Lotsa "FIRSTs"

*WAVES*!

Ok lot’s of blogging to catch up on for this weekend. A lot of “FIRST Experiences” this weekend =)
Right now I’m on the plane heading to Auckland – sitting in row 39J with the window seat right next to me empty. Yay! Lot’s of room to spread my things out – who says you can’t travel First Class style in Economy Class?! Haha!

Came home on Thurs night and was really happy to see mum and sis again. We talked about travelling to Vietnam, and guess what?! We’re finally going! =) Well, we haven’t booked anything yet, but my arm is super sore from the Hep A/B Vaccination I had to get for the trip ($65 for me and $115 for my sis – pfft!) No one actually suffers from the needle unless it was really REALLY required. Just waiting on Sis’ passport to come in and we’re booking flights and tours ASAP =)

Mel & Jenny @ Maroubra

Went surfing for the first time on Friday with Mel and Jenny at Maroubra Beach (my first time there also). It was SUPER fun and Maroubra beach is totally awesome – not too many people and way cleaner than the other Syd beaches I’ve been to. The lesson went for 2 hrs, with the instructor giving us advice on where to look out for good/bad surfing areas along the beach. There weren’t that many waves, so in the whole two hours that I was there, I only caught 3 really good ones! It was pretty hard trying to stand up once you’ve got the wave – but the feeling of riding one was such a RuSh. I definitely recommend it to all if you haven’t tried surfing. Also, it ended up being really cheap (cos Mel had this Buy one get One free voucher) – so it only cost us $35 each for the 2 hours in the end. BARGAIN! =)

The Lovely Ladies

Spent Fri night with the Uni girls celebrating Agnes’ 22nd B’day. We had dinner at a chinese restaurant called Mushu at Bondi. The place was super nice, romantic and very different. But beware, the price is $$$$$$$$$. So unless you’re there to celebrate something special, I wouldn’t recommend going there just out of whim ;) We ordered lots to eat and I don’t know how to describe it, but each dish was “SeXy”. You have to try it to see what I mean. The really strange thing was that it was the first chinese restaurant I’d ever been to that DIDN’T have asian chefs/waiters/waitresses etc.. Not one asian in sight! =)

Agnes, Truccie & Me (I'm all sunburnt! *pouts*)

Nattie, Lynda, Agnes, Truccie @ Mushu

We also bought her a cake, but the waiter was like “It will cost you $7.50 each to have your cake in our restaurant” and we were like “As If!” (Sorry Agnes hehe) – so after dinner, we ended up going real tight to “7-Eleven” to purchase plastic spoons/forks and a lighter (thanks to Lynda for the sparkles) and headed down to the beach to celebrate. It was soo funny! Let me tell you – we ended up having the best time ever! We lit the sparklers and went nuts dancing wit em on the beach. Truccie got the whole thing on camera – soo funny! And then we just “AtTaCkEd” the Chocolate Mouse Cake (courtesy of Michele Pattiserie) with our cheapo plastic cutlery and pigged-out! We surprisingly finished half the cake between us (it was a big cake!).

Yummy Choccie Mouse Cake

My Truccie

Afterwards we went to “Sublime” at Home – total trance that night (my first time ever – another first ;). A bit pooey cos I didn’t bring my sneakers, Truccie came in heels (of course) and Lynda in loose thongs. We did well til bout 1:30am when we had enough of “UMPF UMPF” music – which we then left Agnes and her friends to continue with their “aerobic syle” dancing ;) Loads of fuN!

Denise & Me @ Darling Harbour

Spent Sat day with Denise (super sweet friend from highschool – we go wayyy back, Year 4 to be precise =) and had really nice food again at one of my FAV seafood restaurants at Darling Harbour “Jordan’s Seafood”. I totally ADORE that place and as the weather was soo beautiful that day, it made lunch even more better =) We also got our fav BOOSTS and had a romantic walk along Darling Harbour – aww super relaxing!

Yummy Food @ Jordan's Seafood Restaurant

Sat night spent catching up on a “little late” MLC Reunion with Steph, Vatsla, Bettie and Mel. I think this has got to be one of the funnest reunions we’ve had yet! I think it’s because of the smaller group size that made it better. I got to catch up with all during Japanese dinner at “Ichi-Ban” in Galleries of Victoria in the city! It was yummy and cheap – appreciated it so much due to the super expensive eat-outs the 2 days before. We then headed out to Kareoke World where surprisingly everyone sang their hearts out =) – “*Since you’ve been gone….>>!!” Haha! The rest of the night was spent at George’s Café in Burwood til almost 1am chatting, bitching and gossiping ;)

Buddy Bettie, Steph & Mel (Vaxy running late)

Me enjoying my Pork Jap Noodle Soup + Green Tea Cappucino (YuM!!) @Ichi-Ban

Bettie, Vatsla, Mel @ George's Cafe Burwood

Sun Day – Happy Chinese New Year – Chuc Muong Nam Moi – Gung Hei Fat Choi!!! Spent the whole day with the family, visiting my uncle’s place, going to the massive Temple at Wetherill Park and getting lots of Red Pocket. All up, I pocketed a total of $170! Woohoo!

