on the first morning, i went to the market nearby with my parents. Mom bought me chicken rice. cheap and good /wide-eyes!
and i checked out the wet market behind the food center.

 then i was late for my appointment with L and Y. :(
went to the Artisan Bakery at Killiney Road (famous for their bread). had a coffee for $5+. it was pretty good.
 then met L and we went to MBS, and walked to her base at Millenia Walk, where we had this pistacho chocolate tart.
 it was at this small place on the ground floor.
coffee... again. lol

went to the food factory today and was immediately sent to work - into the deep end.
luckily the most of the people are young and nice, and from Taiwan.

the place was really disorganized like the boss's office.
i first went into the toilet to put on the white shirt and pants. the toilet lights didn't work and it was filled with boots.
things were placed haphazardly in front of door ways.

in the food prep area, no one explained anything. just "pretend to wash your hands really well". then i was putting carrots and mayo on the conveyor belt for teriyaki chicken rolls. and they had trouble with the machine that placed a flat square of rice on seaweed, until the fierce Chinese floor manager was yelling "what's the matter?" x 4 at the auntie trying to figure out why the machine was not rolling the seaweed at the same time as the rice.

then i was adding rice on the cucumber, putting soy sauce and wasabi in packages, sticking labels, stacking packages, rinsing trays and putting things away...
it was quite shocking how dirty and messy it was. and they didn't wash the things properly, so i was rinsing things with rice still encrusted in them. oops.
you had to be fast, and the floor manager liked to yell at people and generally abuse them. but it seems like the people treated it like water off their backs. and he didn't want to speak to me directly - instead he said i "didn't add enough rice" or to "come tomorrow" via a proxy.

one of the ladies cooked beehoon, sticky rice, stewed pork, boozy prawns and they were nice enough to encourage me to eat some. the young staff seemed really close. and there was a nice auntie, she was from Singapore too. she worked there for 4 years and would be retiring in Feb to have a long holiday in Europe with her husband.

and i have nothing to show for today, except for punching a card. have to ask them about the essential formalities tomorrow.

i'm back in Perth and had a job interview today... i applied to be a kitchenhand at a place that manufactures food (like sushi) for supermarkets.
i checked out the company and the guy who emailed me is the co-owner, so it seems legit.
i was still wary and procrastinated calling the guy, but in the end i did and he said to go for a "short chat" as soon as possible.

i arrived at the place at 11.30 am and it was a building beside other food suppliers.
stepping into the reception, it looked very plain and simple. a young Asian girl was writing something at the desk. i could see white coats working with sandwich bread in the food prep area behind the glass window. the co-owner's office looked a lot like my dad's home office. lol. it was very messy.

he was friendly and remembered that i went back to Singapore for a holiday. he asked about my favorite food and school/work arrangements. then he said i can only work 20 hours a week, so it's probably 2 to 7 pm. then he told me to go back tomorrow at 2 pm and they will tell me about "washing your hands and all that". i asked about the pay and he didn't seem to know. "oh, it's lots," he said, checking on the computer. then he said it was $20 an hour and more on weekends. **ka-ching**

so i starting daydreaming about all the money i could have if i did 20 hours every week for $20/hour, up till the day i left Australia. it might add up to $10,000... then i remembered the tax thing...

i checked it out and was shocked. the lowest tax rate is 19% for income above $18,200 a year (July to June).
in Singapore it starts from 2% for income above $20,000. that's surprisingly low. and it was actually 3.5% in 2011.
in Sweden, where taxes are famously high, it seems to start from above 20%...
in USA, it starts from 10%. and their threshold is really low too - about $8,900.

blimey! where does Australia's tax money go?

while waiting for my first bus, got a phone call from someone offering an interview but I didn't catch his name or company ... lol
also received an email where someone offered an interview for the waitressing job I applied for.
I guess jobs are opening because the school holidays are ending?

