Catchup.

Oh dearrr. I've failed badly in keeping this blog updated. Well, I suppose I'll just have to do a SUPER quick summary of what's happened in the past 7 days or so....

Wednesday - Went into Uni for the Mentoring Program. Went a bit earlier so I could go to the Quad Labs and print off these stupid photo cards that we had to make JUST for the function. We were meant to hand out these 'cards' to people we met on the night, so we could form networks? Hmm anyway, got to the Scientia Building around 4pm, networked with the other girls who were also part of the Program. Then around half an hour later, the 'important people' showed up- a Labour Minister, our Vice Chancellor and Pro-Vice Chancellors, the Dean of the ASB; and all the other mentors. So yeah, was kinda stuffy in there with all these people. Had talks from the Labour Minister, Chancellor, two current mentors from some law firm, and a previous mentee from last year's program. Then, finally met with our mentors. Pretty dodgy- only one of my mentors showed up. I wasn't even told until I met with the other mentor. My mentor's pretty young (which is good!) and she's okay I guess. Chatted about all sorts of stuff, discussed what we'd have to do for mentoring activities and when we would be meeting. Finished up around 6.30ish and left after that. I was REALLY cold since I was wearing a skirt (business attire) and it was unusually cold that day? Finally got home around 8ish.

Thursday- Had my longest shift of work so far: 7 hours :O...nah wasn't that bad. Met another of the girls who I then worked with for the last two hours of my shift. No taking food home this time :( haha but I think we had wayyyy too much food at home anyway from my last two shifts.

Saturday- helped my mum do heaps of cooking. Parents went to visit random people on the weekend so she needed to cook food to give them! Mainly Malaysian stuff, and I also baked a Carrot Cake :) Didn't turn out too badly actually, was quite moist and the icing was sweet enough too! Fastforward to night- had Lindy's 'surprise' farewell dinner at Towers. The plan was, one of her Baulko friends would take her out to see Toy Story 3, then when the movie finished, they would walk over to Taste of Malaya for dinner. Amy came and picked me up around 5.45pm, since we were all meant to be seated at the restaurant by 6pm. Got to Towers, was pretty much impossible to get a park, so we had to keep circling around until we found one. Katie called us, to let us know she'd be late, but we were actually running late ourselves. So texted Rach to let her know we'd be late, but thank goodness they were still in the movies. So we got to the place, pretty much all the Baulko people were there already, so it was just us Church people that were yet to arrive. They ended up arriving at around 6.45 (felt so sorry for those people who reached the restaurant at 6pm!). She seemed REALLY surprised, which was good :) There were about 20 of us, crammed at the side of the restaurant. It was surprisingly busy, but I guess it WAS Saturday night. Loz, Katie, Amy and I shared out 3 dishes- Beef Rendang, Vegetarian Pad Thai and Shan Dong Chicken. They were all pretty good, (if small) and I was honestly still hungry after! Anyways, caught up with the others for a while, and we finished up by about 9pm. The plan was to head over to Max Brenners for chocolate, but Amy had to leave and since she was my lift, I had to leave too! So that was my Saturday.

Sunday- Woke up and realised that there was no church today! As in, our usual premises at North Parramatta were being used for other celebrations that day so we were pretty much kicked out! This had NEVER happened to our church. Ever. So this was kinda a weird situation for our church. So various bible study groups had plans to meet up (like my parent's group), others went to friend's churches. But my sis and I decided to go to a local church (like REALLY local), to Cherrybrook Anglican Church. Got there on the dot at 9.30am, and the service started soon after. Was a fairly standard service, similar to ours. Mainly Aussie congregation, but of all ages. After, talked to a few people who were quite friendly to us. Then, left after that! Pretty much GG'd for the rest of the afternoon. Finished Season 2! It was REALLY good. but I kinda wished I'd started with Season 1. Hmm now to get my hands on Season 1 :S

Today- Went for a morning walk, did some shopping with my mum, got ready for work, went to work from 1-6pm, [got paid!], took home loads of food, bussed home, got home, had dinner, gave my family the food I took back from the shop, watched Masterchef.

