Here I am, halfway through my trip with an additional 2.5kg as of two days ago. I imagine that figure can only have gone up since then.

On the bright side, the land of houses like THIS


also yields food like THIS

which may or may not be the direct or indirect cause of the 2.5kg and counting...

MOVING ON:

my dear auntie has found out about my low BP and Fe levels. Her solution? Cram me with all sorts of rich and fatty food which are very delicious and much appreciated. I do, however, feel horribly oily afterwards.

That aside, the mosquitoes here have hatched an evil plan to kill me slowly and painfully. I'll let you know how that goes. Until then... live long and mozzie-less.

The story of today

6.35 Our plane is meant to take off.

6.40 People are still boarding the plane.


6.45 We start moving!

6.52 I am bored and fall asleep.

7.30 I wake up, thinking that it is 8.30 and that there are only 3 hours+ left to my flight. Then I discover I can't read the time on an analogue watch properly and it's really only 7.30 :(

8.00 Food is served. It's small, not that great, but edible. Standard airplane food. Back to sleep afterwards.

11.25 After drifting in and out of sleep, the captain finally announces we will begin descending... in 12 minutes. Still, I am cheered by the prospect and watch the wing flaps move in childish wonder.

12.05 The pilot is super the awesome with landing. We step out of the plane and cannot breathe. This is okay. We will learn.

12.45 Are you serious? Where is our luggage???

1.00 There it is!

Now I am here :)
I'm in transit for another 4 hours before my connecting flight to Sibu. Mum's not looking too good. She's sleeping on my clothing bag :(
Time to get her another coffee!

i am going to...

be on a plane for a few hours, after which i will be waiting in a boring airport for several hours, only to get on another plane for a couple of hours, to arrive at a place where i will eat for many, many, oh many lovely hours :)

i shall chronicle my adventures anywhere there is wireless.

yes, this includes the boring airport.


Be happy, Aloha-laksa-stall-owner! Here I come to give you lots of money :)

today is Tiffini's 20th birthday

"o hai!"

She woke up at 8-something on her birthday... to send her siblings to school.
She braved the heat to have lunch with us, and became very full.
She had to pick up her siblings after school, and probably go home to peel potatoes for dinner or something.
She is superTiff! She is blinking in every photo we took (on purpose)! She has a giant dog!
And we all wish her a very lovely, very happy, very un-boring 365 days between now and her next birthday :)

As a little side note, if I didn't post a birthday blog for you on YOUR birthday, it is because I do not love you.
Ok, no, not really. (Don't shoot me, Es)
It just means that I happened to not blog on that day (which is about 50 out of 51 days), so do not take it personally. If you have any qualms/complaints, feel free to let me know, and I will make sure I post something JUST FOR YOU. No guarantees on niceness, though.


In other news, I found my little red iPod about five minutes ago. Bet you didn't even know I lost it. Neither did I.
The silly thing is so small that it has been buried under a couple of sheets of paper next to my laptop for nobody-knows-how-long, and I never realised it was there.
And if you didn't know that I had an iPod at all, don't worry. Sometimes I forget too.


SO, as a parting word...

System Restore: it's beautiful.

NOTHING is necessary.

the things that happen

Funny things happen when exams come around...

suddenly, after weeks and weeks of staying up till past midnight every day, you believe it will be a good idea to go to bed at a quarter past eight. as a result, you get almost double the amount of sleep you regularly get. that's 12 hours spent sleeping, 3 of which could probably have been good study time.

facebook becomes a helluva lot more interesting.
think: hey, I wonder how *randomdude* is doing. maybe I should facebook him.
nevermind the fact that you haven't seen him for six years and you barely talked to each other back then anyway.

you read more FML in one sitting than you have in your entire life put together.

you rewatch sitcoms you've already seen. even the ones you didn't really like the first time round. and you try to justify it by saying "I just need the background noise" :(

the weeds growing outside your window intrigue you.

you have a nagging desire to learn every single word to I Got A Feelin' by The Black Eyed Peas. No joke.

the highlight of your day is deciding which packet of biscuits to eat next.

you actually sit down and BLOG.

...and all this in the space of 24 hours (12 of which you spent sleeping, remember?)

*-face

sadface
sleepyface
angryface
stupidface
grumpyface

...

sadderface.

baby reel

Mum pulled out a couple of old photo albums last night, and we stayed up a little late looking through them before bed.

MAN, was I cute as a baby.

...I looked like a boy, but you know, that's irrelevant.
Not very chinese looking either (my eyes took up half my face), which was a bit weird.
NEVERTHELESS, I was cute.


Fact of life #2298

Every child - with no exception - whose parents owned, and were capable of operating, some form of camera at the time of said child's birth,
will have a potty photo.

Definition: potty photo
YOU KNOW WHAT THIS IS. DON'T LIE.

Fact of life #2299

No matter how cute your misshapen head was, how happy you looked, how adorable you were in those striped pyjamas, no child will ever want The Potty Photo to (dis)grace the eyes of anybody outside the family. Heck, never take it out if you can help it. Do not acknowledge its existence (even though everyone already knows). In fact, when mummy's not looking, burn it.