on the plane, the baby in front of me cried. the old lady beside me put her feet near me. the flight attendant had the most horrendous mangled theme-park American accent, so you can't catch any word except for the last one.
even though it was only 5 hours long, I only slept for 2 hours. spent the rest of the time thinking of all the hawker food I was going to eat. especially roast pork belly.

my lovely family was there to get me from the airport. then we had yi mee noodles at the hawker center.
my room looks frighteningly clean - it's beautiful. and now i'm using my brother's laptop.

so good to be home :D

this backpack weighs 11 kg.
shoes and sleepy dog placed beside it for size reference.

going to leave base in an hour. then i have to take 507, then 210, then 37, then the shuttle bus to the International Airport. i'm not spending $15 on an airport bus that doesn't go directly to T1.

met auntie P's friends - her colleague S and S's neighbour G.
G and her husband kept a boisterous beagle (above), chickens (in cage), and pet-sit a poodle and a canary.

the point of this post is that S, who has a doctorate, works in nursing and is in her early 30s, lived in a big house by herself, with her 2 cats. how awesome is that.
and her house was how i would like mine to be if i had the means - full of cute cat things and Japan related things. and she had a huge dinosaur soft toy on her king-sized bed.

wow. i can't imagine being financially independent, much less have a house. sigh.

oh, and i really enjoyed the first episode of the new season of American Idol.
it's true - the judges have great energy together and Harry Connick, Jr is extremely entertaining. :3
i dare say it's the best panel of judges and the best season yet!

*** edit: a cat breed personality chart from the Cat Fancier's Association /sparkly eyes ***

does Rockingham have the best beach or the best beach?
yes, it does.
it has the best beach in Perth.

it was about 1 hour 17 minutes by train and bus, about 15 minutes less than Cottlesloe!
unlike Cottlesloe, there aren't just over-priced cafes clustered together, with nary a public facility - Rockingham has many restaurants, nice public toilets, a visitor center and a supermarket right next to the beach!

Rockingham has lovely extensive shallow sand banks, which means that i can paddle about without the fear of drowning.
and they have small floating platforms moored out in the water for swimmers to rest on. they were a little too far for me as i evidently cannot swim properly.

and there's a jetty for the fishing folk.

the light green part is the sand bank and the blue part is much deeper.

it was cool and windy, but got sunny and more crowded after 1 pm.

clear cool water, very clean beach, very few shells, no rocks on the sand shelf, no seaweed, no fish, many seagulls...
i enjoyed this place a lot.

and i did some shopping at the Salvos there - had a good haul - actual leather jacket for $6.25! and a long-sleeve, a blouse and a skirt.
total - less than $12! xP

i got a call on Tues from the Curtin career center - it was a phone interview screening.
during the short interview, i was petting Frodo (the dog) absent-mindedly while saying how i'm not very out-going but that i've learnt a lot about talking to random people in a friendly and polite way.
the lady said that there were many applicants but she would pass my answers to the management.

so i'm feeling quite happy because i received an email today saying that i was successful for this one day job - doing field survey work on a Sunday at a Gay Pride event.
it's like they appreciate how i'm trying to be less shy.

haha!

last sunday, K and i went to Cockburn Ice Arena (it's pronounced "coburn") for some ice skating.
unfortunately, it was the wrong choice.
the place is in the middle of an industrial arena and Google Maps gave us the wrong walking directions.
it told us to walk across the railway track but we didn't want to be prosecuted (as the sign warned) so we had to walk for an extra hour. under the bloody hot midday sun.

K kept her cheer and joked about this horrible long walk as "fire and ice" and the "Desolation of Google Maps".
the road intriguingly named Miguel became my mortal enemy. after a hour in the scorching heat, we finally saw signs of the "ice arena".

the "ice arena" was a white shack in the midst of the other buildings...
V, who joined us later, said that we should have gone to the other ice skating place north of Perth CBD, because it was near public transport and had shops nearby.

we skated for 2 hours and didn't fall.
notable others: - an Indian couple who couldn't skate, kept falling over and couldn't follow instructions to go anti/clockwise; tiny tots in full ice hockey gear racing around; people pushing the seal-shaped sleds around at high speeds.

