Test 1

What's Your Style?

My Result: Mixed 'n' Modern

You like to keep people guessing — whether it's your ever-changing look or your ability to mix the old and the new. You like to stay on the cutting edge of fashion and style, but you also enjoy bringing out your edgy side with fun and unexpected pieces.


Always looking to test boundaries and experiment, you don't mind taking a fashion risk or two in order to come up with a unique and influential look. But by the time the rest of the world has caught on, you'll have moved on to your next, big thing. So mix it up!

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12 Days of Christmas

The Morning Crew said that there are only six sleeps until Christmas. Theodotus and I went shopping again last night, we found a nice swimming suit for me, I found 7 tubes of lip balm and a very nice pair of sunny in Diva, but I didn't buy the sunny. It looks awesome, though, and it goes over my big glasses. Maybe I should buy it next time I go shopping.
Theodotus got another ice cream scoop for his sister in Stevens. It's really funky, and we have bought many ice scream scoops from various shops. Hmm...we can keep them and use them to scoop out ice cream this summer.
I am thinking about giving Theodotus a 12 Days of Christmas gift, I will put all the gifts in a stocking and give it to him. It will be like a treasure hunt, everyday, we will do something fun. Hope Theodotus will like my idea and my gifts to him.
I will have to get a stocking/bag for the gifts inside. I am planning the 12 gifts that I am going to give Theodotus.
24 December Christmas Eve
25 December Christmas Day
26 December St. Stephen's Day, Boxing Day, Wren's Day
27 December
28 December Childermas, Feast of the Innocents
29 December
30 December
31 December New Year's Eve
1 January New Year's Day
2 January
3 January
4 January
5 January
6 January Epiphany, Three Kings Day, Twelfth Day
On Epiphany, the rules are relaxed. Men dressed as women, women dressed as men, masters waited on their servants. People who live in United Kingdom open their presents on 25 December, and some other people open their present on Christmas Eve in the Continent.
We have a champagne breakfast on Friday. Hopefully, I will be able to finish everything in the morning and relax for the rest of the day. It won't be too hard if I work hard these two days.

Christmas gifts Tuesday

What would be a perfect gift for Theodotus? I have been researching on the internet and found some very interesting boxers: http://www.gifts.com/search/product/mens-Counting-sheep-favorite-boxers?ideaID=8000&prodID=146264 They are from J.Crew, a company that sells novelty boxers in America. Great ideas! They make boxers with Eskimo print! That's so cool. We don't have many choices over here. I guess I will have to exercise my creative instinct to make Theodotus some. Just have to get interesting prints from Spotlight.
I asked Kelly what games would be good for Theodotus. She recommended one to me, and I like Creed of Assassins, which is not out until next year for PC game. I will have to wait for that because we don't have PS3. I guess we can hire PS3 from a video shop and hire the game as well.
There's a terrfic idea about hiring a sports car for a day. I will find the New Zealand equivalent and hire a sports car for Theodotus to drive. I hope he will like it! What a great idea.
Work is going better today because my boss is back. I have been doing some housekeeping work and amending my order on one product that had come today. I can't believe that they took me literally and only sent one box of pipette tip...Man, maybe the person is new and doesn't understand that we need 10 boxes in 1 big box. I am so frustrated.
I don't know what I am getting at Christmas. Just hope it will be a gift that is as innovative as the one I am going to give Theodotus. Ha ha.
I had such a delicious lunch at The Bakehouse. They make the best beef noodle in town. It was so hot to eat it in summer time, though. I will order it again in winter and that will be a great treat. I better eat some ice cream!
Mum is going to make dinner tonight and Theodotus is going to have some time off at home, away from me. I hope he will be able to play a longer incidence in ZA in War of Warcraft. It's a fun game for me, and I love my Rogue character, he's got a real nice hairdo.

Monday nightmare

Hello everybody, I am back from the Europe trip, and back to work straight away after the whirlwind trip. I went to Germany, past through Belgium on the train, France, Monaco, Italy, Greece, Austria, Switzerland and Holland. I will not blog about the trip since it is documented in my diary, but I will say that I had so much fun there that I want to go back in the future. It's a charming continent with its little perks everywhere, different languages and cultures everywhere, and I just love the holiday that I had there. It was very relaxing.
Christmas Party went with lots of flowery dresses, big hair, to revive Woodstock Festival in the 69. You can meet the Jackson Fives there, Snoopy with its best friend Woodstock, Woodstock Bourbon bottles, Agent Orange, a Joint, and flowery brothers and sisters. I got my dad's old shirt out of the closet with mum's help and wore a very short skirt with sandals to match. The skits were funny and light-hearted, and the choir was very good.
I went to Urenui with Theodotus in the weekend, leaving my messy room behind. I have to do something about it today. I am still adjusting to work life right now, will go back to it quickly so can finish all the tasks today. Hopefully the experiment will go better this time.
I got up after a nightmare around 4 o'clock in the morning, reckons I should tidy up my room so I did some tidying up. It's not finished yet.
What am I going to do to the lamb? Has it defrosted?

Europe tomorrow

I am going to Europe tomorrow. Theodotus is scanning our documents, and he will pack all his things into the backpack. I am going to go to his place so he can repair some of his clothes. He's going to ask dad whether he can stay at our place tonight because we are leaving our house around 2 to 2:30, we have to get to Auckland before 6 a.m. in the morning. It's going to be a hell of a trip. I am looking forward to it.
Better go now. I don't have time to blog. See you guys later. I will try to blog if I can get on a computer.

Beautiful and happy days

I want to remember these few days clearly in the future because these few weeks have been the happiest days of my life. I think I have made the right decision to go to Europe because I've always wanted to see the place, and it's almost time for us to take off from the ground and leave behind what I know well and reach for the unknown. What does the food taste like in Europe? What kind of house do people live in? What kind of car do they drive? Do they drive faster? Do they follow the road code? What about the cafe? Do they have good coffee? I want to eat ice cream and cake sometimes, enjoy an afternoon in the street market, looking at exotic products that I've never seen before. I want to be among the people who look different, smell different, sound different, and just amazing to be with.
I have sorted out several things in the afternoon, went to see the doctor (finally) and got eczema cream, exchanged currency, and asked about credit card usage in Europe. I played rugby in lunchtime, soccer after work, and baked a cake for Fuzzy's party on Saturday. It was an awesome day.
I will go find a vase for my beautiful flowers, too. Hopefully, I can find a good one in Stevens in town. I may get some more food, too. Better get going.

