Dinner for one

So one day after work I decided to have dinner before the 2+ hour commute home. I was the first customer of the day, so the boss man personally came to recommend a cocktail ("something he makes for his wife at home"). When I asked him for a name to it, he decided to call it the " Sarah cocktail" for the night. 

the Walk home: 60kmph

Technically I was walking to a house inspection, not home, but I really liked the composition for this photo. Taken at UQ lakes, looking towards the Eleanor Schonell Bridge. 

The Walk Home: late night stories

I wasn't too sure if that was a dolphin or a whale, but it was late at night and I wasn't about to stop and check. Did I mention I'm a bit of a scaredy cat? I walk very fast when I'm walking home alone at night, I switch on all the lights when I'm home alone (or barricade myself in the room), and I always tell someone where I'm going. And I never read thrillers at night. I used to, but sleeping with the lights on has lost its appeal to me. 

Bemoaning my (Lack of) writing

Received an email from Dad earlier today, in which he said he believed that I have a gift for writing, and that could be something that can be taken seriously as a hobby, or even a pocket money generator. Thanks, Dad.

Much as it was encouraging to hear that from Dad (who only distributes praise when necessary), the truth is I am no longer confident of my writing. Why would I be, when I rarely write anything longer than a Thank-you note, or a journal entry?

I enjoyed writing when I was younger, back when we had fictional essays to write (as opposed to academic essays which were just a load of "therefore", "however", and "besides that"). I did not like factual writing. They require actual thinking, and I was not allowed to write fancy descriptions.

These days, I still pick up my pen, but only to write to-do lists, jot down ideas, or write short sentences recording my thoughts. I don't really remember how grammar goes, or how many sentences to a paragraph, and synonyms and pretty words are just a Google search away.

Was just reading Reader's Digest in the State Library yesterday, and enjoyed the 100-word readers' contribution. It was just that, a 100-word essay. Not easy for me! But a good challenge, which I would like to propose a regular feature on my blog. Will write more about this later.

Job search and Christmas plans

It was the day before the eve of Christmas. I threw some clothes in the washing, then set out for lunch with a potential housemate. Afterwards, I wandered around West End and South Brisbane, walking in and out of busy bookstores (last minute shopping much?), picked up a movie ticket for one at a nearby cinema, then sat myself down in the State Library with a couple of magazines, until it was time for an early dinner before Paddington.

Paddington was cute. Very English, as far as I could tell, and brought back childhood memories of an animated series of the bear with red hat in London. The two old ladies in the row in front seemed to have enjoyed the movie too.

Just before heading home, I stopped for a Spanish latte (espresso with condense milk a la Spanish, aka kopi gao) while texting le Wifey who was feeling emo about being home alone while everyone else was out with friends or family.

It is now the day before Christmas. I went out to pick up some stuff, went grocery shopping, came back and cooked a quick lunch, baked some cake for the Christmas lunch tomorrow.

Is it really Christmas eve already? If I were home, I would have been nervous about the Christmas eve cantata, or preparing to go to church with my family. If I were home, I would have the family Christmas open house to look forward to, where all the friends and family would come for lunch, and then we would continue eating left overs till it's time to open the presents under the tree.

But I am here, 7000km away from home, alone. Well, le housemate and her parents are busy packing in the next room, but what I meant was, it's my first Christmas away from family. Dad promised to Skype tomorrow, and Dear is always just a text away, but still.

Just finished submitting a house application, and trying to concentrate on completing my "Responsible Service of Alcohol" course. Which is, the story of my past two weeks. That, and searching for a job. Thankfully, the latter has been addressed by an employer who might actually want to hire me as a waitress, after I get my RSA certificate. That is at least one thing to look forward to end the days of boredom and loneliness.

Is it any comfort to say it is Christmas tomorrow? That it is a brand new day, with a brand new year looming in the horizon in another week? I'm sorry, but I just drank the half glass of water that was on the table.





Still, I have a slice of Toberone Tango Cheesecake in the fridge, two trays of Kajang chocolate cake (reproduced in muffin form) cooling on the table, and a new book to read. Possibly going out for dinner tonight, or tomorrow, depending on when I choose to go to church.

Pingback #2: Sem Break

As I begin this series, I thought it might be good to promote a similar series on my Mandarin blog, uninspiringly called "FlashbackT", but will settle on a unified name for it all soon.

