Life in Melb during sem break.

Due to the boringness of my holidays, got ntg to do, been watching abundant of movies. It's not new movies though, but since i hav not watch them b4 so jus watch it to kill my time. lol.

I watched Eight Below last 2 weeks n i cried like shit during d movie. If any of u seen tat movie b4, i'm sure u know y i cried till like tat.

The story takes place in the Antarctic. A trio of scientist explorers — Jerry Shepard (Walker); his best friend, Cooper (Biggs); and an American geologist (Greenwood) — must leave behind their beloved team of sled dogs after a sudden accident that strands them in extreme Antarctic weather. But Shepard can't let his dog team face certain death, so he turns back to rescue them. The film is inspired by the events of a 1957 Japanese expedition to the Antarctic.

The dogs were so clever. They need to look for foods by themselves in antartica for like more than 6 months or so if i'm not mistaken. aiyoh.. cannot watch all these animal movies ler. My tissue sure habis wan.. Look at those Siberian Husky. Aren't they cute? My rating for this movie, 9/10. :)

Yumeko passed me another korean movie abt dogs the other day called "Hearty Paws". Sigh, another sad story. It's abt an 11-year-old Chan-yi is looking after his lovely younger sister So-yi, by himself ever since their mother left them to find her own future. Despite their desperate situation of being abandoned by family and neighbors, these kids try their best to carry on life. One day, a little puppy joins this small family as Chan-yi steals it from an old couple's kennel as a gift his sister's birthday. Especially clever, this dog, whose name is 'Ma-eum', returns the love received from his new family with great loyalty and it seems as though their happiness would continue forever...only until a sudden accident brings them into collapse.

Gosh...there goes my another box of tissue..


And another korean movie recommended by my friend, Ms Joanne Lau. :P Its called "200 Pounds Beauty" I think its a fun n hilarious movie to watch n yet a touching story oso. The movie is abt Hanna (Kim Ah-Joong) is blessed with the voice of an angel. She serenades legions of fans with her soaring vocals. During her spare time, she doubles up as, for the lack of less explicit words, a phone conversation connoisseur, enticing callers to share their most intimate of sexual desires and fantasies. She’s head over heels over her dashing manager and is adored by her pet poodle.

She also tips the scale at just over 200 pounds.Her literal larger than life image poses a problem to her fans of course. So her manager, Sang Jun (Joo Jin-Mo) uses a voluptuous front in the form of Ammy, a gorgeous singer wannabe who has the voice of a broken refrigerator. All Ammy does now is just lip sync to the voice of Hanna, who is housed backstage. Hanna is contented, that is until she overhears a shocking conversation between Sang Jun and Ammy. Heartbroken and dejected, she undergoes plastic surgery to completely transform her body and face and hopefully, she will be able to win back the heart of her manager.

Little did i know that the lead actress went under knife b4 too in her real life. (after reading from joanne's blog) Hm... i think its very common for korean to do plastic surgery huh... But overall the movie was entertaining. Nice vocals from the main actress too.. A must watch movie... coz got both leng cai n leng lui :P


Ppl, if u hav anymore nice movies, recommend to me ya. I've got heaps of time now. lol..

Fun outing!

The next day after our submission, we planned our 1st outing. Actually the outing was to farewell one of my friend as she's goin back to M'sia for her graduation ceremony. But she will still be coming back la. haha. B4 meeting the rest of my friends for lunch, Rachel, Meng Jiunn, Yumeko, Jeremy n I went to the IMMI main office in Parliament to collect or working visa sticker. Waited for abt 45 mins wherelse the process only last abt 5 mins or so. hmm...

So, next destination... to Melbourne Central to meet up with Yunnie! She told us that there's a shop near Melb Central sells nice n yummy nasi lemak. So, she brought us there.. Manatau.. the shop closes down d. Yunnie said the shop was operated by a malay couple and the serve nice nasi lemak. Gosh.. there goes my nasi lemak tat i've been longing for. Where r u ... my nasi lemak?????

