Waiting game..

I'm finally moving into my own apartment this weekend. Can't wait as I have practically been living out of 1 suitcase and the weather is getting really cold here.

Next step is to get a job. Sigh...it's just a waiting game.

I found my home away from home

I found myself an apartment!! Close to the tube and within walking distance to amenities!

It even comes with a gym and spa and was below our initial budget.

Of course, had to lock the contract in for a longer period as it is really a good deal! I will be moving in in two weeks. Can't wait!

The best thing of all is that there were no dramas with paying 6 months of rent in advance thing.

What a day!

Finally had a small window of free time from prepping and attending job interviews. Went to check out some areas and spoke to a few estate agents about some apartments that I saw that I was interested in renting.

Imagine my shock when one of them said, "As you are still job seeking, that means that you are unemployed, that will classify you as a class B tenant which means that you will need to be prepared to pay 6 month's of rent in advance."

Me: WHAT???

I was thinking, are you kidding me, no one said that before to me and 6 months is really excessive. Not to mention that fact that it is one of the most expensive currencies, the POUND!

I was still shocked for at least half an hour after leaving that agent. Spoke to some people and they have never heard of that before, but then I don't think they were at the unemployed stage when they were seeking to rent either.

That estate agent didn't help by saying that based on the criteria that I had, she doubts that I can find a place close to where I was looking at. But I searched property websites and definitely saw some.

I think I might just give this agent a skip in the future.

After that, heard back from my recruitment agent and unfortunately I wasn't successful in one of the jobs that I applied for that I really like. The feedback was good, they thought that I was fantastic but there was another candidate who had UK experience and have audited that specific industry before.

Oh well, so it boils down to me not having the experience in that industry, nothing I can do about that. They did mention that they are definitely still interested in me when they are recruiting say 2 months later. Well, I think at that point, I will be homeless and penniless (spending in pounds using AUD) so I won't be able to wait 2 months.

Greetings from London

I know that I have been silent for a while. I was really busy packing and sorting out my things in Sydney. After that, I left for a week of holiday in Tokyo. It was wonderful, I will put up pics soon once I'm more settled in London with my own place and my own computer hopefully.

At the moment, I am busy meeting up with agents and attending interviews. I didn't exactly arrive at the best time to look for a job with the current economy and media hype about the financial sector.

Leaving to my new home...

Finally, all my bags are packed and I am en-route to London via Tokyo. Can’t wait. The only minor drag is that I have to lug an overflowing luggage of 30kg with me to Tokyo. =(


The flight to Tokyo wasn’t all that great. I got one of those old Japan Airways flight where the entertainment system is not even up to you to choose when you want to watch the movie. Not to mention that I was automatically assumed to be a Japanese and was given an immigration card that was entirely in Japanese. As much as I am flattered, it doesn’t help, as I don’t even know what to fill other than some words here and there that I could make out.


Finally arrived at Tokyo airport and was on the train on the way to Shibuya where our hotel was. It started raining when we got there and we couldn’t quite figure out where the hotel was. Hailed a cab and it was quite an adventure trying to get the cab driver to understand the address in English. In the end, we managed to get the cab driver to call the hotel (thankfully we had the hotel number with us) and we got there safely in like 5 minutes. Argh..it was soo close but lugging heavy luggages with empty stomachs and trying to find the hotel at night wasn’t our cup of tea.


The hotel room was great! There is even a washing machine and cutlery and cooking utensils. It was more an apartment than a hotel. At the lobby, managed to find another map that was so clear and detailed with directions to the hotel from the train station. What is the point of providing that when your guests have already found the place?!?! This map should have been shown on the website rather than the vague looking one we had. So if anyone is interested in this hotel (which I do recommend), please use this map!




With our hands clear of luggages and heavy items, we were able to make our way for dinner. Ended up in a western-ish restaurant. Of all places, trust my friend TB to end up picking that in Japan, haha! Check out the review here. No clubbing tonight for us as we rest our weary minds and bodies in anticipation of a full day of shopping ahead.