V drove us out, and bought ingredients for the feast she prepared at K's house. i contributed drinks and cake.
it was a Filipino feast - button mushrooms crumbed and fried (served in fish sauce + vinegar); chicken marinated in garlic, fried and then simmered in pineapple juice and cheese; pork marinated in reddish sugar and fried.
all done with a single batch of oil because there was no more oil in the house.
the pineapple cheesy chicken was a revelation - who knew that pineapple juice and cheese would create such an amazing sauce!

A left for work and the remaining 5 of us had a nice dinner, with M (the 60+ year old ex-English teacher) telling us about her allergies and childhood.
then i slept over and chatted to A about vitamins and Boracay after she got back from her night shift.

i thought i could be clever and save money by doing the health check for my visa renewal in Singapore.

according to Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), form 990i0613, the cost of the medical and radiological examination is about $430. wtf.
that's 4 times the cost of the same examination in Singapore's SATA, which is about $108.

ridiculous.

the reason i have to renew my visa was because Curtin delayed my admission so i came here on a student visa granted for 4 months short of my course duration.
the application for the visa online is troublesome, as they need documents such as the certificate of enrolment (CoE) from the school, my passport certified as a true copy, and the medical results.
and to get my new CoE, i needed to enrol for my course units and ensure payment was made to the university. and because my course is screwed up and constantly changing, i had trouble enrolling online and had to do it manually.

i finally got enrolled on 6 Jan because the Curtin offices closed for a very long xmas holiday - 20 Dec to 6 Jan. then i emailed the administration office for the CoE on that day, replied that i wanted to apply for the visa in Singapore, and received it yesterday.

then i checked my old email correspondence with the DIAC and saw this warning:

You should not travel to Australia until you have received notification of the grant of your student visa.  If you choose to arrive in Australia before your visa is granted, you may need to withdraw this application and lodge a new visa application on-shore. 

crap. this worried me.
i will be in Singapore for about ten days, giving me about 6 working days for the DIAC to assess the medical results and grant me my visa before i went back to Perth, assuming that i got the appointment on the earliest day and SATA sends them the results asap.
for my first visa, i submitted the online application on 2 Jan, did the medical on 18 Jan, and the visa was granted on 29 Jan. that was 11 days between the medical and the visa.
but then i thought, hey, i have my existing visa that allows me to multiple entry in and out of Australia, surely they will not threaten to invalidate my application if i don't get the visa in time.

so i called DIAC to enquire. the last time i did that, i was on hold for one hour. today it was for 40 minutes. in Singapore, i went to the embassy to enquire and waited there for about 2 hours. i would prefer to ask them in person, but i would spend 4 hours to get my question answered.
anyway, the young lady said i needed a health check because it has been one year since i did one. boo~~
and that i had to be in the country where i lodge the visa application until the visa was granted, even though i have an existing valid visa.
she said there were no exceptions. booooo~~~

i really don't want to spend $300 more than i have to, so i'm thinking of getting a second opinion. (-.-)
or another part-time job. (-.-)

 on the hottest day of the year, A and i went for a surfing lesson booked through schoolofsurfingwa.com. $40 for a one-off 90 minute lesson.
and it was worth it. so much fun! and i didn't get injured!

 our lesson was at Trigg beach.

 that's the hut where the school operates from.
we stored our belongings there and got our board and wetsuit and sunscreen.

one of the instructors (B.rad Pitt?) was very laid back and humorous - exactly like one of those philosophical surfer dudes you see in the media. he called people "italian" or "muscles" because he didn't remember their names.

