Caveat lector

Swinging

2011-04-27T00:10:00.005+08:00

Bathers, Boardies and a Book.
Perfect Weather.
Sunnies and a Cool Glass of Water.

Peas.

Cute and Fluffy

2011-03-31T22:42:00.003+08:00

Peas.

Blue Sun Filled Beaches

2010-12-24T13:08:00.002+08:00

Cottesloe and City Beach.

By the way... I HATE Cottesloe beach.

Peas.

Multistripe Signature

2010-12-16T00:55:00.003+08:00

Just a few faves of Paul Smith stuff.

Also, how the HECK did they do the hair? I want it. NOW!!!

Peas.

Defector's

2010-12-15T17:10:00.004+08:00

peas.

Business as Usual

2010-12-05T02:04:00.003+08:00

I am NOT obssessed... (Maybe a little...)

Peas.

Polaroids

2010-12-01T14:46:00.002+08:00

Spinning Dials

2010-09-18T11:44:00.003+08:00

Nixon

Peas.

The Sun... It's Coming...

2010-09-17T10:47:00.004+08:00

As you may or may not know, I love summer.

I prefer it over winter. I dislike having to worry about jackets and coats and if I'm going to be warm enough. I like stockings and jeans and trousers etc, but really, I just want to be able to chuck on a t-shirt and shorts and go run a muck, which I can't do if it is pouring down with rain or it is so windy I'm getting blown across the street. Brrr... Cold.

I really dislike cold weather. But more so than cold weather, I dislike humidity.
That's why I prefer Perth summer.

Hot
Dry
Freezing Beaches

But along with that, 40C days aren't as rare anymore. Sweltering heat.

The best things about summer is those hot hot days, sprinting across the scalding sand and diving into the waves. Oh, and the "OH MY GOD IT IS FREEEEEEEEEZING!!!"

To get that effect, I only go to the beach when the temperature hits over 30C, even that is a little too cold. 35C. YEAH!!!

By the end of summer though, I'm hoping for some cooler weather, some heavy rain and dark clouds. Actually I hate Perth winter because;

1. It doesn't rain enough to be classified winter...
2. It's cloudy... but not rainy... I don't like cloudy...
3. It's windy. Umbrellas don't work...

So all in all, I just prefer summer. It is so stress free and fun!
ALSO SOUTHBOUND IS IN SUMMER! This time it is on the 1st - 3rd of January! I've already bought my tickets. I can't wait to see 'The Cool Kids'. I am SO AMPED to see them! I love them so much!

And this is how you're supposed to apply sunscreen...

35ml (around a third of a 100ml bottle), equates to half teaspoon for each arm, face and neck and one teaspoon for each leg, chest/abdomen. Apply 20 minutes before sun exposure and reapply two hourly.

Overwhelming Anxiety of Literature

2010-09-17T00:24:00.004+08:00

I tried to actually think and see how many books there are at work, I nearly went into a panic attack. It is very overwhelming actually concentrating on how many books there are.

Instead of just putting them as a background, it's like a brick wall and acknowledging the bricks, not the wall.

My eyes hurt.

Peas.

The Signal of Spring

2010-09-12T22:42:00.005+08:00

I couldn't take a picture of the whole tree... It just didn't look right...

Peas.

grœni

2010-08-27T01:12:00.002+08:00

Peas.

See No Evil

2010-08-23T13:43:00.002+08:00

I even included some links... SOME.

Peas.

C. ×sinensis

2010-07-16T13:42:00.004+08:00

Peas.

End of Financial Year

2010-07-15T23:42:00.004+08:00

I somehow managed to survive without net for over a week. Well, apart from 3G on my phone (life saver) and dabbling at work. But mostly. nothing. I can't say I died and I got much anything else done, I just ended up watching Mad Men like crazy.

Addicted.

I had a whole bunch of reviews to do so I'm just going to punch them out here.

Urbanears Plattan Headphones

Ki got me delicious "Light Blue" Plattan headphones back from his Europe trip. Urbanears is a Scandinavian company, mostly design based than sound based.

Which leads to its lacking in the sound department. Not to worry, it still does its job and I mainly use them as my portable headphones, not wanting to look like a giant anime character with me big white AKG headphones that deliver a far superior sound, even if they don't perform as well as some higher end headphones.

The only strange problem is, the Plattans synch quite lovely with my iPod nano yet perform staggeringly terrible with my Walkman phone. Strange. I have learnt to live with this small problem so it really isn't much to deter me away from them.

Also they look smashingly cool.

Jetstar

Let me just say that I am not in a hurry to use that airline again. Compared to other cheap alternatives for exampe Virgin Blue, I rate Jetstar below it. There isn't that large of a dollar gap, only for sales will I jump on Jetstar again.

Though compared with Tiger Air, Jetstar does win.

The seats are uncomfortable and for a 5 hour flight, those plastic/pleather/cheap vinyl seats get all sweaty and sticky. If the person behind you has their feet up on your chair, you'll be able to feel it. Which is well lame.

I'd say, don't be a stinge. It's not worth the discomfort.

...

I can't remember what else I was going to review on. So now I am just going to website dump a few cool places to check out.

Bricoleurbanism

MoCo Loco

Studio SKINKY

Electrolux Design Lab

Peas.

Domestic Transformer

2010-07-07T15:35:00.003+08:00

19.1kg

2010-07-07T13:59:00.014+08:00

Check-in Perth-Sydney: 19.1kg
Check-in Sydney-Perth: 19.1kg

How brilliant is that?

Just a run down of the happenings that was Sydney...

Wednesday:
Fly in on the Red Eye. Literally. 2 babies competing in screaming matches in the 4 hour flight was bad.
Arrived into Hotel Roseville (A.K.A. Giang and Nhi's humble abode) and slept.
Had breakfast/lunch at the Mandarin Centre in Chatswood, mmm Wonton noodle soup. Also had Dinner in Chatswood at Sushiya I think...

Thursday:
Sought out University of Sydney Cumberland Campus for the Faculty of Health Science... which was all the way out in Lidcombe. An hour on the train, an 20-30min walk from the station with the Rockwood Necropolis for company. Encouraging.

It's a small campus, which is fine. It looks horrendous, which is fine, because Curtin doesn't look that great either. But it's SO FAR. Why is it so far? WHY?!

Got into town to have dinner with Ki and Soosan at The Winery which was lovely.
Delicious wine, delicious food, beautiful place!

Friday:
Trekked along Oxford St.
Museum Station/Hyde Park through Darlinghurst all the way up to Paddington.
Checked out Hijacked 2 Exhibition at the Australian Centre of Photography, because it doesn't get to Perth until roughly this time next year! I wanted to steal a few prints. Just a few. Though I could just get them from the book...

Had dinner with Viet at Umi Kaiten Zushi. I realised I had a lot of Japanese in Sydney. Food generally tastes better over there. It also is significantly cheaper.

After dinner, grabbed cake from 85C Bakery Cafe. So asian!!! But it wasn't too bad! Some how managed to also walk all the way to Circular Quay for hot chocolate at Guylian. Which was around 11pm/Midnight. Yes late night hot chocolate is such a wonderful thing!

Saturday:
Had breakfast/lunch at the Mandarin centre again, mmm Pork Gyoza (see Japanese again) and caught up with my cousin Desmond, who I haven't seen for 2 years! Saw the A-Team. Which wasn't half bad! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Went on to have my fill of Black Sesame Ice-Cream and Thai food and MORE black sesame ice-cream, in the form of Passionflower. Yeah pfft to Icey Ice. Passionflower for the win!

Sunday:
Went to Artarmon for Ramen at some random Japanese ramen place, in a Japanese alley filled with other Japanese places. It was really really good. REALLY good ramen.

Went out into the city for Haigh's Chocolates, bought the Haigh's teddy bear AND suitcase =D
Also got a new pair of climbing shoes thanks to Viet at Peak Fifteen on Kent St, which I now call X street. All the mountaineering, climbing, extreme sport stores are. I should live on that street.

Also went to The Galeries Victoria which were holding a Fixed biked exhibition!
TGV was completely swamped with kids wearing cuffed jeans and canvas shoes.

Monday:
Helped Ki load up his things as he has moved to Melbourne. BOO!!! Melbourne is BOO! Apriry agrees with me =D She arrived in from the Blue Mountains and I packed to leave.

Turned out I wasn't due for departure until Tuesday.

I didn't realise this until I got to Check-In and the lady told me my flight was the next day.
Smart Alison...

So had dinner at Mamak for delicious roti! Got very very full.

Tuesday:
Took Apriry to QVB, Clarence St and checked out Gaffa and had coffee at Vella Nero.
Then dragged her butt onto Oxford St.

It was very cold on Tuesday, and my connies got soaked. I didn't realise there were holes in my shoes until it started to rain. I've only had them for a year and they're dying already?! Being shoes that I wear must be hard work. I run them down thoroughly.

The flight back was horrible.

I hate Jetstar.

Peas.

The Allure

2010-07-06T06:18:00.000+08:00

There is a distinct attraction towards Sydney for me and I don't know really what it is.

It is crazy, the roads twist and turn, people are constantly moving and it ACTUALLY has traffic jams. Yeah whatever "jams" there are in Perth are not traffic jams. Perth just has a whole load of bad drivers.

There are bountiful number of cars no matter what hour of the day and night and horns blare at anything. The public transport system is convenient yet messy, actually, Sydney is just a giant messy city.

The city is mapped out like a developing concept map continuously. Start on one thing and then realise, hey I need this, and this, and this too! I'll just shove it over here, draw a line there, oh I need another line over here... and here... and here... BAM! Sydney.

Yeah no careful planning there.

But it makes for some interesting results.

Car rides that turn into rollercoaster rides, especially if you have a friend who has a tendency to speed. Actually I think I have reaquainted myself with my good old friend, "Moe Sean Chic Mouse" (Motion Sickness).

I can't really get lost. Look for the mass of people. Follow the flow and you'll hit Pitt St, QVB, The Galeries if you follow the hip kids with the rolled up pants and the sneakers. Follow the asians and you'll get anywhere. They are everywhere.

Follow people with maps and you'll end up in Circular Quay or Darling Harbour.

I sound like a stalker.

And you get numerous discoveries at every turn. Walk down some gritty alley and there's a Korean restaurant, there's a boutique, a club etc. etc.

Yeah, definitely something about Sydney.

Growing out of Perth.

Peas.

To and Fro

2010-06-29T11:34:00.003+08:00

Oh the excitement!

I can't wait to be on the plane! 5 hrs flying towards Sydney! Further and further away from Perth.
It's like a very expensive hiding spot.

Maybe I should actually start planning what I do there, I tend to not plan my trips. The most planning that goes in is departure/arrival/return dates, what goes in my luggage and who I need to catch up with.

And that's it.

Other than that, I like to spend my days sleeping in, walking around the city, drinking coffee. It's like what I would do here, if I didn't have a job or uni or anything else really. Obviously I tire of this fairly quickly, but it's nice to do it. I thoroughly enjoy being a bum for a brief period of time.

I don't know how others do it for prolonged instances though. I would die from the lack of having anything to do.

Another thing I tire of, green hair. Yeah the novelty has worn off already. I'm thinking just brown hair with the Teal blue tips. Also since I got green hair, I've noticed a ridiculous amount of people with green hair! Also with green hair that hasn't been regularly touched up. Oooh I could never let that happen to mine. I still have half a bottle of dye left. About 2 more applications.

Far too much maintenance. At least I know now. I prefer low maintenance hair.

Cerulean

2010-06-26T01:56:00.004+08:00

Blue skies and freezing temperatures maybe influenced my obsession at looking at blue photography work for 2 solid hours. Kind of Edward Burtynsky like.

I have decided I dislike these flat lace ups shoes that are in. Specifically black ones with the close to no sole look.
As much as I liked my Jazz classes as a kid, I still hated the shoes. They are the most unflattering things ever. I hated them even more because my legs have never been skinny little twigs so they just looked even chunkier with those jazz shoes. Mind you, I still have a pair.

I can see the appeal of them, but... To me, they are ugly. I rather them having a more substantial sole and more structure, just to look a lot less like a jazz split sole.

In.

Jazz Split Soles.

Peas.

Objects of Affection

2010-06-23T00:13:00.004+08:00

Peas.

The Beauty

2010-06-14T17:35:00.005+08:00

status anxiety.

Peas.

Expanding the Jargon

2010-06-09T11:00:00.003+08:00

I believe it's fair time that I fixed this vocabulary problem I have. Ever since I left school and was not enveloped with friends that had all done English Literature, my vocabulary has dropped significantly.

Whilst writing up assignments this semester, I realised I had lost my words. I couldn't think of words like "rectify" and "individual". Words I generally use a lot when I write assignments and reports. I know that because it's a scientific report I shouldn't use verbose language, but I hate repetition of words, for example "evidence" and "support".

Also prefer not to say "person". I don't know why. Individual has such a better ring to it.

You'd like to think that working in a bookshop would increase my vocabulary some way, but not by that much. Not enough, so I am slowly going to pick at it, starting with the words I use the most...

Awesome: Capital, Formidable, Remarkable, Peachy, Phenomenal, Impressing

I decided Amazing wasn't going to work, I can't say it without sounding sarcastic.

Ridiculous: Absurd, Grotesque, Outlandish, Preposterous, Outrageous

Ludicrous doesn't work, I tried, they started rapping.

Hilarious: Entertaining, Laughable, Irrepressible, Hysterical

Hard: Difficult, Arduous, Distressing, Irksome, Strenuous, Labourious, Onerous, Troublesome

There, that should do it for now. I can't use outlandish words. I get stuck having to explain it. Though it says something about the individual when I have to explain what "Sensationalised" means.

Is sensationalised really that too far off? I thought it was common. Obviously not. I guess emotive is more used. But it's not the same!

Legumes.

My Idol

2010-06-04T23:16:00.000+08:00

The best ride in the world...

2010-05-31T20:25:00.003+08:00

Shades of Grey

2010-05-24T19:16:00.005+08:00

I really want to try the above. Though I don't think it would work on my stupid tanned asian skin. But it would rock so much. I really like the blonde in it too. Black with blue has been done way too much. But with the blonde, it looks wicked. I also like how it's more teal blue than that generic bold blue.

I also want bunny ears =D

Aaahh sweet sweet colour.

Peas.

Downs of being a Nerd

2010-05-03T11:31:00.002+08:00

This sums up my life at the moment...

Boy am I regretting studying Information Systems and Technology... and anything else computer and internet related...

In general I really do hate people who assume some people know everything.
For example I used to have an aquaintance who whenever got a question asked, he'd say "Ask Alison, she knows everything, she works in a bookshop"...

Which is really misleading... and annoying.

I really should charge people for the internet...

I am not paying $50 a month just to get capped in 2 weeks.

Peas.

Cosine Wave

2010-04-27T22:53:00.008+08:00

... Oh shut up! It's very relevant.

After a wonderful productive, run-filled, sleep-filled long weekend, with laughter, sunshine and joy...

I ended up having a not so great Tuesday.

I mean sure I finished a 2 hour lab in 30 minutes... But I was 5 minutes too slow! So I missed my bus and had to wait, then I missed the 2nd bus, after doing a favour. Then come home to "there this thing that keeps popping up............................................. fix it."

10 minutes later... Desktop crashes from Trojan.
30minutes later... Scan in progress... Might as well... Last time I scanned it, it hadn't had one for 21 days.. TWENTY ONE DAYS!!!
It's on auto-update and auto-scan. How does that happen? I don't know.
every 20 minutes for the next 2 hours... "Is it done yet?"
5 minutes later... Going through registry thinking... "Hm... I'm pretty sure this is how I do it..."
20 minutes later... Prescribe a reformat for the machine... Mostly because I'm lazy and it'll do the computer some good anyway.