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Update: I know it took me ages to update my Tokyo trip but it was busy busy settling in a new country and new job. Better late than never though. Please go here for the continuation.

It's things like this that saddens me and make me wonder what is Malaysia turning into. So your party didn't do too well in the recent elections, grow up!

I can tolerate when you want to make racial comments. Hey, it's your prerogative! But to tear down someone's picture? Where are your manners?

Ahmad must explain actions - PM

Tuesday, 09 September 2008 11:23 zen

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said that he is expecting Datuk Ahmad Ismail, the Bukit Bendera Umno chief to explain the row the actions of his supporters who tore up the poster of Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon when they meet today. He said “I have been told about it and Najib (Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) and I will see him tomorrow. We will get an explanation as to why it happened and after that we will decide on the action to be taken against him. It is not for him to ask a component party to leave Barisan. Tomorrow we will decide and decide quickly after meeting him,”

When friends become true friends...

As some of you may know, I currently have 3 more weeks left in Sydney before I move to the London.

I just had a farewell dinner with some of my friends and as I looked around the table of 19, all these people were friends that I knew while working. A thought crept into my mind about what the meaning of friends truly is.

Good friends to me are those that you meet or hang out with all the time. Or even not so, at least you called or chat with each other regularly and know what is happening in each other's lives. Those that are there to always lend a helping hand in need as well.

However, my perception seems to be changing now, more so after tonight's dinner. With my move to Sydney a few years ago, I had to let go of all my high school and uni friends and come on my own to Sydney to work.

These workmates sitting at the table with me having dinner have now become my friends. I am extremely grateful that they have come, especially when it was at short notice. These are the same people that I don't get to talk to regularly or that we even hang out regularly at all. Yet, somehow, whenever there is a function or event, they definitely turn up.

We may not know too much about each other's past and external circle of friends that we all have, and yet there is a bond where we share parts of our private and social lives. We don't talk much about things that trouble us or family/friends problems. However, we can look at each other and there is a confirmation that we are more than just workmates and help is there when needed.

I guess that maybe I am quite a private person and don't do a lot of confiding to people. Therefore, I wouldn't bet an eyelid if the same people consider me as "someone I know from work".IT just amazes me how even though they may not know much about my personal life but they still regard me as special to them.

I find myself now receiving thoughtful birthday and farewell presents that is totally unexpected. I am eternally grateful for their friendships but it just amazes me how my perception of a good friend has drastically changed from even just 5 years ago.

Google Olympics Doodles

With the ending of the Olympics today, it has been a good 16 day's worth of sweat and tears. I wished that I had more time to watch more events though. Channel 7 wasn't the greatest either. They didn't show all events.

Anyhow, there is always the trusty internet for more vids and news. Has anyone else been intrigued by the daily Olympic doodles from Google?

I find them fascinating. With the complete collection now, let's reminiscence all the events.

Day 1 - Opening Ceremony

Day 2 - Cycling

Day 3 - Weightlifting

Day 4 - Diving

Day 5 - Rhythmic Gymnastics

Day 6 - Artistic Gymnastics

Day 7 - Basketball

Day 8 - Badminton

Day 9 - Soccer

Day 10 - Rowing

Day 11 - Table Tennis

Day 12 - Swimming

Day 13 - Track Field

Day 14 - High Jump

Day 15 - Martial Arts

Day 16 - Baseball

Ending - Closing Ceremony

The McDonalds Coke Olympic Race

With any Olympics, there are sure to be sponsors and food chains the likes of McDonalds taking advantage by selling us toys and mementos.

I guess that I am one such consumer who buys this collectibles. How could you not when McDonalds teamed up with Cokes and came up with a set of Coke Glasses for 3 different events l(swimming, basketball and athletics). It seemed like something worth collecting and is usable. It is also a piece of history. You never know, 200 years from now and this could be in a museum.