Engineering tour

I have found a list of motorcycle museums around the world: http://www.vft.org/vftmuseums.html, that's wonderful. Some of them are in Germany, some are in Austria. I think Richard will like these kind of museum immensely. There are also maritime museums: http://www.google.com/Top/Reference/Museums/Transportation/Maritime/Europe/, for my nautical adventure in Europe. I will try to find the ones that are close to the places where I am going and take tours close to these cities. It will be so much fun! I love aviation as well, biplanes, planes from the Second World War and the new planes of today are really interesting engineering feats as well. http://www.google.com/Top/Reference/Museums/Transportation/Aviation/Europe/ offers a list of these museums in Europe. Trains, cars, planes, boats, here I come! I think these boys' toys are just as much as girls' toys in my eyes. http://europeforvisitors.com/switzaustria/articles/swiss_transportation_museum.htm This museum in Lucern, Switzerland is just at the lakefront, and I believe we are going to pass through this place when we cross into Switzerland, hopefully we will have some time to visit.
Famous bridges are hard to build, and it depends on the structure of the bridge, the lay of the land, the span across the river or above railway tracks, and some bridges are old and stood against the test of time. The bridges saw the rise and fall of dynasties, wars, people growing up and dying, they are testments of history and things of beauty. http://www.cse.polyu.edu.hk/~ctbridge/links/europe.htm This plain website offers a list of bridges in Europe, which is subject oriented and leave the beauty of these bridges in the links it provide.
Tall buildings, and buildings that stand above water, and buildings that are built to lean towards its side are all interesting buildings. Palaces, castles, and chateau all holds memory of the old time, arts, guilded rooms. I am going to see some of these beauty that you can't see anywhere else in the world in Europe.
I better get a backup prescription for my glasses today so I will be able to see the marvel of Europe from next week.

Sabrina

We have been watching some golden oldies these few weeks, I watched Roman Holiday for Europe research the other night and watched Sabrina last night. It's a great love story between rich and poor, Sabrina is a girl who is not brave enough to love in her life. She went to Paris to learn how to cook, and come back a sophisticated lady who has the confidence to get who she wants. David falls in love with her because she is dazzling, but his brother Linus sees her as a child grown up. He schemes to keep her for himself, and also keeps her away from his womanizing brother so he can help with the plastic merger between two families. However, Linus falls deeply in love with Sabrina because she is a girl full of romantic ideas and understands how lonely Linus really is. The movie has great moments where Sabrina sings French love song and also shows how a girl transforms into a woman. She has great feelings, and will not be easily silenced by money. Movies are made with different values in the old days, and I hope they make these kind of movies more now. It's quite hard to surpass the oldies, though. Writers have to focus more on human emotions and relationships, rather than special effects.
That's what make movies memorable.

Flights between countries

Richard and I have bought our air tickets from Rome to Athens and Athens to Vienna online: http://www.expedia.com He telephoned the helpline and the price increased a little, still a lot cheaper than the other airlines. We will have lunch on the flight from Rome to Athens, but from Athens to Vienna, we won't be able to eat so we have to pack some food for ourselves.
I have worked out the schedule with Richard, planning where to go everyday, and found that it's easier to book hotels online, http://www.hostelbookers.com offers good hostels, and http://www.eurocheapo.com, http://eurobookings.com and http://en.venere.com all offer good deals, too. I have written down these sites so I will be able to access them when I go to internet cafe or have the chance to use the internet over there.
I have also written down my address so I can write postcard home, and work address so I can send my workmates postcards. It will be so much fun! I am thinking about what kind of Christmas presents I can bring home for Fuzzy, mum and dad. I hope I will be able to find something that's not too expensive, yet represent some countries that I have visited.
The 10,000 steps challenge is going great, I have done about 18000 steps yesterday, and will accumulate more steps today. It's easy to walk in lunch time to Richard's company and get steps, and I also walk to Washup and I can go to the store this afternoon.
I should do more research on where Da Vinci's engineering drawings are kept. I wish that I can go see the real thing in Europe. That will be great.