All the while with unhelpful help.

While waiting for the damn thing to screen and such, I got SOME study in... Mmm...
Chemistry and Logarithm... It's so... exciting. Actually, it kind of is.
My chemistry tutor does not approve of using Mathematic shorthand... Because he's not a "Mathematician" ...
I say boo to him. I'm using whatever makes it easier to take notes!

Oh going by my lung capacity tests, I got a better one this time around than last semester, my capacity was about 3.9L last semester, this time i got 4.1L, average for my size is 3.9L (or something around that figure), though still slightly getting an Asthma curve or Obstructive curve, but it looks pretty awesome... Actually the below picture is not such a great example...

I've been craving Katamari... Just want to roll things up... and keeping rolling, paper clips, erasers, books, food, boxes, lil pets, children, street signs, people, doors, buildings, ferris wheels, mountains, ships, tornados... PLANETS...

ROYAL RAINBOW!!!

Really I just chucked up random pictures to make the blog not so text filled...

Fried Peas.

PS: So... So sick of fish. How do they do it?

Suspension of Consciousness

2010-04-23T00:10:00.007+08:00

This post is #201.
I have made 200 entries of utter shit... and this will be just another addition.

To the point! Today I went to a workshop on Insomnia, who knew, Alison could learn more on sleeping habits etc. etc. Though that is mostly why I went (besides the fact that I still, somehow just lose a couple of hours...or... all hours of sleep), because there is alway something you miss. Like, did you know it takes 4- 8 weeks to get your body into a routine? Say jogging everyday, you need to keep it up for atleast 4 weeks for it to stick... o______o
The first 2 months are crucial to any routine be it exercise, dieting, sleeping, studying etc.

Obviously as you get older, this flexibility of adapting your lifestyle becomes more rigid, just like your muscles and other elastic like organs and tissue in your body... actually... elasticity just goes slack...

Like your face! No really... wrinkles... hehehehe

And when you're around over 50, you only need 7- 9 hrs sleep... As you get older you require less sleep because your body isn't growing as much any more.

Which makes sense.

Also naturally your blody clocks should make you sleepy around 9 - 10pm. DUDE YOU'RE LIKE CUTTING OUT 6 HRS OF AWESOME STUDY RIGHT THERE!!! But apparently you should also wake up around 6 - 7am... Ah... Move all the study to the morning, I see the plan surfacing here... BUT THEN! Your body is not fully awake until 11am - 12pm... And if ONLY... ONLY if we could have been colonised by the Spanish... SIESTA! All around at 3pm! If only!

Much was learned, much to be put into place, I have 2 months to smack myself into this 10pm - 6am routine, though it's already disrupted. Working til 11pm does not help. Bastards.

Also bananas apparently help make you sleepy...
So they're not a breakfast food? Interesting...
... and protein wakes you up...
Carb-Coma is the way to go it seems.

Ah take this. EVERYONE DREAMS! It's just a matter of remembering them at all or not.

Anyway, I'm going to be a bad student and cram some extra studying now... Somehow I wish there was a way to study at work... I just can't do it... Damn Long and his reading constitutions and reciting his essays to me. Maybe I should recite chemical equations... But everyone gets annoyed at me.. UNFAIR!

Apparently I'm a big time nerd because I laugh at Physic jokes.

=(

Peas.

A Community Service Announcement

2010-04-21T23:08:00.003+08:00

Indie kids tackling each other in slow motion... Awesome.

Debut single/clip below.

He doesn't sound monumentally different or significant, but hey, it's still pretty good!

Peas.

Everything at my Fingertips

2010-04-18T12:38:00.006+08:00

I sometimes forget how acessible the world is now, the other day it occured to me, again... when a customer did not have enough money in his account, so what does he do? Whip out his phone, do some online banking and SHAZAM! Money in the card.

At the same time I was on facebook under the counter on my phone.

I keep forgetting that even having the internet on your phone isn't as common as I thought. "Just google it now..." "I don't have net on my phone Ali..." ... "Oh."

One useless piece of technology to do with the phone... Video calls. Who does Video calling? Really? I mean there's a fair few percentage of us that have laptops tucked under our arms, most cafes now have wireless, most laptops have a camera. SHAZAM! Skype or what you other VoIP like progams.

But seriously, the mobile phone, is the universal remote. I have this thing on my phone that can turn it into a remote for presentations or what have you not on laptops/computers etc. SHAZAM! Remote.

Recently I got a hand on Spotify. It's like a cross between iTunes and online radio. Which is great. Apart from having my own music (that I steal from work) I have this giant database filled with thousands of songs that I can access, so long as I have the internet. Though apparently it's only FULLY available in 6 countries (all in Europe), so not sure if Spotify will die after 14 days. Which will suck, because I am actually using it a ridiculous amount. Unless I pay...

The best thing, no buffering! SHAZAM! Instant play, like it was already on my hard drive... very happy. It's great, I mean I don't have to worry about getting bored of the same albums (even though I have a lot... still...) new stuff all the time!

The bad thing? Swedish ads. Though very short, and in a foreign language, still annoying. At least they only play 2 ads, so it's about a minute interrupting my lovely music.

So really, everything is at your fingertips with a mobile phone, laptop and money.
Money.

Key word.

Peas.

Deprived Child

2010-04-16T16:44:00.003+08:00

Had a father come in with his 8 yr old daughter inquiring about books for his daughter to read, she had finished a certain series, forgotten what it was, and wanted more books for her to read.
As usual, when I can't think of anything crash awesome, I usually fall back to classic books. Through doing this, the father kept exclaiming how he had deprived his poor child because he had read Roald Dahl and Blyton etc. when he was her age.

What a lovely father. Spent about $60 on the kid. But I swear he has buying Secret Seven by Blyton for himself, because he really liked them apparently.

Ah, I should really read Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton... I actually haven't read them. It still suprises me how many books I recommend that I actually haven't read, yet manage to sell them.

Pro Bookseller.

Peas.

... it took 7hrs of Make Up and a Special Lens...

2010-04-08T17:17:00.007+08:00

Really, I can't help it. I just don't want to buy it if it looks crap. I don't want to buy it if the model looks crap. It's so distracting!!! That's why American Apparel just doesn't work for me sometimes.

I mean you're now staring at the girl/guy, looking at the imperfections. Models should be perfect, perfect like a blank page so I just have to concentrate on what they're wearing. But no! Her legs look too short, and the pants just look a lil off whilst she's standing like that, and the shirt makes her look like she has no waist... and that mesh thing she's wearing is making me want to throw up. Her features are too sharp. They look like she's staring me in the face, plotting my demise...

Her dowdiness... is so off putting! I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF THE PANTS LOOK GOOD! But they obviously don't, especially with her modelling it... and those SHOES!
The only good picture of these pants is this one...

Pretty self explainatory. They also look like normal jeans, so that defeats the purpose of wanting to know what the other colours look like... And the more views side bar thing, isn't a good indication, when all you see is ass. C'mon Dov Charney! But I guess there's that whole thing about too skinny models, and girls all getting depressed because models are so pretty and thin and they're so ugly and not.

But that's the point! They're supposed to be glamorous and thin. Coat hangers, they're coat hangers! They're part of that crazy world called "Fashion". Models don't have to be thin, they just have to be not distracting and "ugly" models are. They make me not want to buy stuff.

Poor store merchandise presentation makes me not want to buy stuff either. I don't want to be reminded that the outside world is still dismal and filled with so much crap. I want to walk into a store and be swept away into the land of Cue, or Picnic/Hobbs, Mimco etc. All the other places just make me not want to browse.

That's why online shopping is usually always, so much better.
Except for American Apparel. Cotton On I can't step into, but at least their website is well planned out.

See, no need for ugly models. Just show me a picture of the item and I'm happy.

See the main problem about the pants? Full body shots. They never really work. The object of importance should take up most of the frames.

This one works...

This one doesn't. Tad bit awkward.

No. IT'S A T-SHIRT SHE'S MODELLING!!! And it's screaming "DON'T BUY ME!!!" A... T... Shirt. The most basic clothing item in the world.

But I don't mind buying this one. Even though it's the same t-shirt. Granted a different colour. But this model is a repeat offender of the No-Bra thing. Off putting. Please, wear a bra, and some pants too. Though thank you for the lovely demonstration of my point about merchandise presentation and why I hate browsing in stores that have poor product presentation.

Peas.

Nutella Hot Chocolate

2010-04-05T12:53:00.004+08:00

Nutella Hot Chocolate (Ali's version)

Get a mug. Preferably a BIIIIIG mug.
Add 2 HEAPED teaspoons of Milo.
Pour choice of milk slowly in, then add 1 heaped teaspoon of Milo.

Chuck in the microwave for 2 minutes on HIGH or until VERY HOT.
The milk needs to be hot enough to melt the nutella into a liquid.

Carefully take out the mug, grab a generous teaspoonful of Nutella and stir in the hot milk until all is melted. Or mostly melted.

Lick spoon clean.

Enjoy.

Watch out for throat death.

If nutella jar is nearing the end, pour milk into nutella jar, and microwave in bouts.
Stir.
Watch out for instantaneous sore throat.
Add milo if need be.

Peas.

Noob Planet Customers

2010-04-04T21:30:00.003+08:00

You know someone is new to Planet when a) they think it runs like Borders, Myers etc. etc. b) all you hear is "WOW you sell the most unique books!" or c) they recommend books and d) they think we have normal opening hours.

Issue a)
Crazy lady A, walks in and asks about The Hobbit (Tolkien), fair enough. She then demands for it to be the "Junior Fiction/Young adult" version. First up lady, we call it "TEEN fiction" and "Those Kids books that we want to burn". Obviously she went on about how great a reader her daughter was so I was thinking, woman, if she's such a great reader, it being the "young adult" or "adult" version doesn't matter.

Also. There's no difference.

And then she's all "The one I wanted has the first chapter of the Trilogy. It was green in cover." So I pull out the one that is green, and has the chapter preview, and she says "Okay let me just check the index." 2 minutes later. "The chapter isn't in it." PREVIEW CHAPTER WOMAN! IT WON'T BE LISTED IN THE INDEX!!! So I turn the page to the chapter, and she burts out going "IT'S THE ONE!!!"

So I go back to the counter, as she follows me nagging me about if it's a young adult version or an adult version. URGH!!! Then I serve a customer and she walks into the video section holding the book! NOT ALLOWED!!!

She makes her way back down to the book shop and grumpily says "Oh I couldn't buy it over there so I'm paying here" ... Lady, you're supposed to do that. T____T

Issue b)
Not really an issue, but it gets tiring explaining how we run. Just acknowledge it and walk away, hopefully to come back.

Issue c)
I'm sorry I have a life and don't read The Millenium Trilogy, Jodi Picoult, Housseini, Twilight etc. etc. If you didn't notice, I work at Planet Books. There are a million other books that I can read and will find far more interesting. Why should I read a book that has already garnered so much attention? It sells without me even trying to sell it. So obviously I am going to read obscure books that probably no one will ever look twice unless I recommend it.
My job is to sell and recommend. Your job is to buy.

Issue d)
Believe or not but these are the most annoying people. For starters, having every 2nd phone call ask whether we are open, what times we are open, especially before public holidays, easter etc. And then they rush in the day before publics holidays, or fridays to try and get their book shopping done. DISLIKE!!!

I had a shit easter if you didn't get the hint.
A really really really shit easter. Not that I celebrate easter, and not that my brother's lunch for his 40th was bad. But overall. Shitastic. Oh Friday was good... but overall... Shit.

I need a proper holiday.

Peas.

Hello World!

2010-04-01T11:02:00.002+08:00

Say hello to Atlas! Yes it was called Heracles before but after a brief consultation with Aar the Classicist, it has been decided that Atlas suits it far better. As you can tell, I've already been kicking it around trying to get it scuffed and scratched and worn looking... Still too brand new looking in my opinion.

Atlas!

Hand for size comparison. Though my hands are small...

Feet for size comparison.

Isn't it lovely? I need to stuff it with lots of things to get the leather to move. At the moment it's not really fitting much past my laptop and a few other objects because the leather is quite stubborn. Also it makes everything stink of leather. Mmm... Animal product.

Peas.

Gorillaz' Stylo

2010-03-31T18:26:00.002+08:00

Do it.

Peas.

Navy Blue Winters

2010-03-29T00:45:00.006+08:00

Everytime I slip on my school jumper, it just reminds me of every winter spent at school. Reminds me of wearing it in Japan, the holes and the mendings, how everyone had furiously scratched, pulled and worn holes so their jumpers had thumbs holes, the days I had to wear two jumpers...

Ladders in stockings, unpolished black shoes, scuffed til their was no black (or it was green, in my case), scarves snaked tightly around necks, the swishing of trousers and skirts as everyone ran through the rain, not caring about catching a cold. The lunches in the Library, sneaking in food and drinks, feeling the wind through the small holes in the jumpers, contemplating that even though the Blazer is ridiculously dorky, it would provide as a better weapon against the rain and the wind.

The rain soaking through holes in your old shoes, or splashing in from the top of new shoes, warm soups purchased from the canteen, or stolen pies the boys had managed to sneak into their pockets, the huddling around corners and walls, bracing against the wind. Hiding in the square columns, made as tiny little closets without doors. Three walls of limestone brick, perfect for one or two of us to hide in, so the weather couldn't find us. Running in and out of them along the corridors to and from classrooms. Spending all of lunch in them, warding off the cold.

Running from the bus to the train station or the station back home, forgetting your umbrella, having the rain streaked across your face as you raced to the next available shelter. Getting undercover and opening your bag to check the damage, hoping the rain had not soaked through to your books or whatever mouldy growth was down at the bottom of your rarely cleaned bag.

Stacking it in the rain into a puddle, knees gashed and stockings sliced and torn, elbows grazed against the bricks, with one arm up in the air holding victoriously an apple. Sitting outside the nurse's office, eating the apple waiting for the dirt and blood to be cleaned out. The wet patches and dirt in the carpet near the doors as we entered in, scrubbing our shoes squeakly clean onto the dark blue carpet.

I don't think I want to throw out my jumpers. Technically they're Hand-Me-Downs from cousins, but they're mine now, and they're the most comfortable jumpers I own.
Also they're a good colour, dark navy blue.

I do adore them.

Peas.

Getting Wise

2010-03-27T20:19:00.006+08:00

I hate it when I can't make words roll out and when my paragraphs don't gel together. Writing is just not happening lately! That's why there are a handful of just youtube links and photos.
But today I will try to overcome this little "Blog Block" I'm having.

Ailis' 21st was celebrated a little early, being last night and not Tuesday night (though she has cordially invited me to UWA tav to celebrate her turning the global legal age) and it got me pondering about the subject of "Maturity".

DUN DUN DUN!!!

More so, how has my life developed so far and how it will fair from now, than the "how mature am I?"

In my opinion, I'm as mature as I want to be. Which usually is pretty immature =D

I've just been thinking how the girl in the puffball of puffy frilly puff puff pink puff ness transitioned into the tom boy with sneakers, skater shorts, baggy jeans and 59Fifty caps to slowly wearing dresses and skirts again with high heels and make up.
I remember that my stockings were always white when I was a kid. Now they're all mostly black.

And that's just thinking about what I wore. Come music wise, that has changed from bubblegum pop to hip hop and rnb to dance/electronica and trance, then to now settling into more so alternative. Speaking of music, need more music.

Gorillaz new album "Plastic Beach" is SUH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

Though it is funny. Where I've been, what I've done, what I've become...

Life.

You know what is also funny? But more so awesome?

The Temper Traps are going to be in Perth, gig-ing on my birthday!!!

I am SO tempted to delete this blog as well, I've started way over a dozen this past month but have deleted them all because I just couldn't get them right.
But no... Leaving this at it is.

