(sitting duck)

I went out with Gina on Friday evening.

By the way, I gave my dad a call before leaving the office so that he wouldn't be worried about my whereabouts. The conversation went like this...
"Dad, I'm going out with my friend tonight."
"You're a grown-up girl! Why do you ask me?"
"Well, last week you were looking for me all over the place when I wasn't home by 8:30..."
"But you don't need a permission to go out, right?"
"..." *d'oh.* "Just to let you know."
"Ah. All right, that's fine. Thank you for letting me know."
[some more babble goes here as to where I was going, what I was gonna do etc. And then...]
"So, who are you going out with?"
"A friend. From Melbourne."
"The name?"
"Gina."
"...it's a girl!"
*yeah, and..?* "Erm, do you want me to go out with a guy named Luhut... or Parlin..."
*Dad laughs* "Well, you're going out with a girl!"

That's one funny episode last weekend.

The other funny episode is when we (Gina and I) walked around for a place to eat, we came across this Chinese restaurant familiar to cash-strapped students in Melbourne. To cut it short, it redefined the way the phrase 'sitting duck' means to me.


I'm going to watch Harry Potter next Friday. As for fashion trends, my hunch has been proven right when yesterday I saw the Sunday newspaper inserts. I'm a year early with cutting forecasts ^.6 and almost two years early with the colour scheme.

Work is going on okay at the moment. More time is spent hunched, producing analysis. Sometimes I cringe when I see the financial statements. Sometimes I think what a Comm/Law graduate fully focused to work in his/her trained field thinks when the client ordered some book-cooking to make things look presentable. Is lying up for the 'better of the company and its stakeholders' definitely bad? Is it definitely good? There is no such legalistic measurements I don't think active legislations on corporate disclosure works well enough to eradicate cases like Enron. The downside of a bad clothing collection is not selling enough for a season, but for corporate lawyers/accountants/auditors the dirty laundry comes up too late for reconstructive changes [on the observe corporation] to be carried out.

By the way, someone told me that this blog is written/typed up using complicated English vocabulary. Just to let you know, I read a novel called The Historian during the weekend. The book was thoroughly littered with unfamiliar words I had to resort to a dictionnary while reading it. My mum thought I had forgotten how to communicate in English after working in a local company for months (little did she know I keep a blog in English.) I'm going to re-read the book and actively use some of the words I'm learning in this blog. Here are some examples...
opus = work (I've always thought it meant variations)
hackles = make somebody angry
Well, that's two for now... as for the book itself, I wouldn't recommend it unless if blood, gore or vampires are your thing. I'll stick to Life of Pi instead, English version please.

Going to sleep now. Lots of work to do, but looking forward to days filled with making clothes. Take care!

Someday, Someday

Got back from a four-day trip to Batu - not for autopsy, but for corporate review and budget planning. The weather over there was fine; the air clean and unpolluted. The only downside to it was that the meetings were conducted indoors, and a lot of people smoked [inside the rooms]. Yikes. Apart from the wool skirt and jumper I could not send off to the hotel's laundry, I sent everything else away to be laundered. They now smell like freshly washed clothes with a strong soapy smell... yumm... smells really like the good ol' times.

I'm coping with the disappointment of not being able to attend an Advanced class at ESMOD since I was the only person who confirmed my interests in continuing for the coming month. Hate it so much since I haven't got all the time in the world to waste away a month not learning everything. Reconsidering grudges since this would mean I have time to exercise (preferably at Mercantile due to its spanking clean changerooms.) Keeping fingers crossed so that the Advanced courses will start without delay in January. Keeping fingers crossed so that I can definitely exercise at Mercantile ^.^;

The maths of temporary pleasures are plain absurd. The amount of money I spent on Cappucino Blasts in the past fortnight was enough to fund my monthly mobile phone expenses. The amount I of money I approximately spend on comic books every month is enough to buy me one (or two) nice watercolour brushes for each of the month I buy comic books. Is the amount of pleasures one gets from eating highly tasty food (i.e. super-salted, super-sugared, super-fatted, super-spiced or super-MSGed) fair enough a benefit gained through long-term health deterioration? On the topic of the hotel's food, one thing is true for sure: the food offered sucked big time, and I will definitely choose the [relatively] tasteless and healthy food prepared at home. The OJ was simply sugared water with some yellow colouring. Yikes.

I'm also promising myself to make myself a new cocktail dress, a dressy jacket and a bag in the next month. It'll be a good set of tasks to put the skills I learnt to test... and I get something wearable out of it, too ^.^

When the weather is fine, it gets me thinking and wishing again... when will I return to Melbourne?

Against all odds, I say I definitely will.

So we've already established the fact that
things are gonna be different in the future, baby.
And you've reiterated the fact that you don't
want to get into something that's just gonna have to end later.
Now I know our lives are changing and I've seen
it coming for a while too, don't get me wrong.
And I've been going outta town baby, it's gonna happen more,
we gotta be strong but now

While I'm gone
Just be a fly on the wall
You know
I'm thinking about you

Just wait and see
You gotta hear what I say
I'm in love with you
I'm not so far away

Between You and Me

Feeling demotivated.

But then, what is felt doesn't necessarily correspond with what is actually happening in the real world. Hence, to rely solely on feelings is a rather fickle move.

I did this brain sex ID test: if your brain's a 'totally woman' brain then a score of -50 is assigned, if it is a 'totally male' then a +50 is assigned (the signs are used merely to extrapolate the differences and not to assign superiority/inferiority to one sex ID or another.) I scored a 0. Which is similar to having an androgynous way of thinking. Hmmm...