Europe plan continue and start of Nanowrimo

Hello there to all the people who reads my blog, and I have started Nanowrimo again. I know I am going to Europe in the middle of the month, but just can't help to jump on the same band wagon as thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of authors who participate in Nanowrimo every year. It's time to drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, chew candy, or scratch your head for plots. It's time to find the perfect murder weapon, cutest guy, exotic places to make your story better. Who can resist the lure of writing a good novel? It's so much fun just to participate and if I get to the word limit then fine, if I don't, it's still a story worth writing. Who said that a novel has to be certain length? I am sure my story will be fine.
I had a good Friday because Chris and Frank met with me to discuss what I will do in the future and I suddenly realised that I am doing discovery science. It's easy to lose the big picture when I am doing everyday experiment, and that got me very excited. I had to tell Kelly and Richard, but still can't reveal why I am excited. That's the problem with my job, you can talk about general things but anything specific is forbidden.
I went for a quick walk with Kelly, we talked about what music we like. There's a song called "Bubbly" out. It's a happy and healthy song, like Destiny's Child. Songs have to have good lyrics and melody, meaningful words instead of mumble jumble. We have picked several good artists on our walk and they are certainly good for keeping us motivated when we are doing the 10,000 steps challenge.
Richard and I went to the Warehouse to get fireworks, we had so much fun there! He found a polystyrene sword and we start hiding from each other and fight when we meet. It was exhilirating, and I had gained a few steps and ran until slightly puffed. Bevan and Haylie went to see what kind of plants they can put in their garden, and try to find a new lock for the door. The locks are not very expensive.
Richard and I went to the toy section to check out different outfits you can put on for Halloween and dress up parties for kids. It was fun to wear pink pigtail and scary facemasks. Richard was trying to scare me, and one of the mask was quite scary. However, I am not easily scared so he didn't get the desire effect...I think he has to do it suddenly, if I wasn't expecting to get shocked then I would probably scream. Haha. It was so much fun hanging out in the Warehouse.
We picked Roman Candles and let off some in the evening. It was fun looking at the stars that we have created under the cloudy sky.
The weather packed in on Saturday so I did some housework. I was still tidying up everything in my room when Richard got to my place. We packed and checked what we still have to get, and went to town to buy Richard a larger quick dry towel. We then wrote down where I really want to go in Europe and put prioritised pawns on the spots where I want to go in Europe. It's almost like I am going to conquer Europe! That's exactly what I am gonna do, isn't it? We figured that it will take too long to do Eastern Europe, so we have decreased the number of points and give more days for sightseeing on each point. I have a better idea about where to go and how to get to each points now. I just have to figure out the logistic details, for example, if I want to get from Berlin to Amsterdam in the evening then I have to find the time the train departs from Berlin to Amsterdam, and whether we can take the sleeper train to save money for hotels.
Fuzzy and I went to Brooke Fraser's concert on Saturday. It was awesome! I love her songs. Op Shop was also good, they started us up with rock songs. The concert was two-in-one. Brooke's part was conversational, she talked about her engagement to the Australian and made lots of jokes about her future. I really like it. I will probably go to another one if she comes to town again.
Richard and I went to have dinner in Lone Star last night. I was so full with Lasso of Hog, however the salad wasn't so good. We watched Casshern the movie after dinner and that was quite interesting as well. They don't make movies like that very often, it was imaginative and beautiful, sad and quite depressed as well. Japanese directors have a knack of making anti-war movies, probably because of the history of Second World War. I think the generals had ambition to take over Asia, and people in power wants more power when they can get it, they ignore the human suffering in war. Generals stand upon thousands of rotten bones, and this is certainly true for many Japanese generals who waged war on China and South East Asia. Was it right for Japan to start the war on China? Was it right for us to fight back? I think citizens in the country just want to preserve their way of life, and if you are invaded, will you let people take away what you hold dear and kill the ones who you love? I think not. Wars are not right because there's never a legitimate reason for it, but people should be allowed to defend their country, their way of life, their culture, and work on ways to prevent wars. There's always going to be differences in the world, like different religions, ethinicity and cultures, and we still have to learn how to live with one another even if we are different. We still have a long way to go on this issue, there's still wars and conflicts, and ultimately, we can avoid these by more negotiation, understanding of different cultures, and tolerance.
I am going to have dinner with Richard in town tonight. Romantic? I hope it is.

On the subject of Christmas

I think this deserves a nice blog entry to clear up all misunderstanding about Christmas holiday. I have looked up the traditions of Christmas Day and Boxing Day this morning. Christmas is an import to Taiwan, therefore we celebrate it without knowing too much about why and how, but more and more people are giving one another gifts and setting up Christmas trees now. I also can't deny the fact that Christians celebrate Christmas religiously in Taiwan, too, with Midnight Mass, carols, or even full-on Christmas party with nativity play, songs, dances, and the most important part: getting Christmas gifts.
My dad had some bad Christmas memories when he went to church. His parents didn't go to church so when all the other kids were getting gifts in the church, he got nothing. He told his siblings that maybe it wasn't a good idea to go to church. To his young mind, he wasn't welcomed into the church. I think it's quite sad that the people didn't give him a present, and knowing how hard the time was, the church probably couldn't afford to give him a present then.
Christmas in Taiwan has come a long way. I went to a Christmas party held by church once and it was awesome, although like my father, I didn't get a present in the end. Kids dressed up as trees, sheperds, Virgin Mary and baby Jesus. Friends talk after the party and catch up, it was cold, but you can get warm soup and hot bread.
Apart from religious activities, shops attracts people to buy Christmas gifts. There's no long holiday around Christmas Day in Taiwan, but it is a public holiday for Constitution Day so you don't have to work. There's the New Year's Day and normally 2 January is a holiday, too. It can get quite cold in December, so you will see people in thick jacket and sweater on the street. There are beautiful light display in the big cities, and we are getting better and better at celebrating Christmas.
However, when I lived in Taiwan, we didn't have a Christmas tree. My grandma has one and I remember one Christmas, we took a photo in front of the tree and had presents there. I also remember my Christian godmother's Christmas tree and her presents for us: Huge socks! You can put presents in those socks, and my one is red with a golden angel. Fuzzy's one is pink, and has fluffy top. They just give me such a good feeling.
Christmas marks the end of the year for the workers and we are having a Christmas party on 7 December. The theme is Woodstock Revival. I am going as a hippie. Just trying to imagine what I am going to wear right now, and thinking about what to do with my outfit. It's all part of the fun.
I wonder what Richard is going to do. There's a Wild West party in his building and he doesn't have any clue about it. I guess it's a girl thing: we care more about the small details.
Fuzzy doesn't have an exam today. It's the weekend. I am going to check on my experiment and think about what I am going to do tomorrow.
Sometimes, it's fun to think about what's going to happen instead of writing about had happened. However, I want to mention that I had some real nice pizza last night from Dominoes. Thanks, Richard. I am looking forward to the tastiest pizza in Italy now.

