The best compliment ever

"You are the whole package... from the moment I saw you, I knew God put deluxe into you."

I've had a rough week so I deserve to be reminded I'm not a complete loser. Comment received from guy with unbelievably model-hot blonde girlfriend, so no, he wasn't trying to hit on me. Which made this mean all the more.

Love is like a sunset

It's funny how some people pull through for you. What started as a casual discussion on Sophie's Choice blossomed into an important relationship, in which I found the support I much needed, what with last Friday's shock announcement.

So I arrived at BNE, looking and feeling pretty tragic. It was nice to be in familiar company. KG was an angel and took good care of me, put up with my whinging, tears, sniffles and chills. During the next 3.5 days, we travelled 1,350 km together, though my trip was triple of that, with the 2 hour flights between Queensland and Victoria.

The hot tub in our room at Ambassador on Ruthven St. Seeing how I'd never really travelled inland before, KG's selection of Toowomba made an ideal choice. The town of 130,000 was surprisingly developed and likable.

The sunsets were amazing.

This is one of my favourites.

He made reservations at the infamous Weis Restaurant, which served a seafood buffet. I gamely tested everything, including bugs (as in, mantis prawns. Not actual bugs. Though apparently on an evolutionary scale, lobsters are a kind of bug), cold crab, a mini octopus, prawns, mussels with some kind of sweet topping and a variety of salads. I did enjoy the desserts the best though. Try their banana and chocolate tart.

We then drove about 50km inland and stopped by an unlit, deserted road. The wind was chilly and unfortunately, the moon not full, but abnormally bright. We laid some blankets and towels down and curled up under a tree. Moonlit landscape was romantic and dreamy. A curious herd of cows ran over to investigate the noise. Upon approach, they promptly scattered. Then reassembled. Then scattered. Then reassembled.

We then continued driving inland for another hour or two before heading home gratefully to the hot tub.

Moustached walls.

We drove and drove and drove. Sometimes I took over the wheel. The first time I drove KG's nice, new (though by now bug-spattered) Citroen was at 100kmph on a highway, acrobatically performed while swapping seats. On top of that, our physical differences (he's almost a foot taller than me) left the pedals far from reach. After a fair bit of panicking and unnecessary swerving, we managed to adjust the seat and acclimatise me to the controls (damn European cars with their blinkers and wipers reversed).

We stopped by this pond/ lake/ stagnant body of water In The Middle Of Somewhere (you can see I'm being very specific today) for a dip. Or rather I was dragged in physically. Suprisingly enough, we did not get swallowed by quicksand (Childhood Phobia No. 1) or the Swamp Thing, though we were accosted by the stench of manure.

We then drove on for a bit before deciding that a trip to St George might well drain us completely. After lunch at Westmar with its single petrol station, we decided to turn back. KG ever friendly, insisted we pop in to say hello, because "small town folks are really friendly". The counter was manned by the most dour-faced woman I'd seen in a while. So dour even KG's 100 watt smile (the man has charisma in spades. Like huge, hulking spades) couldn't shine through. Though we did discover that there is an actual magazine called Wild Boar (which we have taken upon to nickname Wild Bore) and Road Kill (caption: It doesn't get any fresher than this!) jerky. I would have taken a photo, had I not suspected we might end up as part of the next batch of Road Kill jerky if I did.

Look carefully in the middle. There was a rainbow and a red glow in the middle of the field - the sunset reflected off a patch of rain.

Thanks to my non-snap reflexes, KG had to double back for this one. Does anyone get the reference?

JD from Scrubs, anyone? AND, (of course I failed to capture this), there was a Doctor Creek just a few hundred yards further down.

My first bouquet from him.♥

Craving sleep

I have trouble sleeping. I have a stash of happy pills (ie. tranquilisers) in Mummy's wardrobe, which I forgot to bring back here. Bad move. As a result, my hands keep shaking and I ramble too much. Apologies to all who have been and will be putting up with my zombified company recently.

Kudos to AK for pointing this one out. I think it's a Hongkie owner; she thinks it's Malaysian.

God bless BE (I am eternally grateful!) for perking up my week with his Poslaju parcel of emergency wardrobe rescue. I had the pants hemmed by a bipolar lady at QV. When I sent the pants in, she was curt to the point of rudeness; when I collected them, she expressed a lot of concern about my satisfaction and even bid me a "good weekend". BE also sent two shirts as gifts. The one above has actual french cuffs!

The blazer came with matching pants and a skirt. The top fits beautifully, but the bottoms are both a little loose. I suppose I'll grow into them with time. This shirt has discreet polka dots that are semi-hidden when buttoned up.

AK's gift of pansies (we think they are pansies anyway). The wrapping was so pretty I left it on. The flowers have so far survived a week in my hands.

My pot of rosemary. This hardy little plant only needs a little love and water and will cheer up the window sill with tiny pale purple flowers and equally tiny leaves.

My first dividend cheque! This goes nicely into paying off my parking fine. Just as well...

Bunnies galore off Flinders Ln, whilst meandering around with JL.

Fishing at Monbulk

Easter Monday was spent with AK, MB and KK fishing. MB drove and drove and drove. The GPS came in handy as the place was truly In The Middle Of Nowhere. Like a lot of people think hinterland attractions on the Gold Coast are ITMON, but signage on Queensland roads are so clear, I fail to get lost. And trust me, lost and I are intimately acquainted.

So anyway, after driving about, seemingly aimless, for about 6km, we reached the Australian Rainbow Trout Farm in Monbulk. It was surprisingly packed. Entrance fees are $6 per person and includes bait and fishing rods. And speaking of bait, I believe this will most likely be a contender for the Most Unappetising Picture In The Almost 2 Year History Of This Blog.

