Rainbowe

Spring is awesome. You get rain in the midst of an extremely sunny day! But not everyone loves spring. Spring time is when Daniel gets the hay fever crap all over again. Apparently you get sensitive after years of living here. So I'm still quite fresh off the boat and therefore still immune to it. Dread the day when I turn stale and start sneezing until my eyes pop out, then I wouldn't be able to see that rainbow and spring would suck.

Anyway, beautiful rainbow outside my apartment.

Speaking of rainbows, these videos never fail to make me laugh:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX0D4oZwCsA

Autotunes is amazing. I have lost all my respect for singers like Ke$ha and those R&B crap. Not that there was much to begin with.

I have got to learn how to post videos on the blog. Even posting pictures is a chore. All my pictures appear on top of the post when I type my entry and I can't seem to cut and paste them. I need to highlight and then paste them to wherever I want. What a drag, maybe I'll lose interest in blogging again :S

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My lab equipment finally arrived after 2 weeks of waiting. Today I spent 5 hours carrying out solid phase extraction to extract the phenolic compounds from my cranberry juice. Thank God for the iPhone! I'd be bored to death just sitting there waiting. I couldn't use the computers in the comp lab coz the solid-phase exchange column must not be dry at any time so I had to always be in the lab and watch it slowly drip and top it up when it's about to get empty.

I'm not saying iPhone is the best phone ever, coz I know there're many anti-iPhoners out there. I just happen to use one and got used to all its functions and am perfectly comfortable with it and therefore see no point in changing it to some other smart phone.

I can't wait, can't wait, can't wait to finish the experimental part of my project.

Wake me up when September ends

So cliched, but totally sums up my September.

I was craving for cupcakes last night. It has been a long time since I craved for cupcakes, probably since one of Michy's birthday when we bought a big box of Wondermilk cuppacakes to surprise her.

Cupcakes are really expensive treats and are usually not worth it. The main thing that determines the acceptability of cupcakes is, to me the frosting. MOST cupcakes have frostings which are so hard you can peel them off the cupcake and they still stand nicely on their own. Now that's not something I want to be eating. God knows what went into that frosting to make it so.. erect...

In my opinion, the best cupcakes in Melbourne CBD that I've tasted so far is Little Cupcakes on Degraves Street. The soft frosting crumbles when you touch it and melts in your mouth. The cupcake base does not feel dry and hard. Now that's a good 8 blocks from my apartment, but for the love of desserts, I decided to go there for some good cupcakes and not those crappy shit I can get near my place.

The shop is extremely narrow and small. By the time I arrived, at 3pm most of the cupcakes have already been sold out. I bought 4 mini cupcakes which cost me a painful 8AUD. I'm not kidding when I say mini.

I held this box and walked all the 8 blocks home, not allowing myself to tram since I'm gonna have cupcakes. To my horror, I dropped the box on the street while walking home. Thankfully the lid did not pop open.

To add on to this, for the whole month, I have been experiencing a series of unfortunate events.

1. I dropped my apartment keys into the elevator shaft (probably measuring about 3cm wide). Cost me 57AUD to replace my keys. The building manager couldn't believe anyone could be that clumsy for that to happen.

2. I cracked a rotten egg that had cancer or something. The egg was BLACK inside and the smell, can't be described in words.

3. I wasted almost 2 weeks waiting for my materials which I ordered 3 weeks ago to arrive.

4. Got charged an overdraft fee by the bank because I forgot to put money in for rent.

I'm so glad September is about to end.

I hope October will be a better month, coz I'll be taking my IELTS and I need EXCELLENT results lest I have to spend another 300AUD to retake it until I get the required results to apply for PR.

By the way, did I mention that the frosting on the cupcakes was so soft and wonderful...?

I came home with smashed up cupcakes. I tried my best to arrange it to look almost presentable for a photo. But it still tasted pretty good. I guess that's the icing on top of the cake..

People say humans get numb and used to things when it happens all the time. But it still breaks my heart every time you walk out that door.

The course of letting go, how insignificant the thing may seem is something a person may never learn in a lifetime.

I'm still in the process of learning.

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Will fill in the title when I think of something randomly appropriate.

Home

Feels like I have nowhere to rant, so here I am after a whole year of negligence.

This indicates how lonely I'm here which is a big tipping point on the scale that would favour me to return home.

But where exactly is home?

I know I haven't left for long, compared to many others who have been away for probably 5 years or more. But these two years have taught me so much that I would never ever learn back home in Malaysia.

I cannot see myself there in the coming few years time, but I don't see myself raising children here either. I don't really see myself as a mom, but that's a topic for another day.

Isn't it pathetic that we, or at least I worry and stress myself immensely because it has become so difficult to stay back after graduation? Is it really better here? I question myself repetitively. Two years ago when I first packed my bags and left, I was so sure I wouldn't want to return to Malaysia after my studies. During my first year, the thought of returning would even make me depressed, making me even more determined to stay after graduation. As my second year dawned, things started to change. I feel lonely here and most importantly I feel pathetic for wanting to be here when they clearly do not want us here.

Now that I'm facing my last few weeks of my final semester, the whole situation has transformed into a nail-biting stressful whirlwind, leaving the ill-equipped person that I still am to decide my future.

The cherry on top of this big fat cake is that I need to face the cruel reality of job hunting as a foreigner, which will be a do or die thing if I really want to fight for my chance to stay back.

Isn't it daunting to grow up? Isn't it frustrating to miss the boat just because you're one step too late?