WE ARE GOING TO EUROPE

I have been super busy today, spent most of the morning in Mouse House. I was trying to start my own experiment in the morning to no avail. However, it was quite pleasnt in Mouse House. I was talking about Halloween to my boss, and he spent some time in America. That's where Halloween is from, kids dress up and go trick or treating with the adults, adults meet up and see people around the neighbourhood. It's friendly. People who participate in the activity will leave their lights on, and vice versa.
We have two lots of kids coming to trick or treat in Haylie's place, but our door was broken so we had an excuse not to give them candy. I think Haylie doesn't have any candy anyway. I am not sure whether any kids went to my house, though. I shall check with Fuzzy when I get home today.
She has another exam today, and it was Thermodynamics. aaaaAAAAAAhhhhhh, it's the one subject that was difficult. It's an open book exam, but it doesn't mean that the questions are easier. Actually, they are harder. I've done that paper, I should know. Good luck, Fuzzy.
I think Halloween is fun, but I've just missed out going trick or treating. It wasn't popular when I first came to New Zealand and went to high school, and by the time I got to university and trick or treat got popular, I was too old for going trick or treating! However, I had a Halloween party with Megan, Ajay and Farina. It was fun drinking pink (blood) coloured fizzy drinks and dress up. I miss the days that we spent together, but as we all know, all good things come to an end.
Speaking of good old days, I remember spending time with Jennifer, Patricia, Tina, Hongdow, Hongjian, Kevin, Jason and Daniel. We used to be able to hang out together, but now Jennifer, Patricia and Hongjian are all working in Taiwan. Kevin works in Japan as an English teacher, and Hongdow works in Australia. Daniel is studying his masters in Hamilton, but we still haven't had a chance to catch up. Just wondering how everybody are doing.
Another crowd from the university days have also disappeared from Hamilton. I guess everyone has dreams and not all their dreams are in New Zealand. Rachel is in the U.S., Artika is married in Australia, Suk is in Auckland as a lawyer, Kiersten works in Wellington, Jo is doing her PhD in University of Dundee, and I don't know what Hayden is doing. Sarah K is working in Auckland university, Sarah T is working for Landcare, and Toni is still in Hamilton. I saw her riding her bike on the road, Farina is working for AgResearch in Wellington and I haven't seen her for ages. She's up for graduation this week, but she hasn't contacted me. She's married now.
Richard and I watched the second episode of Justice League last night. It was good! I don't think I can ever not like cartoon or comics.
We went to the travel agents to get our Europe airplane and train tickets today. They have made a mistake on my Eurail pass. I have to wait for the correct one to come, and hope they correct the error quickly. 13 days to go now! We are packing our bags this weekend, and I will try to bring as little things with me as possible, but I always brings a lot of things. However, it will be safer not to bring so many things because they may get stolen, and we may lose the bags(!) I hope we can look after what we are bringing, though. It will just be disappointing if we lose our camera or something. Imagine all the pictures lost! Aaaahhhh.
I had kiwi burger combo for lunch, it was yum, and I know I shouldn't eat junk food, but I just love it. I am glad that they didn't kill kiwi burger. It's tasty and not so unhealthy. If you can't stand beetroot then I guess you won't be a fan. I like the burger's box as well, it's got sandals, jandals, buzz bee, All Blacks, Maori Haka, Kia Ora, and all the kiwiana prints on the top. What's not to like?
Looking at the clothes in the shops, I have to stop myself from wanting to buy anything. I have to stop buying clothes, although I don't think I can ever stop wanting new clothes, though. It's the shining clothes that I collect. It's the bright colours, the different cuts, and now I can even shop for Richard. I think I will ask him before buying anything because he's got good taste, and afterall, he's the one who is going to wear the cloth. If he can't stand the shirt/pants, then how can I buy it? This reminds me of Sam buying the turtle dude clothes in Sex and the City. It just wouldn't work.

Walk in the park

Richard went to work late yesterday so he came to hang out with me in the morning. The lab was still very quiet, with people sick and on leave. Steve went to his brother's graudation so he wasn't there, either. My job was pretty simple, I had to start culture for tomorrow's Miniprep and there was 1 litre of LB plates to make.
I brought pizza bread for lunch, and Richard was very hungry. We walked back to my car and drove it to the bakery so he could get food. I got a custard square since it tastes so nice. However, it was so sweet. I had to drink a lot of water when I got back to work. The thread of conversation went to Christmas and Richard said that our kids will have Christmas, with presents in the stockings and they will open them on Boxing Day. Fuzzy and I sent presents to each other on Christmas, and we have stockings so small presents can be put in them. I guess it's time for us to set up the Christmas tree again soon.
Just got an e-mail to remind me that it's almost Fuzzy's birthday. As if I need reminding. She's having a party next weekend, her friends were invited. It will be a good one, with lots of food and lots of fun.
I went back to work but it was a bit boring with just pouring the warm agar broth out. Richard went to give blood after work, I went home to have dinner before him. Fuzzy, Richard and I went for a walk in the park after dinner. It was a bit cold. Kids were climbing up the slide and pushing the scrum machine. Some other people were playing rugby and throwing the ball. Fuzzy just wanted to go to the empty part of the park, and Richard said that people are like that, just wanting to fill the space up evenly. We saw Mica the clown driving his car on the way back, and I joked that he must have been a really good ambulance officer so he could do balloon animals real well. He must had gone to clown school, too. Richard found these remarks hilarious. He also said that Fuzzy's pink jacket made her fast because pink is a fast colour!! Haha.
We watched Roman Holiday before ten o'clock. The old man with the gun walking in front of the newsman's apartment, guarding the princess was so funny. He went home around ten.
I took Fuzzy to uni this morning because she has an exam. Good luck, Fuzzy! She has another one tomorrow morning, and the last one on Monday morning. We are going to Brooke Fraser's concert on Saturday. I am looking forward to that. Just wondering what I am going to wear, though.
Richard and I went to play touch rugby in lunch time. I had to repeat the transformation for two samples because they didn't work. Hopefully, they will work this time round.