OH! Too look forward to, the chronicles of my Leather Satchel. I call it Atlas. It's beefy, big, bulky, bold, brown... a bit unnessary, but it looks BRILLIANT and FANTASTIC! I love it!
It's also a little heavy.

Watch out!

Peas.

The Sky is Heaving Up

2010-03-24T21:22:00.009+08:00

After the sky fell...

peas.

2 Grown Men

2010-03-08T13:38:00.003+08:00

I like Korean Dramas and I don't mind admitting it. Just because all of them are all the same, have the same plot line, the same twist, that triangle/square relationship (usually by the first 3 episodes you figure out the ending), there's always someone sick or in hospital etc. etc. They're still watchable... For me.
A little brain dead drama. It's like reading girly magazines!

But the clip is hilarious. Very hilarious.

I should probably blog properly... Instead of just posting all these clips. I'm just being lazy.

Peas.

The Calculations

2010-03-04T10:35:00.005+08:00

Apart from how awesome this is, I can't help think about the amounts of calculations that were required for timing and the right angles things had to fly off to hit their targets, the speed and velocity, pressure and weight...

Nerds.

Peas.

Eye of the Tiger

2010-03-02T19:05:00.001+08:00

peas.

I hope you're not lactose intolerant

2010-02-25T20:09:00.002+08:00

If you didn't know, my favourite assignment from last year was done in Health Communications, a presentation and report on the correlation between lactose intolerance and Osteoporosis.

So for some reason I have this strange appeal towards Calcium related subjects. I got very oo-ey and aah-ey when we were comparing Milk and cheese such products in Nutrition labs last semester.

Obviously it has come down to this, I bought Skim Milk today.

After having been weened off from Full cream when i was I dunno I shall make a guess at 12 and surviving off HiLo. But as of late, HiLo has been tasting far too creamy for me. So I decided to go for the one I remember I don't like because it was "watery", but no. I even find the Skim milk a tad bit over the creamy side of what I want. Damn me and my I would like to say maturing taste buds.

So Skim it is from now on. Which I have no problem with, as it doesn't taste as creamy and as a matter of fact, contains more Calcium than HiLo or Full Cream.

They don't just water it down.

By taking out fat, you're taking out content, so it becomes less volume, it's like a tonne of steal will be significantly less volume than a tonne of feathers. Therefore Skim has higher Calcium content due to the fact that it has less fat in it, therefore having to add more milk to make up for the lack of fat.

For sureness sake, I am NOT drinking Skim because it has less fat and I am dieting. I just have gotten to the point where I prefer the less creamy taste of Skim. I hate Soy, definitely not touching that stuff ever. Even a well made soy coffee, It tastes like cardboard to me.

Maybe they'll make a Skimmer Skim? I don't think it's likely though.

Peas.

Cats

2010-02-23T00:32:00.002+08:00

12:30am I know, but the dogs in the hood are going nuts.

Last night I was up quite late and heard a cat screech, run past my window followed by barking from dogs.

Just before dinner I found dear Rosie barking at a white cat with an orange splotch on it's face in the back garden, tried to maybe check its collar but it made a dash before I got anywhere near close.

So now I am about to go off to bed but all I can hear is barking for at least 4 dogs. Rosie though is sleeping.

Though recently, all throughout Chinese New Year, she's been barking and screeching and scratching at the back door! At the most preposterous times! The only thing that will quieten her is letting her into the house, which I don't mind but Mother dear seems quite apt about Rosie sleeping outside. Must investigate into why she's become so distraught. This hasn't happened, ever. Well I have no real clear memory of her acting like this at all.

Fairly worried, also it's become increasingly more trying to get her to go outside to sleep now. Which is strange. It's gotten to the point of having to close all the door so she has no where to run except the back door.

I do hope she does not get up to much barking and yelping. I'm sleep deprived as it is.

The Fresh Air of Concrete

2010-02-23T00:03:00.004+08:00

I do miss uni and studying and having an actual task to procrastinate from.
Though this summer holidays have been a blast, filled with lots of sun, salt and water, plenty of good food and drinks, coffee and work, reading and doing odd bits here and there.

But next week I am back to knuckle down on the books and catch up on some sleeping in Lectures. Even though this semester I am repeating 2 units and my third being a Pre-requisite unit for another unit I've already done (and passed thankyou), I will not be slacking off. Though with only 3 units this semester, and the next, I do hope to be able to keep up with Kung Fu and work as well and maybe fit in some rock climbing, fornightly?

Luckily my classes aren't that early either but I am stuck on campus until 8pm on Tuesdays. Why oh why does Human Biology have the strangest lab times? Being stuck in a room with cadavers at night is not really cool. Even if there's bright lights in the lab room.

Today my friend Thea, somehow talked me into going to the Orientation lectures of our units, upon arriving on campus, I managed to talk her out of them and we decided to go watch NCIS at her place with lots of fruit and her lovely giant teddy bear Gromit labradoodle dog.

As "important" as orientation lectures "are", there is a very brilliant reason why I do not go to them, O-week is usually avoided by me.
Freshers.

Loathe them.

Yes, we were once them, but hey! Now I am not! Neither was I a lost fresher either. Thank god to making friends with people older than me and already studying at Curtin. But yes, the amount of freshers walking around with maps, still on the very adolescent looking side of growing up and still wearing Linx and Impulse deodorant, was quite scary. I don't mind leading astray 1 or 2 of them in the wrong direction, but they were out in force!

No matter how much freebies you may get on O-Day, the amount of freshers running around is enough to make me definitely not want to go. That and the fact that it will be 39C on Wednesday.

Luckily last week wasn't so heavy on the heat. Chinese New Year would have been a bit MORE sweaty than it was. It was definitely sweaty though. I admit, I had a few drops of sweat drip onto the drum. On a couple of occassions there was the sweat beading into the eye and the stinging following after, not so great with contacts either.
Though as we all know, no matter how unbearable and how much mobility I lose, there's nothing I would trade Chinese New Year with.
Except for Steve Job's Apple.

Speaking of Chinese New Year, this weekend, specifically Sunday, marks the last day of celebrations, the 15th day of the new year. Yaolin can be found probably at FKS Temple around 12:30pm, Money St Temple, sometime after that and Golden Century on James St at 8pm.
Other than that, you shall have to wait 7 weeks until we pull out the Dragon! Yippee! Not stuck on instruments!

Peas.

3 is a Charm

2010-02-17T01:31:00.004+08:00

Chinese New Year is always eventful and lovely and full of joyous fun and misadventure. But today was quite the peak of a perfectly whisked cream. Obviously today is the 3rd day of the new lunar year and my did it feel it.

Apart from my lack of mobility and flexibility in my arms from overworking them yesterday (Drummed for 5 dances and cymballed/gonged the rest), no cramps, just mass amount of soreness, swelling and bruising all along my arms and through my fingers from just tenderising my muscles, which left me, not so useful today, and quite bored out of my brains...
It was a fairly mighty awesome day.

At our last performance for the night at Hawkers in Chinatown, one of the favourite places to perform at, mostly because the crowd is great and the owner is CRAZY! In the good way, eg. Eats the lettuce as it gets chucked at her, gives the lions beer, and decides to sponsor us a new lion head! Back to the story, At our last performance, a Korean douchebag tried to blow smoke under one of the lions that was near him, until we started our drum and he got quite a shock! Then he tried it again, BLAM! WENT THE FIRECRACKERS!

He nearly fell off his chair! I wish I could've filmed the look of his face! He looked completely scared shitless! Then he tried to shout that he wanted to leave, but obviously we were going all out on the music that he was drowned out completely.
Ah Karma-ed, TOTALLY karma-ed!!!

Another 3rd day magic was the when Sifu (Instructor) went to drop off our hired bus and he was speeding doing 96kph in an 80kph zone, the police pulled him over but then the car in front of them was insulting the police so Sifu got let off! As they were rounding back homewards, they see the car of the driver who had been hassling the police being towed away.

On a whole, the night was... Quiet. As in, I noticed a lot less talking. Very more chilled out, except for the teasing of Daana, who made a point that she is never teased. Well there is a first for everything! Especially teasing! I make sure of it! But yes, with some certain "characters" not around, it was very very nice and quiet.

Not so CNY related, but had a lovely lunch at Merchant on Beaufort St. Smoked salmon on rye bread with cream cheese, caviar and capers. Really yum!

I dare say, being asked if I was okay all the time, reminded me a LOT of Japan. Daijoubu? (Are you okay?) was one of the most frequent words I heard there, and today it was all that was being said to me. That and, "Here let me take that for you." "Are you sure you're okay?" "No, don't do anything."
Which, I must say, ticked me off quite a bit, was a tad bit trying to not be snappy.
Some people like things done for them, I myself, don't. Absolutely hate it.

Being a "groupie" really sucks, especially when the last 3 days have been filled with drumming, gonging, cymballing, running etc. etc.
But it does make me take into consideration of taking a break, no matter how boring and how much I dislike taking breaks. Though if taking a break every now and then means I avoid not doing anything for a whole day, then so be it!

That's all for now,

Peas.

We're performing for PMH (Princess Margarent Hospital) tomorrow at 2pm for the children! How lovely!!!

Last key performances if you have time to check out... Ones in bold are the performances you should PEN in your diary/calendar. If you're going to make it to a performance, make it to the bolded ones.

Westpac (James St): Wednesday 17th 12pm
Positano (James St): Friday 19th 9:30pm
Chi (Albany Hwy? Vic Park?): Saturday 20th 7pm
Golden Century (James St): Saturday 20th 8:30pm
Hinz (Next to Imax): Saturday 20th 8:30pm (not a mistake, we are performing at 2 places at once)
Pot Black (James St): Saturday 20th 9pm
Hawkers (Chinatown, Chung Wah Lane): Saturday 20th 9:30pm

Don't know who to look for? Black shirts with YAOLIN on the back, red pants with the dragons on the bottom or lion dance pants (Purdy pants) and yellow belts. Can't miss us! We're where it's happening!

Hello Tiger

2010-02-13T01:27:00.004+08:00

Spent 6 hrs updating to Windows 7 last night, still tweaking it here and there and navigating my way around it. Had quite enough of Windows Vista, right from the get go.
I was a little worried of Windows 7 not arriving before I start uni, but the year seems to be chugging along fine.

Got my contacts on Monday. JUST in time for Chinese New Year! Being able to wear sunnies and still be able to see is a must, I don't really mind during summer the brief periods of blur, but also it's hard running around playing cymbals, gong, drums and what not having to constantly push my glasses up the bridge of my nose.

Lovely friend Aaron who only recently just started liking beer passed me a spare router so now I am connected to the internet! Yay! How I missed you ADSL2+!!! The router is actually pretty good because I am picking up wicked speed, but then again I am only sitting in the kitchen. Staring at the counter top and wondering what chemicals I shall pour on it.

What else?
I had food at Greenhouse, finally! After countless times of just drinking there, got around to having some dinner there and breakfast yesterday. It's over priced, but yet again, it's one of those places that you pay for the service and atmosphere/environment. With a "nice" view of St Georges, I really do like looking at people getting on/off buses, walking to work, the cars driving past and the shiny buildings on the other side of the road. Really Greenhouse is lovely.
I think I'll just stick to the drinks though.

Zekka is lovely too.

And just general wreaking havoc!

Less than 24 hrs til Chinese New Year and under 15 hrs until the whole show kicks off!

And if you're hoping to catch Yaolin in action, the usual places...

Sat 13th Feb
11pm- FKS Temple on Guildford Rd

Sun 14th/ Tues 16th/Sat 20th
Hawkers in Chinatown

Sat 20th
Pot Black - James St

We've also got Commonwealth Bank and Westpac this year!

Xing Ni Kuai Lak!
Gung Hee Fa Tsai!

if I've remembered the proper spelling!
Don't go shouting those ones out, nobody will understand you except Gaginang!

Peas.

Say hello to Hermes

2010-01-26T14:04:00.004+08:00

Not the Greek god nor the Fashion power house.

My Laptop.

An Asus X59SR.

Not really what I was looking for, but getting a bargain, RRP $1499 to $800? Who could resist?!
Oh I'm sorry it's not a Mac! But as I said, I got a laptop, for $800! Brand SPANKING NEW!
Still in the BOX NEW! YES STILL IN THE BOX!!! With the security tape! BRAND NEW!
FOR $800!!!

Damn right.

It's quite an old model, but it still does the job and I'm not going to be gaming on it, I'm pretty sure Photoshop, MIGHT slow it a bit down, but I haven't touched that program since I started uni again, except when I'm playing on those Wacom Tablets in the library.

Now I just have to wait for my Windows 7 to arrive at my doorstep because I sure am not going to be stuck with Vista at uni. I dislike Vista so much!!!

Then I have to clean out this desktop and set it up for mother dear, move it out of my room which would be a space saver, and move the printer as well.

Luckily I don't have to buy any textbooks for this semester, so all my money is going to be pouring into a Laptop bag, a bag that I can put my laptop in (15.4") not sure if it will fit in my Crumpler and probably an external mouse.

Most likely will get an external mouse, touch pads annoy me.

Squee!

Also in other developments... SLOWLY cleaning my room. Here and there, plodding a bit here and a bit there.

Peas.

Redding it Up

2010-01-22T21:35:00.003+08:00

Chinese New Year around the block!
You know the drill.

Also the fact that I dyed my hair red.

Sort of, red/purple. The straight red was too bright and I'm too tanned.

I think I have found THE hairdresser! Albeit it is the same as James Hopkins (Kung Fu Senior), but the price is just right, not too pricey like Platinum Hair, but not as average as K3G. MAJOR PLUS! I did not step out looking Korean! They blowdryed my hair straight instead!
How lovely! The hairdresser, John, really knows what he's doing and he's Asian, I know, but for now, I think I can stop wandering between 2 - 4 different places to get my hair done!
Yippee!

Oh yeah, the salon is St James Hair Studio, on James St in Northbridge. That's the biggest downfall, I have to go through Northbridge. ASIAN side of Northbridge.
*shudder*

That's all for now folks!

Peas.

Zekka & Greenhouse

2010-01-20T21:48:00.007+08:00

Courtesy of my dazzling friend Ben, today I got introduced to a new coffee spot and finally got to try out Greenhouse.

Photo courtesy of... Flickr.
View from the benches at the back wall.

Zekka
74-76 King Street, Perth

The cafe is just behind the Zekka menswear store (FUNKY MENSWEAR! Totally overpriced... all from the UK. Go there instead) and it was goooooooood. I didn't have any sugar with my flat white which is always a good sign. The more sugar, the more CRAP the coffee is.

For those Coffee snobs, they're getting their java from Crema, which is a local roaster in Kalamunda. Might try going to their cafe all the way there, when I have time and someone willing to trek for good coffee.

The cafe looks really funky, small but good. I went around 3pm so it was fairly quiet.
Ben and I agree that it makes us feel like we're not in Perth.

Photo courtesy of... Flickr.
Just finished construction I believe.

Greenhouse
100 St. Georges Terrace, Perth

Greenhouse sits just outside of enex100 (which I have previously said is AWESOME!) and it opened up a few months ago, but I had yet to experience the loveliness of it.
It is awesome and covered in strawberry potted plants with their own herb garden on the roof. Check the site, you will see. It's LOVELY!!!

Immediately when you walk in, you know this place is where it's happening. Apart from no one around near our age (that being 20), it was really funky. Really playing with the whole enex100 crowd.

We didn't get any food, thought apparently they do a good breakfast and didn't get any coffee, after just really being at Zekka, we opted to go for alcohol.
I say I love how all the alcohol is hanging from the ceiling on ropes and I agree with Ben, they have Belvedere Vodka, they MUST be good.

Ben opted for a nice beer, it was good and I got a glass of Trebbiano (White wine). The waiter knew his stuff so that was good and the wine list was pretty decent by the way.