That's all for now :)

Busyness... Part 2

Hmm, so where was I? Ok so today started off with an early bus ride to the city. Got the 8am one, it was already so packed! Had to sit near the back. Slept most of the way, til we got to Wynyard. Walked to Elizabeth St bus stop, waited for a bit and got the 399 to Uni. Had to be at Uni today for this Mentoring Program that I applied for a while ago. We had a briefing session about what to expect, what we should do etc to prepare for the Program. Basically we get a mentor (or two) from females in Industry (the Program's for Business/Law/IT students, and only for females!). So yeah, go to Uni with about 20 mins to spare. Bummed in the Quad labs for a bit, before going up to the careers room where the briefing would be held. When I got there, probably 2/3 of the girls were there already! They were all kinda sitting together so I just sat down somewhere, hoping there'd be other people coming so I wouldn't be lonered :S Haha but it's all good, other girls came later. Met a couple of really nice girls, both in 3rd year doing that Services/Marketing Commerce degree. We started off the session with a 'networking' activity- aka just going around and meeting all the other girls. Only had time to meet like two other girls, but that was ok. We then just went through all the stuff we needed to know like key dates, meetings with our mentors, and what was expected of us. We also had these other older girls who had gone through the Program last year. They gave us some tips/advice/insight into the Program, and their own experiences of it. The last bit of the briefing session was probably the bit I was most looking forward to- finding out our mentors! So we got called out one by one to get a bit of paper with our Mentor(s) and the actual company we would be working in. Got mine, and turns out I got two mentors?? Honestly don't know whether it's a good/bad thing. I mean sure, I get two mentors so I get more insight/advice/networking opportunities etc buttt- that ALSO means I have to co-ordinate my schedules with two (not just one) person. Oh well, I'll just see how it turns out. But yeah, I also got Deloitte as my company, which I was pretty happy about :)) Other girls got like Government departments, one girl even got someone from UNSW? Which seems kinda strange. But yeah, soon after that we mingled for a bit, then I left to go pick up my INFS assignment which I was meant to pick up ages ago. Went to the SISTM school office, where I had to ask the office lady where I could get it. Turns out she had them, and she didn't seem very happy when I asked her if I could get it off her. Anyway after a while, she gives it to me. And I'm really happy with it :P This was the assignment I was still doing like on the morning it was due, it was due at 3pm or something and so I went to uni early just to finish it off and I locked myself in the Quad lab just to finish it! Lol thought I would do so badly since our lecturer sent round an email a few weeks back with feedback, and so I knew that i wouldn't do that great. But yeah, so thankful I managed to HD it :))

After that it was time to head back to the city since I was meeting Mel, my old bible study leader from last year. She started work this year and I haven't seen her pretty much since end of last year! So I headed to the city and got off near Martin Place. Got a little lost since I don't usually get off at that stop, but soon kinda found my way to Mel's work on Jamison St. I met her and she suggested we go for Malaysian haha, which was fine by me. We went to this place near Hunter Connection, near her work. I think it was called 'Malay-Chinese takeaway' or something? But man, it was SOOO PACKED. I so didn't expect it to be THAT crowded like it was this arvo. I mean, yeah it was lunch hour (1pm) but stillll. We got there just before 1pm, and we had to squeeze through all the tables just to find a spot. We had to settle for a spot at the side bar, so Mel looked after our stuff while I ordered our stuff. There was a separate queue for all the noodles/soup dishes, and since Mel wanted chicken laksa, and I didn't want to line up separately, I decided to settle for Hor Fun. Waited for it to arrive, then Mel helped me get it back to our spot. Turned out to be quite nice, and Mel's looked pretty good too! We chatted for ages over all the noisiness of the restaurant, about all sorts of stuff. Was so good to finally have met up with her after all this time. We decided to finish up soon cos it was almost time for Mel to get back to work! So we walked back, and said bye to each other then went our own ways :)

Walked back to the bus, which I managed to get just in time. Was sooo sleepy on the way back, I fell asleep for almost the whole ride! Came back around 3pm.

Yay so now I have the weekend to just catch up on sleep, TV and do nothing! haha it just seems this week has been busier than most? I dunno, i'm just really tired right now.