Halloween is coming up

It's very quiet upstairs this week, with Tarra and Jenny sick, Frank away on the lightcycler conference, and Ken away on holiday, it's only the big boss Chris and me in the lab. I've been given work to do by Frank so it's all go for me.
I managed to transform ten samples yesterday morning, and went to the photoshoot on top of the tower block. It was a great view from the top, and you can see the stadium and the hospital from top of the tower block. It was also a great opportunity for us to gain some steps for the 10,000 steps challenge walking up the stairs in tower block. It was very sunny and looking up proved to be difficult when the pictures were taken. We walked down and took some more photos on the grass in front of the tower block, too.
Kelly and Haylie are graduating today. She came walking with me on lunchtime yesterday. We walked on the farm track and came back behind the glasshouse. The weather was so good, the sun was shining and the sheep were very cute. Some of them required shearing.
I went home early because I have finished what I have to do early. Richard and I tidied up the garage. He and Bevan played foosball before going back to the house. I went on the computer and played War of Warcraft for a while, but I had to wait for the hearthstone to regenerate so I got offline. I updated my Facebook, and my pet turtle didn't seen to be too happy about his food. It was ok. Fuzzy sent me a Christmas present! Yay. I was going to send Richard a fish, but it just didn't happen.
Richard and I cooked a huge dinner, two pieces of steak and vegetable with rice. It was delicious. We watched Rumble Fish together. I don't get the movie, though.
The evening ended with watching the first episode of Justice League. I drove home and talked with Fuzzy, mum and dad before going to bed. Dad got second hand television and cabinet from Mrs. Phong. There's something wrong with the TV, but dad will fix it so we can have a second TV. He also wants to fix my indicator, which is not flashing. It's been giving us problems for a long time now, hopefully he will fix it.
This year's Christmas Party's theme is Woodstock Revival. I am not sure what I am going to wear yet, but maybe I will go to Salvation Army or St. Vincent to hunt for some 60s and 70s gear. If all else fails, I can wear mum's hippie outfit. I also have a shirt that looks very hippie. I guess I will have to pick some flowers and put them in my hair so I am a flower child!
Halloween is almost upon us. I am not sure whether kids will turn up and ask for candy at our new place or not. I was checking out some outfit you can make for yourself for Halloween. It's so much better than the ones in the shops.

Weekend filled with fun

I check out what's on PostSecret every Monday. It's a place where people send their secret in on postcards and Frank would post it. There are sad ones, funny ones and happy ones. I think it's a great place for people who needs to tell their secrets.
The plan for Europe trip is going well, and we went to Trek'n Travel to get gears for the trip in the weekend. I bought thermos top, quick drying towel, lock for luggage, and sleeping bag lining. I also bought a Europe Phrase book from Whitcoulls. My little book is filling up with destinations and sights that I want to see. Richard bought earplugs, thermos top and pants, and money belt. We went to walk on Riverside Walk and watched the water ski competition. They were going so fast! It was exhilirating. We ate the sandwiches that I made by the river, and I enjoyed the hotdog Richard bought me.
Mum made vegetables, chicken nuggets and fish fingers for dinner. Yummy! We went to Mike and Jasmine's farm Friday night after dinner at home. Jasmine and Mike are both good people, we played drinking games and driving games on Mike's mock model car. I was so tired.
Mike showed us his helicopter in the morning. It was a great machine.
Erin moved on Saturday, Bevan helped her and we got invited to her house in the evening. I made a burned chicken curry because I didn't add water to the spices. Richard brought three beers and we played video fighting games there. I went home because I was too tired.
The Good Year was a nice movie to watch on Sunday. We tried to play badminton, but it was too sunny. We played foosball instead. I am still not very good, but since Richard has played for years, he should be really good. He cooked a manly dinner with huge steak and potatoes in the evening, and we watched The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Holiday.
All the people in AgResearch went to the top of Tower Block to take photos, and we took some photos on the grounds as well. It was fun.

egandopamine

What's Your Signature Color?

My Result: Champagne

A sophisticated soul like you is best matched with a classic color that's always tastefully chic. That's why Champagne is your perfect pairing. You're probably known for your impeccable taste in everything from clothes to music to restaurants. And it wouldn't surprise us if you also had an unparalleled ability to know just what to say or do to handle almost every situation gracefully. Don't get the idea that your simple elegance ever makes you boring: You've got a charming flavor that makes others hang on your words to the last drop — and you're not afraid to let your bubbly personality sparkle. Sure, you may get teased at times for your love of life's finer things, but you've got diplomatic skills that are likely to take you far, both in social, and professional, situations. So here's to you, Champagne. Cheers!

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Trains do do do chin chung chin chung

Weekend is almost upon us, and I hope that mum will put the fish fingers and chicken nuggets in the oven for dinner tonight. She's been talking about her brilliant sauce and I just wasn't home for the last few days. I know it's Friday, but I just want to have some nice fish fingers and chicken nuggets.
The 10,000 steps challenge started on Wednesday and I did well yesterday. The pedometer has a memory mode so the steps are recorded. I went for a walk with Kelly yesterday, and saw nice marigold flowers and purple flowers on the way.
Richard and I spent the rest of the lunchtime looking at train routes. It's so exciting to plan our Europe trip together! I also got silverbeet from John for Paul the rabbit. He's lucky, but I don't know whether he will like silverbeet or not.
The last Quiz night went well, and we got two bottles of wine and Rose chocolate for prize. I think I will go to Quiz Nights next year, but it's good to have Thursday nights back.
Eric finally replied to my e-mail. He must had been busy working.
I've joined Facebook and have been having lots of fun adding applications to my page. I now have a pet turtle Shoming and he likes colourful sundae and strawberry. I have an aquarium with a turtle, a fish and a starfish. I am a newbie vampire and zombie. I quite like the gift section because you can send gift to your friends. I also took some personality questions. It's a good way to catch up with Jo. She has Imp the dragon for pet.
People get addicted to Facebook because it's fun. I guess I will have to watch out for that. Just don't get too involved in Facebook.

Little Red Hat cookies

Mum packed cookies from cousin John's engagement present in my lunchbox since Richard is not coming to our place tonight. This brand of cookie is called "Little Red Hat", and the cookie collection included a cookie with red hat jam in the middle.
I went to work in the tissue culture lab with Frank in the morning yesterday. We started the proliferation assay. It will be ready on Friday. Just hope that the results will be similar to the last experiment.
The PCR screening went well and I cut out three bands for purification later. I took the other direction, anchoring with antisense primer this time and screen with sense primers yesterday afternoon. I will know the results after I run the gel this morning.
The weather was good and I took a stroll down to Richard's office. The 10,000 steps challenge started on mid-day. I am doing ok at the moment.
Richard and I spent lunchtime looking at train journeys. Switzerland and Austria both have good scenic train routes, and there's a good route from France to Italy, too. We ate Little Red Hat cookies together and got into fights for the custard square. It was yummy.
Richard didn't have much food left in the fridge so it was time to hit the supermarket. We filled up our car and bike in the pump first, then started grocery shopping. There were a lot of people in Pak'n Save, and plastic bags had ran out. We spent some time looking at warm socks for Europe but didn't buy any. I guess we will get some in the weekend.
Bevan had alreayd cooked dinner for Haylie when we got home. It was lucky that we got roast chicken. Richard made a cheesy salad, and we watched Shortland Street during dinner. Hunter brought his much older girlfriend to his sister's 16th birthday party, his mum hassled her so she started crying. A new nurse joined Shortland Street, but she looked like a private investigator. She was asking around about the male doctors and nurses. The police still hadn't caught the killer yet.
Richard played War of Warcraft for a while, and he showed me what his guild people talked about on the discussion board. Yodah left the guild, and everybody were saying goodbye. I like his dragon, and the world looks very beautiful.
I brought Europe by Train to work today. Hopefully I will get some time to read it. Better check whether the gel has set or not so I can start my experiment.

