After class on Tuesday (23rd) jas & I had dinner at Sapa Hills. It turns out the manager remembers me and doesn't recognize me from my accent alone. :P Which is how I would have thought people remember me, as the first thing I recognize about someone who is meant to be familiar to me (unless I have seen them many many times) is their voice. Visual recognition of style & silhouette then settles in and then very slowly and not so often facial recognition. Anyway... Jas took about half of these pictures. You can figure out which by the angles, and features.  


Jas liked the tea, which he said was a white tea with hints of something... I forget sorry, next time I'll write it down. As he promises he'll message me reviews but never does. If we are to get a review out of him it's only possible there and then.




A picture compensating for the bad picture of the noodle soup. I did have a coughing fit through dinner and was sick, so that did affect my photographic performance.




Drinks.They completely forgot about it till I reminded them at the end. Though I'll let it pass as they were quite busy that night. I ordered the apple custard drink, they sent out the avocado and insisted it was the custard apple... And yet it was green... But we soon fixed it up after I got jas to taste it (I'm allergic to avocado). I did insist it wasn't the one I wanted, but the waiter didn't seem to understand me. The custard apple wasn't as nice as I recall, though I still did like it. Wouldn't order it again though.




Jas order no.56 one of my favourite dishes with my recommendation, though unlike me he dunked dipped the beef rolls in the fish sauce which was hot (chilli, though I've never tasted it I can smell it). He really liked it and recommends it too. 




Meanwhile I went ordered a noodle soup, which was nice. Average, I've had better. Initially I wasn't going to get the noodle soup, but soon after getting in the car I launched into a coughing fit (my excuse for the bad picture above) that didn't stop till I got home around 10.30pm. And so I thought the soup would help, it didn't. I wouldn't recommend pho here. For pho it's best to go to a pho eatery - even though they don't look as nice - the restaurant/eatery that is. 




For dessert we had fried ice cream, jas went for the maple syrup while I got chocolate. Doesn't matter what you pick as it's quite subtle. Vanilla ice cream fried in a ball of coconut batter (wording...) I found the coconut a bit much honestly. Though I did enjoy the ice cream. :P Recommended  Only if you're not allowed to eat anything deep fried. ;) Otherwise no, I'd prefer to go elsewhere for dessert. 

Overall I'd highly recommend Sapa Hills as a place for lunch/dinner with friends or a casual date. But don't order the pho. Here's another review I did a few months ago.

Monday

Once again I didn't sleep the other night so I spent the day asleep. Dreamt of an aristocrat dinner, picture books and being an art teacher. Missed mob, I'll take it on Wednesday. Started the law essay, did part of the intro but then got confused and it blended into the body. Created a 2nd plan.





Tuesday


Priceline had a 40% off sale for make-up and nail polish (including Sally Hassen!), which is a great deal, sometimes there's a BOGOF offer, but rarely and not on a huge range. 



We bought...
x2 Rimmel Foundations (not pictured) 24.00
x2 Sinful Colours NP 6.00
L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream 16.00-ish
Maybelline Dream Lumi Touch 10.80
Bourjois Touche Healthy Mix Brush Concealer 14.40
Essence Circus Circus - Colour 3NP 3.30

Resisted the temptation to buy lots of cheap nail polish :P was going to get a Sally Hassen basics but I still had plenty top/base coat left. But I did get x3 nail polishes for around $10. :) The SA recommended 'Sinful Colors' which were only $3 each. I didn't take the np pictures btw. 




Trip to the city. Melbourne Central. Got some eye cream samples. Everyone was very friendly, we went to L'Occitane (sounds the most promising, plus we got rave reviews from jas), Khiel's and Mecca Cosmetics. And here was the result...



Stopped by Bread Top, as I was craving soft buttery soft bread with rasins. Was told it was baked today, they lied. Story of why I'd prefer to but from Brumby's/Bakers Delight if possible, they don't lie about when it was made.  

