Maru and his antics

I am officially obsessed with this cat.

I first spotted this cat on cuteoverload.com and am hooked since.

Its a Scottish Fold and is called Maru; pronounced as "Meh-ru" which
basically means 'Round' in Japanese. How apt!

With a set of inquisitive eyes, and a playful nature,
this cat won me over in this video.

I have never ever seen a cat do that before!

I prefer dogs over cats but if all cats are as cute as Maru,
then I wouldn't mind getting one!

Maru is really curious but intelligent. At first, it may seem like a silly cat as it sticks its head into paper bags (with a hole in the other end), bubble wrap and the like.

However, it begins to walk around the house in a routine manner and taking its time looking at its surroundings through the bags, which suggests its intelligence.

If you're interested, you can follow Maru and its antics through its owner's blog at http://sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com. Although it's predominantly in Japanese, there are English translations in the blog entries.. or rather Engrish translations.

There's an archive of blog entries in the top left corner of the blog and you can scroll through past entries at the bottom of the blog. And best of all, it's updated fairly regularly ;)

Isn't Maru just too cute?

The Man in the Mirror

For starters, I woke at 7.20 am from a terrifying nightmare. Then I found out that Michael Jackson passed away.

:(

I was born in the late 80s, so MJ was already white when I came to know of him. I was never really a big fan but I certainly have my fair share of MJ music and videos!

I particularly remember 'Black or White'. I laughed when Macauley Culkin plugged in his guitar, turned the volume knob to 'Are you Insane?' (or something to that effect) then blasted his "dad" out of the room to Africa(?). Also, the face morphing of the people starring in the music videos really stuck with me. I thought it was really, really, really cool.

My parents liked him but did think he was weird. I believed that he was eccentric as well, but I guess he's probably just misunderstood. I remember watching his clips and music videos, and never did understand why masses of people cried or fainted during his concerts.
No one does that anymore. I guess it's not cool to do that nowadays. Wait.. do kids still use the word 'cool'?

Michael came to Brunei in 1996 (I was 9) for a concert. I remember my family and I heading up to the city, to Jerudong Park to watch him perform. Unfortunately, we couldn't get into the concert area due to the large crowds so we had to watch his performance on a massive TV screen instead.

Since he loves amusement rides, Michael went on several of the rides in Jerudong while he was there for his concert. I recall seeing Michael Jackson only a few metres in front of me. He and his family had gotten off the water log ride and was in a golf cart. There were body guards everywhere. There was a buzz of excitement as everyone gathered around trying to get a glimpse of him.
I just stood there in awe.

But the cool thing was my mom who managed to sneak through security and walked up to Michael Jackson while he was in the cart. The cart wasn't going anywhere because of the large crowds so my mom grabbed the opportunity. She extended her hand towards him. He looked a litte surprised but naturally, could not refuse to shake the hands of a fan. My mom quickly thanked him and made her way back into the crowds.

I have no idea how she did it.

My mom sometimes can do the most unpredictable things. But I'm glad she did. How many people can say, "My mom shook hands with Michael Jackson"??

Funnily, not many people believe me so I stopped telling people.



Although I'm not a massive fan, I think he's incredibly talented and is a musical genius. I suppose his music did have some influence on my life. The 'Earth Song' had quite an affect on me; I was only a child then but it made me aware of how we were destroying the earth with our greed. I remember singing 'Heal the world' on karaoke at my cousin's place.

Thinking back of these fond memories really sadden me. The world will be mourning for the loss of a legend.

May you rest in peace, Michael.

Chocolate Lava Cake

I will need to learn how to make this!


I may even be able to win Prince William's heart with this sacrilegious chocolate lava cake.
'Kate who?' he'll say.

Delectable moist chocolate cake

Warm chocolate fudge oozing out

It must be sinful to taste this good!

It must be winter. My primitive instinct is telling me to fatten up.

Bugger.

White fluff

I didn't get the job. I think I was more relieved than disappointed by that.

It's a good thing I still kept applying for jobs while waiting for their response. It certainly took them a lot longer than they predicted. Like my previous interview feedback, they'd like to keep in touch as they were "very impressed" by me during the interview and would like to me to join them if they have another position available.

And again, I won't put a lot hope into it. Nonetheless, I still feeling pretty optimistic about things. I'm sure that it won't be too long before I get another interview so as long as I keep applying for jobs :)

In other news, I am in love with Samoyed dogs!

Cute Samoyed puppy doing a head tilt! Awww..

Apparently they grow really quick and become quite large. They're like the fluffiest dogs I've ever seen!

I saw one for the first time while having coffee at cibo when a Samoyed dog and its owner stopped by for a quick bite.

It resembled a Husky but with a shorter snout, rounder eyes and way fluffier. It was so cute that I couldn't take my eyes off the animal!

The fluffiness seem to differ from dog to dog.

From the fluffy...



To the fluffier...

and the fluffiest!

O_o
Damm, that dog is like a fur ball.

Don't you think Samoyeds are just the cutest too??

30 days of health? Fail.

