Home Sweet Home

Strange feeling to call Melbourne home, but that's what I've been thinking of the past week. It's been chaotic here in Wollongong, with massive thunderstorms and frequent lightning activites in the sky, and with no car for my perusal, you are basically stuck where you are. Thankfully there are friends who offer rides to and from work. I wouldn't know what else to do without them. Thinking of the time when I took the train and got soaking wet from the waist down really puts me off taking public transport. Strange enough, when it's peak time to go home i.e. between 4pm-6pm, there are only trains that run hourly, which is a pain. Big thanks to SL, FD and BW for all the rides!

I've been sniffing quite a lot this week, constantly visiting the ladies bathroom to clear my nose. I got drenched while participating in the Survivor-like team model activites. This was part of the graduate development program my company's put in place for us. A three day two nights getaway from the office was awesome. We put up at a nice accommdation down south of Gong, with plenty of seafood for dinner! I thought it strange that the company would pay for such extravagant dinners and luxurious rooms. If you want to know how much it cost them, ASK me. Mind you, there is another session for the other group of graduates who are due to attend the same program next week.

I went down to Sydney again for the weekend, visiting Jien and Terence. We had mostly Jap food for our meals because there isn't one decent Jap restaurant in Gong so far. And the food was good - the restaurant was so packed you had to grab a ticket number and wait for a table. We then played pool at a non-smoking and non-alcoholic pool place at Coogee. Obviously whoever partnered me would certainly have to work harder coz I ain't getting the balls in. Stuff all the physics and momentum, I've thrown the theory down the drain.

Am so looking forward to going HOME. Will catch up with you guys over dinner tomorrow. Ciao!

Fishing

My recent trip to the deep sea, well maybe not so recent after all if the dates serve me right...end of Jan. It was my 3rd fishing trip. Gerard, one of Jason's friend in Sydney offered anyone a sea sickness motion pill. I took one just before we set off, thinking it's just for assurance. I didn't have any motion sickness in the last 2 trips. But I was really dizzy and throwing up during the whole 5 hours we were out. Very unfortunate. I blame it on the pill.

The boat guy who took us out was very conscious of my condition and constantly checked on me. It didn't help when it started to rain about 4 hours into the trip. I was getting cold and shivering and feeling very nauseated. I didn't realise until very late that he had so kindly extended the trip to 5 hours. A guy fishing with us was celebrating his birthday that day.

Getting off the boat was a relief, and having grilled fish and steamed fish and fish soup didn't help much. BUT! I'd like to go again, this time NOT taking any pills at all. Smart ass me.



The Lighthouse



The guys on the trip: Simon, Jason, Gerard



Kayaking out in deep seas



The Fish Dinner Preparation



The catch, but only half is pictured here!

.....

Kanasai. I just failed my Driver's Knowledge Test. You can only make one mistake in the last section, and I just wasted $32 by making two. Damn it! All the questions were relatively simple except the two questions that I didn't have a clue. And I thought the max speed for learners is 60, not 80 km/h. Looks like I will have to box out all my frustration at the combat class later.

Naruto

Don't laugh. I've only just finished watching the first chapter of Naruto, the crazed japanese animae. That was a good 19 episodes, and many more to come. I knew 422Cardigan House of Movies was screening that some time ago but I never bothered to find out what it was all about. Now I have, and am glad that my brother got me into it. It's so funny, with Sakura's devilish inner self and the cutey Kakeshi as Naruto's sensei, I can't help but laugh at every expression there is. Luckily I've got a Naruto kaki here in Wollongong. Thanks Bernard.

I just got a phonecall from the HR recruitment officer. She has selected me with a couple of other graduates to be featured in the company's website. Cool! But not so cool after all when I'll be taken wearing all the safety clothing, helmet and safety glasses, most likely pointing at some sort of steel making machinery. You'll notice soon enough that the colour of my attire is similar to that of Naruto's. Thanks Bernard for that compliment. If it looks good enough, I'll post that link here. Hah!

Boss not in for a week!

Half of me feels elated, delighted, relieved that he won't be here to check on my extremely slow progress ie time wasting. The other half os my inner self is pushing me to use this time to show them what I can do without supervision. Sounds good but can I pull it off?

Yesterday by 4pm everyone in the office siam already.