No nasi lemak, move on to plan B. A Hong Kong fast food nearby Melb Central too. They serve foods something like Kim Gary in M'sia. I oredered the set meal "ma po tofu" where they come with a complimentary milk tea. (I miss Kim Gary's yin yong)

While waiting for our foods to be served, this is wat we did..... We analyzed how young girls take pic nowadays and this is their latest trend.. Thanx to Yumeko who edited the pics..

So, here's how our food looks like. Cannot compare with Kim Gary la. Sure kalah teruk..

Stomach full full d, must jalan a bit.. So, to Victoria Market we go! Make full use of my Metcard today.. Took loads of tram d. Reached. BUT, tarak buka??? Din realise they closes on Mon n Wed. Aiksss... Suan ler. Walk around here n there... Nothing to see, no money to buy. Balik lor.. Saw this when we were walking back to the tram station.

an UNDERGROUND TOILET...Sounds creepy doesn't it?


But its not creepy as we tot.. In fact, its pretty clean and bright down there. No one's down there at the moment. Snap a pic 1st. kekeke... Promote the cleanliness...


US. Promoting again. lol.


N the men were promoting their gents too..

That's a wrap! Cheerio!

Sparkle Sparkle.....

Last 2 weeks, Yumeko bought 2 pkts of electric sparkles back. (Don't really know wat that thing called, electric sparkles was written on the pkt) . Mini fireworks? lol.. She said it only cost her 90 cents for 2 pkts, so jus bought it back n ajak us to play 2geta geta.. We were supposed to do our assignments tat time but then we need a break too.. So, dun care, go play play release stress a bit.

Captured some pics while playing but it was quite blur as there were too many movements. But the effect of the sparkles looks superbly nice. Plus it was damn cold tat nite but still 3 of us went down to "our park" n play. haha..

I was trying to make some shape and din know it ended up forms a love shape. haha.. nice hor.. Reminds me of my childhood coz i used to play this during CNY.....


Last week, Yumeko went n buy the sparkles again. And this time, the pics turned out somehow better than the 1st time. We knew its gonna be a cold cold nite as we learnt fr experience d. Luckily i wore 3 layers inside...lol.

OMG i looked like as if i'm goin to antartica. haha..

Aren't the pics look better? If anyone saw 3 of us there, they must b thinking these 3 sampat fella dunno do wat in d middle of d nite. posing infront of cam samo.. Already so cold, 3 of us were shivering but still we enjoyed it. :)

As u can see, our pose remain the same for the 1st 2 pics on top. We dare not make too much movements orelse the pics will turn out blur again. lol.

So fun leh this sparkle sparkle.. Go back M'sia must buy n play again... :P

Yumeko's biggie day

No time to post this during Yumeko's b'day. So gonna cerita it now. hehe.

It all happpened one fine day when i chatted with Elynn. N so happened she mentioned that Yumeko's birthday is coming. So i quickly browse my calendar and oh... 29th May, that will be a peak time as we hav to hand up abundant of works by then..

Actually Elynn was asking me whether can i help her a favour as she wanted to send a parcel fr Malaysia. She want me to keep the parcel until 29th May reaches as the parcel contains pressies for Yumeko. They want the pressies to be given to Yumeko on her exact birthday. Of coz i wouldn't reject as its jus a small favour and i'm happy to help.

The parcel reached one week b4 the 29th. Elynn asked me to open it and there are some foods for me n jeremy. haha.. Mamee and some sweets.. YAY.. thanks for tat.


How good if this parcel is really for me. kakakakka.....


The pressies...


I told Elynn tat i wanted to buy a cake n hav a simple suprise celebration for Yumeko as we would be rushing for works by then. So on the 28th, we bought her a Chocolate Mud Cake. B4 tat, Elynn and i discussed abt the plan. We'll bring the cake in, and at the same time sing the birthday song together with Yumeko's family & Edmund, Yumeko's bf (Elynn's bro) via skype. B4 the clock strikes 12am, Jeremy and i prepared everything outside, placed the cake on a chair. Jeremy will pop the party poppers while i'll hold the cam to record the moment. hehe.