but our instructor was like a small military guy with sunscreen on his lips, making them white. he was quite the opposite of B.rad Pitt.
he taught us the crucial basics of popping up on the board, and his method is a lot easier to follow than the one i saw from the internet.
basically, hands below shoulders, toes at edge of board, push up, put back leg up with knee against elbow, then jump other leg to front whilst getting go to stand up. and of course your body must be in the center of the board.

for us beginners, he had us wait in the zone where the wave had crashed and was rolling toward the shore. you position your self, laying on the board to let the white water push you forwards.
my difficulties involved not aligning my body in the center, so i lost my balance, and being too far in front of the board. also, there were too many people in the water - it was almost shoulder to shoulder!
but, when i was balanced, i could actually pop up and i even managed to stand for a few seconds. it was amazing - like walking on water.
A was very determined, and didn't care about crashing into people, so she caught the wave about 5 times more than me. she gave me some useful tips, which was to hold the board in the right position before sliding up onto the board before the wave came. and also to catch the right wave, and avoid the rip current.

we ended the lesson at 10.30 am and A had many photographs taken with the board.
the sand was scorching hot and we hung out at the nearby fancy mall for 5 hours to avoid the 44 degree heat.
but first was lunch at KFC - this was my aussie burger - dry chicken, small slice of beetroot, disappointing, especially after watching their great tv ad (red stain on shirt turns out to be the juice from the beetroot, which the burger eaters proudly display) for it. *** oops - the great ad was for the McOz, the Macdonalds burger, not KFC. memorable ad, but i didn't associate it with Macs, just beetroots.

then we went to her house and watched The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (meh) and About Time (cliche but cute and touching).

i had forgotten how fun it is to watch people until last friday.

i had ice cream at fancy departmental store. $6.90 for a double scoop.
cookie dough had no dough, just choc chips. the caramel one at the bottom was meh.

this guy (Malachy of Oisin & Malachy) and  was busking and had drawn quite a crowd. i hung around for the free music.
he shamelessly and proudly promoted his self-released cd ($10). his style is pop/rock, as showcased by his rough mash-up of U2 and Guns N Roses.

look at the amount of fans he garnered! they brought his cd and are getting him to sign it.
not me though. :/
and there was this other busking band - a duo of a girl singing + playing ukelele and guy doing... something. they covered the new slightly quirky songs, and it was chilled and rather nice.
unfortunately they didn't have many admirers.
i sat on a bench and looked at the human traffic. how interesting they are.

and the twilight food market was open in the square... i would have gotten some bbq meats if i wasn't that cheap. haha.

 from today's newspaper (The West Australian).

tomorrow's top temperature - 44 degrees!

omg. i'll be at the beach from 9 to 10.30 am.
have to head for the shopping center before noon to avoid certain death.

they show Adventure Time on tv at 10 am here some days.

i haven't seen most of these episodes before - they are lovely and quirky. 

i suddenly remembered this episode called Thank You. watch the video here!!
the Snow Golem is a giant peace loving snow man. he is seen patting a baby Fire Wolf with a stick.
the story is about how the gentle golem got won over by the cuteness of his nemesis and damn near melted to death to bring the cub back to its parents in the Land of Fire.

i was very touched. i love this cartoon.

today's max temperature - very hot - my app said it was 39 degrees in the afternoon. i believe it. i was stinking up in my black tee and jeans.

after work, i went to uni to get my enrollment sorted. i was lucky that the lady at the office was nice and efficient - she got my stuff sorted quickly.
i am finally enrolled and registered for class. of which i only have one 3 hour seminar a week. the rest is independent research and meetings with supervisor.
still need to do the stuff for my visa. meh.

also went to the library to get started on Merleau-Ponty and Deleuze. i actually can't remember what i wrote for my draft dissertation last semester, so i'm not sure which philosophers i'm supposed to examine. -.-;

then went to GH to meet some friends. this stranger said hi and invited me to his flat for no reason... i think he was a friend's flatmate. anyway he's from Tanzania and his name is Sabah. lol. he seemed sad that i didn't step into his flat.