No kidding.
I, personally, do not have a Potty Photo. No such picture exists in my album. That's right, I am Potty-Free! Potty Photo? What is this Potty of which you speak? Pfft. What? Who said that. I just told you, I don't have one! STOP LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!


Final Remark:
The same rules apply to The Bath Photo.

Knowing, Nicolas Cage

SPOILER ALERT: It's only a one line spoiler, but it's pretty major, so if you're planning on seeing this film, either be spoiled, or stop reading now.


So I watched this on DVD with my family last night. Not a bad film; good premise, quite interesting, lame ending, but not draggy.

Here's the spoiler: Nic Cage doesn't save the day. He can't. He fails @ being the hero. The world ends. *deng deng dengggggg*
We all found him rather lame.

And after the movie, all mum can say is this:

"Bruce (Willis) could've done it"

I wonder if she'll ever stop making me laugh.

POC

sometimes everything just seems to work against you, all at the same time.

not one piece of technology cooperates with you, every person around you annoys you, your nose won't stop running, and you just can't seem to get anything done no matter how hard you try.

and you know your life still falls under the "good" side of things, as far as life goes.

but moments like these, you just wish it was different.

tracy jordan

I have been watching 30 Rock for the last week or so, and I have discovered something remarkable.

His name is Tracy Jordan.

Tracy Jordan is a character on 30 Rock, played by Tracy Morgan. He loves to drink, party, engage in various acts of questionable legality, and is obsessed with maintaining his reputation as a crazy celebrity (yes, he WANTS you to believe he is crazy).

Tracy Jordan also has a wife and two (very opinionated) children, and for all his wild partying and strip-clubbing, he loves them very much. I mean, it's not an excuse to behave that way, but there was one particular scene in season 3 that really got me...

Tracy is talking to Jack, his boss.
Tracy: You don't get it. I don't want to spend so much. I have to. I'm afraid Angie will divorce me if I ever have enough money for her to live off a half. So before she can get it, I have to spend it all on useless things...

Jack convinces Tracy to get a pre-nup/post-nup to protect his assets in the event of a divorce.
Angie: So let me get this straight. If I sign this and then Tracy decides to run off with that chunky chick from Hairspray, then I get $8500?
*Angie gives Tracy A Look, then makes a disgusted sound*
Angie: What do I care. I'll sign your stupid contract. I'm never gonna leave this man anyway.

And then Tracy doesn't let her sign the pre-nup, because he's so happy his wife will never leave him.

Ok, so it's actually quite stupid (the show is a comedy), but I thought it was so sweet how he was so afraid his wife would leave him, because he knows he doesn't deserve her. It's like Homer Simpson... for all his terrible habits and general grossness, somewhere in between all the cobwebs in his head, he knows his family comes first.

So at least they've got it right :)

the sad truth

cash flow statements

i think you use them to summarize transactions involving cash.

i think you gotta classify them according to operating, investing and financial activities.

i think you need to know how to categorize transactions according to those three categories.

i think you have to be able to work it out by looking at other financial statements.

i think they're quite difficult.

i think i hate them.

stress.

i have everything i need, and so much more.

so why is it still so hard?

my goals for this weekend:

1) Watch Transformers the movie (number one), for the fourth time.

2) That is my only goal.



Afterthought:
I should probably also do my Wiley and Jellyfish assignments.
The good news is, I don't have to do any accounting tutorials :)

After-afterthought:
Maybe I should also study for my math test.

After-after-afterthought:
Maybe not :)

hands up if this has ever happened to you.

I fell over today.
On the bus.

I know I'm not exactly agile. Okay, I'm not coordinated at all, and Transperth bus drivers do have Jackie Chan moments where they think they're driving a stunt car, only bigger and STRONGER.

It's hard to keep balance on the buses/trains sometimes, but I never thought the day would come when I would actually fall over completely.

And it didn't happen just once.
I fell twice. In a row.

I'm not sure if it got really warm in the bus after that, or if it was just me...

miiiilk

Okay, so we were watching Edward Norton turn mean and green on DVD a couple of nights ago, when mum brings us some milk. Now, this is full cream milk and my body does not like full cream milk. It complains painfully when I have full cream milk.

Nonetheless, it was coffee milk, so I had a little bit before giving the rest to Sam (because my stomach was already starting to ache. just a little.)

This morning, I tell mum that I didn't finish the milk because it made me feel funny, and this is how our conversation went.

kim: Oh, I gave it to Sam, cause my tummy hurt.
mum: I know.
kim: You do?
mum: Yeah, I knew you wouldn't finish it because it's full cream.
kim: Oh, yeah. Okay. Do you think it's just psychological?
mum: Nope. You really are intolerant. I've tested you.
kim: YOU WHAT????????
mum: Remember that day a few weeks ago when you came back from uni and told me you didn't feel well the whole day........
kim: ARE YOU SERIOUS?
mum: Yeah. I gave you full cream that morning.
kim: And you didn't tell me?
mum: Yeah. Cause when you told me you felt sick, I felt bad. So I didn't say anything.

