A Tribute to Heath Ledger

You're just too good to be true,
Can't take my eyes off you,
You made me feel I'm alive,
I wanna hold you so tight....

The life and death of Health Ledger; captured our hearts when he belted out that song in 10 Things I Hate About You followed by a lot other creditable performances in the Patriot, Monster's Ball, Brokeback, etc...

The biggest reaction that I have when I saw the news was shock, shock, shock ! What would drive such a young and talented actor to end his life? Of coz, the first idea that jumped to mind was suicide which might not be true, hope not! But he wouldn't be the first celebrity to buckle under the spotlight and the pressure that comes along with it. Sex, booze, drugs, how do you keep level-headed with all the temptations? When do you stop before it's too late?

On the other side of the world, well maybe not that far, we see people suffering with barely enough to eat, no shelter, no clean water, living the most basic of life but having a will to live so strong, they'll do anything just to survive! Argh... The irony of life..

I'll miss him; that boyish charm, that beautiful smile, the twinkle in the eye....

May you find happiness wherever you are !

My Lil Canberra Adventure.....

I finally got round to renewing my passport & yes, I went to Canberra, All by myself ! :) Lalala... Therefore, although it wasn't very exciting, it was still an adventure nonetheless :p So this is what I've found from my trip today :

• The Msian embassy looks like Muzium Negara
• The consular office looks exactly like the slightly dodgy passport application offices back home including the inefficiency (waited an hour and a half just to submit ma application all the while listening to old aunties and young mommies talking bout kids & babies!!! urgh...) but it's not too bad considering the amount of ppl working plus the lady was nice so no complains :)
• The taxi metres start from $4 !! but the taxi drivers are nice and mostly local and 1 of them brought me on a tour to the Parliament's carpark! There's alot of carparks in the Parliament so there's one thing less to worry bout when u go to the Parliament :p plus it's free too apparently
• My fav embassy is the Papua New Guinea embassy. If you look closely, it has paintings of faces all over the erm...front of the building. It's really cute :)
• The Chinese embassy looks a bit like a temple
  
• And the Americans being Americans have to have the biggest embassy in the area ! Pfftt...
  
• Also took the chance to visit the Canberra Centre which is this biggg arse shopping mall. Initially, I frowned at the idea of spending my day in a shopping mall which I did most of the time in Melb anyway but I got carried away when I saw Forever New (evil grin*) I've chanced upon this store in the most odd places ie. Geelong, Canberra, all but Melb city (but this makes it all the more precious) ! Hehehe....
• Canberra offers alot of different culinaries, although prices being slightly more expensive than Melb I reckon, the choices do spoil you.
• Last destination of the day is ANU ! Have been to U Syd, UQ and Uni Melb of coz... but fav remains UQ in terms of their sprawling lawns and beautiful lakes befitting a venue for weddings. The only 1 left to visit is UWA; according to Joe, they've white/albino peacocks!! Well, ANU's not too bad too, they do have some lawns, their buildings are mainly made of brown bricks, I only saw 1 modern building. Well let's just say it's Australia's number 1 uni now but I love Uni Melb :)

And finally, it's nice being in a foreign city all by yourself with no set itenary, even no one that you know and just wandering around, absorbing, exploring, like I mentioned before, there' s something calming about the unfamiliarity of it all :) And the best part bout flying is the view from the window when you're above the clouds ! Window seat next time plss...

(Picture : Mitchster)

PSssttt.....

What will you do if you know you'll be leaving the person who you love more than anything else in the world forever?

What will you do if you know the person who you love more than anything else in the world is leaving you forever?

Thus, begins a journey of love & discovery, corny at times but oh so beautiful....How many big loves do you find in your life? One who shakes you to your core, in this movie, it happens in Ireland where the men are tall and hot and have a scruffy look and can sing and swipe you off your feet... (Gerald Butler is soo hot ! and he's from 300)

Sometimes, you get upset over very little things but it doesn't really take that much to put that smile back on your face :) Go do something different, go watch a movie, go open up your heart and be swept off your feet by this movie !

P.S. I Love You

I wonder....I wonder....