went to the airport and hung out with friends of friends. and we had dinner. i hardly eat out at the shopping centre near GH so i had not tried Ten Te House before. their fried kway tiao ($12.50) isn't great - their beef brisket rice is better. and their lunch specials are better.
after that, i had uji matcha milk tea ($4) from Presotea. pretty good.
but bloody hell, that's why i don't eat out. it's so expensive.

oh yeah - my friend left her handbag, which contained her handphone, wallet, basically everything, on the bus last friday. amazingly, she got it all back from the bus depot today.
in Australia, you can get your valuables back if you leave them on the bus, but don't expect the bus people to work on weekends.

when i was at the second hand shop, there was a small middle-aged lady who was trying to keep busy by going around arranging and moving thing too zealously. she would want to put items on the shelf when people were browsing or push the wheelie thing past customers, all the while saying "excuse me"... she wasn't in sync with the rhythm of how people worked.

so i was paying at the counter, and managed to jab her with my elbow because she was trying to get past behind me while i was putting my change in my pocket. the space behind me wasn't narrow and it wasn't my fault, but she proclaimed "ow!" so i apologised by saying "i'm SO sorry". she looked at me angrily and wordlessly, but i'm not the type to ask if she was alright because i didn't really care and she looked like someone who won't appreciate such concern anyway.

which reminded of the incident on the bus the other day.

some young ladies were at the back of the bus when i got on and the ride was uneventful until i heard some yelling from the back. i had my earphones on, so the lady shouting must have been quite loud. she wanted to get off the bus, but i think she didn't press the bell, so she was like, "i want to get off".
but the thing was that she took her time and didn't move when the door opened, so the driver closed the door after a while. then she yelled again more angrily, adding some colorful curse words. i was glad i couldn't hear the hate in her voice, but there were young kids on the bus too, so that sucks. when she finally got off the bus, i saw that she didn't look particularly drunk, nor was she was carrying anything except for a small bag. but she was glaring at the bus driver, even going to the front door just so she could show him the finger a few times.
the poor bus driver certainly didn't deserve this abuse.
which made me think about how some people are just mental so you shouldn't take their words or actions to heart.

haven't been doing much this year, except that i worked on Thurs and Fri at the cafe.
after 12 days of being idle, i got nervous and anxious at the prospect of having to work.
then i thought of how i would probably look back at my life as a student fondly when i was back in Singapore, trying to look for a job.
and how i am so lucky that everyone i love is doing well enough... because when the inevitable comes, and what on earth will i do? thinking about death makes me scared. i don't believe in the afterlife, so i think when i'm gone, i won't get to enjoy movies and such (lol wtf), and it fills me with regret and fear.
but then, it's only because i enjoy a comfortable life now. if i lived in a terrible time of war and/or suffering, i suppose i would be happy to die.
it's all relative.

anyway, i was the second hand shop and benefited from a cashier mistake today. i got 5 books which supposed to be $1 each, but the cashier entered them together as 1 item costing 50 cents. and being a dishonest person, i did not report that mistake.
i also bought a huge The North Face backpack - the fancy sort that originally cost more than $100 or so. it was missing the front zip-on pouch but otherwise it was pretty awesome because i could fit in that bag. and i found a 4GB flash drive in the front pocket. the owner left the AirAsia luggage sticker tag on it as well - it seems that she arrived here in May 2011, but it doesn't say where she flew from.
the flash drive contains blurry photos of a holiday, mostly boats and beaches... as well as a movie file for The Matrix. i wonder why she left it in the bag.

one of the books i bought was The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. is it a sign of a good book if your head is swimming in the lyrical style of its prose after you finish reading it?
i'm really glad i wasn't born there during that time. the character O-Lan, the long suffering and dutiful wife/slave, told a powerful story even though she didn't say much. being a female in pre-revolutionary China was very shitty because it was such a patriarchal society. and the idea of starving to death is shitty as well.