Also played quite a bit of Sudoku lately. The best time I managed to score was 4 minutes and 27 seconds, performing in the top 10% of the millions of games played without mistakes (and without pausing) for the past week. It was under the Easy mode, though, so I will rake up my courage and switch to playing the Medium mode. I wonder when I'll get to the Evil mode...

Still feeling down, though. Now let's draw... take care and thanks for your concern. I'm honestly looking, looking forward to be able to shop to my heart's will in Melbourne (and that includes Akira.) For now, I'll just do drawings of them ^.^;

Sorrow is a lonely feeling
Unsettled is a painful place
I've lived with both for far too long now
Since we've parted ways
I've been wrestling with my conscience
And I found myself to blame
If there's to be any resolution
I've got to peel my pride away

Just between you and me
I've got something to say
I wanna get it straight
Before the sun goes down
Just between you and me
Confession needs to be made
Recompense is my way to freedom [now]
Just between you and me, I've got something to say...

Love Me Tender

It's good to go to work today: the roads are empty, the office relaxed. Most people are still away on holiday I guess... when I told the taxi driver at Bali's airport work for me starts on Tuesday, he was [half-]stunned... well he has a good reason anyway. Banking and postal services resume their normal hours tomorrow morning, so I'm expecting a traffic jam.

I'm still a bit off from the holidays... Poink reminded me that today is not Monday, it's Tuesday! @__@ can't believe how knocked I am right now. Glad that I can go home quite early today, there's nothing much to do. Couldn't really buy the tambourines today as the store is still closed, so I guess I'll either go for the foot reflexology massage or straight to bed (if the place's still closed.) Last night I didn't have much a sleep, arriving at half to midnight and having to doggy-sit Brownie for twenty minutes before going to sleep.

No good music at office for now... the WMP on my laptop is erroneous so I've been relying on my mobile phone instead. Ah, the end of fresh, sweet-tasting water...

(Apparently, I'm still in holiday mood.)

Love me tender, love me sweet
Never let me go
You have made my life complete
And I love you so

Love me tender, love me true
All my dreams fulfill
For, my darling, I love you
And I always will

Ku Ada Di Sini

Thank God for the holiday: thank God for the retreat, thank God for my friends, thank God for the opportunities.

By the way guys, the song lyrics are a bit off the track today, sorry about that.

Tak perlu seribu sahabat
dengan senyum sapa dan hangat cinta
Cukup satu alasan indah
Ku ada di sini.

Carnival

Second blog entry during this holiday. Oooh, life is beautiful.

I went to see DD and had a chocolate with him at MB. The strawberry-topped, chocolate-drizzled waffle was good... ::drool drool:: but nothing beats my Flinders St station waffle guy. At only two bucks plus one dollar of extras apiece (pure maple syrup, fruits, cream, nutella etc), nothing beats this guy's waffles. Belgians sure rock the world with their waffles and chocolates.

Secondly, I had a haircut at the usual place with my beloved David. His hair is just so spunky! It's weird and unusual and not classically refined, but I have to admit that his hair is aesthetically balanced (read: looks plain good.) The more I see him, the more I don't understand how he styles his hair. Anyway, I delegated quite a lot on the choice of hairstyles, and I was curious enough to ask for a 'styling variation of this cut', so I walked out with this on my head:


Okay, it's not exactly what I imagined. It's not a wig, and it's an extra 15-minute treat from David and his assistant. Side effects: I look like some star coming into life straight out of a magazine. Conclusion on haircut: amazed and happy. Expense on haircut: not too happy (now already looking for GHDs.)

Note to MasterCard marketing team: grab a copy of the Melbourne Cup race and watch this guy waving around a MasterCard-lookalike cardboard filled with what he thinks of the race. It goes like this...
Suits: $400
Ticket: $400
Watch Makybe Diva wins the Cup the third time: Priceless
Hey, maybe someone can simply hire this guy for marketing, he's got a witty mind.

I'm looking forward to dance tomorrow; thanks heaps to everybody who help make it happen!

Still concentrating to colour the sketches as they need to be submitted/sent off in a week's time. Life's interesting when there is zest in yours. I believe zest in life is what makes people passionate about themselves and others, and that makes the world goes round. End of philosophical nibbles of thought for now, take care and have a great night!

Carnival came by my town today
Bright lights from giant wheel fall on the alleyways
And I'm here, by my door
waiting for you

I will never know 'cause you will never show
Come on and love me now
Come on and love me now
I will never know 'cause you will never show
Come on and love me now
Come on and love me now
Come on and love me now

I hear sounds of lovers, barrel organs, mothers
I would like to take you down there
just to make you mine
in a merry-go-round

I will never know 'cause you will never show
Come on and love me now
Come on and love me now

Dive

I'm on holiday, can't believe it!

Even though I'm a bit short on the financial side (every bit of money-spending somehow turns into the worth of one-day salary, half-month salary, three-month salary etc...) BUT ANYWAY! I love this holiday.

So far, I'm in an unconscious plan to regain all the weight lost during the past couple of months. Besides that, I'm reading girly books (see Ponky's bookshelves) since they are pretty much the only ones I haven't touched... and I'm drawing, and collecting fabric samples. I'll be dancing. In short, life's back to normal.

Reminder to self: finish tricky questions in draft application before Friday. Get all fabric swatches by Saturday. Get 'the loot' before Friday.

Take care, everybody ^^ see you around!

My heart is racin' and my knees are weak as I walk to the edge
I know there is no turning back once my feet has left the ledge
And in the rush I hear a voice, it's telling me it's time to
Take the leap of faith
So here I go

I'm diving in
I'm going deep
In over my head I wanna be
Caught in the rush
Lost in the flow
In over my head I wanna go
The river's deep
The river's wide
The river's water is alive
So sink or swim
I'm diving in