Excited.. ^_^

Guess what I'm doing with my brother and my little cousins tomorrow.. I'm so excited..

I'm going ...


to...



the...



PERTH ZOO!!

don't laugh..



it's going to be awesome and my baby - Chiro* is going to accompany and take lots of photos!

*Chiro is my Nikon D90 camera -- yes I like to name my important things OK! pfft. stop judging.

Movies by Burswood

Saturday night was absolutely perfect, not to hot with a cool breeze (in fact it was chilly for a summer night) my cousins and I went to the annual summer event - the moonlight cinemas event. It's even better, because there was no mossies (thanks to the cool weather!) and the cinemas were showing 2 movies for the price of one and D and his brother were kind enough to give me this awesome voucher so A and I got in for FREE!! yay!! So what was on? --

Mao's Last Dancer

and..

Time Traveller's Wife

I haven't seen Mao's Last Dancer when it was shown, so giving this opportunity to see it at the outdoor cinemas was a good thing, granted it's a little old. I still rather liked it. I kept analysing the whole thing and thinking how glad I am that my grandparents (on both sides of the family - mum and dad) escaped the cultural revolution by Mao - who bloody destroyed China's long historic culture (by removing everything and anything that distinguished "classes" - oh like that can be removed!.. anyway that's another different post all together).

A and I didn't stay for Time Traveller's Wife but O and D did.. (ahhahha OD hahah ... T_T i'm so lame!!)..
and you should have seen the line to the toliets during the break between the two movies... crazy.

Outdoor cinemas and the Perth Arts Festival are one of the few things I love about summer in Perth. If the night isn't too balmy hot, it's perfect to go outside, ARMED with insect repellent (to cover yourself with if you are prone to bites like I am), wear maxi dresses/summer dresses or top and shorts and lie on a picnic rug/sit on a picnic chair and have a picnic while the sun is setting and watch the movie afterwards. Perfection.
And to top it off, Movie by Burswood are all charity based - so proceeds goes to a good cause - the kids of Perth!

Check out what's on next by going ot the Movies by Burswood website. Because I still have two more free tickets and 4 more $6 tickets so I want to go again... who wants to make it a night!!!??? . OO and then there's the ones in King's Park - The Moonlight Cinemas (where I always get bitten by mossies T_T..) - - I want to see Pulp Fiction there!!

time slips by us..

"Will we think about tomorrow like we think about now?

Can we survive it out there?

Can we make it somehow?

I guess I thought that this would never end

And suddenly it's like we're women and men

Will the past be a shadow that will follow us 'round?

Will these memories fade when I leave this town

I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye

Keep on thinking it's a time to fly"

- Vitamin C (Graduation)

A friend of mine told me that "there a few BIG moments in life than the little moments in life - so we have to find amusements in our little moments and thrive in our BIG moments.." or something along those lines. The point being that our whole lives are planned out for us (no not the whole fate thing), but here's what I mean. Firstly you were born (DUH!), so you spend the first what 3-4 years of your life going to day-care or being looked after at home, then you make the big transition of going to school ( I still remember my first day at school - it wasn't in Australia), then from then on you go through each years of schooling, before being the seniors in year 7 before making the leap from primary to high school - remember the hype, the excitement, the fear, the thoughts of making new friends, thoughts of not being able to keep in touch with the old ones, thoughts of finally I'm grown up - feeling all grown up. You go through the teenage years being self-absorbed, the feelings of being indestrucable, living in your own bubble - outside would seems so irrelevant, except when you make it become relevant. The rebellion, the studies, the realisation by year 12 that you have to roughly know what you want, or at least where you want your life to head. Some of us aim for that, others just float through it, falling like leaves in the breeze, completely at ease with everything thrown at them. So you reach university - the BIG world (or so you thought) - little do you realise that this is nothing - you more independent yes - you drive a car - go to parties - can drink - expand your contacts - besides all these you still sheltered (at least for the most of us.. others may move out of home and realise it's not as easy as the movies make it out - not as fun - damn those bills!). So you finish your degree. That's when life begins.

Do you remember what you learnt at school? All those years. Was it useful? Were you living? How much of those books, you've spent hours reading, handy? Now that I am in the real BIG world - the whole of 2009 I was still a baby - although I've managed a lot of things on my own - it also made me open my eyes - PEOPLE ARE NOT AS NICE AS YOU THINK THEY ARE and then at the end of the day everything is about self-preservation and there be always be that one person that kisses the asses of big bosses to get somewhere and there will be someone that will bitch and back-stab you. In other words I was losing parts of my soul. And now, 2010, I will be completely in the world of adults, by myself, armed with years of studies and social experiences, all of which, hopefully will help me handle everything life throws at me, but of course, forever learning - about people, about myself, about where I want to be in life.

