Journey around Lantern Festival

Today was my official day at Latern Festival. Although I had planned the day out, it turned out to be completely different. But I guess it was a good thing. I met a whole bunch of new people (increasing my social network :D), though it was mainly two new people, two friends and I, by halfway through the night (we got ditched >.<). We did A LOT of walking, especially trying to squish through crowds of people on Princes Street. I got to show off my Diabolo skills a bit to my new friends hehe. After walking for god knows how many meters/kilometers, we were all very tired, and the day ended with churros, om nom nom~ :3

I'm really starting to like pool (with a cue stick, not with water). It seems easy to bond with new people over a bit of friendly competition, good to break the ice. I'll admit I was hesitant to go at first as I only knew one person there, but then I thought "Oh why not? What's the worst that could happen? Just go to meet new people la" and I am very glad I did :). This is why I suggested we should have the pool event before karaoke, but each to their own I guess. And I suppose it is true that not everyone is into pool.

Here's something delicious I had today, toffee covered strawberries :3. They sold well too :o (even though expensive, $3.50 a stick =_="). To be honest, I could probably make them myself for a lot cheaper, but I'm just too lazy XD

picture borrowed from my friend's profile :p

I feel myself being way too busy lately though. I feel like I haven't had a proper break this whole week after my exam, been out everyday pretty much, and am not getting a break at all >.<. Just that there's the need to catch up with everyone and do the things I want to/have to do before the holidays end and the busy term starts. Feeling a bit overwhelmed. I miss just sitting at home and watching anime/drama on my computer, and relaxing on my bed without having to worry about too much. I guess this is what happens when the lovely holiday you've had is due to end huh?

What I learnt today: Wow what? There's a thing called a 3D doodle pen? O.o. Where you can draw in the air with plastics :o. That's pretty amazing~

A most productive day yet

Woke up this morning feeling like I could accomplish a lot today. Randomly woke up at 8am for some random reason (which is so abnormal for me) and couldn't get back to sleep. So I decided I would go gym once again since I didn't have to focus on summer school anymore (I feel I got fat again since dad got here =_=). Oh gosh I am so incredibly unfit. I had to lower the settings from the usual standards just so my body could keep up, though I expected this. Felt really good to exercise again :D keep fit! Then I had to carry my heavy old textbook to uni so I could sell it to this person I had arranged to. Sure made me some good money~ Waited around for an hour for my friend to arrive, but only to end back up on the computers to go on Facebook (OK so this part is not so productive, but hey I tried). Accumulated more friends along the way and it turned into a seven people group with one guy to six girls XD. So we all decided to go dinner together. By that time I was already "crashing and burning", as I expected (my energy does not last long after a long day, especially being up so early >.<). But I was still nice enough to see all of my friends off to their respective bus stops, which resulted in me encountering more acquaintances on the way back home. For me, that would be overall a very good day :D as I consider each friend encounter/catch up as a stepping stone to becoming closer to a person.

Oh and I remade the bed as well. Haha. XD

Tl;dr: I did a lot today, saw a lot of friends, now I'm very tired XD.
休む時~

What I learnt: I think this is rather self explanatory :3

With a sigh of relief

The reason I disappeared the last two days was I had an exam today. Stupid maths, I wish it would just die >.<. But the moment I finished the exam, oh wow. That feeling, that rush of adrenaline when the heavy burden is gone, is so good~  I was so ultra happy after that on the way home, I was skipping and dancing to my music XD. Even though looking at my through my last assignment kind of upset me (I had no idea what I did wrong), I didn't let it get to me. Because I am officially rid of maths 108 and summer school! Now that I don't have work or summer school, I can relax a little and get onto the to do list from earlier on :) (thought I'll be completely honest, I did feel extremely bored after the exam because there was no longer the pressing need to study ._.)

Here's some pictures of the preparation going on for the upcoming lantern festival :D. I'd never seen the preparation before so it was a little exciting for me. I noticed a lot of other people were also taking photos of the models as well (and I thought it was just me lol).