OOH yeah also need to catch up on Gossip Girl! Got it on my laptop from my cousin in Melbourne when we stayed with them in the Summer hols. Started watching it about 3 weeks into last Sem, when I watched the First Ep of Season 2. I was pretty much hooked after that, so I had to force myself to stay away from it otherwise i'd be pretty much screwed :S So yeah got back into it and really really enjoying it :P

Busyness...

Ahhh! This week has been really busy, which is kinda good in a way cos at least i've been doing stuff with my hols, but still. I'm just so glad the week is over so I get the weekend to catch up on sleep and just doing nothing in particular.

So I was meant to blog yesterday but- finished work a bit late and then went out after so didn't really get a chance. So. I'll do it now :)

Yesterday was my second shift. A bit longer this time, just by an hour BUT that also meant I got a half hour break. Had to get some stuff from OzePharmacy before work though, so went with my mum to get the stuff, then straight to Towers after that. Started at 10.30am, and my boss asked me to go round with a pen and paper taking down all the prices of the stuff so I have a record of it for my own use. There were SO many prices to take down, plus I had to rush back behind the counter if there were more people to be served. Apparently the 'morning' to 'lunch' period is their busiest. So pretty much I was on my feet that whole time before my lunch break, which is probably a good thing though, since time went pretty quickly! Did the usual stuff, serve people, slice/package bread etc til about 1pm, when my boss said I could go for my lunch break- it was half an hour earlier than she'd told me before but I wasn't complaining :D

Had lunch then went back to work again, this time it was pretty quiet, since the lunch period was kinda over and it was just basically randoms wanting to get like a pie or bread roll or something. The boss left soon after so it was just Angela and I again for the rest of the shift. Chatted some more about her family, and just stuff in general. It was really sweet when her husband came about half an hour before the end of our shift to take her stuff to the car, and he waited pretty much for the rest of the time for her to finish. Soon after, the other two girls who were replacing us came along. Still can't believe they're high-schoolers, and one of them's been here for over 2 years! When 4pm came around, Angela and I both couldn't wait to get out of there, so I said bye to the other girls and Angela and left. Had to wait a bit for the bus to come so decided to just bum for a while. Didn't realise there were so many sales going on right now, sooo haven't had the time to just shop properly. (perhaps i'll do that this weekend?)

Got the bus back, reached home around 5ish. Was feeling SOOO tired by then, I just had to take nap when I got back. Woke up later and showered and got ready. My sis and I were taking one of our church friends out for dinner for her birthday. Around 7pm, she arrived and we drove together to the restaurant. We were going for Indian (AJ's Indian), since she had said she wanted to go there cos she hadn't been there in a while. It was pretty close, around Eastwood/Marsfield area so we got there about 7.30ish. When we arrived, it wasn't completely full like I had expected for a Thursday night, but that was ok. We got a table for three and sat down to order. The place had really nice decor, and the lighting was down low which was kinda nice. There was some weird things though- they had playing cards stuck on the ceiling (?!), and those confetti letter thingys used for parties and stuff that were on the tables.

We then had to decide what to eat! We decided to get two types of naan- Garlic and this other one with spiced potatoes stuffed into it (it sounded nice...); we also got Beef Vindaloo curry, Aloo Gobi (a vegetarian curry with cauliflower and potatoes that we'd tried in Penang just recently), and Palak Paneer (cottage cheese pureed with spinach. Yes, I know. Doesn't exactly sound appetising and even I was a bit apprehensive about it but it turned out to be AWESOME.)

Before the meals came, we were each given these lentil things that were apparently 'compliments of the chef'. They were really nice! The meals came pretty quickly after that, within about 10 mins, and they all came at the same time! We said grace then dug in :) We also ordered rice with it (which we probably shouldn't have ordered, since we were stuffed). We chatted and ate, turned out to be really nice, even that weird spinach/cheese dish :P. We were pretty much forcing ourselves to finish off everything, which we did. Eventually :)

The boss had this thing of going round to each of the tables and talking to his customers, which was kinda nice. He commented that we were probably the first 'Asian' table that ate our meal 'correctly'. As in, we ate our Naans first with the curries then after that finished everything off with the rice. Cos usually, he said Asians would eat the curry with the rice FIRST, then naans after that. Haha, we all found that pretty random, but funny :D

