.holidays 09

seasons greeting 2009.

Christmas came and gone. And now, everyone's preparing to celebrate the arrival of 2010...

Hmm.. Should I do a reflection of 2009? Maybe I will towards the end of the year, in a few days time....

Subprime Crisis, please go away... It's all thanks to you that I have to endure another few years of long distance relationship..

.merry belated xmas

.to cherish

mother & son on a christmas eve.

One of the sweetest moments I've witnessed...

Christmas Eve always makes me weak.. I don't know why... Especially this year since.. Well.. You know.

:(

Anyways, enough negative thoughts! I hope you guys are enjoying Christmas right now. :)

Growing up in a typical, non-religious Malaysian-Chinese family, I've never formally celebrated Christmas before, unless dropping-by-neighbors-place-over-Christmas counts. So tell me, how does Christmas really feel like? Is it enjoyable because of the pile of presents you are getting? Is it because of the family reunion? Dinner? Turkey?

.for savoring

mon chocolat favorit.

There was this buy-two-for-18-dollars Ferrero Rocher deal at Coles today and so I decided to buy it. I'm not sure if this is cheaper than usual, but I bought it anyway. The deal should still be around tomorrow so do drop by your nearest Coles supermarket if you're craving for some!

Let's hope I won't finish all 60 of these before Christmas. :P

.snap out of it!!!

Key to independence.

You know.. I just want to snap out of this being-depressed-about-going-on-a-long-distance-relationship feeling. You guys are probably sick and tired of my rantings already and I am just as sick of it as y'all.

And it's easier said than done. Am I not trying hard enough? :\

.inside and outside

Past and Present.

On the outside, I am a cheerful, fun-loving chick whom most people enjoy hanging out with...

But...

My world on the inside is currently filled with the total darkness - it is filled with despair, pain and uncertainty.
Part of me just refuses to accept the truth, and the other part of me is aware that this will do him, and most importantly, us, good.
But I am going to go with the latter - I will force the other part to see this positively.. And I have to!

I know I will definitely release all these tears that are building up when the time comes.. So let's just see it as tears of joy - that we're moving into a new chapter of the relationship.

.the move

cleared.

The wardrobe is 85% cleared. We are moving out again after 1.5 year in this apartment unit. It seems almost like we've just moved in yesterday..

Well, this move isn't as bad as the last one, considering that we are just going to move a few floors down. There is no need to pack everything into boxes since we have a couple of weeks to move things down. We have been making about five trips down per day and it seem to be working well! All we need right now is a professional mover for a couple of hours for the furniture..Um not right now, but soon.

The new place looks pretty much the same as the current one. The only significant difference is the color of the tiles in the bathroom and kitchen, and that the study area doesn't come with a sliding door. So that makes it a 1 bedroom, rather than a 1 bed+study.

Good thing about the new place is that ventilation is so much better! That's probably the advantage of having a balcony but that means I'll have to find somewhere to store all the boxes and stuff that have been lying on our winter garden since 1.5 year ago. :\

Anyways, we might reward ourselves a little bit and go on a short (2-3 days) vacation interstate after the move. :D

Oh and I'll post up photos of the new place as soon as we settle down!

.inspiring summer

Colorful summer.

As majority of you would already know, summer is my least favorite season of the year.. And interestingly enough, I seem to get most of my photography inspiration during the sunniest time of the year.

Why? I don't really know, perhaps it's the bright, vibrant shades of colors that only appears during this time of the year. Everything just seems much more appealing and yummy under the hot sun than any other time of the year.

Oh wait, autumn is my favorite season of all due to the shades of red, orange and yellow but autumn also marks the time when I'd be horribly sick for a whole month. :\

Anyways, here's another shot from today's trip to Healesville - Marysville - Lake Mountain in the Yarra & Dandenong Ranges:

.back for 7 weeks

I'm back!

It felt weird having to walk towards the departure gate knowing that everyone's walking the opposite direction, towards the arrival hall. Majority of the people I know were heading back home (overseas) for the summer break while I had to come back to Melbourne.

I don't mind spending 2/3 of my summer here, considering the fact that SF and I have (finally) decided to go on a long distance relationship from late-January on. This is our last 6 -7 weeks together for a few years and I want us to spend as much time with each other as possible.

The second reason why I'm back is because I'm moving.......Where? Just a few floors down. Hehee! I told a few people that I had to go back to Melbourne in December to move and everyone said the same thing. To them, moving probably means "relocating-10-or-more-kilometers-away". Here's the conversation:

Other person: Why are you going back to Melbourne in December? Why not stay [in Malaysia + Singapore] for the whole break?
_pdra: Oh, because I need to move house... *Pretending to frown*
Other person: Huh??? Again??? Where are you moving to???
_pdra: .......Just a few storeys down. Heheeee!
Other person: .............. -_-;

Third reason why I am back is because I am hoping to get permanent residency status by late-January... But I doubt I'll be able to get it that soon.. :\ But anyways, here's hoping that SF will get his PR in the next few weeks considering that he has submitted his application few months earlier than me.

:\

.the baby with good eyesight

spotted!

I was queuing up for the bathroom onboard SQ217 (Singapore to Melbourne) last Wednesday and spotted this baby, who stared at me, and then my camera at random intervals.
Now, the question is, how did the baby spot my camera from 8 meters/26 feet away? It wasn't as if the camera was in primary colors.

I had to pretend I was browsing through images from the camera while pressing the shuttle real quick.. But umm I think the baby's mom noticed something. :P