Also had a Japanese style cheesecake from La Couronne, it was good, nom nom~ I don't know why I had a craving for it today, just felt compelled to look for it and eat it.

What I learnt today: I can't think of a specific fact, but I've continued to learn the road code now :D. Hopefully I will get my learners before the term starts (in less than two weeks XD)

What to do now?

I went to work today and they told me that after working tomorrow, I don't have to work anymore. At first I was a little stunned, because I was very much intending on working until school started (and I didn't have summer school anymore so it's a good way to kill time). But I wasn't sad about it either, cuz it wasn't that great of a job anyways, and I wanted to not work one of the days next week (but I didn't ask). O well this means I can go to lantern festival next week :D. Yay! I guess fate really does work in my favour huh? Or maybe this is Karma. Either way I'm not to fussed :)

Growing up

Instead of posting about the generic "what's up?", I thought I might post a few of the deep meaningful thoughts I've had throughout the day.

Things you come across on the internet...

I didn't write anything yesterday because really, there was nothing of interest to say.

Interesting work story today though.
This guy wanted to buy a snack right? So I pointed him to the biscuits/cookies section. And he came back with a packet of chocolate wafers and asked me if they were good. The girl with him was objecting to him buying it because she knew what they were like (a bit too dry), but he wouldn't listen to her and asked me about it instead. I said "Well I like wafers. And I think they're pretty good" (even though I wasn't sure because I hadn't tried them before). So he bought them. Then he came back five minutes later with the wafers and said "Hey do you want these? I don't like them cuz they're too dry." (this is what happens when men don't listen to women -_-). And at first I rejected cuz it felt weird to accept food from strangers, but in the end he kinda shoved them on me. And that is the story of how I got a full packet of wafers for free from work ._. They're delicious though :D

疲れた。お休みゃ～ ^(_ _)^~~zzZZZ

What I learnt: While looking at funny anime pictures, I came across the term "rule 63" in the comments section. So I proceeded to google it, and came up with an instant hit. Don't ask me what it means, find it out yourself ._. Here's a nice example.

Tired but inspired

Today I am tired (again XD). I stayed up until 4 last night looking at Detective Conan information, like on the character and live action specials. I don't even know why I did that ._. the internet just sudden;y became interesting to me at 3 in the morning. Had to wake up for Yum Cha this morning too, with the parents T.T luckily it wasn't TOO early, still got a small sleep in.

I went to uni today to finish my assignment, It seems no one else is very clear on what to do either ._. like we ask the stage two paper people and even THEY don't know what to do with the question. I don't even know why this question was put on the assignment when no one knows how to do it and there is no information in the course book telling you how to. Ended up spending a full three and a half hours straight finishing the assignment ToT, with the help of someone else's assignment (not copying, just looking at the working). I swear tedious assignments will be the bane of my existence.

What I learnt today: Oh yea I read this article about this 15 year old kid finding a much cheaper, more efficient way to identify cancer, it was really interesting :o. He combined technology and biology together to come up with a method. It's kinda related to my field of study at the moment, so I find it really interesting :D. Kind of inspires me in a way :3
You can read an interview about his work here.

Happy Chinese New Year!

新年快樂！！！祝大家蛇年好運，身體健康，萬事如意。^^

So it was back to another boring day at work, as everyone kinda stays home on Chinese New Years :/. Bored from 7:30 onward with barely any customers. I saw these cute as kids though. The bigger one is probably around four years old and the smaller one around three years, beautiful ethnic background so they're cute physically as well ^^. They're that type that insist on putting the groceries on the counter themselves, and they were both saying "Up!" while putting the stuff onto the counter. So cute!