12am sharp, Jeremy knocked Yumeko's door. POP! POP! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Manatau her connection with Edmund was disconnected. We waited while she re-connect it and sang the birthday song 2gether. Pass her the pressies fr Malaysia. Happy Happy! YAY!

Here are some of the pics. Hope she enjoyed this simple celebration though it's jus only a 2 of us.

Make a wish.. make a wish....

All her pressies delivered on time. hehe..

The cake..

with the birthday gal!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Dead after 8 hours on laptop

I was reading this e-mail fowarded from my mum. She told me not to be like this girl as i was so stressed while i was rushing my works. Wonder how true is this article but i guess shud be a real story and wanted to share this with all my dearest friends and family or whoever who is reading this blog. This is how the story goes.

By Ng Wan Ching - May 1 2007

Her story is a painful but apt lesson for us as we take a break this May Day:
Work hard, but take care of your health.

That lesson came too late for Ms May Leong, who died on 23 Apr. Just two days before her death, she had written in her blog: "I don't wanna end up dead for the sake of dough". Her mum and some friends believe she was stressed out from work. Going by her blog entry dated 21 Apr – her only entry this year – her job seemed demanding.

And she was clearly struggling to cope with the workload. Just before she died, Ms Leong, who would have been 29 this month, had been working on her laptop for eight straight hours, said her mother.

Although the cause of death can't be confirmed for now, family members believe she died from pulmonary embolism caused by deep vein thrombosis. This is a condition that can strike when someone has been inactive for a long period of time, like sitting in one position.

"I really thought I was able to do everything, that I can be supergirl as well, but my health is worsening at a fast rate," she wrote in her blog two days before she died. "Vitamin M(oney) isn't gonna cure my health."

The Singaporean is an only child. Her father left the family when she was young, said a relative, leaving the mother and daughter to fend for themselves.

That early trauma bonded the pair, who became close. Ms Leong, who worked in a multi-national company (MNC) and apparently drew a salary of $2,600 a month, said in her blog that she wanted to "earn lots of $".

She had a dream: To take her mother abroad for a holiday. Friends and family said she was bent on earning enough to realise that dream for Madam Lim Mui Mui, 54, who works as a packer for a supermarket chain here.

That is why Ms Leong continued to hold on to her job, despite being stressed by it.
Said her friend, Mr Li Kaiyan, 25, a civil engineering student at the National University of Singapore: "She told us before she blogged her last entry that she was overworked and stressed out.

"We hardly had time to chat on the Internet since she started this job about two months ago."
Ms Leong had been working at different jobs until she joined her last company in September last year, said Mr Li who has been a close friend for three years.

In March, she switched departments in the same company and work became more demanding.
Ms Leong, a support manager, was thrilled to "finally have the chance to 'fly high' in a Fortune 500 MNC", she wrote in her blog.

So much so that it was "ok for me to wake at 3.30am to start work @ 4.30am everyday in the morning" as she was dealing with New Zealand partners.

"But never did I realise what kind of stuff (would be) coming towards me..." she wrote.
"What I face everyday as a partner support manager is having more than 100 e-mails per day.
"Partners from New Zealand practically 'screaming' to be served first, getting their orders delivered ASAP, wanting everything, complaining of everything.

"Month end was the most 'exciting' part, you get to go on concalls (conference calls) almost every day, prepare backlog reports for each concall session which consists of 500 over orders remaining undelivered, investigating item by item...

"I've got to work at home during non-working hours including weekends, just doing my best to clear my work."

DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS

A National University Hospital spokesman confirmed that Ms Leong was taken to its A&E department on 23 Apr at around 8pm.

She could not confirm the cause of death as it is now a coroner's case.
Ms Pamela Wong, 29, who was Ms Leong's best friend for 21 years, believes that it was deep vein thrombosis which killed her. She said doctors had told family members that Ms Leong had a blood clot in her legs.