But I don't want to be there; exploring, without claming back some of my youth and my innocence and seeing the nicer things in life. After all, how boring life would be if I were to just jump in, work 40 hours or more a week, save money, then what? buy a house? meet someone? then what? marry? OH GOD. HELP ME. LET ME NOT BE ONE OF THOSE without any real idea of what living is, without any idea of there being more to life than walking on a footpath of what society expects.

Yes, I have too many things I want to squeeze into this year and forever more, but that's what I want. I'm sick of being amibitious, without living life. Who cares? After all, you never know when your time would end. Then what? All you have are regrets and what ifs. So I'm going to turn my what ifs to action and to I've done it and damn proud of it.

Nine Fine Food

My previous entry about Nine Fine Food wasn't complete because I didn't have a camera, thus no photos for the post. And seeing as I really like this restaurant, I went there for a Christmas dinner party with a group of friends, it didn't disappoint me. Plus, I had the chance to see the owner, who was in casual jeans and shirt. I do wish however that the service was a little better, but then again, it was around Christmas so they were ran off their feet, so forgiven.

So here's what we ended up getting..

The Famous Sashimi Tasting Plate - as Entree #1 to share

Tataki - Entree #2 to share

C's dish - scallop and duck (an entree made as a main!)

M's Unagi (Eel)

J's Scallop and Salmon (which I've had before and I can say it's absolutely fantastic!)

A's Steak & prawns

M's and Mine Zensai (chef's special a tasting plate consisting of soft shell crab, grilled beef, fried chicken, barrabumdi and scallops)

The dessert was fantastic ice-cream which had fruits at the bottom of all the ice-cream. I had green tea ice cream which tasted exactly like the famous japanese green tea powder (one my favourite teas ever!).

J's dessert - Banana Fritter, Ice-cream and waffles and fruits

The lights at the restaurant.. i took a photo because i can.. hah

Happy diners! ^_^

oh right! ... the new year's resolution post...

No matter how much you want to it to remain in control, life has a strange way of doing things. Yes, maybe you have a degree of control - guiding it so that it's the way you want it to be, but it wraps around us like silky snakes, distracting us from what we think we know, luring us into its lair, confusing us, confounding us and we're standin there dazed, nauseated and wondering what just happened? - this year has been like that.

I've thrown so many tantrums and screaming fits. Complaining. Whinging. Then realising that despite doing all that I'm just wasting my time and really just procrastinating from what I know I will eventually will do, because it's always in my nature to achieve, and to not leave things undone.. no not undone, not done to the best of my ability. So I studied. I passed. Became the pharmacist that I've been studying the last 5 years for. and, Life flew by, in the means of tantrums, fine dinings, studying, working and sleeping at 2am.

I started 2009 opening a new chapter - starting my internship at a hospital and I ended 2009 on the 31st of December, finishing at the hospital, where i learnt to love the people that I've worked with, whether it be the other pharmacists, the pharmacy assistants, the dietician, the OT, the social worker, the nurses and the doctors. I will miss them. But I've closed that chapter, only to find that the new chapter I've opened is of a brand new white page, from an untouched, unspoiled diary made from moleskin (red in colour).

2010 - is going to be year where I will regain my life, where I will finally do the things I want to, and have been putting off doing.

My resolution is one of the same as all the others - you know the whole mantra - lose weight.
But it is also different in the since that I will be flying. Whether it'd be metaphorically or literally (sense of a plane), because I have my life back and I will make it the way I want it to be.

I will stare at the sky for hours - looking at the clear blue skies on a cloudless day or making cloud animals when fluffy white clouds come out to play.

I will take my baby Nikon D90 out for play and take extraordinary photos - NOT on auto-mode but manual.

I will master a foreign language - maybe start with Mandarin seeing as I am Chinese.

I will volunteer more - just so that I feel like I'm giving back to the world and to stop being so angry at it.

I will be healthier - eat healthier, take up a sport and pilates again.

I will learn to ballroom dance - because it'd be fun and a way to stay active.

I will discover more people and reconnect with the ones I've somewhat haven't made such an effort to stay connected with.

and in all that maybe I will find someone - that is if I have time. After all life is to be enjoyed and if you meet that someone, it's nice to share the experiences, if not, I'm not too fussed because 2010 I'll be too busy having fun and living life. Spreading my wings to other areas of my life I've been dying to do but have been putting off. After all living isn't all about money (having it is nice of course!) or working or both, but it's all about balance.

2010 BRING IT ON!

Shelock Holmes

Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is an iconic character known for its detective poweress, arrogance, middle-aged Brit with a drug and alcohol addiction and is of course thought to stink (due to the lack of showers!), but, hey, he has his loyal fans. So when it was annouced that Guy Ritchie will be directing a re-invention of a possible franchise there were mixed reactions - but, with a cast like Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as the lovable Dr. Watson, and Doyle's characters being so iconic, it can't do badly right? and it doesn't.