"Phuoc Hue" Temple Entrance

Mum & Sis

Sun night was spent with Dad, Sophie, Sis, Pandora and Eric at “Pioneer” chinese restaurant in Bankstown. We had yummy Quail, Steamed fish and Vegetarian dishes. There was also really cool Kareoke equipment there which we spent til 1:30am singing our butts off to English and Vietnamese songs.

Dinner @ Pioneer Seafood Restaurant Bankstown

Monday I spent most of the day running around trying to get my Sis’ passport in as soon as possible, got our vaccinations, met up with Peter and headed out to the airport where – *PheW* – I finally get to rest.

A Super Filled Weekend with lotsa Super Fun ;) – Now how CORNY did that sound? hahaha

*Hugs*

Jenn

Excited about this weekend!!! =)

I'm sooooo excited about this weekend coming up. Here's my planned itinerary when I return to Sydney...

• Thurs night: Spend quality time with Mum/Sis and Call Agnes to wish her a massive Happy Bday!
• Fri Day: Surfing lessons with Mel and Jenny @ Maroubra, then yummy beach lunch (*fingers crossed* for awesome weather)
• Fri Night: Celebrating Agnes Berfday -Dinner with my 5 fav girls then off to Subbies@Home we go! =)
• Sat Day: Happy Chinese New Year!! - Sleep in, catch up with sis, visit relatives (lots of red pocket *ca-ching*)
• Sat Night: Dinner with MLC Friends reunion @ Wagamama, then Bamboo@Martin Place Bar with the girls - Mel, Agnes?
• Sun Day: Yum-Cha or Pancakes on the Rocks with Mum & Sis
• Sun Night: Dinner with old friends - Ally, Jason..? - Else Dinner with Dad =)
• Mon Day: (NZ Public Holiday) - Pack and fly back to NZ *pouts* - Squeeze in precious Chris for major updates
  
  For all those who haven't had the "Privilege & Honour" to meet my fav *~GoRgEouS~* chics - *drom roll* here they are...;)

Truccie, Agnes, Nattie, Me, Lynda - Darling Harbour

Jenny, Me, Mel - Fiji

50 Cent - "Get Rich or Die Tryin"

I LOVE LOVE LOVE 50 Cent!! I can’t wait to see his concert (I got FRONT ROW elevated seats - Yay!) – but for now, I indulged for 2 hours with his movie “Get Rich or Die Tryin” movie tonight. He’s sooo cute and sooo BUFF! Yummmmmmmmy! 8/10 for the movie ;) What do you guys think of 50 Cent?

Thought of the week:

There comes a time when you sit back and realise that so much has changed in your life that you don't even realise it! I mean - just like that, your friends have moved on or changed, you've made new friends and lost some old ones - or you just don't take the initiative to keep in touch.

Your perception on relationships and love is manipulated by your experience. You'll find the need to become more independent and financially stable. You'll begin to notice the marks of ageing and think to yourself "What have I contributed?"

Your maturity develops and you start to see and think things in another way. You may find yourself with nothing to do, working your ass off, travelling to foreign countries or occupied with more study. You develop passions for things you never knew existed and before you know it - you want to go back to the life you once knew.

And believe me - for some reason, this all happens in the blink of an eye.

Waiheke Island Vineyard Tour

Date: Sunday, 22nd Jan 2006

It’s Sunday night and I’m back in my Langham room. I’ve had my lovely warm shower and a delicious steaming peppermint tea right beside me – must tell you guys about the awesome day I’ve had!

Ok it started off me waking up at 9:30am, rushed to get ready (cos I ALWAYS leave morning prep to the last minute) and headed downstairs to board the Langham “Courtesy” bus at 10am. The weather was absolutely AMAZING – seriously, today is the best "weather" day I’ve experienced ever since travelling to NZ.