What I liked was the glasses, not typical wine glasses or tumblers. Which is refreshing. The wine glasses are pretty much, wine glasses without the stem. So no worries over tipping over your wine-o and smashing it everywhere and making a fool of yourself.

...

I did not do that. I'm being honest. But have broken a wine glass, 08 christmas.

Peas.

What the ?

2010-01-20T11:35:00.006+08:00

So I was skimming through SMH, Why do I check that paper? Because it always seems to have COOLER stuff than boring stories from Perth... Seriously, nothing happens here. Except for a 3 day straight of 40C+ heat wave.

I ended up checking up on what's happening with the runways, which I do. A lot.
From what was shown at Milan Men's Fashion Week...
All I can say is...
What the HELL is going on with Men's fashion for 2010 Fall/Winter?

I see Prada with cardigans for guys, FAR too short, with scrunched dress shirts between the belt of a trouser and the hem of the cardigan. Reminds me of seeing guys' boxers with their pants too low.
At least they picked up with their suits in nude/beige.
But seriously? Short cardigans??? On Guys? Urgh! I don't even know how that would look good! At all!

What is this?!

There's Versace doing wet look/leather skinnys and shirts that, look, hm, tacky to me. I don't know, they remind me of those overly patterned dress shirts middle aged Asians wear to the Casino.
Though I did like the dark washed purple suit. Nice to see something that's not black, navy or grey. I think that's the only thing I liked, was the colours. Nice dark hues of blues and purples.

Over all it looked like it was going for, Ghostrider/Daredevil... with a suit jacket on top. Kind of futuristic, maybe The Fifth Element? Sort of rolled into a tall skinny model?
Does it not scream Japanese glam-rock? I hate that look. The only people I can see wearing those pants are guys who don't exercise and have ridiculously skinny legs, or skinny fats (another blog for another day). I still hate those pants.

THOSE SKINNYS!!! THE HORROR!!!

I'm quite upset at Galliano as well. His stuff is usually quite awesome. But it seemed the theme was "Backstage at a music festival... in Winter" which translates to layers, plaids and beer cans.
Individual items? I can't even tell, they're all covered up by other stuff.

Seriously. It's like every item in your wardrobe, thrown together.

Obviously you can always count on Westwood and McQueen to go nuts. They are so nuts.
No point in making comments about those 2. They are nuts.
Kudos to those that wear their stuff without looking like a clown. Lady Gaga does not count. She is a clown.

Thankyou D&G!!! For doing what you guys do best. Make guys not look gay? Hahahahaha!
White dress shirts with dark grey/washed black jeans, nice. Tanks with trousers and jeans, nice.
Kind of factory workers weekend suits, just tailored up, nice. Classic black tux, nice. Also liking the chunky knits and casual waistcoats.

Thankyou! You don't look gay!

Ferragamo saved the season as well with double breasted jackets and trenches. I dislike double breasted because they look awesome, but they look gross on me. DAMN YOU NICE JACKET!
I WILL WIN ONE DAY!!!
And somehow they managed to make patterned jackets not look horrible. There's a guy that's a regular customer of Planet Books, I can totally see him wearing one. Probably because he always wears really awesome suits as well as a few out there ones.

They just look so purdy~

Though my favourite thing is this. The chunky knit scarf. Like the whole look really... But that scarf! I will find a cheaper version of you!
And maybe go somewhere that will be cold enough to wear you!

If I was a knitting extraodinaire, you would be mine!

Veneta, thankyou, I hate the models' hair, Quif/Faux-Mo? But thankyou for bringing something different to menswear without making them look gay, or homeless.

Very cool.

Photos are all from SMH.

Peas.

The Speed of a Tortoise

2010-01-16T09:42:00.005+08:00

I was feeling a lot better this morning so I decided to go for a jog.

Get some fresh air, clear my head, pump up my heart rate, get my blood pumping, use my non-existent muscles...

Let's say this old man speed walking took over me "jogging"

Well when this cold or whatever sickness it is really finishes itself up, (blowing my nose is always a good sign compared to just general sinus congestion, means my body is getting over it) I'll be back up "jogging" again. I think I'm going to make it a race against this old dude. He is pretty damn fast!

You won't beat me! Eventually.

I'm so unfit.

On another note, when I get sick I usually get cupping/suction cups, those things that you stick on the back and through displacement of pressure by creating a "vacuum" it supposively "sucks" up water and toxins? through your pores. (I dislike using the term sucks unless it's derrogatory)

Well, there's also the coloured bruised like circles you get, like getting attacked by a giant squid.
Usually I'm not THAT sick so the best it looks is red/dark red.
But no, I have BLACK, purpley dark dark circles like I got burnt... I'm also really tanned so the fact that they show up through the blackness of my back, is pretty scary.

Yeah I'm sick, or was THAT sick. I'm better now, but that's what I said yesterday morning and then I crashed in the afternoon.

Peas.

The Aftermath : Southbound

2010-01-12T10:21:00.014+08:00

Just typing up a review of Southbound since I can't be bothered repeating the same awesomeness over and over and over and over again... So this is my go to post that I can link to everyone who says:

"How was Southbound?"

Southbound was EPIC! I had such a good time that even though everyone there complained about the heat, the dirt, the toilets, the heat, the lack of shade, being ripped off from food and drink prices and the heat... I would still go again.

Friend's DIRTY DIRTY feet.

Dependent on the line up, though I'm pretty sure there would be a fair number of bands I'd go see.

Getting on with it... I'll run this down simpler by going through the days, it's easier to understand it that way and what bands I saw and how much fun I REALLY had.

Day #1 The Friday:

There are 3 MAIN stages. There are a few more stages, but Coconut Club sucks and the Lounge Tent is more for the less established bands/artists. There were quite a few good ones and it was a nice tent to chill in and still listen to good music, minus the DJ sets inbetween (I liked them...) and Groove Tent is, well, the other other other one.

On Friday, the 2 MAIN MAIN stages named, This Stage and That Stage (really... is... um... confusing) were closed off on Friday with only The Other Stage (named exactly that) the only main stage open.

After unpacking, tenting up and scoping out the area I'm allowed to wreak havoc (within reasons) in, it was all a matter of time before some serious music soaking started.

The first act I caught was Whitley, followed by running into THE MIST TENT! A tent/gazebo thing set up that sprays mist. Got soaked and it was awesome and the others got sick. I on the other hand decided to change out of soaking wet clothes before it was too late.

I got to catch a little of Dappled Cities, which are good and waited around for Emiliana Torrini, who I had forgotten. But as soon as the music started playing, I remembered. Even with Ailis singing Torrini's most famous latest, it did not ring a bell until Torrini herself sang with her enviable voice and... Cheekbones.

Look at her!!! (Not a Southbound photo)

After, a little nap was needed, the sun was beating down, sucking out the energy out of us like Dracula, YOU MONSTER!!! Quickly though we caught the end of Little Birdy, Katy Steele is awesome, except I did dislike her leather shorts very much so.

I think some bumper car action happened on this day. I rock at it. I think I did most of the major bruising some of my friends got. Weak!!!

... OH! Don't forget WASAMBA started racking up a storm whilst we were all lounging it in the Lounge Tent and I had to follow them! Dancing for a while got me very very sleepy... Therefore Day 1 ended quite early, I KO-ed around 11:30pm. Was sleepy around 10pm.

Day #2 The Saturday:

The 7:40am sun had smacked hard. Very hard, was sweating and was not happy at waking up that early. But it did feel like it was 1pm due to the sun screaming down like the pitchfork of hell. I managed to roll around and get some extra shut eye until about 10am, the heat was really gettting to me then.

We managed to get up and get front row action ready to catch Philadelphia Grand Jury (better know as Philly Jays) as the first act of the day at This Stage and then caught Washington at The Other Stage. I think I was doing something else inbetween though. Probably running and dancing in the Mist Tent. Philly Jays were awesome. Bassist tried to get into the crowd.

I then remember taking a nap before running to get front row action at This Stage for Little Red. Half of them came onto the stage without shirts. It was hot, I'd give them that.

Little Red. Rocking No-Shirt policy.

**Note: Getting front row action is probably the smartest thing to do. Except for acts you know moshing is going to happen. Reasons being, you get shade and... you get shade.

For some reason I decided to see Kisschasy instead of Andrew Bird. Though I did catch a bit of him. He is amazing. Kisschasy sucked, I forgot how much they sucked. I think also, I was running around getting signings from Art vs Science (backlash - Parlez Vous Francais?) and Little Red.

Somehow I managed to get into the middle of the moshing sesspool of Art Vs Science and I am NOT doing that ever again. Elbows, shoving, feet stomping, guys being dickheads, girls being banshees... And the constant phrase "I have to get to my friend, they're at the front"... Yeah sure!

Unfortunately I missed Grizzly Bear but caught the end of Bertie Blackman at That Stage.

I was sleepy around 8 something. Had a nap, woke up at 12am and did a little wandering here and there, played shadow puppets in my tent and the tent across invited us for some drunken conversations.

Of course initiation had to be saying yes to the question; "Do you like Sarah Blasko?" asked by the most drunk of the group. The only thing I remember is, Pizza Shapes kick BBQ Shapes' sorry little butts and "Laughing like a Donkey being tickled". Some guy a few tents away was "giggling" and sounded like a donkey being tickled.

Sleep did not come that night.

Day #3 The Sunday:

Last day = MOST EPIC.

Began with myself waking up at 6am to beat the crowd to the Solar charged Mobile recharge Station. Then tried to sleep, but inevitably the time came to "wake up" and start with a bunch of us with my sharpies drawing all over each other's legs waiting for the gates to open to the main stages and for the first act. Minus Ailis, she was being a poor sport.

First act for us was Sugar Army at This Stage. It was awesome, their bassist Berney, is super cute and I got drummer Sher, broken drum stick. I could have gotten it signed, if I stalked them. They weren't doing a signing. UNHAPPY FACE!!!
The line up worked quite well as straight after, we were left in the front row still for Lisa Mitchell who is adorable! And Richard the super cute classy drummer and her lead guitarist was sooooo dreamy!

Look at him! That is NOT a drummer!

Fangirl screams were plenty.

Ailis was blowing bubbles during Lisa Mitchell which developed into quite a few photographers snapping pictures of her.

Perfectly... for some people, Tame Impala were up next. Though toilet breaks were needed so we (minus one who stayed at the front) ended up a few rows back with the swaying and the slight moshing, mostly swaying though.

Tame Impala finished just in time for myself to run off and grab food then come back for White Rabbits at That Stage, the band I think I was really amped up for (Art vs Science was at the top though). They are so awesome! Wikipedia will tell you why.
Apart from the leads being HOT and the percussionist breaking it down like a thunderstorm, White Rabbits were Southbound's highlight, for me.

Leads Greg Roberts & Stephen Patterson. Hot Hot and HOT!

Their harmonisings are to be reckoned with! On stage presence is amazing, energy is incredible and... I want Robert's sunnies.

I then decided, Paul Dempsey was not worth missing out on White Rabbits signing, so I grabbed a paper plate and listened to Future of the Left playing at The Other Stage whilst waiting for the White Rabbits to sign it, and they did like the paper plate idea.

Rushing off again I caught the end of Dempsey, which apparently girls were being escorted out of and then meandered off to The Temper Trap instead of Sarah Blasko, I know but The Temper Trap is more of a party then just listening to the sweetness of Blasko. Lead Mandagi, really partied hard on stage and really tried to get into the crowd. Not possible with the power of security.

I managed to get some Blasko whilst walking off to recharge my phone again.

Came the time to party with Datarock and their red tracksuits with hoods, but I only got the end of them, still was awesome! I danced all the way through and they got Art vs Science on stage and I'm pretty sure it was Sugar Army as well that was up there. Somehow they ended up all doing a Can-Can Line. MIGHTY!!!

Ending with a saxophone solo, it was time to get to the closing "ceremony" lead by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I did not get a good spot but Karen O (Front lady of YYYs) is mentally wicked!!! She has some serious crazy stuff going on. I love her!!!

Sunday finished with a crowd at the camp site playing... Naked Pole Vaulting and draping trees with toilet paper rolls. I caught a site of the pole vaulting. It did not last long though, security caught whiff of this. That cued us for late night movie sessions at the Minema (mini-cinema) Tent. Great art house shorts showing, except for the HP Lovecraft inspired shorts, I more listened to them than watched. The Japanese shorts were REALLY weird, like REALLY REALLY weird.

It was so cold that night that I got no sleep at all.

The end.

5am. Monday morning. The Aftermath.

Peas.

50 Tips for Surviving Southbound

2010-01-12T09:00:00.001+08:00

Compiled by my fellow Southbounding-bounder Ramage with the help from the rest of the team, was posted on Facebook, but I thought it would be good if I had it in my archives, so I don't forget next year.

1. Don't get sick.
2. Don't get sick.
3. Sleep, sleep is good.
4. Make multiple stops along the way for promotional give-aways. They are SO worth it.
5. Risk bringing alcohol in. Imagination is key, but at the end of the day, your bag checkers are generally uninterested foreigners hankering for a smoko.
6. Get a fucking sleeping bag.
7. Avoid camp site toilets. If worse comes to worse, develop personal clip-on toliet seat, which can be worn as a necklace between trips.
8. Make sure toilet doors are locked, or expect unwelcome vistors.
9. Even if door is locked, be on your guard.
10. Sunglasses should be welded to the face. They look good morning, noon and night.
11. Beach it, instead of showering in the port-a-shower back at camp. The water is beautiful, the queues are smaller, the showers have less species of mould to contend with.
12. Take a nail brush. You end up wondering whether, in the night, you've been-a sleep-digging. You haven't.
13. Free=Good
14. Embrace the coughing fit.
15. Resist evening visits to mist tents. Sniffles will ensue.
16. Snotacular: A saga. Don't look at tissue after use. I cannot stress this point enough.
17. Check ground for sticks/ logs before commiting to tent set-up.
18. If possible, set up tent next to sess-pit. Will give you extra room and mini-dumping ground.
19. Check for tent peg packet BEFORE matress roll-out.
20. Do not put $50 note in open jacket pocket. You will lose it. Even if it's your friends'.
21. Do not attempt opening hot beverage containers half-delusional with sickness. This is tempting fate; and burning will ensue. Pain is not your friend.
22. Don't get overly excited about kareoke. You will be disappointed.
23. Visit merch tent EARLY.
24. Bring obscure items to signings. Result: Awesome.
25. Permenant markers + body + waiting time = Fun, friends and moustaches.
26. Permanent markered moustaches may result in derogatory comments and knowing glances.
27. Octopus arms are never cool.
28. Tutus are NEVER a satisfatory sole clothing option.
29. Say NO to the No-Shirt Policy.
30. Get up early and leave early to miss the traffic. What traffic? Oh, that hungover unwashed horde of festival goers, all ITCHING to get up at 5am? Yeah, this one is probably NOT essential, if you define this UNGODLY hour 'early' .
31. Pack your own food.
32. Don't leave it loose in the esky.
33. CHECK TENT THOUROUGHLY FOR FRIENDS BEFORE LEAVING IN THE MORNING. A casual glance in tent direction, whilst listening for 'silence' will NOT suffice.
34. Buy more ice. Or just GET RID OF THAT FOOD. Do not leave it to Day 4. The combination of off eggs and old cucumber is NOT a welcoming aroma.
35. PACK WARMLY, DRESS WARMLY. BE WARM-LY.
36. Op-shopping while tipsy = Impulse buys. And enthusiastic appreciation of said buys.
37. Shave your head AT THE TIME.
38. Do NOT kick amazing indie drummer 'Richard' from Lisa Mitchell's band in the acihilles tendon. He will think it's some new, lame atempt at getting his attention. Do not have dorky friend beside you, proceeding to grin goonishly. If you have said friend, ditch immediately upon entering Southbound.
39. Do NOT stare down Sugar Army's drummer. It makes the groupies uncomfortable.
40. DO whatever it takes to get that drum stick. There is NOT a consolation prize for touching it; THEN deciding that that other guy deserves it more. He does not.
41. High shorts are a staple item. Preferably florally patterned.
42. It is COMPULSORY to run to at least one event.
43. Watch the headliner. Even if you'd rather sleep.
44. Hi-5 drunk people. They may even give you bar tickets for your cheerful compliance.
45. Get to gig early, you get shade. Shade rules over all things.
46. HAT IS GOD.
47. Cruising for a bruising? Bumper cars are a serious business.
48. PACK LIGHT. No camp stoves = A long walk back to the car. In 35 degree heat. Across a phenomenally large dusty paddock.
49. Repeat after me. Sausage rolls are NOT a BREAKFAST FOOD.
50. Don't bring white shoes. Anything white upon leaving your car will not remain so.