Labour weekend

I have been given the opportunity to be a farmer for one day on Saturday, and driver in the evening. We covered long distance from Taranaki to Tauranga, and I couldn't stay awake listening to The Hobbit.
Richard and I drove down to Taranaki to dock sheep for his sister Stacey. The Hobbit was boring so I dozed off for most of the trip down. I was given the job to spray the sheep's wound after the tail was cut. Alan was in charge of cutting the tail. Dan and Richard were holding the sheep and drenching. Stacey put the rubber bands around the ball of male sheep and mark their ears. We managed to dock 187 sheep that day. Richard wants to go down and help next weekend.
I took the responsibility of driving up to Tauranga. We had lunch in a small cafe in Te Kuiti. I had a very delicious burger. I picked a pack of Bourbon and Coke, Richard got Smirnoff from the liquor shop. He took over the wheel when we got to Otumoetai.
Hamish lives on the top of the hill in Otumoetai. We drank and talked with Steve, Roy and Hamish. It was a boy's party. We played Xbox game, driving car and motorcycle on race tracks. It was awesome! By the time we started watching 300, I was drunk. The air bed was quite comfy.
Richard had an asthma attack in the evening and we went to the A&E after buying breakfast. He finally got better and I stopped worrying.
Nick and Rachel came to visit Bevan and Hailey. They were playing Buzz. I joined them for a while and played on PS2 when they went to play pool in town. Richard and I were shooting each other and shooting the computer in a war game.
We spent Sunday morning in the movie theatre watching Stardust. It's a fantasy and romantic comedy. There was a cute guy. There was a shinning star girl. There were three witches. There were seven evil princes. There was magic, pirates, and lightning. I like this movie. It's light hearted.
Richard and I played PS2 with Bevan and Rachel. One of us was a gorilla and the other was a lizard. Our objective was to punch the people and destroy everything. It was quite funny watching the buildings collapse.
The most meaningful game was probably Cashflow. I think it's a great game to learn about how to get rich in real life. We have to increase the amount of passive income and when it is more than our monthly expenses then we have reached our goal. I brought the balance sheet home so I can remind myself how good or how bad I am doing.
It was not cold or raining today, although there was a slight drizzle during lunchtime. We drove to River Road and stopped in a nice park to have lunch. There were some ducks swimming in the river.
Richard has to work late tonight. I will make him a simple dinner and visit him before I go home. I can read the recipes and think about what kind of ingredients I need to make pizza.

Dad is back!

I went to pick dad up in Auckland Airport after work. The plane was delayed for about half an hour. I was lucky that there is a car park close to the airport. I read Cosmo and ate whitebairt sandwich in the car park. I went to get a new pair of sneakers and two photo frames in the Warehouse. Dad is quite excited about coming back to New Zealand because nobody takes care of him in Taiwan. Driving is difficult, roads have changed and it's hard to find where you are going. He had to fix a lot of things at home, like the toilet system, washing machine, and move the television to avoid flooding. The screws on the toilet system had rusted away and it fell to the ground. The roaches crawled around in the toilet and made everything dirty. He had to clean up and asked his friend to come and fix the toilet system with him. The chairs had rotted so they fell apart. He bought white glue to paste the chair together, and filled up the gap using icecream sticks. Two typhoons attacked Taiwan when he was there and the rain seeped into our house. He moved the television to avoid getting wet. Meeting our second cousins was fun. Aunty Joan's grandson ate some candy and couldn't swallowed them, and dad said that he will have to drink water. He didn't believe dad, then he gagged. Dad poured some water for him so he could swallow. After that he listened to dad every time and just followed his order. He's a good kid. Angelina was not so good. She's a bit of a brat still. I think it's because she's the centre of the attention of everyone. She can get away with anything and nobody will punish her. If she has a younger brother or sister, she may not be so bratty anymore. Dad got wedding cakes from Cousin John's engagement. He's going to get married with a doctor. She also immigrated to Australia, and went back to Taiwan to be a doctor. She's been a doctor for more than a year now. Grandpa was doing ok, just very warm and wearing shorts at the moment. Dad's old friend Mr. Tse was doing fine, too. His wife refurbished the house so rooms can be rented out to pay for the morgage. Gina was great, still studying her Masters in university and working. Dad was going to see aunt Tsai Show but the typhoon came. He talked with Wei about his future. Dad's trip to Taiwan was busy. He had to fix things at home and mow the lawn. He bought us classical movies like Roman Holiday and Romeo and Juliet. We will have a great time watching those. It's the long weekend. I wonder what I will do. Richard is going to take me to see Hamish in Tauranga. He's going to help Stacey dock some sheep in Taranaki. I will probably tell dad about going to Europe and do some housework. I hope he won't be too angry about me going. Why would he be angry anyway?