*at this point, I'm cracking up*

mum: It's not funny. It's definitely not psychological. I had to know. And now I do, for sure.


Mum seriously has to stop owning me like this.

it has been too long

okay, i realise i didn't blog for the whole month of february, and it's the middle of march already. that's how long i haven't been reading blogs too ><

MSN personal message of the week:

"why don't you like me?"; "you're fat." - Rorshach

Esther

close second:

Wed 10.45-11.00, worst time of the week

Ollie

in case you didn't understand that last one, Oliver has his accounting tutorial at 11 every wednesday, in the business school. if you still don't get it, you should take a walk to the business school one day.

every morning i get to the bus stop and the skies seem to be darker than the day before. two weeks from now, it'll be pitch black when i leave the house for uni.
on the bright side, i'll get to see the sunrise every morning :)
however, that is also the downside. it means i'll actually be awake before sunrise.

on the first day of semester, i got to uni at 7.35 in the morning. on the second day i got there at 8.05, late for class. i have tried, in the last three weeks, to be punctual, and so far, have only been late twice.
i blame the lateness on how far the chemistry building is from the bus stop. i credit the punctuality to the speed and determination with which my legs carry me across james oval (through mighty dampness and freshly cut grass).

i have met many people, strange and wonderful. a majority of them are strange. no, not really. i'm still trying to remember names and faces and degrees and schools and... i have a feeling my 56kb memory would be better spent on physics (which, just so you know, is mega full of bs).

you know you need to study when you look up "polarisation" in the textbook and it references you to page 1262. then you flip to the back of the book and find that you have go back 500 pages to get to it.
that is why i never bring textbooks to uni.

i want to be this cat.
it's cute :)

on toilets

kim and sam, coming out of the first malaysian public toilet encountered in five years...

*look of awe* it was a squatting one!!!
man, i couldn't remember how to use it.
did you face the wall or the door?
i almost didn't know what to do.
did you flush?
i don't want to bring these slippers back to perth.

so i thought wrong

and we have Streamyx (and ESPN).

Sibu is uncharacteristically cool these days because of the 60 hours of rain over the last two days. Drizzle is perpetually intermittent (go figure).

So this is how it goes:

The seats on the plane are tiny. I'm glad I'm not claustrophobic. I stretched across mum and Sam and slept for ages. When I woke up - my eyes all dry and contacts ready to jump out - I checked the time only to find we'd only been flying for two hours. BUT... We moved right to the back of the pesawat and there were plenty of empty seats there :)

The child sitting in front of me on the plane kept turning around, looking at me, and then giggling. One time he did that, I made an ugly face at him. He let out a little shriek, and turned back around so quickly that he smashed into the seat in front of him.
That was amusing for a while :)

LCC-Terminal has nothing. NOTHING. The five hour transit there was the worst part of the trip. And then there was the checking in...

There is no such thing as a neat, orderly line when it comes to checking in at the airport. There is no such thing as justice for the fair. I could elaborate on the 50 people that cut into the line in front of us at KL International, but the angry little girl inside of me would rage out and then even I don't know what might happen. I also didn't realise you could tailgate someone with an airport baggage trolley. Seriously, I looked down at my feet and I could see the trolley of the person behind me just waiting to bite into my achilles tendons.

KL is humid compared to Perth. KL is dry as chalk in the sun compared to Sibu.

There are longkangs here. I love it. Not the longkangs, but you know that feeling you get from being back to the place you come from? The lack of tar-sealed roads, the houses on stilts, very creative driving ("hey EE, wasn't that a red light?" "yes, it was"), smaller people, coconut trees in backyards, foochow everywhere... I LOVE IT.

I haven't had kampua yet - I haven't actually been anywhere but various homes-of-rellies. But it's okay. I haven't been here 24 hours yet.
I love it (rice dumplings for breakfast oh-yay) :)

Maybe it's cause the weather isn't very terrible these days. I don't know.

I ramble in my happiness :)

this is all you're getting until the 5th of February

Okay, I know I've been slack with the blogging...

and it's about to get even slacker.

This hungry person will be leaving Perth to go to the Land of the Kampua on a big flying machine in about 7 hours, and won't be back until the 5th of February.

I have made the necessary preparations:

Lists of food I shall eat when I go home.

Tiffany advised me to save on the calories in the weeks leading up to the trip, but I have not heeded her advice. I am leaving at 48kg and hopefully I won't be over 50 when I get back. Hopefully.

Pack like, four shirts for the 3.5 week trip. Come back with 50.

Laptop + hard drive with lots of movies/dramas = things to keep me up at night.
(I am unsure as to the Internet capabilities where I will be staying in the Land of the Kampua. I suspect Dr. Dialup or Sir NoInternet).

My "handbag" weighs 4kg.


Okay. Last few hours of sleep before bracing the humidity, the flies, the dengghi...

Big smiles for you till I come back :)