Class went by, today we did stakeholders and culture ethics which was interesting :) Recorder's been turning off by itself every few minutes - changed battery and we're good. 

Printed law essay plan to get feedback, mr law was not impressed :( I miss Ian. He didn't get that upset when pointing out I'm way off track and blabbing. 

Group work, turns out the girls aren't giving me the info they need cause they haven't started. Looking forwards to starting the project (right after I finish the law and manager project).

Law is back on. Intense as always. The trick to not getting on a stress high is not to think too deeply about it, just copy it down and absorb. 6 pages this week, with a repeat on Friday. 

Met jas for dinner afterwards at Sapa Hills. He ordered my favourite dish (I insisted :P) while I had pho, which was nice but not as good as if we had gone to a pho place. Here's a sneak peek:







Wednesday

The bus was 3 minutes late, which made me a bit stressed, as it arrived at the station just as the train left. But it was ok in the end, as I still made it to class on time. During the trip I met a lovely woman who told me about a DJ samples/seconds store on little collins (x) queen st. Has anyone been there?

Class was interesting, we did globalization of goods/services and ethics I think it was. mr mob as always was great. Did you know in Norway the gov pays for all your healthcare, education (up to phd) and super annu?

I have a book where I try to write something nice that happened during the day. Today's entry was mr mob said my crown/pearl brooch was nice (I love it when people notice the little things :) and gave me a 2nd shot on the test I failed last week (I was very sick, drowsy, and fell asleep during it). Or at least he intended to, due to an IT thing (scheduled closing time/dates) it didn't work out. But it's ok, I've only failed 1/8.

Trip to the library where I did this weeks test 13/15 then got distracted on some fun reads.

Another trip. Daiso, I've always wondered where the city store was and today I found it, or rather google did :P it's underground, next to DSE on Bourke St (x) Swanston. The goal was to get in buy a business card holder, and get out. An hour later I'm done. There was so much stuff to look at, and it was all only $2.80 each. So much temptation, e.g. nail stickers, stickers, stationary and cookie cutters. Resisted the urge to buy them all though :P as I honestly wouldn't use them.



I've never seen a card holder like this one, it reminds me of tapes that were around when I was a kid. Female voice-over: "Coming soon to a store near you on DVD and video." Does anyone remember that?

Priceline. It was a frenzy in there! There was a girl at each brand counter/area. Exchanged my BB Cream, and bought Bourjois's Touche Healthy Mix Brush Concealer. Would have stayed to browse for things I don't need, but it was a bit scary (social anxiety activated) with so much estrogen in the store. Think I may have bought the wrong concealer. Guy brain (I prefer the company of men :P and don't know much about make-up) said there was one. Turns out there was three. 

Stopped at the shops (round 2) on the way home to get some stuff for a picnic lunch we're having tomorrow. ANZAC cookies (after all it is ANZAC day tomorrow) and croissants with chicken, cheddar and berry jam. My version of cranberry and turkey. :P



Thursday

The day started with a fight over the picnic set. Mother gave it to aunty, who then threw half of it out and used the plates under pot plants. Aunty had a bitch fit about it, as it was given to her and according to her meant she could do whatever she wants with it. Mother said it was a lend. Aunty was especially bitchy about the plastic champagne glasses (I'm accident prone) as she said there's nothing wrong with red soda cups and there was no need to be fancy. She's an extreme minimalist (she had her "garden" paved with cement and had all the trees removed to keep it on low/no maintenance . No one likes her, she's so picky and bossy (she plays the role of the family matriarch - though no one has any respect for her, and we all avoid her, including grandpa).

The rest of the day went much better, we had a trip to the sea side with jas & emily, had a lovely picnic with perfect weather timing, and then took a billion pictures of sand castles. Thursday gets its own post.



Isn't this area lovely for a picnic? I've never seen anything like it, and to me it looks like something out of a Pokemon game, a town like Newport perhaps.