Library tours

Richard and I went to buy the rice cooker in Warehouse yesterday. It's 20% off and slow cooker and deep fry machine are also 20% off. We parked our car in a very narrow street, and went to City Library in search of English Chinese dictionary. I found two good recipes, one for curry, the other for general food, and a book about making journals. I want to make a travel journal for my Europe trip. I should make an easy and sturdy one. I wanted to find some dollmaking books, but the library didn't have a good one. I will have to go to another library to find suitable books to read.
Richard photocopied some common words from the dictionary that he found. It's a great dictionary that include Zuying Fuhao, traditional Chinese and English. It also describes tones, how to pronouce words, and have other useful words as well.
Experiment is pretty full on today, but I still manage to finish everything around three o'clock so I can pick dad up. He is coming back to New Zealand today. Shelley came to visit us with baby Matthew. He's very cute, and keeping Shelley up at night. He's already 7 weeks old! We had a delicious morning tea from Chris.
I am not sure what's happening with the 10000 steps challenge. What's our team name? We will be given a pedometer when the competition starts. Knowing how my day goes, I think it won't be too hard to reach 10000 steps.
Richard and I had lunch together and we went to university library to find dictionary. However, the search was fruitless. We will have to look elsewhere.

What's been happening lately

It's been a while since I last blogged, but that doesn't mean that life isn't interesting. I've been busy doing experiment at work, trying to start Northern Blot for the first time. It involves a lot of steps, and I am learning new techniques.
It was the volleyball competition final today, we did really well and won the competition. The Kirton Razors got the trophy. My serving has improved a lot and I have managed to serve across the net every time in this game. I am very happy. Richard came to watch our game and spent some time with me after the game.
The weather has finally improved today, however, it's still quite windy. It's supposed to be sunny and warm but it has been raining and cold lately. Don't know why the weather is unpredictable, and some people are sick because they are caught without jackets and sweaters.
Dad is coming back this Thursday and he's not communicating with us at all. That's a real holiday, I gather. We know he's fine, he knows we are fine, and we will leave it at that.
I spent Saturday and Sunday tidying up my room, vacuuming and cleaning the toilet. Richard and I went to babysit on Saturday evening so Bronwyn can celebrate her wedding anniversary with Ross. Sam got some chips from McDonald's because we went to get dinner there before going to their place. Emma was her usual cheerful self. The kids didn't give us any trouble at all, sleeping soundly until their parents were back. We watched The Chronicles of Riddick, and Richard found information about the furyans and necromongers in the movie online. It was quite interesting. The Chronicles of Riddick was a computer game, and it had been made into two movies and some animated movies. The story is quite facinating, and I guess that's why the game and the movies are popular.
Fuzzy has found a job. Good on her. She is completing her assignments and studying for exams. She is also organising a party for her birthday. I am not sure what I will make for her special day, but I am taking her to Brooke Fraser concert as birthday present.

Party party party food food food

Mum and I cooked Nasi Goreng last night for today's potluck party. I can't believe how much rice I added to the frying pan, it's just full of rice! The ingredients include onions, chillis, and garlic. Green and gold peppers were 99c so I got three of them, but mum said they are too expensive still. I noticed that capsicum were small. We had fun chopping all the ingredients up while Richard learns Chinese on the dinner table. He asked me to make a recording of bur pur mur fur for him, but some of them were still hard to distinguish.
Mum marinated pork and chicken before cooking them, otherwise they would be tasteless. I added diced pork first, then diced chicken, and in the end, I added peeled prawns. The capsicums didn't take long to cook so I added them after the meat, and put the fried eggs back into the mix. Mum put the rice into the frying pan and I had to use all my energy on stirring the food together.
Mum added curry powder and white pepper to Nasi Goreng to give it a good golden colour. It's got green and yellow from capsicum, red from prawns, and light brown for pork and chicken. I also made a vegetarian version with mushroom, pea, carrot and corn, and I didn't add curry powder to this one. Some people may not like curry and chilli so they can choose to eat this one instead.
Two mountains of food were stacked into serving dishes and I will bring them to the party in the Hamilton Car Club tonight at 7 p.m. I will go home after work to get ready.
Work was going well, but the experiment wasn't behaving the way we want it to be. It's challenging and I couldn't get it to work yesterday. I will probably have to try again. Discussion with my boss will certainly help so we can decide which direction we will take today. So far the results are encouraging, but some samples just didn't give any good results.
I don't know what's happening with dad. He's not communicating with us. Fuzzy is busy with her big project, and I hope I can spend some time with her when she completes this project. I will catch up with Lisa in the weekend since it's her birthday this Sunday. I will also go to Bronwyn's and mow the lawn with mum.
I am looking forward to this party, time to relax and have fun with Richard in the weekend.

Just the way I am

There never seems to be enough time for me to spend with my family and Richard. I guess work is a huge part of my life right now, but I wish that I have more time so I can do things that I want to do at home. There are so many things to do right now. The way to solve this problem is to organise my time better. I spent time texting to Richard in bed last night, but if I had more time, I would be more comfortable and relaxed when I was texting.
I was so tired when I got up because of late night texting. Mum came into the room, and I was still dreaming. My brain switched on immediately and the thought went to what to wear today. It was an amazing process of slow movements that sped up gradually until I was fully awake.
On the breakfast table, mum told me that the glass door that dad left close to the back wall almost fell during the storm. Mum secured it, but I think I will move it at some stage. It is a two persons' job. I want to find more recipes so I can cook more food and experiment, but I always feel tired after work. I just have to take it easy at the end of the day so I have energy to concentrate on something that I find enjoyable. I just love the colours, aroma, and the taste of good food. It doesn't have to be gourmet or fancy, just trying new things, putting spices into the hot pan will make the kitchen smells really good and make the cold home more like a house where people live in. A house that doesn't smell of food and fire is just not good enough.
I also want to do more writing, but lately I've been doing too much other things. I am glad that the Europe trip is planned. I have to pay for the train ticket and sort out what I am going to bring. Since we are going to Italy and France, perhaps I should try to learn basic French and Italian? At least learn how to read the menu and recipebooks? That will be very useful since we will inevitably dine out and when the menu comes, I can't tell whether it's beef or pork. I may order some raw meat by mistake like Mr. Bean!!! It will be hilarious, but I don't think it's a good idea to do that every time. It's just not done. I already have a German dictionary so that will definitely help my Europe trip.
I have to do some needlework to attach pockets to my clothing soon. I will have to draw some patterns and use the fabrics that I've already got at home. However, I think I will have to make a belt since it will become uncomfortable if I put the pocket in my bra. I also have to think about the fabric that I am going to use. It will have to absorb sweat and not irritate my skin since I have to wear it everyday.
I have to do more housework. Mum and I bought this new EasyOff Bam that I haven't tried out. The grime and the grease will just have to stay there for another day. Beware! I am watching you and you will soon be destroyed!
There are songs to play on the piano. I want to learn how to play chess properly. I also want to play a little bit of Mah-Jong. There's this butterfly cross-stitch that I started a long time ago that I want to finish. I want to read more books from the library.