Some extras...

51. Don't party with people who are sick.

52. take baby wipes and tissues and other cheap light things that will keep you relatively clean
53. Take along enough money to be ripped off with.

The Get Away without Getting Away

2010-01-05T12:33:00.003+08:00

What a month it has been. Or 5/6 weeks.

Yes! House sitting is awesome especially at my eldest sister Linh's house. Her house is cool. Minus how much stuff is in it (yes I can't talk.) and the bugs and the dust.

But no! Great place to spend a third of my summer holidays in.

To end the 1st third, I am obviously going to Southbound.

But apart from house sitting, another special get away that Anh (older sis) and Christoph introduced me to is Mohr's place all the way in Martin. Which is about 45 minutes away.

A stone fruit orchard with Nectarines, Apricots, Black and Red plums and juicy Peaches, which I got to try and pick straight off the trees! So tasty! It is so delicious, I never want to eat a store bought Peach ever again!

What was great as well was they had a dam to swim in. I love

it. It's not the pool, with all that chlorine or salt (depending on what type of pool) and there's no choppy waves or sand like the beach! It's just nice (if I must say, murky) pool of water, with fish in it. Was very relaxing!

Next time I will bribe them with books and things so I can jump into that dam again!

Peas.

Bound Southwards

2010-01-04T12:51:00.003+08:00

TAKE THAT! Patience is a virtue!

For waiting around for ages, I AM FINALLY ABLE TO GO TO SOUTHBOUND!!!

My loveliest dear Ailis, managed to get me a ticket for $150! That is $105 off the actual price!

Amazing!!!

Now the only problem is I have to tell work. And there are 3 of us Planet Bookworms that are going to Southbound and 1 at "Summer School" (hihihihi) so it will be a tight squeeze~

But the ticket was bought! I can't waste it! I want to go to Southbound! I want to see so many bands and artists!!!

Grizzly Bear

Art Vs Science

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Editors

Sarah Blasko

Little Birdy

Midnight Juggernauts

Lisa Mitchell

White Rabbits

Paul Dempsey

Little Red

Bertie Blackman

etc.

Still upset I missed out on Parklife so I am DEFINITELY going to make sure I get to Southbound! It will be wonderful! 3 days and 3 nights of FUN FUN FUN!!!

Must pack for the Orchard.

Peas.

2010

2010-01-03T02:24:00.002+08:00

Ah. It's the new year, it's a new decade.
I've lived for 2 decades! and it is 2:25am.

Yeah a few things running around in my mind has prevented me from a good nights sleep. That and my constant addiction to books. But I've taken the time out this morning whilst it's still dark and my brother is having a shower to look back and contemplate.

Heh, contemplate. Most hated word when I was in Japan, thanks to 1 of the assisting teachers that came along. The school's pottery teacher, Mr E. He looked like a bikie and he was a pain.
Everything had a "story". True everything does, but he kept telling us to take in every little detail down the the stones and the little rocks at your feet...

We were 15 year old hormone induced crazy teens running around one of the coolest countries in the world, yeah right we were gonna do that.

But as it has come, it is probably the action I do the most.

I remember last NYE/NY still, the crazy amount of champagne, pink champagne and peach schnapps, the beers, the yakking and me slipping down the stairs and bruising my butt. Then being able to get up the next day ready with no sleep whatsoever, ready to event waitress til 9pm I think it was.

This year, celebrations were kept relatively low. Which I don't mind but, I think I've been away from partying far too long that I've missed it. What better time to party then New Years? Summer break? Summer? Summer? Summer? Well, not much partying has happened.
I do want to taste that sweet sweet flavour of partying.

Much happened last year and I think I made the right choice going back to uni. Also with Nutrition. Even if now I have to make sure I pass since I'm on conditional. I will succeed, I will get my Diploma in Dietician and I will kick everyone's butts!

I've decided since I only passed 2 of my resolutions...
Yes even though I managed to fail a unit per semester, I was able to stick to the credit average. That is how awesome I am!
... I shall keep relatively the same resolutions for this year.

1. LICENCE. No excuse!

2. Pass all units. Credit average at least. Aim for distinction.

3. Pass all units whilst still maintaining some sort of social life.
I realised that my contact with my friends became less and less and the year went on.

4. Try to get to training at least once a week.
Yet again, last year I was flooded that I rarely was able to get my butt to training.

5. Continue growing my hair.
I miss my short hair but, I really do miss my long hair too. Was looking at old photos and damn my hair used to be preeetttyyy long!

6. Do something about my living arrangement.

That should be fine =D

If I fail 1 of these, I'm not allowed to dye my hair for 6months.
If I fail 2, not allowed to dye for a year.
If I fail 50%... I haven't thought that far enough, but it will probably have something to do with either a trip or no uneccessary shopping for a 3 months.
Ohhh 3 months is harsh!!!

Green Peas!

I'M FREE!!!

2009-11-19T13:51:00.005+08:00

YAY! no more exams! And to celebrate... how about a hair cut?
well I said TRIM... and then the lady took a bit too much off, and then she "styled" it so it looks shorter even more so...

other than that... normal K3G I decided on, and everytime I go, I am just amazed at how asian I really do look...

(psst... I can see the resemblance to some unfavourable relatives...)

My other WONDERFUL end of exams celebration comes tomorrow morning in the form of a tooth extraction... And here's a lovely X-ray of my teeth.

And some after exam meditation... Last night I was in Abacus Labs at uni studying away when all I could hear was massive amounts of tapping... I turn around to see... 4 asians on World of Warcraft...

I thought i was safe... apparently not.

But I am free! YAY!!! And for some reason I feel like there is an unsurmountable stress on my back still... Oh well.

Peas!

I can see the finish line...

2009-11-17T10:56:00.004+08:00

... and there's a wisdom tooth to be pulled out at it...

Peas.

Style Stalking

2009-11-04T00:19:00.007+08:00

... Been following The Sartorialist these past couple of weeks and by god it's gotten my head filled with winter ideas already! IT JUST TURNED SUMMER! Well summer is going to be packed with dresses for me...

But now I want a GREEN trench coat. BRIGHT green... Because I saw these 2 goodies from The Sartorialist (It's under 12 Items or Less)

The second picture (minus those yellow shoes... *upchucks*) is probably what I'm gonna chase...

yeaaaahhh... Totally do not belong in Perth!

Next year is going to be fun!

Green Peas.

Defeated

2009-11-03T13:05:00.004+08:00

The week before last week I was down with a Cold on top of Hayfever... (Hi Jase, joined your club for a bit)
and in effect got Asthma back...

Uhhh... Yeah Asthma. Haven't had that since I was I dunno, 12? 13? I don't remember when the last time I touched a.... wait I do, I touched a Tubuhaler when I was 15, courteous of Claire.
The doc gave me Symbicort = Budenoside (CorticoSTERIODS) + formoterol (Bronchodilator)

It's apparently the *NEW* thing... And it cuts up my throat like a razor blade in the hands of an 14 year old emo. Stupid powder haler... So apart from making my throat feel like it had just been cheese grated, it gives me the shakes like nothing else. Thankyou roids, thankyou.

So writing has been proved hilarious and other things apart from that.
But as of now, I only have to take it when I feel wheezy, which is actually happening a bit more (than none).

Brilliant...

Peas.

The Holiday I Should've Had

2009-10-20T23:12:00.010+08:00

Since all my major assignments are out of the way...
I decided to take a much needed break. Not much break-ing was down during the scheduled breaks in the semester, what with assignments being due the week after. Horrible.

Therefore due to my lack of nothingness to do... Apart from preparing for exams which begin a week into November (Scary!) I decided to do some much needed down time...

Bliss.

Thursday all the way to Tuesday. (Not to say that before Thursday was bad...)

Thursday began with running off (more of driving to...) the Chinese Embassy... I must say I completely missed the flag... and Lil Andrew decided to do the whole China/Australia, hop the border thing...
It was then followed with buying potato sacks/Hessian sacks which probably stored grains or something from Kakulas and perambulating through enex100... Which is the hip new shopping mall on Hay St.
Followed by Dim Sum at Four Seasons. Mmmm Mmmm MMMMMMM!!!
I still went to my lab though, but that was okay, it was just looking at the digestive system! Mmmm, preserved intestines on a tray.

Friday was a nice 27? 29C? day and well, it's almost been 9? months since I hit up sand?
With my morning class cancelled due to some Physical Activity Conference... (They have conferences?!)
What better way to spend the morning than at Scarborough Beach?
The water was FREEZING! And just how I like it ^^ Also managed to rid myself of my horrible winter lame excuse of a tan and dug myself a hole big enough for me to sit/lounge in it comfortably.

I'm a lil digger! Dig dig dig!!!

Then spreaded the sandy goodness by leaving it in the iMac labs during my Nutrition class.

Saturday was a hot 33-35C day and could have been spent at the beach, but I decided watching a Bouldering competition at Rockface would be much more fun... (No sarcasm... it was pretty damn cool!)

All the ropes were pulled up into chandeliers... I must say it looked pretty awesome!

Watching some of the girls climb, some of them being ridiculous at what they do and the others being mediocre, I totally couldn't registered and won some cool stuff! Brian walked away with a harness! DAMMIT!!!

Saturday night was Sylvia's 21st, which was celebrated with chocolate... and I may have gotten sick due to that, probably from a mix of the amount of chocolate eaten, and eating half the cheese platter... Either way at the moment I am blocked like a hibernating bear and I have a pimple growing on my nose which is making blowing my nose rather awkward and painful.

GASP!

Sunday morning I started Dee on Beach running, more like beach walking... Her legs are still a bit wobbly. Though she's never done it before.... So not suprised. Then went to her house (which is awesome... her house is awesome) and went for a dip in her pool which is also relatively awesome.

Monday, nothing too crash awesome happened, but it was a nice day nonetheless. A quiet monday night at work which is less quiet than Tuesday... Aaaahhhhhh... Rode my sister's (Linh) bike to work... Found out I have to replace a tyre... IT'S NOT JUST FLAT! IT WON'T PUMP UP!!!! Well it did, then deflated by the time I got to work. Which is 15-20min riding? Dammit.

Tuesday is definitely going in the book. I don't know what book, but THE book.

Even with waking up and feeling like a shitstorm and having my throat cheese grated raw and the blocked pimpled nose (painting a rather vivid image here).

Not to mention I am getting horrendous hayfever at the moment, so my eyes had welled over to cleanse the stupid pollen and puffed up blotchy red. My sinuses were going overboard and there was definitely that feeling of having lead in the top of your nasal cavity where it joins to the rest of the sinuses in your head...

So even with all that going on... I still managed a good day. Which started with Daana getting me Telfast, but nothing for my cold except going to Leaf on Walcott St for some Cammomile tea and Soup. Yum yum yum!!!

Mmmm...

After that, our plans to take Jase to The Pony Club for tapas fell through as The Pony Club decided they didn't want to be open on Tuesdays. BOO! Though luckily on Monday night I had been secretly looking at tapas restaurants in Perth.

All in all, the main point was dinner.

Dinner was epic and glorious with angels singing in the background and halo lights shining... Which came from the tapas at Andaluz Bar & Tapas on Howard St. How do they get heaven to fit into a tiny little pot? Or a piece of it into scallops? I don't know. Point is, it was amazing, Jase obviously never had been happier about food in his life and we managed to steamroll over any birthday dinners Jase might've had before THIS ONE.

Jason you are so incredibly lucky... in the way that Daana and I are your friends and we make awesome ideas.

Put in his own words...

Jase: "Did you hang out with Danna again?"
Ali: "... yes..."
Jase: "SEE! alison + daana = jase wins!"

In my opinion, money was well spent at Andaluz. When I am a successful dietician, after work will be spent there...

LONG ass blog!

PEAS!

Somewhere to Park the Donkeys

2009-10-07T02:03:00.003+08:00

On Monday, after a wonderful Staff Meeting with horrible *cough* I mean drinkable coffee from Cino and a tasty Muffin from Mt Lawley Bakery, I wandered home and used some of my "Freeloading" skills to tag along with Jase to watch his hair get cut.

I know, it's the most entertaining thing ever! Haircuts. Really I'm being serious. I just like how different people can look after a haircut.

I must say, with this particular time, Jason indeed turned out completely different. Let's just say, Asian hairdressers always style your hair in THE MOST asian ways possible. Hihihihi it was hilarious!!! He went from being a Hong Kong Movie Star (Steven Chow hair cut...) to typical "trendy" asian with the emo fringe and spiked hair. Glad he messed it up as soon as we got out the door. Not a nice look on Jase AT ALL!

Anyway, we made our way to Corica where I was delighted with a tasty Custard Horn, or as it is labelled there... simply... Horn. We then set our way to Ikea.

Really I only wanted to get some meatballs and Sock Puppets... Got myself a MOOSE! and Lil Andrew a Dinosaur. I also managed to walk out with a sofa.

Yes... I now have my own couch. It's a nice 2 seater, more so 2-fat-seater (We have confirmed 3 people can sit on it) Solsta Gylle Sofa. In a Burnt Orange Red. I like the colour, except it doesn't really suit my room. So I guess I'll be re-covering it over the summer.
Strangely it fits in my room and also... Herrachico ONCE AGAIN proved it is not as it seemed. It fitted it in. Uncomfortably in, but it got in. Amazing! Should've taken a photo =(

Quite happy now because people will no longer sit on my bed. Which I find awkward and slightly annoyed about. I don't mind if permission is given, but a few people tend to just plonk their butts on it.

I can understand why it's irresistible, it is place directly opposite the door and has a day bed kind of feel to it, but it is the bed I sleep in.

SO NO MORE! You will all be forced to sit on my wonderful couch!!!

Bargain too. $160!!! All because the box was damaged. Sweeeet!

Peas!

Super... SFIV

2009-10-03T14:28:00.005+08:00

Tad bit old but kept forgetting (how could I forget?!?!?!) to post this up...

Teaser for SUPER SFIV ... doesn't actually give anything...

yes... why am I excited? I don't even own SFIV!!! BUT IT'S DAMN ADDICTIVE!!!
There goes my summer, spent at friend's...

I want Yun & Yang...

Announced new characters are: Dee Jay, T-Hawk, Adon, Dudley, Ibuki, Makoto, Cody & Guy.
and newbies: Juri & Hakan.

Plus other stuff will be added... =) fun fun!

GIMME YUN & YANG AND I'LL BE HAPPY!
Friends tried to sabotage my studies by planning on buying me SFIV for PC... no way! That would completely destroy any chance of studying!!!

Speaking of studying, back to this horrible assignment. =D It's on Ass-Mare. (Asthma)
Maybe should've stuck to something I've already done, but really, want to do something different.

Peas!

Procrastinating Episode II

2009-10-03T12:00:00.006+08:00

>> Art Vs Science - Parlez-Vous Francais? <<

Still loving this clip. Can't embed it because it doesn't fit... Smallest size doesn't fit, how gay. But watch it if you haven't. Apart from being an awesome song, the clip is MIGHTY!