(Sorry, couldn't find a photo of a girl staring blankly on a train but this post is partly inspired by Lost in Translation:)

Sometimes you wonder, when you've been taking the same train/tram/bus all the time, day by day, but you never reach the end, what's on the other side?

Sometimes you see, people staring out of the window on the train/tram/bus, with that spaced out look in their eyes, you wonder what they are thinking?

Sometimes you wish, you are in a different city, one which you are totally unfamiliar with and you can just sit and stare out of the window til it reaches the very last stop..There's something rather calming and enticing with that at the same time....

And then you realize, it's not the city that matters, it's not the fact that you're in a foreign place, it's the idea of the unfamiliarity which attracts you to ignore the little wonders that you have right at home. As Sarah Jessica Parker said in Sex and the City, she's in love, she has a new lover and it's NYC!

I'm not indicating that I've fallen in love with Melbourne but just that, I've always had a mentality of wanting to be anywhere but here (not Melbourne specifically) so I'm trying to justify all the reasons of wanting to be here and not anywhere else...

On a different note, but probably relating to staring blankly out of the window on a train/tram/ bus, do you wonder when people leave, 1 after another, be it to a different place, different world, and you sort of get left behind, how do you bring back the laughter, the memories, the time gone by? You can't...You can only wish them well, remember and hope that things will still be the same where you left off the next time you see each other.....
(Picture: Shannon)

Currently Missing.....

(Yes, 1 utama where even finding a carpark spot proves to be an immense challenge (unleashed the ugly side of society) but can be oh so rewarding after that, in the expense of your wallet of coz!)

& with CNY just around the corner,

(CNY songs kept playing in my head, never used to fancy them but now, I wouldn't really mind :) and no, I was not one of those little girls in those CNY video clips!!)

Girls Just Wanna Have Funnnn......

While on the way to Laksa King the other night, I overheard a conversation on the tram, not that I like eavesdropping on the tram but it's hard not to overhear. Hehe...Anyway, these 2 ladies were talking happily, reminiscing bout their friends ie. Remember the time when who and who thought that she was actually dating a vampire? Lol.. There's nothing like the simplicity and joy of just hanging out with dear good ol girl friends which I've been severely lacking these few years ! But the few good ones would be :

• AIESEC girls night out
• Dinner at Dada's
• Shopping with Mei Tien :))
  
• The supposing weekly meet-ups with Amanda-manda & Jillian
• All the good times with Shau Fun

The beauty of friendship is that no matter how long you haven't spoken to each other, how outdated you are of each other's lives, but when you do talk after a long long time, it's as if you're back on the day when you were about to be apart. Missing each and every single one of you !

(I'm not drunk, just very very happy :p)

PS: Sorry I couldnt' find photos with all of us in it, apologies to YH & Feeny ! See what I mean when I said we haven't all met for soo long??

Yummy yummy yummy, I've got food in my tummy

Well well to give Melbourne some credit, it is indeed a food haven. Here's my Top 4 favourite affordable tastylicious eateries in Melbourne :

• Ying Thai at Lygon

(Gotta be the best Thai food ever! Recommended : Pad Thai, Red Duck Curry with Coconut Rice, Minced Meat)

• Laksa King in Flemington

(Best Msian food in Melbourne, even matching some back home :) Yum yum yum.... Recommended : Assam Laksa, Fish Head Noodles, Char Kway Teow, Sambal Kangkung). Coming close, Sambal Kampung in Chinatown for its' Fish Curry

• IndoChine in BoxHill

(Vietnamese food; refreshing vermicelli cold noodle with hot spicy sauce poured over! Awesomeness :)

• Kenzan in GPO

(Delicious soft shell crab sushi and cold noodle for the summer :)

Now now, this is where the yoga class comes in after all these meals...

PS: I know all the photos aren't from the shops but it's just to get your appetite up and running :p

Tanah Airku...

It's funny how those who are still here in Melbourne long to go home while those back home long to be back in Melbourne. As for me, I belong to the former group of coz ...

