Feeling crappy

It feels crap when I'm supposed to enjoy my weekend and back in my mind, there are heaps to be done. Can't believe I'm already in my final year of PhD. *gulp* It's such a scary feeling thinking that I'm now officially a senior HDR student and yet, I feel so incompetent and under-achieved. :| Would I even be able to finish and graduate on time? Would I be able to secure a good job next year? Would I be able to finish all my writings? Looking at the horrendous piles of journal sitting on my study table...Urghh! I'm speechless. 

This is probably one of the bottleneck-of-my-life's post since my last entry. Realised that my English standard has deteriorate so much though I speak and use it everyday >.< I start to wonder why do I even want to do a PhD for a start......

What happened when I'm bored...

Well, this is a little embarrassing to be announced on my blog since I hardly blog nowadays.

I got a whatsapp message from my mum (who was still at work) last saturday afternoon after I came back from my unsuccessful grocery shopping to chat with her online. It's not that we don't chat with each other but our timing seem to be a bit off recently due to her massive workload and I'm usually off to bed by the time she's free to chat. I should be ashamed of myself seeing that I literally did nothing productive or work-related all weekend.

Waited till 3.45pm and my mum still hadn't come online. There I went sending another message asking her whereabout. STILL.IN.THE.OFFICE. *rolled eyes* C'mon mum, I'm supposed to leave in 15!! I'm such an inconsiderate daughter. So there I went telling the bf who just got back from his haircut and was indulging himself with tonnes of really old Bruce Lee/ Wong Fei Hung's movies next to me to postpone our outing. *We were due to go over to a friend's place for a pre-christmas party celebration at 4pm*

I wasn't a big fan of Kungfu movies, despite all the "ninja acts" that I perform at work and how all my lab mates think I'm a ninja in action. =.=" So instead, I opted to do some random net surfing...came across a very tempting online sales on Cotton On. Low and behold, I managed to stash 5 outfits into my shopping cart within that 15 mins wait for my mum!!! Yeah, I'm not so much a filial that I blamed my mum for my impulsive shopping spree. What to do?? They were dirt cheap and I really needed some new outfits (Ok, I lies...maybe I only needed 3 out of the 5 outfits I picked) but the free shipping managed to persuade me into buying the other 2 not-so-keen ones.

All the while the bf didn't know what was up on my sleeves until I told him to keep a look out for my delivery (since I'm going back home for Christmas) and might miss the delivery all together. So here's how our casual conversation goes...

Me: Ehh, can you look out for my delivery when I'm home. I'll pass you my postbox key.
Bf: Uh huh...*still grossly into his movie* What did you buy?
Me: Nothing much. Just 5 pieces of clothes from Cotton On.
Bf: How much?
Me: Ermm...$55?!!
Bf: *pause the movie* WHAT???!!!!!
Me: 55??
Bf: Are you crazy???!!! You spent that much in 15 mins???
Me: *embarrassed* Ok la...I don't shop around that much here ma...(as in locally)
Bf: OMG....girls....

Oh wells, as long as I'm happy spending my OWN money right???! (: *big grins*

So, what do you think of my latest purchase??? (Top to bottom: Lacey 3/4-sleeve top, biker jacket (my sis took mine away), dress, cardigan and grey top).

I know, I know 4 out of 5 are blacks...nevermind, I'm so into black these days that I couldn't resist turning my wardrobe into a witchery black. :P Anyway, they were really quick with the shipment because I received my parcel 3 days after placing my order!!! (:

accumulated dust...

I have totally lost all the motivation to blog nowadays...I was so jealous looking at friends and strangers graduating a month back...and I'm still stuck with mine. Begin to question when my turn would be. I'm pretty worried that I wouldn't be able to finish on time, i.e. at the end of my 3rd year. It seems like forever...not that I'm sick of what I'm doing now, but I just wish to get over with studying and start earning real cash. But without a proper degree, how to get a good job right?? Ironic.

On a side note, I wish to take a long long break...