AK and I (almost) fondly nicknamed this Poo Bait. We also refused to touch it, which required MB to hook it for us.

The somewhat scenic "Challenging Pond". As the policy there forbade us to return hooked fish (the hook basically kills them), we tried out the largest pond. After 2 fruitless hours, we got hungry. And lazy. AK and KK caught 2 trouts in less than 5 minutes at the Easy Pond.

Goosey goosey gander. Yum.

Deer and goat. Yum.

Emu. Yum.

Rainbow trout at $14/ kg. Yum. Though I felt a bit sick. The hook actually went through the roof of its mouth and came out under the eye.

This guy walked past, noticed we were struggling with the second fish. "You want some help?" Sure. He rolled up a magazine, bashed the crap out of the poor fish and ripped the hook out. All of us cringed in unison.

Seasoned with salt and pepper and rubbed with oil, wrapped in foil and barbequed. Yum.

We then had tea at Immerse in Olinda before heading home.

Rootless tree

This song is so apt at the moment. I can't get enough of it. Damien Rice is a genius.

Hand

This PostSecret postcard reminded me of that day. That fateful day I sat on the toilet seat, in a shopping centre. Sobbing my heart out, unable to curb the tears, the grief, the shuddering. To Cynthia, the stranger who spoke to me through the door, offering hope, kindness, an outstretched hand when I needed it the most, thank you. Thank you for your words, your time, for the fingers you ran through my hair, for the hip you let me rest my head on. And you're right, it did become alright. I'm more alright now than I have been in the longest time. So now, to all those out there, I extend the same message. It will become alright. Have a little faith.

The long Easter weekend

The weekend I had expected to spend quietly catching up on reading, blogging and running errands exploded into a hectic buzz of social activity. Unfortunately, I failed to capture many other interesting moments due to general scatterbrained-ness.

Friday was spent with RR, having brunch at Dead Man Espresso (pork belly BLT, mmm) and the yummiest gelato from this place on Brunswick St (I forget the name again, but I returned the next day), before heading to SL's for dinner. Monday will be spent fishing and possibly catching up with the twins from KL.

Easter was spent at Planetshakers, Brunswick. John Bevere was a very charismatic guest speaker. I instantly developed a massive crush on him. This was my first visit to this infamous church, which had a reputation for being "jumpy". The rock concert-like atmosphere was invigorating and the sermon ("Do not repay evil for evil, God is waiting to give you a blessing") was very apt. We had dim sum at West Lake for lunch (great food, atrocious service). I was fined $58 for parking 3 hours at a 1P zone (note to self: Open thy eyes!).

Haha. My adolescent nickname.

The extremely kampung-like external loo at the Korean restaurant on Victoria St (I forget the name). I normally detest Korean cuisine, but agreed as I hadn't met BY since college days. It was a lovely catch up. The food was surprisingly edible, though not outstanding. I later attempted to send Sherlyn home, which had us driving around aimlessly for ages before I then got lost/ stuck in a traffic accident-induced jam/ got approached by a cop for not switching my headlights on (doh!).

Saturday was spent with EH and AK, furniture-hunting in IKEA. I spent a few hundred on storage and lighting for my new room, which is slowing looking less like a refugee detention centre and more like a bedroom. It was a fruitful morning/ afternoon. We also wound up on Bridge Rd and Smith St, a worthwhile recommendation by EH. AK and I got pretty decent deals at Tony Bianco.

The toilet bowl on our street. I have no idea why it's there (it's been there for more than a month, at least to my knowledge), but it reminds me of that episode of Scrubs where the Janitor (Dr Jan Itor, haha) installed a loo on the hospital roof.

French Earl Grey with SL. SL is currently feeding me, both spiritually and physically. So far, her Leftovers Pasta and Leftovers Fried Rice have been very yummy comfort food. And the Maggie Beer fig and caramel ice cream tastes uncannily like cendol, only about 70 times dearer.

The dilemma of a tiny analyst

Okay, so I've finally started work. The last 2 jobs I held before, truthfully speaking, were less than ideal. The first one too far and too much office politics going on, amongst other more pressing issues. The second could not contribute to my career goals.

For now at least, I'm quite happy with my job. I struggled the first week - for the first time in my spoilt little life, I had to use the Alarm function in my cellphone. I'm still not very good with directions or public transport, so for almost every single day that week, I was either late or too early. My feet were blistered from wearing heels all day. My body ached from lugging the laptop around.

After the initial shock, I settled into a comfortable routine. Wearing flats to work, before switching to my 4 inch heels. Leaving the laptop locked in the office. Giving myself at least 20 minutes to stroll to the train station. My colleagues have been awesome too. Non of that bitchy, gossipy, competitive nonsense I've had to put up with before. They're incredibly supportive and professional.

My one and only issue at the moment, is the fact that as a professional, I'm required to wear suits. Thankfully, shirts aren't necessary (how I loath ironing). But here comes the double whammy - inexpensive suits either look cheap or come in sizes too large for me; the ones that do fit, cost $500-600 a pop.

On my meagre (though adequate) salary, neither is an option.

I am so envious of this girl here. Why can't we have reasonably priced, mass produced, well made office clothing here too?

Thankfully, I was reminded about the existence of G2000 by an equally petite colleague. Unfortunately, this only occurred a day after this phone call from Hong Kong.

KG: Do you want anything from here?

Jan: No, thanks! Have a safe flight tomorrow.

SIGH.

So now I'm relying on BE's impeccable fashion sense to guide me through. (Most girls would run to their mothers for this sort of thing. Not me. My mother always buys everything in L for me, in some misguided optimism that I'm still growing.)

Yet another successful story of a Facebook initiated friendship. I is happy.