Friday

Therapy the conversation I've been dreading. My according to her numerous unprofessional, unethical and immoral r'ships. None of which I regret. :P 

Went to see the dr, the one that can give me medical certificates as he isn't practically related to me by marriage. And there we got our 'nice thing of the day', he said he likes the colour of my coat (red). :) Confirmed I have a virus, though it lasts a fortnight-ish and I'll be over it by the end of the week. We then had a discussion on CAT scans, he believes my issues e.g. facial recognition and memory fail are more psychological things then physical. Which means I'm screwed. :(

2.45hrs to finish that law essay, and I finished it just in time. :) Though I forgot the cover sheet at home and ended up taking a picture and sending mr law that instead till I give it to him next week. Towards the end I got a bit lost. Also completely forgot about the footnotes. 

After class we met Lily and went for a walk, and bought waffles (ice cream). Intended to go back and do some more work but somehow I got distracted with procrastination and random browsing. Don't actually remember what I did other than look at the mob project report template and make a list of things to be done. 

One - Cucumber
Two - Tumeric Powder
Three - Rolled Oats

Puma's Glow Run. What is it exactly? You pay $60 to run/walk 5km and then there's DJs and very very loud music. You also get a free burger from Grill'd, a t-shirt, headband and glowstick (also sold for $5 each). IMO you're getting ripped off, though this is an event I did not enjoy the slightest. That and Puma's doesn't actually support a charity, and most events I work at are for charity/NFP.

People say if you're saying it's too loud and needs to be turned down you're getting old. Yeah no. I'm not the clubbing type, never have been, never will be. What constitutions as a good night for me is dinner and a show, like the opera. I don't like to wear tight short clothing, grind up against anyone and listen to music I can feel pulsing through me - in an invasive manner. 'Rape by Music' is what my George calls it. 



We signed in and received tags and the event shirt (fluro pink or yellow) to glow under the 'black light'. I was stationed on registrations and learnt how to use the eftpos machine. I don't believe in credit cards, as you spend more when you're not physically handing over cash, and so I've never learnt how to use one of these things. The woman in charge was meh, though I didn't like her. People kept leaving trash on the table, so I stuck a sign to the table telling them the table is not a bin, and the bin is behind them. Got told off for doing that. Towards the end of sign-ups there was trash everywhere and guess who cleaned it up? We did. This would not have happened if we were firm with them. This is the messiest event I've been to. 


After sign-ups were over we were sent to the starting line to dissembling all the signs, posts and banners. It was dusty and dirty. The thing about events when you're at the bottom of the hierarchy is that it's not glamours at all. Just a lot of hands on work. And no one cares about your health problems such as lifting restrictions or allergies to dust. This is one of the reasons I hate events. Some days are better than others in this industry. The guy in charge of that area wasn't any better than the woman in sign-ups. 

I finished at 8.30 though didn't leave till 9.15 as I didn't know, they said we should have known, but I was not given the info. Others weren't so lucky and had to stay till the very end of the event.



This has been possibly the worst event experience I've ever had due to the way I was treated, and the event itself. It was like a nightclub, but outdoors and much much louder. It was so loud I could still hear it with my earplugs in, and not only could I hear it, I could feel it flowing from my head to toes. I hate this modern crap, and never listen to it. Not my type of event, I'm too old for this stuff. My idea of music is strictly classical and opera, where I don't feel the music (though jas does - but even then it's in a good way) and it does not invade and trash my soul.

It's interesting how different two events running on the same day can be. At one event everyone was nice, at the other those on the bottom of the hierarchy where treated like trash by some of the staff. Interestingly the prior event was NFP and promoting fairtrade, while the later operated sweatshops.



Oxfam Trailwalker. 7.30am. Mt Evelyn. Checkpoint 5. Parking Marshall. Open skies, green meadows and horses. Spent the morning directing cars (as the road was meant to be one way). Most cars turned around and took the exit, only two got past me, one was speeding, and the other was the milkman who asked what was the road the other exit lead to. 