When we finally finished, we decided on dessert! Lol, even though we couldn't even fit it in, we made it fit. I got tiramisu ice cream, Mon got rose ice cream and my sis got this thing called a 'kulfi' or an Indian-style ice cream that's more milk-based rather than cream-based. They also ordered Masala Tea (kinda like a Chai Latte but more herby apparently) but I didn't touch any of it! It seemed really strong so I didn't really wanna try it. We shared out our dessert- the rose ice cream was really interesting. It had a really subtle flavour, not too sweet, and it was in the shape of 3 rose buds- really cute! My tiramisu ice cream was nice too, you could really taste the tiramisu sponge in it. The kulfi was kinda different but nice as well. After that, chatted some more and waited for the others to finish off their tea! Eventually left the place at like 10pm i think (haha we were there for like 2+ hours). Drove back and by the time we got home, I was dead tired. Slept at like 11ish.

- i'll continue this post later :P-

First Day

So today was my first day. Only a half-ish sort of day, so that probably explains why I'm not thaaat tired.

Anyway, the day started off with a trip to the doctors. Bussed to Towers again, met my mum there and had to wait AGES for the doctors, but not that that's unexpected or anything. Was actually meant to start work at 11.30am today, but I told my boss that I had an appointment at 1.30pm so I was let off to start at 2pm. So went to the doctors to get a blood test referral thingy, which didn't take toooo long. After that, rushed out of the doctor's surgery and off to work!

Since I was starting at a later time today, apparently half of their stuff had already been sold and so all the stuff that was remaining was just kinda lumped together, so they weren't in their usual spots. I started on the slicing machine today, just sliced 5 or 6 loaves, and packaged them into plastic bags. Each type of bread (i.e. wholemeal, seeds and white) have their own special bag! It's pretty cool :) When that was done, I was shown around the place, and watched as the others served customers. Didn't realise there were so many different types of stuff they sold!

So then I was asked to help work the cash register. Wasn't tooo bad. Kinda alright to get a hang of. So we kept serving pretty much the whole time, and my boss had to leave halfway to pick up her daughter from school, and then when they came back they left soon after to take her to some.. yoga class or something? I don't know, she was wearing a leotard of some sort :S

So it was just Angela and I- she's an older lady who's been there for over ten years! So she's pretty experienced with the whole thing. She turned out to be really nice, at first I thought she'd be this really mean-looking Asian lady, but she actually is really nice :) We chatted about all sorts of stuff, like how she's got five kids, one of which is at UNSW doing aeronautical engineering? :S scary stuff. So yep, pretty much us two til about 5pm, when boss/daughter came back. Then we got ready to 'close' for the day. At first I was kinda apprehensive about 'closing' since I thought it would involve like balancing up the tills or something, but it turned out to be much easier! (I think the boss does that stuff?) Basically 'closing' is sweeping down the floors, washing out the tongs/trays, pulling down the shutters for the shop (it was my first time doing it as well, it was kinda fun!), and putting all the unsold bread rolls into these giant flour bags to be given to farmers and their cattle? Who knows why THEY would need it, I mean it would make HEAPS more sense to give it to like OzHarvest or some charity for homeless people?

OH but the best bit was when my boss was like "Oh you can take some of this stuff home too! Just take one of these medium-sized bags and that's the maximum you can fill it up to" :) haha I was sooo happy about that! one of my uni friends Suzelle works at Baker's Delight somewhere in the city and she was telling me how she got to take heaps of stuff home if she was on close. I was hoping for the same thing to but seeing as this is an Asian Bakery, didn't really get my hopes up :P But yeah, it was sooo awesome, pretty much filled the bag as much as it could go! I took home those Asian cocktail buns, sourdough buns, seed buns, plain/cheese scones, and cheese/bacon scrolls! Man, I felt like such a freeloader but hey, it's all gonna go to waste right?

After that we pushed all the trolleys back into the back room, and then locked up for the night.

Left for the bus after that, and got home around 6.30ish. Hehe when my family saw my bag of 'goodies' they were sooo excited, haha I knew they'd love me for it! Parents pretty much finished off the Asian stuff, and my sis went for the scones. Haha, actually I still haven't had any yet- guess I'm a bit sick of seeing bread all day so I'll probably try some tomorrow.

Watched Masterchef after that, then this weird dating show on Ch 7?