I arrived Downtown and was extremely hungry, so I thought I’d pop by Muffin Break and get myself a Bacon/Egg/Cheese Muffin and a LARGE Cappuccino. The guy who served me seriously looked like Bobby from work. No joke! It was so funny cos I instantly SMS’d Bobby about the guy and he persisted that I take a photo of the Muffin Break guy! Hence after much waiting (cos the guy kept dashing to the back to clean or something) and trying really hard to seem as if I was interested in taking a photo of the “Muffin stand” instead of him, I finally got a shot! Haha – check it out and let me know what you guys think =)

I then met JL, Adrian, Mark and Christian down at the ferry terminal where we were about to embark on our adventure of the Waiheke Island Vineyard Tour. I was really excited and the tour turned out to be only $85 (which included ferry return trip, lunch, visit to 3 vineyards via luxury coach and free wine tasting). So we boarded the ferry at 11am – funny thing is, Christian and Mark suffer from Motion Sickness. Fortunately Christian was ok for most of the trip, but poor Mark went pale and watery eyes halfway through! He had to keep constantly munching on mints and drinking heaps of water. Quite interesting to watch actually – never knew anyone who suffered from it ;)

So our first Vineyard stop was at Stonyridge – really nice place and we were welcomed with a glass of their white wine. The wine was really strong and different! I’m not much of a wine person, so I have no idea what I was looking out for when I tasted it but I’m assuming it was good =) Our tour chic then took us around the vineyard and explained the origins, how the wine is created etc.. and we ended with a nice glass of red wine and yummy sandwich lunch at the end.

Then it was off to Mudbrick vineyard – it was so beautiful! The place is gorgeous because it’s high up and you can have lunch overlooking most of Waiheke Island. Seriously if I had to choose a place to get married – this would be it ;) Our tour guy was also very interesting and he originally lived in Sydney, Newton so we had a bit to chat. He moved to NZ 12.5 yrs ago. At this vineyard, we were given two glasses of wine again. So that’s 4 half-glasses – Jenn getting slightly tipsy *grinz*!

Interesting fact: We saw this run-down green shed house-like thing near a beach that sold for $14million – no shit! The place wasn’t bigger than a garage!

Anyways, our third stop was Peninsula Estate where we were greeted with this really nice Rose wine – pale pink in colour but absolutely delicious with less alcohol content. Definitely my fav of the day ;) This was a quick tour which ended in a nice glass of red wine, crackers and cheese. That’s a total of 6 half-glasses = 3 full glasses = half bottle! Yep, I was sleepy by then!
Overall I would rate the tour 8/10 – it was really fun and educational!

When we returned on our ferry trip – we headed out to “No.1” Chinese restaurant for dinner and ordered – the food was yummy, cheap and in HUMUNGA-WUNGA serving sizes (I must say I didn’t finish mine – seriously, my dish weighed like 1kg when I tried to pick it up. Too much food!)

We also headed over to the Metropolis, where Mark, Christian and Munik are staying and went to check out the place. The room Mark was staying in was nice and cosy, but I was more interested in the lap pool and the gym downstairs. We had a bit of fun playing on the equipment.
JL and I then walked back home through Albert Park – really nice walk, even though it was uphill most of the time. The floral setting was really nice and I took pictures of pretty cool flowers. Ok, I’m getting tired. It’s 8pm now, going to turn on the telly and see what’s on the movie channel. Hope you all had an awesome weekend and I can’t wait to get back to Syd next week. I miss you all!

*Lotsa Hugs*

Jenn

Jenn in NZ, Auckland - Day 4

I’m still in the office, it’s Friday and I’m already thinking about (alright so I’m doing now) blogging – sad I know as I already did one this morning. But I’m so EXTREMELY BORED!!! Cos I have nothing to do. I’ve raised one defect (which came back in like 5min) and have wandered around to visit all the lovely NZ peeps in the office for quick chats.

Ramon is this really cool fishing dude (he loves to fish – oh and he really knows his Infranet stuff ;) and he showed me a picture of a Snapper he caught recently, approx 20 pounds – soOOOooo massive! Check out the photo!! And it’s currently still in his freezer – waiting to be cooked *grinz* He also caught a couple of crayfishes last year and he brought them into work for us to munch away =) They were soooo yummy. He also showed me the scars on his hand where the crayfishes had attacked him (OUCH!) – so from then, I tried to appreciate every bite of it.
Speaking of work – everyone in the office got these really cool Vodafone Water bottles. I believe they’re for some promotion..?! Not sure why – but it’s sweet anyways! =)
Ok – there has been a few requests for me to mention peeps, so…(even though it’s like totally not on the topic):

Lynda: It's not always about you haha!

Truccie: I LOVE YOU!