Peas.

Origami Level Up!

2009-09-30T22:33:00.009+08:00

... So... I used to hate anything that required scissors under the heading "Origami".
Mostly because well... either I can't whip out a pair of scissors and start cutting here and there everywhere I go... or sitting in a Lecture, or at a table in a restaurant... OR... it just felt wrong to be cutting something that was said to be... "Origami"... because the Japanese sure didn't chop up peices of paper to make monsters and elephants back then!

Though when put under a different heading... say "Paper Toys"... I'm all up for it! Plus those "Origami" stuff that require cutting, aren't as pretty as the stuff that's coming out under the heading "Paper Toys".

Probably have seen paper toys and funky stuff like the paper Onitsukas and paper Nikes around and what not... if not, here is a paper Onitsuka... Always wanted to try make it, but I've seen the template and ZEUS! I do NOT want to go anywhere near it anymore.

But... The other day I picked up "Urban Paper" by Hawkins from www.custompapertoys.com

and... it is SO FUN! Except all the cutting and gluing does start to get to you.

Especially when curves are involved.

Just a few I managed to make whilst procrastinating doing my assignment. Horrible horrible assignment.

First one. #6 Boxy. It was kind of annoying...

Second one. #4. Sizza. Pretty simple... like 1 whole template simple...

Lastly my favourite... #19 Rommy... More complicated and more annoying... lines were really small so the cuts had to be perfect... stuffed up a few times... and glue went a little all over the place... but still so cute!!! Might print it off again =D yeaahhh!!!
But the designer for this, went to his website... and he has some REALLY crazy things going on...

YEAH!!! Paper people... like... not even box like at all... WTF?!?!?!

... Alison's new craze... Paper Toys... Until I get some stuffing and upholstering thread... Then I'm onto Sock dolls =)
Unleashing my artsy side again... just not in 2D form... A bit stiffling.
Most of them remind me of those Vinyl toys that look %$&*ING SWEET!!! But are very expensive... =( I still kind of want them...

Green Peas!

I Count...

2009-09-29T23:53:00.002+08:00

4 Teeners sitting outside work at 10:30pm on a Tuesday night...
Do they have nothing better to do?!

3 "Bull" Nose Rings... (counted 7 walking around the city)... The new craze... Bull nose rings... Alison says no.

3 Occasions of Alison nearly having an accident due to C-Zine. I swear it wasn't this bad last season.

2 Paper cuts...

1 Major Assignment... That I do not care for... absolutely do not care for...

From Somewhere Discrete

2009-09-25T23:35:00.002+08:00

Hiding from the looming assessments... they're looking for me!
ARGH!!!

In other news...
Kinder Suprises are no longer Kinder Suprises... more like Kinder Disappointment...
=(

except I will... WILL make a Utility belt from the capsules... they're made so they don't break into 2 seperate top and bottom parts... and you can link them to eachother =D

and they're yellow...

Alison will have an awesome Utility Belt...

Now to continue hiding... ssssssssshhhhhhhhh... don't tell them I was here!

Peas.

Itch Itch Here, Itch Itch There

2009-09-09T01:09:00.002+08:00

Itchiness... Check.
Runny nose... Check.
Groggy sinuses... Check.
Watery eyes... Check.
Sneezing... Check.
September... Check.
Flowers blooming... Check.

Oh... Oh... IT'S HAY FEVER SEASON!!!

BOOO... I feel all icky and itchy and sniffly.

No peas.

Culinary Adventures

2009-09-07T16:26:00.002+08:00

Diabetes... Yes Please!!!

...

Oh Lord.

Peas.

**EDIT :

Blog that my friend (Lil Andrew/No Tears/Jizz Bun) and I have started since we get up to crazy things.
Mostly crazy ideas when Lunch/Dinner is involved.
Crazy and usually unhealthy.

Down Time

2009-09-06T12:03:00.003+08:00

And so before I repeat last week with the crazy assignments due...
I decided hmm, no let's not go to another 21st or another 20th or whatever birthday party is on this Saturday night...

Let's go play Street Fighter IV at Jason's place and get home by 11pm. To go sleep.

Awesome.

I party with SFIV instead of you.

I am so glad I do not own a console... That plays SFIV. PC does not count.

Peas.

One Long Marathon

2009-09-02T00:20:00.004+08:00

...but sprinting it.

I think my body has given up on me. My metabolism is all crazy and my brain just doesn't seem to cooperate anymore. I'm not sleeping properly at all and I'm not feeling cold like I should. In other words, oh boy do I feel a little ill.

It's been 2 and half weeks of craziness and I can feel it in me bones. Not really my bones but my brain. Definitely my brain.
Late nights studying and early wake ups have gotten my body to say "YES TO 4hrs SLEEP! I'LL JUST CRASH LATER ON!!!" Even 10hrs of sleep didn't help at all.

Just a little longer, let me finish off my Physical Activity and Health assignment and sit my tests =( I promise to let you sleep in... on Monday.
Monday is my sleep in day. It is awesome. Except that because it's only Monday and the rest of the week is riddled with less than 5 hrs sleep, it doesn't make up for it.

18ths and 21sts are still coming along the way and more assignments too! CAAs aren't ceasing and I don't think I'll be having a break until the end of the semester.

THEN I'll go into hibernation and wake up to Summer. =D

Also it seems like I may be heading off to Sydney late January.

By the way. City to Surf 12kms, Walk = 2hrs.

Peas.

The System Works Against Me

2009-08-10T10:32:00.004+08:00

Or I could just have been having a really crappy week.

1. Facebook was crashing on me for 3 days straight.

2. Phone is dying epically.
Well, the screen is dying... and randomly starts working again... but really I can hardly do anything because I can't see!!!

3. Can't book online on Qantas?!?!
DAMN YOU GENERIC ERROR!!!
Did get me phone service charge free though... hihihihi... Ohhh yeah! They charge $30 to pay over the phone?!?!?! Disgusting!!!

4. Sick.
Though hitting 3rd day and I'm feeling less crappy.

5. Dee is in hospital.
Fine... but in hospital...

6. No-Tears (Andrew) was hospitalised for an Asthma attack.
But now he's on drugs for a week. Hilariously on drugs.

Though I went to see G.I. Joe with fellow sick compatriates which was AWESOME!!! Snake Eyes rules!!! So whoever was in that cinema probably got Swiney.
I don't think I have swiney though. No fever, just plugged up sinuses and coughing... and that groggy feeling you get from having your sinuses blocked.

And even though I was sick, I still ended up eating Pancakes... and Tiara and I had this stupid idea to eat it with cheesecake on top.

Which was delicious.

Completely unhealthy (and I had to write it in my Diet Diary) but DELICIOUS!!!

Seriously! It is yum! I wouldn't do it all the time... but it's just really yummy! And I guess a bit expensive because we had Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Shop which is a tad bit pricey... But we were trying to get rid of it all...

Peas.

Back on the Books

2009-08-03T23:47:00.003+08:00

Apart from back at work, getting on top of the book world etc. etc.

Back at uni getting on top of uni stuff.

So far I know... I have to record my EATING HABITS for 4 days over the course of the weekend. I shall start Thursday. Not only do I have to record what I eat, but how long I ate, what I felt like before and after and felt during the day.

Also I have to record my Physical Activity for 2 weeks. Including how many steps I take during the day. Woohoo!!! Luckily I already HAVE a pedometer!

But the worse thing is, I have to take note of when I'm sitting down, for how long, standing, incidental "physical activity" like if I'm cleaning and going up and down ladders/stairs at work etc. etc. Obviously including exercise, running, jogging, rock climbing, kung fu and so on.

In Nutrition, about half my tutorials are cooking. =D

And I still haven't figured out what Practice of Public Health is... got to do with Health Promotions.

Lots of work!!!

Peas.

Power Rangers Electronica-fied

2009-07-23T23:18:00.001+08:00

Hihihihihi... I love this.
Kind of old though. But still! Hihihihihi

It's Just Angst Now

2009-07-22T09:25:00.002+08:00

I feel old.

Twenties.

Hmm... Two Zero.

Yup that's all I got.
Woo I'm not a teen anymore!

Peas.

East Coast

2009-07-18T22:17:00.004+08:00

Quick run down...

Flight was good. Had 2 burly men sitting to my left. I picked aisle seat... Toilet access is better. And you NEVER know with the toilet! I mean I'd rather be able to get to the toilet easier than stare out the window. Which is usually the same... airport, trees, city, trees... clouds... clouds... clouds...
I managed to muster up some doodling and reading on the plane... "Without Warning" by Birmingham... Using sketchbook more as a log. NICE PAPER! Thanks to KingADZ. I know I know... I actually bought a Sketchbook designed for "Urban Street Art" travelling. *smacks forehead* Oh well... Paper is fooking nice! Thick and smooth. God I love smooth thick paper.
Cartridge is shite!!!

First night... had Japanese in Chatswood. Touch screen menus... Funky!
Ailis and I settled in for the night.

Wednesday: Took Ail to MCA (got lost...) How did I NOT see the GIANT MCA building?!?!?!
Well found it anyway, artsy stuff is awesome. Circ. Quay is... Circ. Quay and Syd. Opera House is... Syd Opera House. Yeah that's all I got for you. Awesome cloud cover though!

Went to Bootleg in Kings Cross with Ki + some (Jesse & SooSan) for AWESOME DINNER!!!
I had Fasili Pasta with Mushroom, Truffle Oil and Cream Sauce and dessert was BANOFFEE PIE!!!

Thursday: Surry Hills for coffee and breakfast at Single Origins. Oxford St trek! Got funky ass sneakers! Then to Bondi Junction... bought Oakleys... Went to Max Brenner... Chocolate by the Bald Man.
Newtown for "Vegan Dinner"... Which was all asian food so it wasn't... anything... special for me anyway... Oooh popped into "Maple" funky store. Got a funky hat =)

Friday: Took it fairly easy... went to Chatswood, bought tacky $5 sunnies... Ail and I both for French Manicures... I just wanted to get my cuticles cut and cleaned... but Why not do something different? I do miss my orange nails though. Tempted to go get my nails funk-dee-fied... Funk-dee-fied orange of course!
Dinner was at The Chelsea Hotel Club... very swish and awesome... Burger is MASSIVE in vertical ways... not horizontal/chubbers way.

Saturday: Went to MANLY to find NUTS! Kidding. Went to Barefoot cafe... was very awesome! Lunch at the Bench, went to Manly markets. Saw some pretty cool rings. Then went to Paddington Market. Saw an AWESOME bubble skirt!
Then home, a little Mario Kart, a little Wii Tennis before some Thai and some gelato!

Peas.

Muffins from Heaven

2009-07-14T01:17:00.003+08:00

9 hrs til my flight to Sydney.
8 Days til I am 20.

Besides the point. Cantina have the best muffins. I am serious. Especially if you go early and it's fresh out of the oven. Gourmet muffins that taste like Pancakes!
Yesterday I had one... That had a custard filling.

Yes... Custard in the middle of a muffin.

GENIUS!!!

I must steal their recipes. Apply to work as a kitchen hand... and secretly take notes on their glorious muffins!!! *droooool*

I suggest you getting yourself a Cantina Muffin. Heaven!!!

Peas.

Still not there!

2009-07-13T13:28:00.002+08:00

Turning 18 was awesome.
Turning 19 was overrated.
Turning 20 has yet to come.

9 Days left of Teen angst!!!

Flying out tomorrow, quite excited, I don't know if I have packed enough... Pretty sure I have though. I need socks. I'll buy socks over there.

I also quite sure I've packed under the check-in weight. Last time I managed to pack 9kg in 1 suitcase. That was summer though. I think my BRAND NEW NIKE PINK SPORTS BAG!!! (Props to Daana & Isaac) is 7kgs. I haven't finished packing my suitcase, but all my clothes are done in the BRAND NEW NIKE PINK SPORTS BAG!!! If only there was a giant orange or a giant green one. But nah, this 1 is awesome... and PINK!!!

yeah pink.

Squee~ ... Wait... Did Ali just squee at pink? Mmm... Weird.

Peas!

Fail

2009-07-07T23:55:00.002+08:00

Human Biology = Pass
Psychology = Credit
Epidemiology = Distinction
Health Science Communications = High Distinction

... Chemistry = Supplementary Exam required.

Guess when Chemistry Supp is? Yes... When I'll be in Sydney!!!

RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE RAGE!!!

WIN

2009-07-07T09:46:00.006+08:00

Instant Failed my driving assessment. Oh well. The only bad part was putting up with mother's lecturing. She could at least say "There's always next time" but no.
She just has to continue talking and talking and even "demonstrating" how to reverse out of a parking spot. WHICH I DIDN'T FAIL AT.

So biggest thing was not stopping at a carpark stop sign that was on the road. Damn you City West carpark! But I stop at stop signs that are red! But not the ones on the road.

1 down, x to go!

Apart from that down fall, I did win State and National Championship (Female/Adult Division) at AKWF, but that won't get me a driving licence. The Senior Female that won in her division overall was better than me, she's scary. I like her!
Also yes, I did get Gold in all 4 events.
B1 was saying it was sort of default anyway, but I competed against someone else so it's not default. If I made a major mistake I would've been gone.

Also I reckon if the judging was done properly, I would've been gone, or the bench mark would have probably been set lower. Stupid Chinese Boxing Rattail judge!!!
There should be a standard way of judging and NO LAST MINUTE CHANGES TO THE RULES!!!

And the stupid mat. STUPID MAT. I dislike it. Was talking to another competitor and she said she found it very annoying. Thankyou! I rest my case. I like it in the way you can do fun stuff and not hurt yourself, but not for doing forms on. It sucks doing forms on mats.

Another thing, organisation! Was shocking. Very disorganised, Reggie was saying not even the school Instructors (I will call them) could tell him if some competitors were there or not.
Going over time in my opinion could have been avoided. For example, reducing the number of demonstrations. STUPID DEMONSTRATIONS! Oh I know, not having music blasting in the background when people are still competing!

It was a tad distracting doing my staff form. I got to the end and completely went blank... Very hard to ignore music playing that loudly in an echo-ee stadium. Damn Tai Chi just stopped completely and let it pass. But no, we were running behind time so we had to charge through. Well if there wasn't so many boring as demonstrations, and inbetween free form fighting which really broke up the flow of the day. STUPID DEMONSTRASTIONS!!!

Yes I really dislike demonstrations... Really Really Really dislike it.

Free Form Fighting was pretty cool, minus how boring it got when there wasn't us shouting and yelling. "WE WANT BLOOOOOOOOOOD!!!" Most of it did end up looking like street fighting, lots of techniques flew out the window with that. The judging was shite for that too.
"Uhhhh I think Red wins... yes..."
Yet again, some standards need to be made and kept.

Overall it was a good day, minus all the hiccups in the actual event planning which could have been avoided (C'mon guys, it's the 3rd year!) and I did prance away with glory.

Oh yes, hilarious how many people went "Are you seriously competing in sneakers?" I wore Converse chucks still and even though they are generally heavier than other shoes that I could have worn, they feel good. They feel stable and they make me feel wicked.
Though I will probably have a further look into other shoes. Also for the better part of the year I have been wearing chucks to training. Which isn't that great of an idea. But some grinding down the sole and wearing them in a lot helps. They're not ideal for mats either. Stupid mats.

In total, Yaolin kicked butt. Again.
We got Adult Male & Female State & National Championships.
Youth Male & Female State & National Championships.
= 8 Trophies.
And god knows how many medals.

Peas.

Gravity? Never Heard of It.