"Her family members told me that when she tried to stand up, the blood clot actually shot to her heart causing her to collapse," she said.

Ms Wong added that since Ms Leong fell down two weeks ago, she hadn't been feeling well.
On 18 Apr, Ms Leong fainted at the lobby of her workplace. But she did not want to take medical leave. Nor did she want to quit her job.

"She was worried because she was on contract. Every time she took medical leave, it would be on no-pay basis," said Ms Wong.

Ms Leong wrote in her blog: "I've got myself sick these few days. Had diarrhoea last Thursday (19 Apr), hurt my knee and was limping badly since last Sunday (15 Apr), had breathlessness since Wednesday (18 Apr) and fainted after work on that day at my office lift lobby, knocked my head against the wall when I fainted, collapsed again last night at home."

Madam Lim said her daughter had been very sick since Friday.

Ms Leong wrote in her blog: "Now my chest feels really tight & breathing is really tough. "Getting up & walk, I just feel like I'm carrying a heavy baggage of few hundred kilos & I'll start to feel really weak & dizzy."

Earlier, she had been to see the doctor at a private clinic near her home in Clementi. But the doctor had told her it was probably work stress she was feeling, said Ms Wong, who had spoken on the phone to Ms Leong the day before she died.

Ms Leong wrote: "Doc just said I'm really stressed out. Sigh..... what should I do? Quit? Or continue this ultra-super stressful job? "I've got a contract of six months to fulfill... three months to commit. If I quit now, I've got to pay back one month's salary. Not worth it. If I quit after May, it won't be so bad.

"But I don't know if my health can tolerate (it) till then."

Mr Li said: "According to her mother, before she collapsed, she had been working non-stop for eight hours with the laptop on her lap, replying to e-mail and work-related stuff." At her wake at Singapore Casket last week, friends, family and ex-colleagues gathered. According to Ms Jamie Tan – Ms Leong's cousin – her boss was the first to arrive.

"We spoke to him. We wanted to know if she was overworked. He said no," said Ms Tan, 31, whose mother is the elder sister of Ms Leong's mother.

Madam Lim said: "Now that my daughter is gone, what is there left for me?"
She was gasping for breath.

Ms May Leong's mother called Ms Pamela Wong in a panic at around 7pm last Monday. Ms Leong had collapsed and she was having great difficulty breathing.

Said Ms Wong: "I used to live in the nearby block to her flat. But since I got married, I have moved. So I could not rush down. I called my parents and asked them to rush there first."
While her parents were on the way to Ms Leong's flat, they called her mother to ask if they should call a doctor or an ambulance.

"She asked for an ambulance," said Ms Wong. When her parents arrived at the flat, her father saw Ms Leong on the sofa "gasping for breath".

"He also saw a huge bruise on her leg," said Ms Wong. Ms Leong's mother was frantic, but there was little anyone could except wait for the ambulance.

"The ambulance took about 20 minutes to half an hour to arrive," said Ms Wong. "During that time, my father saw her calling her mother and crying, quite loudly at first, but as she grew weaker, her cries became softer."

By the time Ms Leong arrived at the National University Hospital at about 8pm, her condition was critical. Not long after that, she died.

Listen to your body or you may regret it

Deep vein thrombosis refers to the formation of a blood clot within a deep vein, commonly in the thigh or calf. Some risk factors include being over 60 years old, overweight and being inactive for a long period of time. If the clot partially or completely blocks the flow of blood through the vein, blood begins to pool and build up below the site.

Chronic swelling and pain may develop. The valves in the blood vessels may be damaged. Or if the clot breaks free and travels through the veins, it can reach the lungs, where it is called a pulmonary embolism (PE).

This is a potentially fatal condition that can kill within hours. To prevent DVT, you should frequently exercise your lower leg muscles – every half an hour or so – if you know you'll be inactive for a long period of time.

Other than exercising your leg muscles, you should also exercise work-life balance, said Dr Clarice Hong, a consultant psychiatrist in private practice.