After successfully collecting the first two, I trotted off after work today to collect the last and final coke glass. To my dismay, my regular McDonalds has already sold out on it and it's only a MONDAY!

Thinking to myself, "What's the point of having two and not completing the collection", I knew of another McDonalds about 10 minutes walk away. Hence, started my own Olympic race for the final Coke Glass.

Dragging my trolley bag which houses my laptop in addition to a gym bag, I wasn't in the best position to race around for the final Coke Glass. I got there and discovered that it was closed for renovations. OMG!!!!!!

I guess that no event is without it's surprises and hurdles. I headed back into the city to George street to my 3rd McDonalds branch. Sold out again!

This is killing me....it's dinner time and I can't get a Coke Glass with my McDonald meal. Went to the 4th branch, sold out again.

By this time, I have literally walked half of the city and more.

Onwards again. With any event, there can be interruptions, onwards to my next destination, I was stopped by someone asking me where is the nearest supermarket. What the heck!

Finally reached the 5th branch, it looked promising, then I was greeted by these words "Sold Out". Arghh.....

I only know of 2 more branches left in the city. Mind you, this is me walking from one end of George street from Chinatown to Darling Harbour and upwards to Circular Quay.

6th branch....GOLD! I got my Coke Glass. Was it worth it....after all that effort, I think I deserve those fries that came with it.

I now have my complete collection (at least in Australia since they only sell 3 of them). You could say that the final Coke Glass was the coveted Gold.

Ha!

On my way...

If you've seen my previous post, I was starting to despair on when will I be able to go to London.

After a very long and tiring day, I checked my email and discovered an email. It was a notification saying that my visa has been approved!

Yippee....I am now packing...London, here I Come!

=)

We Got Married

I have a huge stack of movies and series that are piling up that I have yet to watch. It's hard when you have only so many hours but there are so many different shows in different languages to watch.

Ah! The joys of being Asian, you have shows in English, Mandarin, Hong Kong, Korea and Japan to choose from and it makes the amount that I want to watch so much more.

Needless to say, I am SO BEHIND! Anyhow, after some persistent coaxing from someone, I started watching a reality show from Korea known as "We Got Married". I have to say that I am HOOKED!

The show is about 4 celebrity couples who pretend to be married and the life of a newly wed couple. All 4 are vastly different and definitely give some highly entertaining moments. You get the awkward moments while they are getting used to each other and the fights and dramas!

You always have that slob of a guy who never wants to do anything. Then you have the cute couple and a seemingly materialistic and fashionable couple. The one that I was most taken with was this really romantic guy.

He is just so romantic that it almost seems unreal. If you can hear the music resonating from the background of my blog, it's a song in his album.

There was a point where I began to question whether could it be that he is just putting on a show. After all, celebrities are known to be really different in real life and when they are on camera. However, after watching for a while, I believe that he is really a sincere and genuine guy. I may be wrong, but I am happy to have this conclusion. If I can find someone half as romantic as him, I'll be happy! What can I say, I AM a romantic at heart!

Anyhow, if you're bored, definitely tune in to watch this reality show. You can find it in many places, including here.

Where has time gone?

In a blink of an eye and it is already August in the 2008 year. I can still remember when the clock striked 12 midnight and fireworks went off to greet the new year. I was full of hopes and dreams on what I wanted to achieve in 2008.

Unsurprisingly, things never turn out the way you want them.
My career did not take off as how I envision, thankfully in a twist of events, I found myself in a better position.

I hoped to have been in London by now but am still here in Sydney. I am still hoping that I will be able to get there before October. *fingers crossed*

As the countdown starts for the Olympics, it also counts down how much time I have left for the remaining of the year.

HaPpY BiRtHdAy Mili & Shin Yi

Happy Birthday & Hope you had a good celebration!
Mili - I will see you in a few months time!!
=)

Good Food & Wine Show 2008

I mentioned earlier how excited I was with the Good Food & Wine Show and how I was hoping to meet Gordon Ramsay.