2009-06-30T01:16:00.003+08:00

So found out there's another climbing gym near my house.
11.5m of awesomeness! Bouldering is 3m and GOD I WANT TO CHECK IT OUT!!! ARRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

Apparently Rockface (Northbridge) is 10m and The Hangout (Bayswater) ... is unknown. Silly site has no info pretty much. It shows in their slow route turnovers and scary ropes that run. Yeah you really have to hold onto those ropes whilst belaying.
But there is Urban Ascent (Bassendean) just another 5minute ish drive from The Hangout! It looks like fun... It sounds like fun... Want want want!!!

On another note, Sydney's Indoor Climbing Gym, so brilliantly named Sydney Indoor Climbing Gym... has an average of 14m in height, highest being 16m, 100 top rop routes, 250 routes in total and 70 lead climbs and a 4.5m Bouldering wall! FUN!!!

Also Hardrock CBD in Melbourne (passed it when I was there and just stood on the corner staring at it through the window in awe) just looks plain awesome. Their site has no info really. But that pinnacle... looks SWEEEEEEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Should really get into actual rock climbing instead of just indoors... But it's a whole different game. A game i'd like to reserve for another time.

After championships, I am seriously going to thrash my body!!!

Peas.

The System is Flawed

2009-06-29T14:20:00.005+08:00

Oh Curtin Curtin, how you have done it again.
This time by increasing the chance of me having a crap timetable!

For one, I usually register for classes as soon as possible, even before the official date! Lets me get good spots and also not as much lagging.

But no.

You just have to ruin it by ALLOCATING days when a student can register to stop e-student from slowing down. E-student itself is already slow anyway so what's the point?
Also by allocated days, it doesn't allow students equal chances of getting the classes they want since it's first in, best dressed system but now more of a... Whoever we let in first, best dressed.

Some classes are already full and I myself have to wait til the 9th of July to register.

This is some bullshit!

I dearly do hope that there will be spots in the classes I want. Or else someone is going to be missing a lot of classes due to overlapping. Overlapping like playing Mario Kart Rainbow track drunk and getting overlapped thrice.

LET ME REGISTER NOW!!!

On another note, AKWF Championships are this Saturday and Sunday at Curtin's new stadium. I believe this time around it is both State and Nationals.
Saturday is reserved for Sanshou and WuShu and Sunday is Free Form Fighting and Traditional Kung Fu.
*Butterflies*
I'm competing in Traditional with the usual 3 forms: Bare Hand, Staff, Bench.
I don't think I'll ever be good at sword and getting torn muscles along my right back didn't help in that. So Bench it is!
And then there is the Sparring set with Daana, Straight Sword vs Staff.
I hope all goes well and I will survive, or at least have enough stamina to last 4 forms...
I don't think so either!

Peas.

Freeeeedooooommmmm!!!

2009-06-13T00:03:00.002+08:00

...

Oh yeah.

I hope my results are okay!

and...

and...

I've booked my drivers prac test for 25th June.

Peas!

Procrastinating Part III

2009-06-09T23:50:00.005+08:00

13hrs til my next exam...

I know these have been out for a while... But I want these!!!

(Colours to be varied... but I am liking Orange Headphones)

Yes! Not just "Beats by Dr Dre" ... But "Beats by Dr Dre" COLORWARE -ified! Obviously an American company. Beats by Dr Dre, going by the Australian Apple store site is going for $599.95AUD. Which is funny because if I go by the exchange rate at the moment, I could get a brand new pair from Colorware, Colorware-ified, and it will only hit around $600-700AUD. So I said, why not get orange ones instead of the standard black, though I wouldn't mind black and orange, it does look smoking!!!

... and then you find out what else Colorware can do!!! It makes you want to buy lots of stuff... They also do Nintendo DS, Blackberry, Wii, XBox etc. etc. etc. etc.

PEAS!!!

Procrastinating Part II

2009-06-08T22:52:00.002+08:00

16hrs until my next Exam.

Procrastinating

2009-06-04T22:36:00.003+08:00

As a normal university student, one would hope that they will study.
I believe if you actually study during study break, WITHOUT procrastinating, you are not normal.

I thought I'd make another run down:
I bought sneakers... It's been a while. They're Converse Chucks.
Black Hi-Tops. Boring. Unlike me, I know.

I am addicted to Cue skirts. They're so lazy yet stylish and spillage is never a problem, just flick it off, brush it down and tada! Material also makes them very space economical. You can scrunch them up suprisingly small.

Banana Smoothie please!

I cut Daana's thumb during out sparring set. We were going slow... Don't know what happened but it's a blunt munted straight sword, I must've been swinging pretty hard because there was a clean cut. Then a few moves later... BLOOD!!!
Oh god I am so sorry! It's a deep cut. Very deep cut. Lots of blood. Cringe.

Alan asked me to chop his arm later. Obviously oblivious to the event of me slicing Daana's thumb.

I want to climb. I am SO brain dead from studying and all this kung fu training is making me want to go jump off a cliff or do some climbing, bouldering even, and I don't really like bouldering.

I have a pedometer. It's pink. Oh yes... Alison is serious about running.
After running aimless for a while, I decided it's about time I keep track of how far I run.

Exam papers bore me to bits.

I had a craving for plain rice and soy sauce. Strange.

I know I have HD'ed 1 unit. Health Science Communications 180! Oh yeah! Soooooo unbelievably easy!

Peas!

Home Sweet Home

2009-06-02T10:59:00.002+08:00

Finally have my computer back and it's all a matter of slowly making it MINE again inbetween all my studying.
So far it's more of an empty chassis than anything as when I turn my computer on all I do is immediately go online and hit the books.

Just a quick run down of what I've been up to besides the usual work, uni and training... ish

- Trying to not get sick (slightly failed since I have a slight cough... but luckily nothing TOO major as of yet)
- Finished my sparring form, all that is left is to polish it with a metal brush
- Tung's 21st of Steamboating goodness and made Sylvia throw up on 2 shots of 42 Below. Yikes. Sorry...
- Actually organising my Birthday party EARLY... REALLY EARLY...
- Baking failed Cookies... Choc Milk makes it taste good but not look good... Nor does M&Ms chucked in at THE START.
More sugar and refined ingredients needed for softer cookies and less kneading...
- Saw Star Trek. (Awesome... Minus the whole... Kirk is hanging off an edge like 5 times in the movie... bad script writing?)

And that's All for now Folks... Ali must rush off to her Human Biology Test... (Not exam)

Green Peas.

Whinge

2009-05-15T00:21:00.003+08:00

1) I feel ill. Flu ill but NOT flu ill. Flu-ness minus cold symptoms. People keep going "have some yada yada, it will help with your sore throat" "take cold/flu tablets"... But I don't have a sore throat! Nor that much of a runny nose...
I think just general mental/physical fatigue... Caffeine still hasn't been fully utilised. 2 coffees all week.

2) Sleep? No... no sleep.

3) What happened to keeping up? Uh well, I was, til assignments rolled in. Ali does not like assignments.

4) Physiotherapist loosened up my back muscles... too much. She said "you'll feel sore tonight to maybe tomorrow morning but it shouldn't last for more than 24 hrs". This was Tuesday. It is now Friday. My back still is sore, back to square, maybe square 3.

5) Past week, labs have been so long that I haven't finished them during Lab. Speed Lab team is still speedy, but not speedy enough.

6) Ali's exam timetable:
Week 1: Monday Chemistry, Tuesday Human Biology, Wednesday Human Biology Lab, Friday Epidemiology...
Week 2: None...

WAH!

Speed Uni

2009-05-04T19:20:00.003+08:00

How I love getting out of classes earlier than anticipated. Of course I still manage to finish all my work but it really makes me feel good when I walk out of class whilst everyone else is still scribbling.

Or in Human Biology labs, my, what I nickname "Speed Lab Team" finish a station then start doing another station whilst another group is there, and manage to finish it off as well before they finish.

Or when you finish your Chemistry lab 30 minutes early including all your calculations and half the class is still drying out their product.

Or when you walk into a CAA (Computer Assisted Assessment) and then 10 minutes later walk out with a 70%+ score.
Though walking up to level 5 is annoying. But so much faster than taking the elevator.

*stretch* It's so wonderful!

Peas.

Wolverine Hiss.

2009-05-03T01:23:00.006+08:00

Let's clear this up.

Xmen Origins : Wolverine.

... Awesome movie. Loved it! They did it really really well!!!

but.

They killed my favourite characters. Oh I'm SORRY I don't really go for Wolverine or Spiderman or Cyclops, I prefer the side-ish characters. For example. Deadpool.

Okay so I do like Batman/Superman (more so Batman) but... but... Nightwing is awesome plus DC universe doesn't get their whole superheroes/supervillians via... The Mutant Gene. No they make up these crazy characters that are not mutants.

Not to say I dislike Marvel (except Spiderman) so uh I loved the movie, fan of the xmen series, they did a really decent job, hard to do that, a lot of comic based movies have gone to shits so I was quite suprised when they started picking them up and doing them properly (except Spiderman and Superman Returns... S T U P I D ! ! ! )

So had very high hopes for Wolverine. As a movie, it was great... Awesome! But I was REALLY distracted by the fact they stuffed up everything else. I mean I can tell they were trying to give it all a new look and all... but uh... Tried WAY too hard. *cries*

=== *Spoiler Warning* ===

Agent Zero: They never really played on Agent Zero's powers... Just made it look like he's a sharp shooter... which he is. But that's it.
Though Daniel Henney is SO hot! Really... he is. Also he dies and he's supposed to be part of Weapon X program (dies a few times... has several aliases...) and he doesn't agree to hunting Wolverine and dislikes Sabretooth to the M A X . So okay not that bad... but they killed him. Not David North/Marevick die... but AGENT ZERO die.

Gambit: Looks gay. Not enough card exploding. Card tricks awesome yeah and the whole machine gun card firing... wicked. But that's it! For the rest of the time he's jumping around and his staff looks gay. Looks like some half thief half magician. Also... uh... what happened to the Guild of Theives? They just made him into a gambler...

okay okay so the worse thing is my fave Marvel character got the MOST destroyed.

Deadpool/Wade Wilson: E P I C F A I L ! ! ! ! !

L et me explain. Summary of Deadpool, Wade Wilson got cancer, volunteered himself to Weapon X in hopes of curing cancer via Wolverine's healing abilities. Experient failed so got thrown into prison with other failed experiments. Deadpool arrived from the deadpool game at prison.
NOT pooling all mutant genes into himself!!! ARGH!!! ANGRY!!!

And wtf? They made him silent. HE'S SUPPOSED TO TALK!!! A LOT!!! That's the whole point! He just won't shut up! And what happened to the ninja costume? EPIC FAIL! His mask, ended up being his actual face. So they sew up the lips and it's just his eyes with torn sockets really.
AAAANNNNDDD He DOESN'T GET ADAMANTIUM!!! Nor Cyclops powers...

He's just a smart aleck that talks a lot and has superhuman strength and Wolverine's healing abilities... but maximised. Ie. He actually doesn't die from dicapitation. He's that awesome and he teleports via a device not power.

HOW CAN YOU GET THAT SO WRONG?!?!?!?! They also turned him into an android thing!

WTF WTF WTF!!! A N G R Y ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Should have kept it more simple instead of destroying everything... even if it's just to make Wolverine better. But they also kill off pretty much everyone... AGAIN with the everyone must die to make it epic. NOOO!!!

I'm going to go read some comics and make myself happy again.

=====

WATCH WOLVERINE. It really is a good movie.

Elbow Grease : Issue 7 : The Move

2009-04-27T21:23:00.004+08:00

I finally got a majority of my moving done. Slowly settling into my new bedroom. It's more so, half of it is mine. Not really my bedroom. Still sort of a cross between a store room and a room. No really, even my old room was a store room as well.

I went through a LOT of stuff. A LOT. Still not done yet either. But ahh Chemistry mid semester exam hails me to study. I found a lot of old stuff, which promptly got thrown away, it took me, 2/3 hours to fill up a bin? /2 bins. The general waste bin and the recycling bin.

My nose is very sniffly from all the dust. *Atchoo*

Most of my things are still in boxes and bags. I must say, the biggest problem was shoes. Shoes and books. I've practically filled 2 full shelves and a smaller one and I have still more books to shelve. I'm thinking another shelf would be nice.

I got myself a nice Malm bed frame from Ikea in Black/Brown. Yes, just like Jason's... Only it's a lonely single bed. It's a low bed, which actually forces me to not shove things under the bed. So I only actually get one row of shoe boxes. Which sort of sucks. Before it was 3 rows under the bed. But not anymore.

Also I'm downsizing my study table. The large office table was sweet, lots of room... For mess. So I'm opted to get a smaller one. Which also means fitting in another shelf is easy. Only problem is the one I wanted was out of stock. So I've been sitting on the hard wooden cold floor for a good 2 hours.

Though just now I decided it was time my butt got a break and moved my screen next to my bed. My sexy new Malm bed. Even the name sounds so soothing. "Malm".

Malm.

Back to studying Chemistry. I shall continue my shift tomorrow after a short day at uni. Yay for 1 Tute Tuesdays.

Sunday Morning Drive

2009-04-20T23:40:00.004+08:00

Yesterday was one of the most exhilarating days ever. It was almost like a mini 1 day-er Chinese New Year. Minus Lions.

But... PLUS DRAGON!!!

Cramping into the bus with the Dragon proved slightly awkward to begin with, but as it went on it felt pretty normal to be heading out with a Dragon. Performing at FKS Buddha's Birthday Festival was quite epic.

I see a wall of Rainbow!

I must say, I get hit with nerves pppppprrrreeeetttyyy badly. I had butterflies from when I set foot onto Supreme Court Gardens, right til a couple moves into the routine. After that... BLITZ!!!

Rawr!

Amazingly it was a crazily good performance! I haven't really done any performances for a long time. Make that 4 years! Yup, the last time I actually did a "dance" was 4 ish? Pushing 5 years ago for Lion Dance! Oh my!

Sunday was the day! Legends were made, standards were met, benchmarks set, lamb ribs eaten...

Nothing beats a good BBQ after a wicked 20 minute Dragon Dance ON Buddha's Birthday. Yes, no Vegies for us!

A balanced meal of 1 part Salad, 3 parts Meat.

And what do we do after we are filled on Chicken, pork and tasty Kanga Lamb Ribs? We go and do it all again! This time under the beating hot sun of 4:30pm. Sweating like crazy, we managed to give the crowd what they wanted, a Dragon Dance. And a Dragon Dance they DID GET!!!

2x20minute Dragon Dance
1x2minute Dragon Dance
= ... How did we do it?!?!?! Pure Yaolin Awesomeness!!!

... and maybe some Kanga Lamb Ribs. They are tasty. Tasty indeed.

Thanks to Si Sook Karen, we also got a delicious dinner at Four Seasons. Sago there is the bomb!

Tada!

Peas!

Minty Freshness

2009-04-08T01:50:00.004+08:00

So what am I still doing up at 1:50am?

Uh... stupid ideas happen when you should be sleeping. I decided to try out this thing everyone has been banging on about.

Toothpaste on pimples.

So far, I'm 5minutes into it. Just applied some where the pimples are (omg Alison has pimples?) HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL PEOPLE I DO NOT HAVE FLAWLESS SKIN?!?!?!

Anyway, so uh, was reading a few site and such, and lots of reviews say it really burns. But it's more of a refreshing minty cooling "burn". After awhile it stops being all cooling. Pain receptors slow down their impulse after awhile. So duh. Still... there is a moderate amount of reviews saying it burns like hell... What toothpaste are they using? They must have super sensitive skin.
Another "problem" is that it's really sticky. I wonder how they have been washing it off.

Well, it's been on for 15minutes. Lets see what it did...

*drum roll*

... Uh... hey... it preeeeeetty much works.
Rinsing? Easy. No stickiness what so ever.
Skin feels smooth and tingly fresh =D
Redness has gone down a bit.
Slightly dry, but moisturiser will help that.