"I would always advocate that we should always take care of ourselves first. If we don't take care of ourselves, we cannot fulfill our roles at work or at home, especially the multiple roles that women play," said Dr Hong.

If you do not feel well, you should listen to your body and rest. "Don't push yourself so hard doing one thing. That's like putting all your eggs in one basket. Because if something happens to you, everything comes to an end," she said.

Lessons got to be learned, especially in the electronics age. We tend to glue ourselves to the chair all day long staring at the computer screen. Our legs get weaker each day due to lack of exercise on them. No wonder people die young these days!

What out; we got to get up occasionally and let the blood flow.
More brisk walking would he helpful.

So, to all my dearest friends and family, remember, don't too stressed up with yr works. Take time to rest and relax while u r working or rushing for yr assignments. Your health comes 1st b4 anything does. :)

Hurray!

Finally everything's done. Even the final presentation, was so fun and hilarious as we need to act out a scenario enactment for this particular subject. Well done group mates! Nice teaming with u guys.

Silly looks fr left to right:
Leeq, Kim, Emma (our tutor), Jamee & Me!

Captured some pics outside campus b4 leaving for our 2 months holz!

Got nothing better to do after that. Went for yum cha to celebrate our freedom. haha.. No mamaks here instead we went to a cafe. a bit high class la coz expensive + we hav no choice.. :(

This is how the cafe's interior like... Quite a nice place though with nice roundish lamps.

Me and Pauline. Our "mum". :P

Mr Tai & Me..

& the rest of the group.

Since the weather was so so cold outside, Pauline & I ordered Marshmallow Hot Chocolate. Yumeko had it b4 and said its quite big glass and reasonable price. This is Pauline's hot choc. She had the smaller size. Nice deco on top but how come only got 2 miserable marshmallow beside the glass? Should giv more ma...

Mine arrived but y no deco on top wan...?? hmmph.... The comparison between the bigger size n the smaller one. Saw the difference?

Conclusion is... tastes like "milo". I ordered "hot chocolate", n this is "warm chocolate".. ape lah. Dun care, ask them to re-heat for us.

Jeremy can't resist but ordered the "Spagetthi Marinara" there. Not cheap thou.... $16 for it.. fuiyohh.. budak kaya.

N this is Pauline's meatball.. Yum Yum...


So happy that everything's over. Time flies, and one sem already gone. But the boringness symptoms already started. Must look for part time jobs soon oresle i'll die of boringness. haha... Till then... Cheerio!

3 down, 1 more to go!

1st of June will be the scariest day for those who need to pass up their final projects including us! Everyone was rushing for works b4 tat day arrives. As we are in Adv & graphics course, we need to print lots of stuff. Bcoz of that stupid printings, we hav to go back to uni's com lab in d middle of d nite and do our stuff there so tat we could print straight away. Nvr experience staying back in uni till 2am and walk back with the superbly cold weather. Some of my classmates even camp there for 2-3 days for the sake of finishing the projects for printings. *sigh

Finally the day arrived. Luckily we manage to finish up our stuff and had a good sleep too. Time for submiting our works were 2pm-4pm. So, by around 1pm we already start packing our stuff and get ready to go.

These are the folios tat we need to pass up. Contains all our research, sketches and executions. Each one cost abt $10 for non refillable and $26 for refillables. Luckily we only need one refillable file. But all these already not cheap lehhh...

Look at the panda.. slept for a few hours only.. Y leh? DOTA lor...

Messy living room bcoz of all d rushing.. but consider neat ady coz i pack all the stuff the nite b4.

Messy working place..

Ok.. better go submit works d.

This is oso my 1st time submitting works like this. All our folios will be place in these containers according to subjects.

Arranging my works to be submitted.

Lecturers prepared stickers for us to stick on our folios sommore..


Say bye bye to my paper bag...

Hmm... the whole sem cost me a lot.. Printing itself already about $70.. converted to ringgit will be RM210!!! wahh... plus all the folios leh. hmm... Countless...

Well, this is not the end yet. Another final presentation to go next Tue! Wish me luck! haha..