Alright. I didn't exactly fail. With only a week to go, I'd say I'm doing pretty well :)

I see improvement in my fitness, skin and hair plus I think I've lost a kilo already!
Woo hoo!

I wasn't exactly a good girl for the past 3 weeks as I had Domino's pizza and their chocolate lava cake!!! Oooooo... just thinking about the chocolate lava cake makes me salivate!

I couldn't stand it anymore and decided to go out and buy some sort of chocolate fudge! Since the oven doesn't work and I've got an irrational fear of them... so I went and got Betty Crocker's 'No Bake Decadent Chocolate Fudge'!! Woots!

So pretty!

The ingredients and cookware

Looks like any chocolate powder..

Add in 1 tablespoon butter and 1/4 cup full cream milk

Microwave on high for a minute

Mix it before microwaving for an additional minute

Stir until smooth and oh.. so... sexy...

Pour into baking tray quickly before the fudge begins to solidify.
Place the tray into the fridge for at least 1 hour or till firm.

You don't need to guess what happened to the remaining scrapes of fudge.




Heh :)

World's Longest Poop?

Josh warned me before showing me this article.

Well, I still felt quite grossed out. So if you're eating and/or weak in the stomach, then maybe you should think twice about reading it as it does contain pictures of the 26ft long poop; the girl pooping out the poop and girl smiling with her excrement.


http://www.poormojo.org/pmjadaily/archives/006472.php



It's old news but it's still news to me.

There's still a bit of debate on whether it's true or not (Apparently she's an artist).

Either way, she's nuts!

When Love Story meets Viva la Vida

If you love 'Viva la Vida' by Coldplay and 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift, then you should check this out! :D





AWESOMOUS!

The Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower

So I braved the cold and stayed up all night so I could catch the meteor shower.
If you don't know what the heck I'm talking about, read my previous post. NOW.


Anyway!

Accompanied by a friend who enjoyed star-gazing, a star watching program running on the laptop and a compass, we sat out and watched.

Unfortunately, despite getting information that it was going to be a great night to watch as the moon won't be too bright, it was ............. extremely cloudy.

12 AM

1 AM

2 AM

3 AM

4 AM

I used a white balancing option on the camera which gives me the ability to capture in the dark but sometimes I'd capture objects in an eerie glow of green.

As you can see, it was pretty cloudy all night. BOO.

However, I did spot a total of three meteors going by! They were so brief that you'd think you were imagining the sudden sparkles in the night sky. Luckily I had someone watching with me so I know I'm not insane.
Each of them were sudden and unexpected as we didn't really think we get to see any through the clouds but were patient enough to wait in hope that the clouds would go away.
The last one stunned us as it was accompanied by a huge streak of light.

Unfortunately it was still really cloudy by 4.30 AM
With only an hour to go before the end of the meteor shower peak, it didn't seem as if the skies were going to clear so we decided to quit.

It was pretty cool to be able to be able to catch a glimpse of the meteor shower, even if it was just three meteors streaking by. It would have been better if the those pesky clouds would go away but hey, I've got no control over mother nature.

After spotting each meteor going by, each of us fell silent, clasped our hands together and made a wish. Yes, there's no way these massive rocks can grant wishes but there's no harm trying.
And fortunately for me, I had exactly three wishes ;)

Sorry guys. I was really hoping to catch something on video, but I'm just fortunately not to catch a cold instead :)

Meteor Shower!

If you're living in Australia (or live in the southern hemisphere) and always wanted to see a meteor shower then you're in luck!

You may be able to witness one of the best meteor showers if you don't really mind staying up all night or walking up really early.

As it's an annual occurrence, it's thought to happen sometime late April to early May of every year. According to the blog of the Sydney Observatory, the best meteor showers will occur sometime between 3.23 AM and 5.37 AM (GMT +10:00 Sydney, Melbourne time)

So that means it'll happen sometime 2.53 and 5.07 AM here in Adelaide.

I checked out another blog (aptly named the 'Meteorblog') which says that during the peak, we may be able to witness up to 60 meteors per hour! That's like an average of one per minute. That ain't too shabby aye?

It also says that you should search for Venus, which will appear as a large non-twinkling star. Ideally you should watch it from a dark area but the moon will be bright tonight so it might be difficult to see.


So will I stay up and watch?
Hmm. I might. Heh.
What? It's cold!
I might sit out all wrapped up with a hot mug of milo. I might.


Well, if I miss it, there's another one in October.

If anyone manages to see it, I would so love to know! :D






Credits and Links:
Picture: http://media.katu.com
Sydney Observatory Blog: http://www.sydneyobservatory.com.au/blog/?p=2048
Meteor Blog: http://www.meteorblog.com/

Melbourne

I meant to blog about this but kept procrastinating. Heh.

Anyway, I made a trip to Melbourne!
One of the best places to go shop in Aussieland!
WOO HOO!


And it's been too long since I had a Krispy Kreme!
The queue was quite long but I didn't mind waiting!