Then while on the bus, I sat behind these really cute girls. Asian. They looked Korean but they didn't speak it to each other so I guess they're not? The way that they spoke English to each other, fluent but with a slight hint of an accent. They were passionately talking about good music, and I managed to catch a glimpse of the name Jack Johnson (good taste, girls ^^). I don't why I thought they were cute. Maybe it was they way they were bonding with each other over some good music. It wasn't about boys, and they weren't bitching about how crap life was. Somewhere along those lines.
Feeling weirdly optimistic today~ Ha~ :3

I shall leave you guys with some good music~
Jack Johnson - Upside Down

P.S. George is also very cute ^^

What I learnt today: People get cake for Chinese New Year. What is this?? I don't get delicious, beautiful looking cake for New Years!!! >.<

Work on 年三十晚

Never have I been more happy to work on a busy day like today :D. Two hours passed by so quickly, I didn't even notice until I checked the time on the screen. Then by two and a half hours, time to count the cash and do some cleaning! Got stuck doing more cleaning than I intended to after packing up the vegetables and stuff ~.~ but that's ok, just learn not to ask "what else do I have to do?" next time (lol jokes). Oh well, I got to leave early, so no matter :D. So many people came to shop today ^^ after all, it IS Chinese New Year's Eve (年三十晚), so people are preparing their delicious new year's eve meals~ Saying 新年快乐 to the customers and hearing it coming from them made me feel very festive too ^^ so it made being at work not so bad :D (even though I didn't have the traditional family dinner).

Work story time:
So today this lady wanted to buy a watermelon (we sell them whole), but then she asked if we had a large knife so she could cut it into little pieces to take home. At first we (other cashier and I) thought she wanted to cut it open to see if it was good, and we said "No you can't do that". I thought I was hearing wrong due to my bad Chinese listening skills. But apparently it was because she didn't have a large knife at home to cut it open with. Why would you buy a whole watermelon if you don't have a knife to cut it up with? O.o. And the whole time I was thinking "how do you expect to bring it home after you've cut it up into pieces...?". So there I was, watching the lady cut up the watermelon ON MY COUNTER (on newspaper) into bite-able pieces, and putting them into the plastic bags we provide (which is slightly unhygienic), all the while I'm going "Wtf... this is happening... O.o". Yup WTF moment at work ._.

What I learnt today: To test if a watermelon is good to eat, just smack it lightly and test it for vibration or if it has a hollow sound. If it does/vibrates well, then it means it has a lot of juice (inside the hollows) and is likely to be sweet :)

I am ashamed~

I didn't write a post for yesterday. This is not good. I know that once drop off the wagon once, I'm likely to drop off again. 良くないよ～

I had a good reason though (I guess). I had a really bad headache that was killing me and all I wanted to do was go to bed. I was trying really hard, lay down and closed my eyes and stuff, but couldn't fall asleep >.< (insomnia? but likely due to the headache as well). And kept getting called out by the parents, sigh...
Had a bit of a sleep in this morning, so I got refreshed.

What I learnt: Don't sleep so late, especially around school time. I know I tell this to myself a million times and I never listen. But hopefully this time has taught me a lesson. And really, wear more clothes when it's cold... sigh >.<

Waitangi day, so beach day :D

I think I'd have much rather stayed at home and slept in today, or continue watching Digimon or something. But I thought, since it was still a week day, I might as well go out and soak up some sun, and leave lazing about for the weekends. I ended up going into the water even thought I wasn't intending to (that always happens, I just want to join in the fun :3). Hanging out with Big Bro kind of sucks now, cuz I feel like I'm third-wheeling it all the time. Luckily I'm better friends with his girl friend than he is, so she's always on my side/prefers to hang with me hehe. Kinda sad that I didn't get to take pictures because my camera is now permanently stuffed T.T I guess I'll just have to rely on the ones other people took...