Meanwhile, here's a reply to my blog post of August 2012, titled Sem Break. Apt start, seeing that this week marks the (official) beginning of my summer break.

First off, I have not stuck with Musicovery for the longest time ever. Not since writing the post two years ago. I am picky about my songs, and sometimes too much so. Skipping songs I don't like is a bad habit I should get out of, but have yet to do so. Using Spotify these days, it's easy to navigate, and I can instantly save songs I like to a playlist.

Next, I have yet to sort out music organization on my hard disk. In fact, over the past two years I have stopped downloading songs altogether, and have mostly been streaming my songs, or just listening to podcasts.

And I have a new laptop! Sort of. It's been with me since Dec last year, so not all that new.. Bought it with my own salary, with Dad topping up the balance when I went over-budget. Loving the speed of the CPU, but no, Wins 8 is not my favourite OS. Wanting to go back to a Mac sometime before my student discount runs out.

On the other hand, I have picked up ArchiCAD! Two years after viewing my first introductory tutorial, and then giving up two months into the semester, I picked it up again this sem when I got tired of seeing everyone use advanced BIM programs while I was stuck with basic drafting softwares. It was easier than I thought to relearn AC, and I produced pretty decent drawings and renderings IMO. Not the best ever, but I think I did well. Just as a comparison to myself.




Now for the new.
Have got some stuff lined up for summer break, although the fact I can't see beyond the next two weeks depresses me. I foresee a long, hot, and lonely break. But don't get me started on that.
- Yying and Teacher Ngiam is coming to visit me this weekend! That sounds like they're just popping by but they're actually flying 8 hours from Singapore to Brisbane!
- UQ Architecture summer/graduate exhibition. This was my research elective for this sem. More on this later.
- Portfolio and job search! Have got a list of architecture firms I would like to work for/with. Currently working on my portfolio to be sent out two months ago.

That's all for now. Cheers!





ps I thought I'd schedule this for Thursday, seeing it's the day I update my other blog, and they might as well sync so that my readers (what few there are) can read them on the same day. But this Thurs is a special day (ie extra post!), so I'll just post a couple of days early. Just for this week.

the Walk home

At the end of my last blog post I came up with the idea of a blog series featuring my walks home. A little background history for those who don't know, evening walks are a huge part of my life. It's always a time for me to think, talk to my best friend/bf, sing to myself, and watch the world go by. Besides, I love sunsets, and evenings have just the right temperature to be walking in tropical Malaysia.

When I was little, I walked to school every day. (#interestingfact If I walked really fast I can get to my second-floor classroom in 10 minutes, door to door) In lower primary, my mom would come get me after class, and we would walk home through the neighbourhood park. I had a decent childhood on those swings and monkey bars. And then if dad came home early, he would meet us at the park, or even if he doesn't, I would still look forward to welcoming him home. 

When I stayed in the dorms in high school, dinner was at 6pm. My friend JX is (was?) a firm believer of chewing 30 times for each mouthful after-dinner walks to aid digestions, and because I didn't have much to do anyway, I walked w her every evening. Our walks would take us around the school compound, and depending on our moods we would sometimes walk to (and then stand talking at) the flagpoles right in front, facing the busy highway, or down the basketball courts reachable by a flight of really long and steep stairs, or most times just round and round the academic blocks. These walks usually last 15-20 minutes, which is just about enough time for an installment of the latest teenage saga. We walked our way though homesickness, exam stress, family problems, boy troubles, our future careers (or lack of), and many other topics.

And then in undergrad I started taking public transport after deciding that it's much less trouble to do so than to rely on mom and dad for a ride to and from uni. I was an architecture student after all, no regular hours for us! Thus began the many walks to the bus stops. I chose to travel during those times because 1) Aforementioned cooler temperature, 2) I didn't like walking in the dark, 3) to hitch a ride with dad, and 4) aforementioned love for sunsets. Yes, I sometimes chose to brave the rush hour public transport just to catch the sunset that is prettiest round the corner to the bus stop.

After moving to Brisbane earlier this year, I treasured my evening walks even more. This was surprisingly because of the lack of regularity in my life. I have only three days of contact hours, and some of them depending on tutorial slots, so I never knew when I would spend the whole day hanging around in uni, or not step foot outside my place for days.







That's the background. Back to the series. I thought I'd share some of my observations on the walk home.