Was sorely disappointed by Krispy Kreme's "Devil's Food" (Glazed Chocolate donut).
Totally didn't live up to its name. It should be sinfully good but was just blah.
It was too dry and too sweet. Boo! Hiss Hiss!


Met up with Cheryl!
Here she is with a pot of tea!

We were shopping in Chadstone and stopped by T2 for some tea tasting!
I can't remember the exact name of the tea that we sampled (something along the line of Geisha Tea?) but it pretty much tasted like water. The fragrance of the tea was beautiful but somewhat intoxicating.


I got myself an awesome clock by Smiggle! I love Smiggle products!
If only they have their own proper stores here in Adelaide. Sigh...



Anyho! Cheryl had a dance class later that day and I asked her to bring me along.
(I wish I have a dancing buddy who would take classes with me *pout*)
One of her teachers is Vince Calingasan, who choreographed one of the dances in Australia's 'So You Think You Can Dance'. I definitely wanted to go meet him!


I cropped this photo because Cheryl might not scream at me if I included a full view of her back (and doing a funny pose. LMAO)
I secretly filmed them from the back but I promised Cheryl that I wouldn't upload them.

So if you wanna know what his style's like, check out this video.
It's pretty short though (About 43 seconds)





Since Josh is now working in Melbourne, we went to play a couple rounds of golf in Emerald. It's a gorgeous place so if you're an avid golfer, you should give it a go :)

The yellow, auburn and golden-brown leaves of Autumn

This mushroom practically screams "Super Mario" but it's totally poisonous.




Nice shot!!




Ah... I can't wait to visit it again :)

Until next time! Broooooom brooooom!!

Butterfly dance

So I went for my very first job interview ever.

It was nerve-wrecking! *silent scream*

I received an e-mail a week and half after I applied for the job with a subject heading "Interview"
My heart was about to burst and it nearly did as I read through the e-mail.
I wanted to run around the room and hug myself at the same time.

Then a flood of mixed emotions engulfed me. I was soooooo not prepared for an interview. What would I say? What should I do? What should I wear?! I need shoes and bag which screams "HIRE ME!" but where?
So many problems.. so little time...

I hit the local bookstore in search of books that would guide me through my first interview. As I went through the shelves, I found myself with about 6 books in hand.
I speedily read through a book which was entitled 'Perfect First Interview' (or something along those lines) trying to absorb as much info as possible.

I ended up buying a book called 'The Everything(R) Practice Interview Book'


Call me silly but I am the type that likes to do my research (which is why I am a scientist).

It did help me a lot but I also think it made me even more nervous as I had to remember so many things that I should and shouldn't do.
But it was indeed very handy.



I arrived at the interview extra early so was seated in a waiting area. I was soon joined an Indian man who looked smart in his full suit, nice polished shoes and a large black briefcase.
He was called to do the interview first. Fifteen minutes later, he emerged from the room with a smile on his face.
D'oh!
He asked me whether I was going for the interview and told me that I had nothing to worry about as it was easy.
I felt really relieved after hearing that.

It wasn't long before it was my turn. As I entered the room, I realized that I was going to be interviewed by THREE people.
I was silently screaming inside the whole time as I shook all their hands.

Fortunately, they didn't waste anytime asking silly or confusing questions such as "What book did you last read?" (I read Cleo mag but I don't think you want to know that, so should I lie and say I read something more intellectual?)

They wanted to know what sort of research I've done and the sort of techniques I've used.
It wasn't too difficult so I think I did alright.
I wasn't oozing with confidence but I was rambling on like some village idiot.

Unfortunately it would take another two weeks before they make their final decision. I'm not sure whether I would be chosen but I won't feel too disheartened that I didn't.
I learnt a lot from that interview so I'm really happy that they gave me an opportunity.

Am quite pumped up and ready for future interviews! :D


Am planning to work part-time at Coles at the moment. Yes, it's a dodgy job that only high-school students do but reality is I need to support myself and this recession is not making it easy. I am also looking for jobs outside of Adelaide as our state is facing the worst unemployment rate in the whole of Aussieland.

Wish me luck!

Happy Easter!

Am so looking forward to a chocolate-filled Easter weekend! W00ts!!!

I managed to get Seng Kheng to buy me this massive chocolate Easter egg!

I measured and it's about 24cm high! AWESOMOUS!

It was a wee bit pricey so SK told me not to eat it. Me thinks he wants me to vacuum pack it so it'll last forever.

It does have an expiry date though; sometime this June!
If I vacuum pack it, will it be safe to eat after the expiry date??

Oooo but I don't know whether I can actually wait.. I feel like eating it already!
Narf narf narf!!!
Let hope I don't overdose on chocolate. But then again, is there such thing as too much chocolate? HO HO HO HO HO!!

Have a safe, fun and totally awesomous Easter everyone!


XOXOX
Lish

Renewed Strength

Thou shall not falter

Thou shall not run away

Thou shall not make excuses

Thou shall not wallow in self pity

Thou shall pick thy self up when fallen

Thou shall face challenges

Thou shall embrace change

Thou shall remain positive

Success will ensue

And thou shall taste the sweet bliss of triumph