The day finally came and I woke up bright and early before the show started so that I can get me some tickets to see his live demonstration.

There were already hordes of people there and I was worried about not being able to get any tickets. Thankfully, after some minor mishaps with the ticket lady (she over charged me!), I finally got some tickets and M and I proceeded to enter the show. As our tickets were for his 3.30pm show, we planned to check out as much as we can (i.e. eat and drink) before his live demonstration.

M kept saying that we shouldn't wait till after his show to go for the book signing. So we headed off looking for the book signing area. We were going round and round and not sure where to go until I suddenly spied this.

Eagerly, we started following the foot prints!

There was already quite a queue when we finally found it at like 10 minutes into the opening time.

Started talking to one of the book sales lady and she said that it was a good idea to come for the morning book signing session as this was the only one that Gordon is extending to 1 hour instead of the usual 30 minutes. There were a lot of disappointed people who queued up who didn't manage to get their books signed within the 30 minutes.

M and I eagerly waited in line.

While waiting, I had plenty of time to look at what was around me.

Finally the time came and Gordon appeared and the queue started moving. Half an hour into the session and it wasn't our turn yet. I was thanking my lucky stars that this session was an hour. Otherwise, I had to continue queueing again and won't get to walk around and check out the stalls.

Finally it was my turn and I became SPEECHLESS! I can't believe it, I was star struck and couldn't think of anything to say. =(


Sigh....I never had any luck with book signing sessions or when I attended my one and only celebrity signing session!

M and I were famished after that and we headed off to get some lunch. For the rest of the day, we came across some interesting stalls and food.

A mascot for a Tupperware! What else....

This stall was quite interesting. You place this sachet in the fridge and it helps to keep your veges and fruits lasts longer. I had to buy one and try.

I never thought that I would see this but an actual human vending machine. Give him your money and you will receive your product with the other hand. Freaky!

I had a great time and we only left at closing time. I seriously doubt 1 day is enough as we spent that just going through stalls and celebrity demonstrations. We didn't even get to go for any of the other food demonstrations.

Do check out my food blog for all the food and drink pictures!

Apple store opening, Sydney

For those who have been wondering what the commotion was that started in the afternoon at the corner of King and George Street in Sydney, it was the opening of the Apple store. The first ever in the Southern hemisphere and the second largest in the world so far. There was quite a buzz going around with many Apple fans flying in from other states and overseas.

The media got a sneak peek yesterday but us public have to wait until today.

The store is to open at 5pm to the public. When I got there half an hour before, there was already a huge queue.

It stretched all the way round the side of the block to the middle of the next street.

Lucky for me, I had my newest baby to keep me occupied while waiting. The good people at Nudie also came and quench our thirst.

There was a lot of waiting and waiting and the queue just keeps getting longer and longer.

Finally I was at the side of the Apple store with only about 50 people ahead of me. It started to drizzle. Ooh! I need to get in.

20 people ahead of me, I am now waiting at the front of the store.

Finally got in. The first 2,400 patrons get a free T-shirt. Yippee....I was one of the first 2,400 people.

The first level are all the computers and peripherals. You get to the second level and you are greeted with an array of all the ipods and media accessories.

As the whole place has an open theme with glass walls, you could still see the queue waiting to get in at the entrance.

Could see Channel 9 covering the opening event on the side.

Love the displays on the side.

Anyone interested in pink laptop covers?

Up the amazing stairs to Level 3 and you get to the service/genius centre.

The wall displays conveys this on Level 3 as well. While the parents are having their one on one discussions, you can leave the kiddies on the side to play games.

Anyone interested in some lab workshops?

Check out the huge long table of techies answering questions and helping customers.

The signature Apple logo hanging in the middle of the store.

The the people who are still queueing to get in, the Apple staff were kind enough to start handing out Apple umbrellas so that they don't get wet.

I love the umbrella. Simple and just the logo. This is one umbrella that I am happy to help flaunt and advertise.

Were you one of the lucky few to get an umbrella?