OH and is Julia Gillard our new PM? Everyone's talking about it on FB. Hmm, interesting stuff is happening in Aus Politics atm :S

Anyways getting late now, need to wake up early for Socceroos vs Serbia tomorrow morning at 4am!!

Got it :)

So second post straight. Pretty good I think, if I say so myself.

Anyway, so yeah I got the bakery job!

So my day started off with a nice morning walk. My first in a LONG TIME. Luckily it wasn't raining this morning, so I could finally go for a walk! Not many people around though, which was weird. Also saw this new play area just outside the oval which I hadn't ever seen before. Probably shows how long I haven't been walking :S

Walked back after about 40 mins, went back and went to prep for the interview. Grabbed lunch- 'chang' specially made and delivered by my Uncle :)

Got the bus to Towers, and hung around for a bit since I had about half an hour before the interview at 1pm. Had to get some wrapping paper and a card from that Korean gift shop. Wrapping paper for a couple at church's baby, and a card for a church friend who I'm meeting on Thursday night :)

Anyways, went down to wait for 1pm to arrive. Was met by the boss who had called me to invite me for the interview. Wasn't really that nervous for it, and turned out to be pretty laidback. Basically she just asked me about my previous jobs and how I think I would handle this one. Then she explained the job itself, what I'd be doing etc, and then she asked me to start tomorrow! Was kinda surprised, since I didn't know that I'd be needed so soon. But yeah, was kinda cool. So she took me behind the counter to show me some stuff before I'd start tomorrow. Learnt how to slice loaves of bread, using the slicing machine; learnt how to work the cash register and since they don't use EFTPOS it's pretty easy to get used to. Hmm, what else? Basically just knowing all the different breads they sell (and there's a LOT), and just general cleaning and stuff. So yeah, seems kinda alright, not having to make any food or drinks (like Michel's). Was actually meant to start at 11.30am tomorrow morning, but since I have a doctor's appointment at 1.30pm, I get to start at 2 and finish at 6. Which shouldn't be too bad. Then on Thursday, I'll be there from 10.30am til 4pm! Hmm just glad I actually have something productive to do these hols. Hopefully it turns out better than all my other jobs so far!

In other news... watching Grey's Anatomy right now. Don't really ever watch it but it's seriously freaky right now! Some guy just walked into the hospital and started going on a shooting rampage. Apparently he wanted revenge on the Chief of Surgery for killing his wife in an earlier operation. Oh my gosh it's really really freaky!! OOH and now he's been shot by the SWAT team? ahh this is so weird!! I'm gonna go watch it now. See you :)

Here we go again.

Hello! so I guess it must be a kind of tradition. Finish exams, start blog, abandon blog for ages and then start blog again! Well it is kinda weird coming back to Blogger again, especially looking back at the last post i did- all the way back in July last year! HEAPS has happened since the start of the year- way too much to blog about, but I guess I'll just have to start from this Sem.

So I finished my exams today. Sem 1 over. Already! I have to say, this semester went by HEAPS faster than others. And I know it always seems that way but honestly it did go really quickly! My subjects this Sem were all really different- Chinese, Accounting, Finance and Info Sys; and I knew before the Sem started that I'd have a pretty tough Sem ahead of me. (ESPECIALLY chinese :S) All in all though it has been a pretty weird sort of Sem, it all honestly went by in a bit of a blur.

So. Today. Had my INFS exam, which I REALLY wasn't looking forward to. As in, I'd studied as much as I could but I still didn't know if it'd be enough. It also didn't help that my exam period this year would be over in less than a week. Luckily though I (only) had 3 exams to worry about- Chinese didn't have a final which I was so thankful for!

Woke up pretty early just to get ready and try have enough time to prepare. Ended up leaving the house around 11.30am (since it was an Afternoon exam- which I so wasn't happy about either :( ). Reached Penno and got the train to Epping where I changed and got the Express. Got to Central pretty early-ish, around 12.40pm but there were already heaps of people waiting at the bus line! Got the express to Randwick Racecourse, where I joined a whole mass of other people on the bus to the dreaded Exams. Had a good half an hour or so before we were let into the Pavillion (man, I always seem to be in there for INFS). Got a seat right at the back in the second last row, wasn't too happy about that but, what can you do?