• I miss the food, the glorious glorious food of Ipoh land, from the hawker stalls to home cooked grandma's food
• I miss shopping and facial with mom
  
• I miss seeing the relatives eventho I'm sure comments like "Wah you've grown fatter and darker? Aren't you supposed to get fairer in Australia?" will be abundant '-_-

I don't know what I miss exactly, it's definitely more than that, maybe it's just the feeling of being away from home for too long and I just miss being aside the family... In the past 2 years, Melbourne has grown to become like home but not home-home. Sometimes, when I'm on the tram, I get this weird feeling that hey I'm so used to being in Melbourne but deep in my mind, there's this other place which is home...Weird...but anyhoo, homesickness is in full blast at the moment so just like Frodo and Gandalf (the scenes where they were half dead & they whispered to this lil bird and then this big bird came and picked them up), fly me home !

A Happy Workplace

SO so I've been working for nearly a week now minus the casual work during last semester and this is what I've found about the Benefits of Working in a Smaller Firm :

1. Your director buys you ice-cream on a very hot day like today, 41 deg :)
   
2. You can wear nearly anything you like on a very hot day like today; walk around barefooted, wear shorts
3. You get a secret Christmas present
4. You go bowling together & says "Imagine the pins as your boss" to your boss
5. You get less exposure in terms of the big clients but you get to do more and try out a bit of everything ie. HR, Audit, Tax
6. You go home at 5.20
7. You get RDO every 2 weeks

So basically, there ain't as much benefits compared to bigg firms but you get so much more at the same time ! It's almost like 1 big family minus the work of coz :P

On a different note, over a dinner conversation, friends and I were discussing bout how we're sorta nearly adults now, soon we'll be talking differently :

1. Talk bout buying car/house/investments
2. Talk bout getting married/honeymoon/wedding stuff
3. Talk bout kids (shudders in horror) ie. eh which school your son going to? what results did he get? Oh yes ar, my son did this this this wor, what your son did ???

OH MY GOD !!! Can't imagine....First touch of reality, over lunch in the office today, "This house is how much, how much....you should buy a house near a supermarket.....this area is better...." Arrrr....save me!!

Bikram Yoga

Stretch....Breathe in, breathe out..Reach out as far as you could!! Panting, panting, drew in huge gasps of air!!

• Firrrrrfiirrrfirrrfirst yoga class in 2 years
• 1 and a half hours long
• Nearly fainted
  
• Felt nauseous
• Specially heated room
• Never sweat so much in my life before
  
• Wonder what it'll be like if someone farted or if I farted in specially heated room...
• Introductory offer : Unlimited yoga for 10 days
• Boy oh boy, loving Nearly every moment of it :)

1 of the best part bout yoga, other than it's the only form of exercise that I can sorta do is when the instructor asks you to lie down still, focus on your breathing, forget about the day, forget about what you've just done, what you're about to do, just focus on inhaling and exhaling...

Back to the very basic of survival; breathing, where all you can hear is inhaling and exhaling and at that moment, there isn't a single worry in the world !

To Sister with Love

A simple, elegant bouquet but filled with all the sisterly love in the world! Thanks Sis ! For a moment there, I thought I have a secret admirer :p Lol..Thanks for being the steady rock, the one always there for us! Happy New Year sis!! Wish I'm there or wish you're here, wish the distance is merely erm...a bear? Lol.. LOVe ya !! HUGs*

New Year's Resolution

New Year's a good time to reflect on the past year but with the hope and optimism of a better one ahead, it's a time to set new resolutions, whether you remember them is another thing :p

The fireworks in Melbourne was simply beautiful, a blast to kick start the year ! I wasn't big on setting resolutions so this year, my 1st resolution is to set some resolutions :

• Lose weight ! I mean live a healthier lifestyle; moderate eating, exercise!!

• Focus on work and not fall asleep while working :p I mean seriously, be good at what I'm doing and doing it well and passing all my CA subjects !!!

• Attempt to do something different or something new everyday ! (No CC not the karma sutra kind :p) CK's always been saying that I'm a coward (not exact words but somewhere along those lines) and hence, doubt my ability to go on a DT to Africa or work in the area of social development. Well, there might be some grains of truth to that so I aspire to push myself a little bit more, do things that I usually wouldn't do. Any ideas? Jeannie, I need more inspiration from u !!
  