Warm weather, windy though, but the sun was shinning. Soon a guy joined me patrolling at the gates, a medical student in his final year. Best conversationalist I've ever met at an event, interesting topics, and he didn't ask to me join his cult church. :)


One of the thing we talked about was being a bitch - at work. He agrees that it's ok to be a bitch at work when it's required, like when you work in a male dominated work place and people don't treat you as an equal because of your gender, and believe you belong in the kitchen. e.g. surgeons. I've heard Helen is scary at work, and always wears pants. Though whenever I see her she's a warm, friendly amazing person who's a great baker. 

Another situation that calls for 'survival of the bitchiest  is when you work in an all girls industry. That's me. We aren't even competing for jobs yet and the other girls in events (some, not all) are bitches to me. It's to be expected. Though it's not that bad, I've been to the modeling academy where I was bullied by girls half my age - quite sad really as I used to work as a tutor, and we did have 14yr old and they were nice. 

You've got to be a bitch sometimes (read: at work) to survive, but then when I'm with people I like I'm completely different, rarely do I feel the need to dominant a guy (all my friends except one is a guy) in every way possible, but it's something I do everyday at work. I never said I wasn't a totally bitch, it's just a side you don't see because I don't feel a need to be that way with people I like. 


Later on we packed up (the checkpoint we were at was closing at 2pm), stacked chairs and did two rounds of picking up rubbish and moving bins around. Most interesting thing we found was a bottle of Jack Daniels, we also found lots of tea bags. No condoms. XD


Added 6hrs to my log. Everyone was nice, and one of the operations assistants was very friendly and had a friendly vibe about him. I would definitely help out again next year. :)

This year the first hints of fall were noticed at a nursery on York Rd in Mt Evelyn. I like the fall, the leaves are pretty, it may be cold, but there's photo opportunities. Our engagement photo shoot was to be in the fall at Lake Emerald Park.

This may be the conclusion to the 'How to Make Friends... or Not' Series.

On Tuesday I went to see mr head of IT, who was nice and unlike Austin, is talking to me.




And the reason as to why Austin rejected my friend request (in person, not fb) is... Professionalism. While it's not against the rules to see any of the kids outside of class especially when they're not even in your class (or have any chance of being in your class in the future) some people still feel weird about it. Austin is one of these people. 

So it's nothing personal e.g. he knows how old I really am (my projected image/personality is a lot older than I am, because I don't take most people at my actual age seriously, r'ship age differences, and because I've experienced lots of things others my age have not, hence I'm am older than them and can't relate to them). 

My question is that if it was that simple why didn't Austin tell me? It wasn't like I was going to hurt him for saying it. It's because he's a chicken - according to me. Though mr IT says it's because Austin's new. O.o That's strange he said he's been doing this for 6yrs. My guess is that it's his 2nd yr taking the lectures, though he's been taking the tuts for the last 6yrs. And as others have been around for 10+yrs he's considered new. He's still a chicken to me, but ok that's acceptable reason as to why he doesn't want to have coffee with me. 

Mr IT also said that Austin's focusing on his work and I should be focusing on studying, as oppose to anything but work. As the head of a dept I see why he'd say that. But as me life is too short to spend it all studying (unless you're passionate about what you're studying) there's more to life than just work and studying, as I discovered with my first bf almost a decade ago. And by that I don't mean bedroom activities :P, I mean there's all these fun adventures you could be having, like trying new thing e.g. going to the opera, taking cooking classes, and overall doing things that have nothing to do with work/study.

For me it's not about the destination (highly successful partnership in an events planning firm, happily married to le beau, possibly kids through surrogate adoption), but more about who you'll meet along the way. Like Ian & Hector. And fun little adventures you'll have. As you can tell I have no work/life balance. Though when you don't have long to go work isn't that important.

It was confirmed that Austin doesn't know my name. As he never asked (we "met" over email) and I described myself as 'the pastel coat' so that he would be able to identify me when he sees me. Though the first thing people notice about me is the accent. 

Hector asked "Is he worth it?" before I would have said yes (my friends are pros at one way communication it's just in their nature) but now I'd say no, Austin's not worth it. He doesn't even know my name.