Kristian: there you go!Ok so back to my Friday blogging. I’m already on my second coffee – woooo! I had breakfast this morning with Peter – really good start to the day, but it was major greasy (Bacon, eggs, hashbrown etc..). I’m gonna hit the pool tonight and get rid of the fatty deposits sitting in my stomach, if I’m not too tired.

Adrian, JL and I had lunch today at Kubick. One of my most fav Japanese restaurants in the world!!! I’ll have to remember to take a photo of the place and the yummy food to show you guys next time. JL and Adrian got their usual Aloe Vera drink – you should see Adrian’s collection! Haha!

Oh my gawd – I’m listening to “Finally Found”. Brings back so many memories! Serena, Mel and I used to harmonise this song back in Year 9. *sighs* It’s amazing how things change so quickly and especially the friends that you lose, make and keep. To all you snobs, work and bf/gf obsessed dudes/dudettes – make sure you try extra hard to keep and appreciate your friends! They are and WILL ALWAYS be your world. The true and good ones will stick with you no matter what and it’s really easy to take them for granted. Think about life without them, and you have no life. We should have a “Friend Appreciation” day ;)

Ooo Guess what?! I’ve just started to use Video Studio 9 – I don’t know if you guys have used it, but it’s really easy and have really cool transition effects to make movies – or in my case, collating pictures into a fancy slideshow. I’m currently working on the BCS Summer Skool photos and I’ll show you guys when I’m done. Thanks Chris for lending me the prog ;)
Ok it’s 5:10pm here now – I think it’s time for home. I might come into work tomorrow to work on learning about ST. Finally I get to do something apart from SIT. =) I know I know – it’s the weekend and I should relax but there’s not really anything to do here til Sunday. Adrian and I (maybe JL) will be heading out to Waiheke Island to go on a wine tour on Sun. Should be good fun!

Tonight Adrian and I went out to have Indian for dinner down at the Viaduct. Really yummy curries – but we ordered too much and ended up not finishing. Talk about coincidence, we also saw Marie-Anne and Alex there with a few of their friends having dinner as well.

We ordered:
- Lamb Korma (orangey and creamy – MmmMmm)
- Chicken red-pasty slightly-spicy curry
- Plain Naan
- Rice
- Chicken Tikka for Entrée
- Mango Lasse (Me!)
- Indian Beer (Adrian)

We then headed out to Timeout again at the Metro – where once again he kicked my ass in Air Hockey, Pool and Puzzle Bubble. I won at Basketball though - All good fun! Afterwards we crashed in Adrian’s room at the Crowne Plaza and ordered room service of yummy ice-cream and fruits. He made me sit through Indiana Jones (I think it’s the 3rd one in the series) and I’m like “this movie is so ollllllld”. It turned out not as bad as I had expected =) There were sooo many people on the streets when I taxied it home at 12:30am as they were all coming back from “The Big Day Out”.

Enough from me - Hope you’re all having an awesome weekend and remember to smile – LOTS! =)))))))))

*hugs*
Jenn

Jenn in NZ, Auckland - Day 3

Hi All!

Well it's FRIDAY - YAY!! Weekend - here I come! I didn't get time to blog yesterday, so I'm currently at work with nothing to do so I thought I'd blog (yes, I've tried to get work -but they've run out for me at this point in time).

Ok so about yesterday...

Work was good - I learnt a few new technical aspects of the project (ie. DBVisualizer and GL Reporting), so I wasn't doing the same thing again. I felt a lot better during the day as well - recovered from my depressive state quite quick I thought. Thanks to all who gave a shout-out to how I was doing - you guys are the bomb ;)

After work JL, Adrian and I went to this place called "Tanuki's Cave". The atmosphere was totally awesome! A Japanese restaurant on Queen St where you get to go underground into this dark "Cave" and have a few drinks and yummy BBQ sticks dinner! We went crazy with the BBQ Sticks order - ranging from Ox Tongue, Chicken & Cheese, Seafood Combo, Chicken and weird plumy-leafy thing, mushroom stuffed with Chicken mince, Prawn&Bacon with mayo etc.. I ordered this really cool Peach Alchohol drink called "Can Chu-hi". This place is a definite must visit if you're ever in Auckland. It's on 319 Queen St if anyone is interested =)

We then headed out to play a few games at the Timeout at Metro in the city. We played Time Crisis 3 (my all time fav shooting game) and Air Hockey. I lost to Adrian (cos I can't defend my puck for anything haha) - and surprisingly it was a really good match between Adrian and JL. Of course, Adrian won in the end - but it was really really close 9-8 =) Ooo OOh - and I played Skill tester and I caught a Homer Simpson toy! I was like really excited!! It was sooo funny cos then the leg of his pants got caught on one of the bolts of the 'claw', so that when it was meant to drop off into the 'win bin' - it was just stuck there. Heheheha - I was like "SHIT!! - Gimme my Homer!!". Haha thanks to JL who basically went nuts and rocked the machine to death till Homer was free, was I able to take him home.