So uh, all it really does is dry out the pimple. I don't have sensitive skin (Combination skin) and uh, burning? pfft whatever, also the extent of my Acne is, 2 - 3 pimples. Though I did put it over my nose to test this on black heads, I should've taken a proper look before doing it so I don't know if it did anything in that area. Tomorrow I'll retest.

... Though the best thing is still Salicylic Acid or Benzyl Peroxide. I won a Freddo in yr 8 Chemistry for that Benzyl Peroxide answer to "What is the most effective chemical for acne?"
=D eh eh eh? Don't quote me.

If you're wondering, I also use Neutrogena Deep Clean Foaming Cleanser and Neutrogena Rapid Clear Spot Gel... and Swiss Ives Facial Scrub. Totally abrasive. Maybe not such a good thing, only use it occasionally. Mild scrubs a lot friendlier to your skin.

Peas.

Bad Hair Days

2009-04-07T12:34:00.005+08:00

What what? Double post? OMG!
I try not to double post, but I am oh so bored!

Studying Epidemiology & Biostatistics is the HARDEST thing ever! I have to say it is even harder than studying Physics. Why? BECAUSE IT IS SO B O R I N G!!! Check this, I remember 1 lecture where the lecturer spent 20mins... TWENTY!!! minutes to explain MEAN, MODE and MEDIAN! WTF WTF WTF?!?!?!?! Totally zzz-able. All the sleep I don't get at night, gets done in EB lectures... and Human Biology and Psychology lectures. hehehehehe

EB is so weird because it's statistics, so there's maths involved. I don't mind maths, it's just boring, that's it. It's not that it's hard, just boring. MATHS IS NOT HARD KIDS! Love maths and it will love you =)
So anyway, this boring side of it, leads to my downfall in anything maths related. Teach it to me and I'll be able to do it, give me an hr and I would have found something else to do. Which is followed by me forgetting the whole thing.

AND EB also includes all those fancy graphs and excel/SPSS stuff. How the hell is a CAA (Computer Assisted Assessment) supposed to test that? CAA's are multiple choice (which makes them hell easy! but annoying) I mean will it go...

"Hypothesis: There has been no significant change in the numbers of smokers from 1964 to 2009" How will you test this theory with the provided chart?
a) Run a 2-t-test with category x etc etc.
b) Make 2-Variable graph
c) Make a histogram
d) all of the above.

If they do that, that is so unbelievably stupid!!! I wish I could throw the computer out the window without incurring any consequences.

So I quitted studying Epidemiology and dyed my hair back to black.

Uh, and yes, my hair wasn't black since... hmmm... around October? When I got that funky angled cut and dyed it Blue Black. Which isn't really black. But after that it's been various shades of Brown, Red and Reddy-Purple was the last it was.

This no cutting my hair resolution is taking a toll on me. I'm getting bored and it's at an ugly length/style (will be nice when it GROWS but not now...) all I can do is colour colour colour colour colour colour colour... No, I won't even trim it. I don't get split ends. I remember once upon a time I did... but I haven't had split ends since then. Not even trim my fringe, I want that to grow too.

Note: Black or any Dark hair colourant is the most annoying to deal with.

... could so go for some Street Fighter right now... and a wood fire pizza.
WANT!!!

Peas.

Vitamin H2O

2009-04-07T00:34:00.005+08:00

I have found the cure to my forever crave of tasty water!

Aqua Pura Vitamin H2O! It fills in the gap that Mizone left when I stopped Mizone. I don't really remember why, but I used to love Mizone (especially when I played Netball... yes I played netball... in my younger years... ew) but after that, I seemed to have stopped drinking it. Plus the last time I drank it, it tasted funny. Oh yeah, what's this Mizone Rapid? Looks like Gatorade/Powerade to me.

Once upon a time. Mizone was tasty.

What's so great about Vitamin H2O? Well particularly their Lemon Lime flavour (I love my citrus flavours!) it doesn't taste like watered down cordial and they don't add sugar to make up for it! It's just yummy! I was quite suprised by it. Usually these vitamin waters (not Isotonics/Electrolytes) taste like watered down cordial and make me want to throw it all back up... or throw the bottle at someone.
It's like they added a drop of cordial to 600mL!!! BOO!!!

Now to throw it all off, I tried Cranberry Pomegranate Vitamin H2O today. It wasn't as tasty as Lemon Lime. But not as weak cordial tasting as usual. It was sweet, but not TOO sweet. I think I'll stick to Lemon Lime. It's satisfying my crave just right.

My new FAD. Not the Glaceau Vitamin Water. They're GROSS!

Why do I like these Vitamin water thingos? Well, I don't particularly like drinking soft drinks (I'll have a can every now and then... but for example, I hate Coke)... I don't drink Isotonics unless I'm exercising and there's a limit to how much juice you can drink. Really, there is. When you start drinking 1L cartons of juice straight up as 1 serving? That's not good... I also do drink enough water, but water can get boring. I HATE energy drinks. Redbull is a no go and anything like that... *shudder* Plus I don't need it, even if I am totally knackered, I don't need to drink a Redbull to get me going.

And... Vitamin H2O is owned by Bickford's. I like their Blackcurrant fizzy thingos. Mmm. But not so good for me.

Note: Isotonic solutions usually are equal to Tonicity levels in your body. So uh... It's "normal". Usually Isotonics aren't that different in Tonicity levels to you body. So if you're dehydrated, water is equal to drinking Isotonics. You want the drink for electrolytes and salts. So if you're doing VIGOROUS sweat breaking exercise, drink Gatorade/Powerade. *nods*

Hehehehe Yes I have TOTALLY BEEN STUDYING!!!

Peas.

Stop... Hammer Time!

2009-04-05T23:32:00.004+08:00

I haven't blogged much about uni, which is strange. Since it has taken up... Hmm, most my life? Was thinking I should, too many people ask me about it...
So I have 17 contact hours per week... x6 = 102hrs (so far) not including outside hours.

Say for the past 6 weeks, a normal week for me would be...
Monday: 3hr Lab at 10, break for 3 hrs, Classes 3-6pm, Study til 8/9ish.

Tuesday: Get to uni at 10am and study til my 2pm class, after? Study some more til 8ish!

Wednesday: Are the shittiest days, Lecture 10am with a 5 hr break til my next lecture, 4-6pm. And every fortnight there is a Chem thing due in 11am on Wednesdays, which means I usually end up at going at 9am... I'm SO not a nerd!
And then it's a rush home for training! Sweet~

Thursday: ... or Chemday. Chem tute followed by my Chem lab! Which goes through 11am - 3pm. Late lunches, yum-o! I also get to uni at 10am (I have this, get to uni way earlier than I need to be habit going on) I also usually stay an extra couple of hours studying too after my crazy Lab.

Friday: Start 10am, break 2 hrs, 2 lectures 1-4pm. Training at 6:30pm! or... Work til 12am.

Saturday: Work either 9 - 5 or 5 - 12. Must emphasize this, Friday and Saturday nights are the WORSE shifts. I get very agro and cranky after taking any of these 2 shifts. Which leads me to...

Sunday: By now I am in fairly poor condition. I either work 9 - 5 or 11 - 3, which ever, it does not matter. I will still be utterly useless. This craziness is followed by training.

The average total of hours I spend at uni per week racks up to be around 40hrs.

Nerd much?

I still haven't added in any time spent at home studying either. We'll just leave it at that.
40hrs already sounds bad.

With all that, I must say I do love it. I am entirely thanking myself for switching courses! Even with the amount of work I have to do, I still like it.

For example... Chemistry is a total Bi-Atch! But I still have fun in it, Labs are crazy especially with my Lab supervisor purposely freaking us out, I do break a sweat in that class, but I totally love playing with glass ware and bunsen burners. My Physical Chem lecturer is strange, I can't figure out what he says because of his crazy accent. Check this... Singaporean x Beijing x... French accent??? Yes he totally could be some crazy French Asian Canadian.

Human Biol isn't as crazy (in comparison to Chem's 4 classe per week, H.Biol only has 2) and my tute/labs are awesome. I mean DNA Jigsaw puzzling? SWEET! I must say though, as much as cadavers don't freak me out, there's still an element of creepiness when you have SEVERAL cadavers in a lab room with various cuts and slices and plasticised organs. Formaldehyde isn't nice either.
Yes I have touched a cadaver without gloves on.
(note: Cadaver = Dead Human Body under research etc etc.)
Also... you know that kid in class that always had the answers to questions? And it really annoyed you because well... they knew everything (ish)... yeah, I'm one of them.

What else is there? Oh... Psychology. GOD DAMN I HATE IT! It is UTTERLY dull. My tute class is cool cause we're all health science students in a way or another so we get up to some random stuff, but the lectures = Ali catches up on her sleep debt.

You know what else knocks me right out? Either to sleep or out of the lecture room? Epidemiology and Biostatistics. My lecturer is OH SO B O R I N G. MONOTONED INDIAN ACCENT!!! WTF? Though the Comp labs aren't too bad. Excel fun! Though it is a tad too easy...

and there's Health Science Communications. My tutor is totally awesome and even though it's a 4-6pm on a Monday class, I always seem to be too hyper for it... drugged up on some form of caffeine or sugar induced high.

What else is there? Oh... I joined up the Chemistry Club. HILARIOUS!!! I don't plan on going to their events (I don't go to any really...) but... I have a Chemistry Club sticker! I feel so nerdy and cool! *cough*

The sickest thing that has been recently added to Curtin?
30" LCD SCREENS DUALLED WITH 21" WACOM TABLETS!!!
OMFG!!! OMFG!!! OMFG!!!
I have had some sweet times with those!!! ... no no artwork has been officially produced on those babies. Maybe I will go wreck some havoc over this break.

Oh... So what am I doing?
Bachelor of Health Science... doing my first year in Nutrition and Health Promotions.
Where am I going? To do my 4th year, Dietetics.
So what do I become? A dietician... An Accredited Practising Dietician (APD)
What do I do? Charge $$$ for diet consultancy. Give me $50 and I'll tell you to stop eating Maccas with DAA backing me up.
Kidding. I'll probably end up working in a hospital.

Hope that fills in most of the questions I keep getting asked.

Peas.

OH OH OH...
AKWF 4th - 5th July (more info coming soon)

Never Underestimate Hang Time

2009-03-24T18:02:00.005+09:00

So... uh... I went cliff jumping on Sunday.
Long story short, I was drunk when I agreed to participate in this EXTREEEEEEEME activity.

And well, I have this tendency to do crazy things for no reason. Though it is a BRILLIANT hang over cure. Just make sure you're not so hung over that you will throw up or are hindered to move.

We didn't jump from there. But that's where Brian got back up from.

So we went to Blackwall Reach (I think... don't know where it is but you can see Mosman Park) and it was only myself and another friend jumping. Which was cool, though it would be nice to have more crazy people. But then again thanks to Tiara, Andrew and David, a few snaps and videos got taken of our craziness.

The day was a really nice day and the tide wasn't too low, but it was still a good 10 or 12m drop. I somehow got myself to jump twice, and I don't think I'll be able to do it again. I want to! But I know I'll chicken out when I get to that edge.

The first jump wasn't too bad, I sort've just went for it after seeing some guy back flip into it (on a lower ledge though) and didn't think too much about it. I thought it would be pretty fast like BANG! But noo... it is a pretty long drop.
Scarily long. Like 3 seconds. THAT IS LONG!!!

I can't believe afterwards I was still ballsy enough to go for a 2nd time, even though it took me a good 5 minutes to jump off. Some dude on a boat was calling me names cause I was taking foreever to jump =(
But then some Irish dude told him off. Which was nice of him, and they were really encouraging. They were going for 5 - 10+ jumps. Bunch of nutters!!!

After knowing what it felt like to jump off a cliff, it really made the 2nd jump THAT much harder. It is scary!

Also climbing back up without ropes was fun, I took the easy way, minus the fact that if I fell I would've fallen onto sharp rocks. But that wasn't going to happen. It's like a complicated staircase. Brian (friend who I was jumping with) is freaking insane! Climbed an overhang (not once but several times... show off) and all around. Bastard!

But my god is that hang time killer. It's fast, but not fast.
No run up as well.

Peas.

[BLANK]

2009-03-21T00:43:00.003+09:00

Jeans are a wardrobes staple, and finding the best fit is always hard.
Even with... I think it's Just Jeans or whatever the other one is (I think it's Jeans West) with those funky sizes and various cuts aren't that great. Worse is trying to find straight cuts that don't try to be bootlegs or skinny legs that aren't hipsters (and cost $200+)

Also another problem is material. Yes it's DENIM. But it comes in various. Some jeans aren't stretch denim, or it's too thick, is it Raw? Washed? does it have texture or straight black? Shiny? 100% cotton?

And skinny legs are tough to fit. Well for me. You gotta buy them so they're snug snug snug snug snug snug snug snug snug... Snug. Anything bigger and after a few wears, they'll be too stretched, then you have to wash them to get them back to that fit again.

See a pair of jeans purpose is to be worn LOTS and lots and lots and lots of times with occasional washing. I am serious. They are to be worn and that is practically it.

Back to a finding a good pair of jeans. Well lets say I think I got way too many pair of jeans, they all have a purpose. There's the wide legs, the straight cut, boot leg (i think it is but I hemmed it up so it's kind of... boring cut) 3... 3 pairs of skinny legs in Black, Dark Grey and Classic washed blue jeans and I can't forget my... I haven't figured out it's cut yet. It's wider than a bootleg, not exactly flares and not straight. They're my Raw Adidas.Diesel Ronhary-AD. Actually I think they're bootleg. They're just extra long so they look kind of baggy. So that's... 7 pairs?

And guess what? Not all are a good pair. Say my Levi skinny-ish-straight cuts are really awesome, minus the fact that I can only wear it once or twice before I gotta wash it because the stretch is so crazy. They fit snuggly (kind of hard to get into) but after a days wear, I gotta chuck them in the wash. TOO much stretch.

My wide pants Levis are on the OTHER side of stretch. They don't stretch. I mean wide pants need to keep shape right? But really NO stretch. Sitting down is a bit of a challenge.

Lee Rider bootlegs? I don't know, I don't wear them anymore. They just didn't do what they were suppose to do.

Sass & Bide Dark Grey skinnies are sweet, I love them, they're awesome. BUT. They're hipsters. Can I just say I hate hipster pants/jeans. I hate hipsters. They are one of those fashion things that should have never been invented... and never continued. I mean it was based on the whole illusion of having a longer torso like a guy = skinny ish. BUT WOMEN HAVE HIPS.

Now it comes to my favourites.

Ronhary-AD. They are sweet. Though they do have considerable amounts of stretch, but not as bad as my Levis. Also love the Raw wash of it, I have already worn out the knees a bit and I love the cuff flipping (they run the 3 stripes on the bottom inside of the jeans) Except it's not yellow, like the guys' jeans.

Black [BLANK] skinnie classique crop'd. They fit amazingly well. I have never felt skinny legs feel this good. ALSO they're cropped already so they actually fit my leg length! Stupid short legs. And they have a wicked zip at the back from the upper calf right down. Mmmm mmm mmm.

and the [BLANK] straight legs. That are more skinny than straight. But they are really comfy too!!! The denim is soft (but not TOO soft) and not a lot of stretch, but just enough. A lot of good quality jeans that are pricey, tend to have super quality denim, I find them not so comfortable.

[BLANK] takes a step down and gives comfy soft thick denim with enough stretch. Also you don't have to have a body of a prepubescent boy to fit them. eg. Cheap Mondays. There are NO butts in Cheap Mondays. Literally. No butts.

I'm just a crazy fan for [BLANK] jeans now. They are so SO SO amazingly good.
And the prices aren't crazy.

Peas.