Came across this deal on fb/ozbargain and thought I'd share it, as good deals on these group buy sites are quite rare. Plus I have Lindt on my urbanspoon list of places to visit this winter. :P


For $19 you get: 
- x2 hot chocolates (note that the picture features 4 not 2) worth $12-14
Bites of...
x2 chocolate brownies
x2 macarons (salted caramel and hazelnut) worth $5
x2 waffles with ice cream (next to strawberry, in the picture)
x2 strawberries + cream (left of waffles)
small pot of chocolate

Monday

A long day, didn't sleep last night as I spent Sunday asleep. Managed to stay awake all day. Stayed back late at the library and finished the globalization essay. :) 1/4 completed. Fell asleep during the weekly test and got 7/15 :( going to ask if I can redo it. We got a new guy in our manager project group, he seems nice. 



Feeling very sick :(. Took too many Strepsils (1 per hr, box says 1 per 2-3hrs) so I got a stomach ache, but my throat doesn't hurt as much. What's your remedy for a sore throat? I  had 6 oranges and honey yesterday, but that didn't prove as effective as I thought it would be. The symptoms  runny nose, sore throat, decreased mental abilities and clouded thinking.

Think I saw Austin today, not sure it was him though, but it did look like him. It's only Monday and we have our quote of the week. XD



I'm pretty sure that a lot of people can identify me by my legs/shoes. :P Oh and whoever he was he had a bag just like the one I've seen Austin with. There's usually a woman who sits in that office on Mondays, though I've never seen her. 

Adventures of the day were a little shopping and lunch at Fugazza, down a little lane way I've never been to before. At Fugazza I ordered the chicken focaccia which was very nice, though did fill me up fast because of the cheese. Next time I'll be getting the half size, as the full is the size of two sandwiches. Oh and they don't do 50% off after 2pm anymore. Bottom photo is the half size.




L'Occitane had an fb promo where they sent vouchers (with unique codes) for their signature handcream (30ml). What do you have to give in exchange? Name, number, address, email. I hate it when they ask for your address, in this day and age most people already get enough ads. But then again you always know your address and your other address. ;) When I sign up I always use a different name, number and address. 

Stopped by Myer for some samples, the Biotherm girl was very nice and not pushy at all. She wanted to give me a sample of something (I forget) but they didn't have them. Their eye cream looks interesting, though doesn't rate very high.




Tuesday

Too sick to function and yet function I did. Though I don't remember many details for today. On the way to class I got "coffee" in the form of a white hot chocolate from the 'Coffee Cup', it was nice but a bit plain, not as sweet as Gloria Jeans, which I prefer. As I have a membership card I always get BOGOF with hot drinks, sadly no one ever goes out for any sort of drinks with me, except le beau.  Last person (other than him) who had coffee with me died a week later. Who told Austin? :P



Glutenous Sandwiches for a late in class lunch. I really like these, it's like rice with flavouring and a yellow bean. Background at school, dislike, but the lighting was good. A rare glimpse of natural lighting. Why they have ugly lumpy/grainy bricks indoors I don't know. Downstairs in the newly renovated area they've painted the bricks white which is nicer. 

Went to see mr head of IT who doesn't remember me, hoping to get the answer to why Austin rejected me. He looked at my results O.o and knows my best subject is IT, which I had previously suggested I failed and was taking it for summer school (it was my cover story, which even Austin believed - till he saw me not in class and questioned why). Fortunately he doesn't remember. Tuesday gets its own post. So more on that later. 



Classes went by, nothing unusual happened. My recorder's acting strange, auto turn off, might need to change batteries or call insurance  Ms events is back :) she was away last week. I had yet another weak moment where I did not stand up for myself and speak my mind. I hate those rare moments. The girls want to have a meeting during the lecture, meaning we'll need to skip the lecture. I said ok, but what I meant is that no I'm not cool with it. They don't record them anymore (budget cuts) and it's not the same as being there. 