• Spend time with family and friends far far away :)
  

• Get my driving license and learn how to cycle! Yes, Hello My name's Veronica and I can't cycle!
  

Well all these will change so anyone can ask me at the end of the year and hopefully hopefully, I would've achieved something ! fingers crossed* Here's to a great year ahead, 2008, a year of hopes, dreams, love and inspirations :) CHEERS !

ObsesssSESSSSSSsesssssSSSionsss

I'm proud to announce my current obsessions :

Tada....

• FRANKIE mag!!! I heart* heart* this magazine!! From the glossy pretty covers to the witty articles and soo gorgeous illustrations, I savour it from page to page, word by word, I actually read it as slow as I can so that it lasts longer, hehehe...damn it only comes out like once every 2 mths, but do not mistaken it as a girly mag ! Nonono, (shakes head and erm...wiggle finger?) anyway, yes it's definitely worth a read, it was like love at first read ! I got a free copy during O-week, that's when we first met and as I look at it and well it just lies there on the table, I can practically feel the chemistry!! Let me tell you what else you can do with a FRANKIE magazine after you read it, make pretty pretty cards and scrapbooks for your frens, paste it on a wall, a board, anything so for a heart warming, erm..love hugging read, do pick up a copy at the nearest book shop ! Damn they should pay me ! and yes what's with the heart* heart* thing? What happened to the four letter word?

L-O-V-E ! L is for the way you look at me, O is for the only one I see, V is Veronica is Very Very extraordinary :p, E is for erm...I forgot and yes, I read bout this in Frankie too !! Hehe...

• Hongkong dramas!! Yes to avoid the loneliness and emptiness of my house, I've turned to the tv for comfort thus, in 2 days I've watched 20 episodes of my fav, Hongkong drama (clap hands*) and although they are very typical; yes rich dad, idiotic spendthrift son, family rifts....but I reckon this one's a bit different, as much as it has the Omg not this again, there's a highly heart-warming albeit unrealistic side too, yes I'm a sucker for heart-warming stuff :P and I think there're some underlying lessons behind all the drama; that with a good family, you can achieve so soo much, love and support and just a simple happy family's one of the most important things in life, a rare gem! Something that can be taken for granted or yearned for life and just to add, money's the root of all evils!!! But ya I was so obsessed with this show that I was like thinking bout it erm...lets just say alot, like different scenes kept replaying in ma mind! OH gosh...

• Lastly, Carlton Gardens!! Well not to the point where I'm obsessed with it but I would just like to mention it's the 2nd day of the year and I already went jogging!! Omg, I can so feel the positive vibe, I'm gonna be healthy and lose 5 kgs this year!! 10 days unlimited yoga classes starting next week ! Can't wait :)) Anyway so yes Carlton Gardens, I decided to go for a jog cz the weather is absolutely awesome these 2 days, pls plss let it be like this everyday, the warm sun with the light breeze....I was jogging and jogging and thinking pfft Princes Park better but yeah that's cz I wasn't used to the idea of huge arse buildings in the middle of a park but I stumbled upon a really beautiful lake/pond just opposite and to the left of REB ! Damn the uni for blinding us and scarring us from seeing the beauty of this place with exams! But yeah I was surprised I haven't seen it before...of coz dear ol uncamwhorish me didn't have a camera with me to capture that moment (I'm so bringing CK there :p) and I couldn't find any photo of it too so once again, imagine a lovely pond with lots of plants in it, happy green flowy plants ! and ducks and I think swans and don't you just love Melbourne !! *Sorry I think this is a really nice picture to go with the moment although I didn't actually see that and since I'm blogging dumb, I'm not sure if it's legal to put up someone else's photo that I searched on the net up so to erm...Tim I think, nice photo, don't sue me !
  

SO that's it ! What are some of your favourite things at the moment? What do you draw inspiration from and finally, if you're a teapot, what kind of teapot would you be? Round and cute or Proud and expensive? I'll be this teapot pls :)