped the first day of a 2-week course… -_- But yet, I’m glad I was able to enrol in this course! Takes some load off semester 2, and every bit helps seeing the subjects I’m going to take.

Everything was so fuzzy and confusing, the teacher was slightly hard to understand, the lectures go on for 2 hours… and I have a short attention span >< So to say the least, I didn’t pay much attention at all. Great start ay? And I just know it will continue to be this way…

So afterwards, I was desperate to butcher my hair (I mean, have you seen it lately, before the cut? It looked so hectic!) so I went to BON1 to look for Bon, only to find out that he’s still on holidays! Man, that man sure knows how to enjoy life, I mean, how long has it been?

So disappointed but still desperate, I went to Market City and peeked into this hairdressing place, making sure they didn’t charge an arm and a leg. I went in and they sat me down, giving me some magazines. Nup, none right for me. Then they introduced me to my hairdresser, Ansia.

“Can I loosen your hair?”
“Sure.”

SHAT!
Ow ow ow ow ow!
How am I supposed to endure this whole haircut?

Because her hair (cut by herself) was pretty funky, I made her help me with what I want. I wanted something different from convention, but didn’t know exactly how I wanted it. After deciding on a rough hairstyle by description…

“Can I wash your hair?”
“Yeah, sure.”

SHAT!
Ow ow ow ow ow!!

Man was she rough. I was cringing through the whole thing, squinting my eyes and all! She even noticed!

“Am I going too hard? you look stressed.”
“Oh, just a tiny bit.”
“Because you don’t look too relaxed.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sensitive.”

I was starting to feel my scalp peel on the right side so I mentally prayed for her to focus on the left side a bit more. But she didn’t and kept “massaging” (translation: scratching) it. >< Man, had I longed for the hair washing session to end. Fast!

After what seemed like a decade, I sat back down as she combed (quickly) through my long long hair with knots in various places. Can you imagine the pain?! ><

So anyway, because the style of my cut was supposed to be in the “messy-look” category, she used this pair of scissors to “slice” off my hair. Hard and fast, like tugging/pulling on my hair in a cat fight. Again, she noticed this and tried to be more gentle with me, but commented that the less-painful way was “too slow”. I mean, what’s the rush? I’m the only customer in here!

Sighing, I looked over to AG with a puppy pout that said “help me”.

So the torment continues, until she’s finished a “draft” of what the style looked like. She had cut and suggested a side fringe for me because it looked better, but asked if I wanted a straight fringe. I think she didn’t hear me and started chopping off hair and all, as if my hair was some sort of “practice”, and I was scared because after chopping, it can’t miraculously grow back!!

But I decided to trust her on that one and focus my anxiety on something else as her scissors were right on my face, pointing right towards my eye! Thankfully, she didn’t end up popping my eyes, and everything on my face was as original, perhaps a few small hair bits here and there, but it was all good.

So the cutting finished, and she reached over for the hair straightener and fed some hair in, pulling it to the ends. And yep, that hurt too. Some hair get caught and when she pull, tug tug. Ouch ouch!!!! I wanted this to end as well! -_-;

…And she finished.
Thank GOD!

Overall, the haircut looked pretty good (AG loved it heaps!), especially with the way she styled it with putty (which I didn’t buy cos it costs a ridiculous $33!). And she looked pretty skilled and had put a lot of effort (into violating me).

We went to pay for the service.
$60? GAH! My mum would kill me if she found out!
Mental note: Must keep it away from her!!!

And that’s what I did when I got home.
Even when I was greeted with a very exuberant “Oh wow, I love the haircut! I think it’s the best yet! It looks great! And it’s so different!”

So will I go back to her despite the price and pain?

My answer is: I don’t think so.
Unless I’m up for some more S&M.

2007/8 Australia vs India, 2nd test match at the SCG

“Three wickets for Clarke in one over have sealed a record-equalling 16 Test wins in a row for Australia in the second Test at the SCG, so they take a 2-0 lead in the series. This game has had everything – excellent batting and disciplined bowling, but will be remembered, too, for some questionable umpiring decisions.” from cricinfo.

My brief summary

1st inning: Australia

It isn’t very helpful/hopeful when the 1st batsman scored a duck on a the first few balls, but that was exactly what we did; 1/0. And what happened after wasn’t exactly good either…

Scoring not many runs at all, Australia was on 6/134 before a massive turnaround in scores; when Hogg and Symonds came to bat. This partnership scored a massive 173 runs and saved Australia’s score. Brett Lee did pretty well too, scoring 59 runs. At the end, we totaled a respectable 463 runs before getting all out. Highlights (good and bad): 2 ducks (Hogg and Clark) and a century (Symonds 162).

1st inning: India

India didn’t start out on the right foot either when Jaffer got “Jaffered by Lee” (thank you to commentators, for a whole new meaning to this surname) at 1/8. But everything went uphills from there compared to Australia; Dravid and Laxman’s partnership ended up 156.

Everything was looking good for India with the bowlers scoring quite a bit of 4′s at the end, ending the 1st inning with 532, leading Australia by 69. Highlights: 2 centuries (Laxman 109 and Tendulkar 154).

Still anyone’s game.

2nd inning: Australia

And day 3 ended with Australia starting their 2nd inning with a few close calls.

Day 4′s weather wasn’t very good, with on and off rain and bad lighting on the fields. Nonetheless, Australia tried their hardest and got ended the day with 4/282.

Last day: Australia scored some good runs (Hayden scoring a big 123 and Hussey an even bigger 145) before declaring at 401 for a chance of victory.

One goal for the Australians now: to bowl them all out in just a few hours.

2nd inning: India

Seems like a difficult task and it is one, but Australia slowly took them down, “Jaffering” Jaffer at a beautiful 1/3, getting Laxman at 2/34, Tendulkar at 3/54 – an awesome achievement.

Then things started getting slower, with the next wicket falling at 4/115 (Dravid) and very soon after, Singh (Yuvraj) who got a duck. Ganguly fell at 6/137 and Dhoni at 7/185.

Although the treats are mostly eliminated, time was running out for the Australians, running out fast. 2 more overs in the bowler’s hands and 3 wickets to take down, Ricky Ponting sent Clarke into the attack.

AND HE’S GOT HIM! Harbhajan Singh CAUGHT OUT! We have a chance, definitely. Now it’s 8/210.

Rudra Pratap Singh comes out. And THAT’S OUT!!! A GOLDEN DUCK! Clarke’s on a hat-trick now!

Last wicket to take down with only 8 or so balls left to bowl. Even with Ishant Sharma stalling the game (taking out the wrong glove), Clarke stayed in focus. Though Sharma did not get out on the first ball (upon appeal).

Excitement and cold sweat takes over the crowd as Clarke bowls. AND HE’S GIVEN AN OUT!!! Beautiful bowling by Clarke again and a lovely catch by Hussey.

An astounding win for the Australians!

A close match with all elements in a test match. Such a great match, a great amount of effort by both teams. Congratulations to both teams, and thank you for such an entertaining and exciting match.

Status

Toss: Australia (bat)
Match: Australia won by 122 runs (Australia: 864, India: 742)
Man of the match: Andrew Symonds