Whatever happened to that meeting the other week? Well one girl was on holidays, another messaged me to say she couldn't make it and there was no communication with the 3rd. I asked her about it today and she decided not to respond. She's kinda a bitch, but then so am I when I work with girls. Story of why I prefer the company of men, they don't provoke me and we don't have bitch fights over the little things. 

As I moved my law classes to another day (as a part of the saving me from myself plan) I didn't hang around and got home around 7.30 which has been the earliest time I've gotten home in years. I do miss law at night though, as everything's more intense at night. I'll miss Tuesday, as I used to always look forwards to seeing Austin on Tuesdays.  



Wednesday

Missed the mentalist last night as I crashed, the reason being I'm very sick. I don't get sick very often but when I do it's very serious. Got up today at 4.30pm, 18+hrs later. 

Theatre, where we're given the advice that things aren't going well if we're not up to full run-through by this stage. I finished early as I'm only in act I. Act II pretty much involves only four characters. It's meant to be a comedy but I don't see it...

Funny moments involve discussions on 'ze art of strangulation'. XD There's a bit where Mobius strangles his lover, a nurse. And the discussion is whether he does it with his bare hands (more dramatic) or uses an object to aid him. "Do whatever you feel is more natural." Is often the recommendation. XD Mobius does not know what is more natural. Though using objects of opportunity is the more popular choice (good times in criminal studies and jury duty where a guy strangled his wife with the aid of a bath robe). Everyone is slightly disturbed that I know this. :P 



Thursday

Slept in, failed to have a session working on that law essay. Arrived a bit late for class (bus leaves when train arrives). Emotional Intelligence Workshop, it was meh. We learnt new things but nothing that really helped. I find self-help books more helpful. It was about being in touch with our feelings, which is a fascinating topic. I deny that I have feelings other than various levels of rage, and as Hector said I detach from feeling alive - on the outside. I do feel things, other than the empty void it's just that I rarely let people know this. Because to be open is to be vulnerable and I like being as Ian said 'Rapunzel in her Tower'. Though occasionally I like people come up for a tea party. :P 

Started the law essay and got overwhelmed, just in the planning stage. There's so much to say, but then am I losing focus on the main concept? Will ask mr law tomorrow, who has given me a week extension on it. :) 

Double booked tonight. Had tickets for a thing at North Melb Town Hall, though didn't go because it was wet & windy, see below.






Friday

16hr coma. Things I missed included law class (where mr law was going to check out my essay plan) that aren't recorded anymore, hours of essay work and a show. If I had been to class I would have checked my email and remembered about the show. Mira Calix’s Fables & Other Works at the Recital Centre.

The emptiness is once again consuming me, I feel depressed, lost and broken. :( It doesn't help that the wedding expo's on this weekend and we were going to go on Sunday. All things wedding related make me sad. :(  P.S. I just came across a picture of what was going to be our wedding favour - an apple with a custom sticker.



The doctor, Adrian came to check on me last night which was nice, Helen sent him and a basket of blueberry muffins. :) He confirmed that I have a viral infection. :(.



Saturday

7.30am. Oxfam Trailwalker. 
5.30pm. Puma's Glow Run
9.30pm. Dinner

Feeling a bit better physically. 

Detailed post coming up.


Sunday

Something I may have forgotten to mentioned is that events can be exhausting, and you're usually always on your feet. I have feet issue and they were aching today, so I spent the day in bed. Drifting in and out of sleep, dreaming about getting ready to go to a nightclub, while the neighbours are having a latex themed costume party and there were foccacias.

Nothing achieved. Once again not going to cards workshop, to stay late and work on that law essay due Friday.  

The virus is back, and so's the cough and sore throat. :( May have to see my dr this week. 

Don't have an energy or will to cook and so today we ate some ritz crackers with cheese for dinner. Need to buy more freezer food. I've just been so exhausted lately with life, a pending breakdown, work due and the virus that even getting up is a challenge.


    

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