My hands are literally burning even after 1 whole day!!! =.=" Reason being...me making the spicy filling for my roasted pulut last night. Never knew the spicy effect lasted so looong! And the most bizarre thing of making pulut is not the process but rather the price I have to pay for the banana leaves!!!! You would not believe how much it costs me to buy a kilo of banana leaves here in Adelaide. I have to literally salvage every single small pieces of the leaves just because it's way too expensive to throw it out! =.=""" $8 for 1kg = RM26 for 1 kg!!!! It's like...FOC back home! And the basic cost price for pulut is prolly a few cents back home but here, it's more like $2 for a pulut...and I made 21 pulut @.@ Do the maths yourself. I must be nuts!!!

Life is like a maze, you never know what you'd come across...

This blog pretty much attracts no attention at all...*I like* =P

Mum came on last Saturday for 10 days and coincidentally, it was the Food and Wine Gourmet Festival at Clare Valley, which is approx. 2-hour drive from Adelaide.

So, a group of us decided to go and get ourselves drunk some countryside fun! The weather was perfect - bright and sunny, thank God, since it has been raining all week. We went to a few wineries (Clos, Annie's Lane, Last Word and Seven Hill) before heading to the oh-so-famous Mintaro Maze just an hour before it closes.

We were too early for the first winery and they hadn't finished setting up just yet. =.=" People were just hovering around the frontyard, sipping on riesling (famous in Clare region) and reds. So we proceeded to the second winery, Annie's Lane (which is more lively). The 80s music was blasting so loudly that we could hardly hear each other. We had some gourmet sausage rolls, pies and salad for brunch prior to wine tasting.

Due to the festival, some of the wineries required us to pay for wine tasting...so that sorta keep us away since we're not too willing to spend on trying something that we would not buy. Last Word's wines were alright, let's just say it's not my type. The riesling is too sour and the shiraz is too spicy...Seven Hill was the last winery and probably the best we have been to...We almost skipped it because when I suggested it to my driver saying that it offers both free wine tasting and museum and cellar tour (stingy asians who want most of everything! =.="), he shrugged off saying that we would try some others along the way to Mintaro maze. Meh, he changed his mind as quickly as the mood of a girl. And we obviously did not regret going. The scenery was picturesque with a huge church standing magnificiently at the entrance way, looking out to a big vineyard. Tents were set up in the middle of the humungous frontyard, with the winery workers selling all sorts of desserts and preserved meats. I felt in love with the garlic infused olive oil...omg, it was sooooo goood!!!! I'm thinking of "investing" on a bottle soon...

We spent more time that we anticipated at the winery since we were busy tasting almost all the whites and reds on the list and trying to squeeze in some time to visit the underground cellar and museum. Some of the wine barrels are even as old as I am!!!! Antic!

We finally left with 7 bottles of wine to the maze...This is how the maze looks like!
The woodhead bf always think that maze is for kids and childish for adults =.=" He took his word back when we arrived!!! The maze is built with huge conifers since 1995 before the trees gained independence and started growing. Mind you, the conifers are so tall that we could not even peer through the other side. The task that was set for us was to reach the centre of the maze asap and answer a list of questions along the way. I guess trying to find our way while answering questions did manage to confuse our sense of direction.

We splitted into 4 teams and each took a different route at the entrance. We could literally hear but not see each other in the maze. lol. FUN!!!! And we found a few of this pants-down gnomes along the way...
We bumped into a father who was looking for his way to the centre of the maze with his cute little boy (who was already in the centre) hurrying him. (: Glad to say, the bf and I was the first team to arrive at the centre!!! ((((: Awesome team, we are!!!

Brissie

A pleasant trip overall. But not my terrible sinus problem which occurred throughout the entire trip due to the hot and humid climate in Brisbane. I'm probably not well-suited to staying in tropical area. =/ Unlike Adelaide, Brissie and Gold Coast offers so many more boutique shops, theme parks, eateries, nice beaches...

But...when it comes to living, I still prefer the serenity and more affordable lifestyle in Adelaide.

Oh! drama!

I'm pretty bad at coming up with attractive blog titles.

The weekend was pretty dramatic! We're supposed to have home-made big brekkie on Saturday morning after his haircut at Chinatown. But sth unbelievable happened!!! His front car's wheel (driver's side) almost fell off on his way out of the parking lot. @.@ Don't know how that happened but it almost gave me a heart attack when he called me up! Geez! How dangerous can that be? No one actually believe that when he said his wheel almost dropped off, and obviously I'm one of those people as well. I mean, how could a moving wheel fall off right?!!!