The film showed the camraderie between Holmes and Watson, through the whole "save the world from destruction by using logic!", and hey it was brilliant (the chemistry between the two characters I mean - and the way it should be!) - they really had good chemistry, playing at each other.

The character work overall is great - Holmes comes off as a high functioning autistic genius, whose lonely and border-lining that genius-psychotic persona. Watson, on the other had is practical, a necessary part of the successful duo, one who is not afraid to criticise Holmes. Thus, the pair can't function without one another - a typical buddy action-comedy. Then there is Irene Adler (played by Rachel McAdams) as the International Criminal Mastermind (with a LONG WANTED-for list), who is the love interest of Holmes, and has an agenda of her own. The supervillian, Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), who wants to rule the world, through his magic and witchcraft.

The plot itself is very typically action-packed, religious cults, funny one-liners, humour, good dialogue, sound effects were amazing (you know what I mean when you see it - like when there is action everything slows down and there is absolute silence!) thrown in with amazing visuals of industrious London of 1891.

The movie, when you really think about it, the story is typical and the true assence of the characters were missed, but then you are making a blockbluster film so the action sequences with big explosions are great and I love it for that and for it's one-liners and visual-effects, but I still think that it’s a Sherlock Holmes movie without much of a central mystery and a superficial villain. At times the plot requires characters t(hat are supposed to be the smartest guys in the room) to act and think like complete dimwits. It’s sacrificed a potentially compelling and clever story for long action set-pieces and chases throughout London, so for that I am disappointed it.

Otherwise I love the movie. I love Robert Downey Jr. and I'm surprised by Jude Law's ability to pull off Watson brilliantly. I enjoyed it, a summer blockbuster and one which you should see!

Showing now at all Australian Cinemas!

everyone is a critic

I've spent post-Christmas watching the endless "blockbuster" summer flicks and I wasn't disappointed. I saw Shelock Holmes on boxing day, after having a quick shopping spree at the boxing day sales (I bought stuff for the boys) and then two days later saw the other muchly anticipated film, Avatar (in 3D - of course!) and both were the best two movies of 2009 (hands down)!! And I spent the FIRST day of 2010 watching a disney film (YES I LOVE DISNEY MOVIES!) - The Princess and the Frog - which brings me back to my childhood and omg all those morals embedded through it and of course the typical musical styling of disney!

Alas, I have to give my two cents - live with it! =D

OOO and on a totally unrelated note - i just added a counter - start counting as of 01/01/2010..

Hippo Creek

Let's be the carnivorous beings that we are and venture into Hippos Creek where South African hearty, meaty steak house meets good ole' Perth. There are two venues for this great steakhouse - one is in Scarborough Beachside and the other, at Hillaries Boat harbour.

My group of friends and I met up at Hippos Creek Hillaries to self-indulge in some game meat, have great steak and celebrate the beginning of our working lives as pharmacist.. yay?!.. well at least we do it with great food in great company!

The hillaries restaurant is relatively new - with high ceilings, interesting lights and deco - and is situated right next to the jetty makes it all the more nicer to dine.

So here's a glimpse of what's on offer...

Tackling the Hunter's Assaggi rump

Hunter's Assaggi Rump

S's Hunter's Assaggi Chicken

K's Rumps with side of chips, salad and mushroom sauce

M's game's meat - crocodile

Mud Hut's - fried mushroom stuffed with ricotto cheese and garlic sauce 

Dessert #1 to share - Vodka and blueberry creme brulee with orange sorbet

Amarula Chocolate Mousse - with chocolate, almond chips and vanilla bean icecream

Happy and stuffed diners!

Blue, Bows and Bracelets

I've been shopping so much lately, I say it's post-exam stress and because there are too many pretty things to pass up.

Here's a little preview of what I've bought recently.

Dress: Cue - Colbalt with Front Frills

Belt: Cue

Cardigan: Temt

and the shoes I wore my dress with...

Shoes: from Myers - Innovare brand

and then my accessories - because even if the outfit is gorgeous - the right accessories can make it look like a million dollars

Headband: Diva

Bracelets: Diva

and the handbag...

Clutch: From one of the stalls at Perth's Upmarket

12 Days of Xmas Wishes

On the TENTH day of Christmas

I wish Santa will fill my stockings with

Chloe Lamb Quilted Pumps! (they are on sale at ShopStyle)

I want it sooo bad! They are the most comfortable pair of pumps! They are as soft as anything and treats my feet with the comfort and respect it deserves!

In David Jones these pumps are $925, but on the net it's $399 USD (which I am still saving.. I'm scared if I wait for the sales here my size of 36.5 will be gone, because HEY everyone is the same size as me!!)