Today is a prime example of how things don't always go as planned:
- I didn't expect today to end up being a good day, especially since I was quite bored at the start (I don't really mix with this crowd, you see), but I guess going into the water made it better :).
- I also expected to go to Kiwiyo. It's so close by after all, and so delicious + all the others were going as well. Then one of the guys just HAPPEN to spill soft drink all over MY shoes (which strangely pissed me off a lot at that time O.o), so I couldn't wear them to go to the shops and had to dry them out in the sun instead.
- Finally, I made it back into town (was so tired that I was falling asleep on the bus >.<) and was so keen to go home and take a catnap. But after I made a detour, I bumped into my uni club (KAC) friends :o. They said they were going to get some food, so I went with (cuz I hadn't had lunch ._.).

So marks another significant event in my life: Had Burger Fuel for the first time in my life today :D

Chook Royale ('tis a mini burger) + combo

(aioli is surprisingly tasty)

What I learnt today: So apparently there is a fruit called Pineberries O.o. They are a mix of strawberries and pineapples, and the look like strawberries and taste like pineapples.

Tbh they look a little creepy to me... those red seeds... >.<

帰った! (I'm back!)

I skipped lecture again this morning. Seriously why do I even bother? :P. I went to get breakfast though (well it was more like a treat XD). At Moustache Milk and Cookie bar, they have a special flavor that they release every week and this week it was Tiramisu (one of my favourite flavors :D), so I just HAD to try one. It was actually quite good. A double coffee shot is poured onto the cookie, so the entire cookie is soft (so it's easy to poke the fork through) The cream dampens down the bitterness and adds the 'light and fluffy' element to compensate for the richness of the coffee. You really do need the cream though, because the cookie is literally drenched in coffee.

Sure it looks like a cake, but it's a cookie :D with cream on top

(crappy camera quality >.<)

At tutorial today, I managed to race ahead with most of the questions and getting all the answers correct, which means I actually understand what I'm doing :DDD (you have no idea how good that feels to an average person like me). Afterwards I went to pool with a couple of friends, and probably played the best I'd ever played, yet :o. This was most likely due an overall contentment with how the day was going (nothing bad happened), so I was able to fully focus on most of my shots. Even won my last game with my beloved 'behind-the-back' shot.

全体として、今日は良い日だよね～ ^^

Also: Got told that tomorrow was Waitangi day (fail, living here 11 years and not knowing that ._.), so there's no class. Not that it really matters to me, It's not like I go to uni for the class anyways :P.

What I learnt today: Apparently the slots in the post boxes labelled 'Standard' and 'Fast' actually lead to the same letter bag inside. I had no idea O.o. And that they get sorted out after they are taken to the post office (fast post letters have more stamps and a 'fast' sticker on them to indicate they need to be fast posted).

猫ーたんはひどい雨がすごく好きじゃない

今日はひどい雨が降ったから、大嫌い。I think this illustrates me very well where at one point at work, I was so entranced by the rain (because it was raining so hard) that I didn't realise there were customers behind me waiting in line.

It's not that I dislike rain. I just dislike heavy rain. Puddles soak into my shoes (if they're not waterproof type shoes). Everything gets wet, my clothes, my hair, my bag, etc. It's slippery everywhere. It's one of those times where you just can't wait to go home and snuggle into your warm, cozy bed with a cup of hot chocolate.

I do like light rain though, sometimes. I remember back in high school when I danced in the rain. That rush of adrenaline when you can't be anymore drenched than you already are and you're just hopping/skipping around, without a care in the world. One of the best feelings~ (no I didn't catch a cold after, aren't I lucky?)