The exam itself was from 2-4pm, but it soo wasn't enough time to do it all! Like, we were told the whole format of the exam and stuff, but just in the exam it seemed like too much to do :( Anyway I did my best, hoping for the best. Let's just hope Vidgen's an easy marker?

Left pretty much as soon as I could. Didn't really want to hang around with the others discussing it, since I wouldn't really have much to discuss anyways. Got the 374 back to city, and managed to pick up an MX in time before catching the bus home. It was a pretty good bus ride home, read MX the whole way, and it actually wasn't crowded for once! (It's usually pretty crowded around 4pm onwards).

Got home around 5.30 and had dinner. Tv-ed, then checked my email where I found a sweet email from Mel! I emailed her on the weekend seeing whether she'd like to have lunch this Friday, since I have to be at uni on Friday for a Mentoring Program briefing session. (I'll blog about it on Friday). Turns out she's free, which is awesome! Haven't seen her pretty much since she left uni last Sem. Which is AGES. So yeah, wonder where we'll go for lunch?

OOH yeah I also have this interview tomorrow for some Asian Bakery at Towers. Weirdest story ever- I got a call from them about 2 or 3 weeks ago asking whether I was still available and would want to go in for an interview. Thing is though, I didn't even remember giving them my resume, BUT THEN I suddenly realised that I'd had! ... except like one and a half years ago after HSC I think! So yeah, it was REALLY random, but still thankful that at least they still have my details and want to interview me. So yep that'll be my day tomorrow. Oh but before that, I really need to get out of the house and like start being active! It's SO bad, this whole exam period pretty much since the start of June I've just been couped up and just eating, study, sleep and repeat. So yeah I really want to get out of the house and just walk/run whatever. Just be active! :)

OH yeah! World Cup is on, which is exciting. Currently half-watching Portugal vs North Korea, which is actually not that bad (it's half time now). Been watching all the the Aussie matches, and Japan/South Korea matches. Aussies have been doing so badly! Well, not as well as hoped. Oh well still going to wake up early for their match this Thursday morning.

Ok better, leave it here. Will blog again tomorrow. (REALLY).

Induction ( a bit late )

whoops, so i was meant to blog about this yesterday, but was totally distracted by all the MJ stuff on TV :D
well anyways, had my job induction yesterday arvo. was meant to be there for 2 hrs, but it ended up taking a little longer than that. i reached there on the dot at 4pm. thought i was gonna be late, but thanks goodness they hadn't started yet. when i walked in there were a whole lot of people- mainly high schoolers.. AND with their parents (cos they're meant to if they're under 18). so that made me feel kinda old.
anyways, one of the managers got us to follow him into one of the rooms, where we would be having the induction (apparently it was one of the rooms they use to hold parties?) anyway, we all sat down in those really TINY kiddy chairs (like the ones they have at pre-school :S) and all the parents (well mums) sat down on the benches at the side. we were then asked to get our name badges that were sitting in the middle of the table (i was pretty impressed seeing as they had already put our names on the badges, all ready for us to wear). mine had a smiley-face sticker- which i thought was pretty cool, since all the others were blank :)
the manager guy and phil basically talked us through all the procedures for rostering, shifts, unavailabilities, OH & S procedures etc. was a lot to take in, but not tooo bad. after about an hour of going through all that, we finally got to get our uniforms! well these were pretty shocking, firstly in terms of price :S but just in terms of grossness. we have to wear these HUGE yellow collared tops, with black 'shorts' (which are basically 3/4 pants -___-). we had to find sizes that would fit us, but that proved to be difficult, since everything was too big. us girls had to all get size 14 shirts, which and 'small' shorts. when we went to the bathroom to put them on, we all looked really ridiculous- but the shirt sleeves themselves weren't too bad, just the length of them was bad.

afterwards, we got a brief tour of the place, and we even got to play a bit in the play area-and the jumping castle! so that was fun. then we had to go back to the room to finish off the paperwork, check it with the managers, then sign out for the day. i had to fill out all these 'N/A' forms to cover me for the whole of next week (MYC), the RICE working bee, and the two RICE events in august. after that, went home.

today was kinda boring, didn't do much- but tomorrow, getting haircut at epping. oh that and going to vinnie's to check out costumes for the photoshoot.