Now for the bad news - I did it again! I went NUTS! Went to the casino and lost BIG! Gosh - I'm not going to gamble for a while after last night. *pouts* So that means I've lost money in Melbourne AND now Auckland - must regain will power and not go anymore! Hmpf!

Alright it's back to work for me - til tomorrow!

*Hugs*

Jenn

NZ, Auckland - Day 2

Well here I am in Auckland, my second night here for the year. I wonder how long I will stay in NZ. I asked my soon–to-be team lead how long she thinks I’ll be staying – “medium term” she says. So that’s in between short and long – haha we’ll see.

After work I went swimming for 30min - yep that's me trying to be active again. The pool was only 10m (thanks Mel) in length, which meant I had to do many, many laps to even start getting puffed out but it was fun. There was also this guy in there as well doing laps, and I started to race and keep up with him - but low and behold, he was fitter than me so I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath. I then headed to the spa pool - it stunk like PISS & was surprisingly very hot! No joke - don't think I'll be going in there for a while.

I had dinner with Adrian tonight. No one else seemed available – or there’s really no one else left in NZ to hang out with. Adrian is soon to leave as well, which means most likely I’ll be by my lonesome self for a while. Hmms – more blogging perhaps? Maybe I can do this everyday, just to pass time by. HOW SAD!!!! Haha

We ate at this really nice Korean restaurant, just off Queens street. Mega Cheap and loadsa Yummy! I also tried to go to Sky City Casino and they bloody wouldn’t let me in cos I was wearing “JANDALS”! Gawd! (for those of you who aren’t familiar with the NZ term, it’s another word for Thongs – and yes, by that I mean the ones where you wear on your feet =)

Adrian’s staying at the Crowne Plaza hotel for a bit (cos the Langham was apparently full when he tried to book) – the place was nice, but not cosy. I find Langham to be very “homely” and “welcoming” – which is heaps important when you’re away from home. I kinda miss home already – but then, when I think about the little petty arguments that I’ve been having with my mum & sis, I’d rather be here for a bit. It’s cool being able to have my own place and to live independently for a while.

We then went to the Langham winery and had this really weird "Fruity" brownie - we were deceived cos we thought the brownie was going to be chocolate! It had almonds and some fruit in it, with berries on the side - cinnamon/choccie stick and a wavy piece of bread/cake-like thing on top haha did that make sense?! And I ordered a nice hot chocolate - ahhh you guys HAVE to try the Langham Hot Chocolate. It's the BEST ever in the whole world. They normally make it really creamy and put on lots of real chocolate flakes on top of the froth (none of the powdered chocolate stuff - although I got that last night...hmmms).

I’m already thinking about how I’m going to launder my clothes – Langham is soooo expensive! Wait, let me get the laundry price list….

Ok so we’ve got:
- Jeans $10
- Undies $4 each (what the hell?! I can get new ones at that price)
- Skirt – plain $11
- Etc....
And you just DOUBLE the price if you want it Dry-Cleaned.

I won’t bore you with the whole list, but like hello?! That’s so expensive!! Fortunately I will be able to expense it to IBM if I need to – but I find it such a waste of money so I’ll only do it when I desperately run out of clothes.

Which brings me on the topic of being TIGHT! I swear – the longer I stay here in NZ, the TIGHTER I am with my money. I don’t know why – maybe it’s because I’m in a completely new country or maybe it’s the fact that I make more money HERE than I do in Syd, which makes me stingier *shrugs* who knows! All I know is that when I’m back in Syd – I spend my money like crazy and when I’m here, I’m tight. Ok so I’m not THAT tight – I still eat right and spend if need be, but I’m really conscious of my spendings =)

I’ve also been a bit depressed lately. I don’t know what I want in life – and the more I ponder about it, the more it makes me depressed. I have a few things on my mind to think about (perhaps this is not the right place to note it down) – but yeah *sighs*, I’m still thinking.

Ok so it’s off to bed for me – I’m not posting this up until I get to work tomorrow. This is because the Langham charges $9.95/hr to use the internet here. WHAT?! That’s crazy!!! Til tomorrow night (cos most likely I’ll be free to write more)…

Yours truly,

Depressed Jenn