What I learnt: I finally learnt to take my time with clean up so to take up more of the time I have left at work. Hahaha... (there were no customers, there was nothing to do at check out, it was really boring... >.<)

お休み～

今日はつまらない。三時間の間に、デジモンを見たり、まんがを読んだり、友達と喋ったりしました。それから、アルバイトに行きました。今、ベッドの上に座りながら、このポストを書けます。私は本当につまらない人ですね～

眠い
眠い
本当に眠い
とても眠い
すごく眠い
ね. む. い.
(寝ていく)

本当に眠いから、もっとを書きたくない。
-お終い

What I learnt today: More like what I saw today, my dad shaved his head ._. Like I came home and I was like "Who's this bald man on my couch? Holy s*** it's my dad! O.o"
すごくびっくりしました。

Get well soon, mummy~

Mummy was sick today :( so sick that she had to go to the doctors. (We almost never have to go to the doctors. I've only ever been to the doctors twice since I came here 11 years ago). Turns out she had a really high fever, 39 degrees Celsius O.o. Still don't know what the cause is yet, we shall just have to wait for the blood test report to come in.

Work today was a nightmare. I kept running out of change to give to the customers. I knew I didn't have enough change at first, so asked the boss to change some notes into coins (first ask). I also knew it wouldn't be enough to sustain me through 4 hours, but I didn't want to bother him too much so I didn't ask further. Then twice when I was the only cashier left, I ran out of change again =_=". So I had to go bother the boss TWICE (second and third ask) for change, WHILE making the customers wait because I didn't have enough money to give them. What's even worse is that apparently there was no $10 or $5 notes left, and by the time I'd asked the second time, no gold coins. How is that possible?! O.o. And customers feel annoyed about have to carry coins around, so even more inconvenient. I'm sure even the boss was annoyed that I kept asking him change my notes into coins. Nightmare.
Then on the bus ride home, these drunk retards (I can't think of any other name for them) were being so loud. One of them was trying to shush the others up, but they continued laughing and talking really loud (one of them kept saying "INSTAGRAM!" =_=). I just wanted to tell them to SHUT THE F*** UP. I managed to get off the bus while keeping my composure though.
Man I am NOT a happy girl when it's that time of the month... ._.

My friend just linked me this song, it's stuck in my head now. Although I gotta say, it's a pretty good song :D
Jack's Mannequin - Swim

What I learnt today: So apparently I've been spelling awkward wrong all my life. I've always spelt it "awkard" but apparently it's spelt "awkward". So fail ._. (just like the time where I used to spell available "avaliable". But don't worry, I've fixed that :D)

So much to watch, so little time

I don't even know why I bothered to turn up to uni today. I pretty much skipped my only class and stayed in Ic0 for like 5 hours. Well I had to hand in my assignment, but that's about it. Saw a few of my friends, the usual people playing games haha. Bumped into one of my old friends, kinda caught up (although we don't get along THAT well, so he just kinda pissed me off). Went to La Couronne's again today :D (I think I'm getting addicted to them). I bought a tuna and cheese bun like last time, a peanut butter bun (interesting) and a mexico chocolate, since it was the only chocolate bun there (last one left too). I expected it to be average, covered in chocolate polo stuff and that's it. But I didn't realise it had chocolate in it! O.o. OMG that moment I realised when I bit into the chocolate inside, it was so delicious!!! They should REALLY make those more often! (I think they were only available today)

 OMG chocolate filled! Om nom nom~ (yes sorry it is half eaten so doesn't look very appetising ._.)

I finally finished Digimon Adventures today :D (that's season 1). So happy ^^. Even though I had already watched the last episode in the beginning, I decided to watch it again, just for finality's sake. Now I've moved onto Digimon Adventure 02, wonder how long that will take me to finish XD (season 1 only took me about a week, and it was 54 episodes). Also I obtained Sword Art Online from my friend :D very interested to watch and see what it's like since a lot of my friends say it's really good. I also got Clannad. However when we searched up the plotline, it sounded like it was one of those very depressing storylines with no happy ending, so I'm not sure if I want to watch it.... Especially since I JUST watched a really sad episode of 下一站辛福 ToT. Cried so hard that my eyes hurt and my nose is still stuffed.

What I learnt today: That there are now 649 pokemon (excluding the ones from pokemon X and Y) O.o. And apparently in the game of X and Y, you can catch all the other pokemon from all the other generations. Have fun catching 650+ pokemon, people!