Enjoy everything

This is an interesting blog about DIY people. It doesn't contain cloth patterns or how to knit. It's the real deal! People are interviewed about the craft and I think it's going to be very interesting. I will keep an eye on this website!
How am I doing for these few days? I have been running around doing lots of things, of course. Don't give me that look. I know it's only Tuesday, but I've been taking mum shopping on Saturday, spent most of Sunday doing housework because the weather wasn't so good. I am still thinking about taking that bike ride with Richard, but it's just not happening. The rain is like a very annoying tap that just won't turn off properly. I guess we will have to postpone mowing the lawn as well.
Dad is not writing e-mail to us from Taiwan and we don't know how he's doing at all, but it's also good because we don't know anything. He will definitely tell us when he comes back. If anything important happens, I know that he will not hesitate to contact us. However, I don't think it's likely. It's a real holiday for all of us if he doesn't write, I guess. It's warm there, and it's getting warmer here in New Zealand. He's seeing the relatives, catching up with friends and family while we hold the fort. Fuzzy is going to university and having two tests this week. I am working, mum is staying home and making food.
It was very romantic yesterday when I got Richard's long-stemed rose. I just couldn't cut the stem off! It's so beautiful. I don't want to ruin it.
Mum has given me an idea about what to cook on Friday. I will cook Chinese fried rice. It will not be too difficult with mum's help, and I will make two plates, one plate with meat and the other without. Monica is allergic to gluten so this will be an ideal meal for her. Vic is vegetarian so she can eat the rice without meat.
I am looking forward to Friday, Brooke Fraser, Europe and Christmas. I can't believe it's October already. Where did my year go? But looking back, I have done so much this year. I have fallen out of my crush (finally, why do I do that to myself?), met a nice guy, got a steady job and changed into another group, and I have become quieter and more reflective on my actions. I think I have changed somewhat this year.
I am looking forward to everything that comes my way because I can't wait now. I want to enjoy everything.

Cel Fisher

I am going to write more on my Zoospy story and it has a major development. I won't say anything about the story here since I will be posting my ideas and the transcript on the site above.

From Frankfurt to Frankfurt: plan for my Europe trip

First up, Frankfurt. Dad travelled to Frankfurt at least two times in the past. He went to see button factory machinery with his friend in Frankfurt. This Eurail web page: http://www.eurail.com/1_destination_germany gives an overview of Germany so I can plan the trip from Frankfurt.
Germany is bordered to the north by Denmark, to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic, to the south by Austria and Switzerland, and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. The wikipedia tells you all about Germany: http://wikitravel.org/en/Germany, and I want to find out the cities in Germany that I can visit. http://wikitravel.org/en/Frankfurt gives the description of Frankfurt, a modern city with thriving industry and beautiful buildings. Frankfurt has three major train stations, the main station (Hauptbahnhof), the Southern Station (Südbahnhof) and the Airport (Flughafen Fernbahnhof). Sounds just like the city to be in because it's so convenient.
Frankfurt also sounds like a city that has many good books because there's an international bookfair in Frankfurt, every year in October. I hope that I can find some very interesting books there. There's also an automobile convention in Frankfurt in September. No doubt there will be many cars in the city. Richard and I are not going during these conventions so accomodation shouldn't be too hard to find.
Frankfurt is the birthplace of Goethe. Dad went to Frankfurt, and travelled to the Netherlands as well. I think I will go to Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Dusseldorf, Cologne, , Dresden and Nuremburg. Lake Constance and the Black Forest are magical. Dad bought wood toys from the Black Forest. Baltic Sea Coast, North Sea Coast, the Rhine valley, Ruhr area, and Heidelburg are all tourism attractions in Germany.
I also want to visit the places where composers lived and check out the music scores in those shops. It will be really cool to see what inspired the musicians. Was it the rain? Was it the tree? Was it a girl walking down the street?
The next country I want to visit is Denmark. I will have to travel from Hamburg to Copenhagen train station in Denmark. There are five train stations in Copenhagen. http://wikitravel.org/en/Denmark gives a good overview of the country. This page also offers you some information about Danish culture. Aunt sent me silver necklaces from Copenhagen. I will certainly look at them in the shops!
I am not sure whether we will go to Norway or not, but if we are visiting the countries in the north then we will go from Denmark to Norway, Sweden and Finland. I will travel to Switzerland next. To get to Switzerland, I have to travel back to Germany, and I can go to Austria, Luxemburg and the Netherlands from Germany. It will be another good opportunity to visit the home of great composers. There are art galleries to visit, friends who have farms that make cheese in the Netherlands to see, and castles to fill my imagination.
I am interested in taking the train up the Swiss Alps and see the snow and the magnificent view. It will be the trip to remember.
Eastern Europe will be my next stop. Romania and Hungary are rich in culture, Greece has great ancient history, and if we have enough time, it will be great to visit Turkey. We will come back from Eastern Europe to Italy, France, Spain and Portugal and enjoy the good weather in Southern Europe. I will drink wine in Bordeux, cook food in Italy, look at the Leaning Tower, watch sculptures and marvel their beauty, think how it was like living in Greece five thousand years ago. I will visit Spain and watch colourful skirts flowing in the wind, dances, and get a taste of the romantic life that you lead in the country. I will trace the history to Portugal where the first circumnavigator lived, and see boats in ports from the ancient times. I will imagine how princess lived in castles and villas, walking in the gardens, and how knights fight in the countryside, trying to protect their country and ideals. I will have a great trip in Europe and I am going to dream about it.
After travelling to Portugal, I will take the train back to Frankfurt and fly back to Seoul, and Sydney, then back to Auckland.

Rags to riches

Richard and I had come up with the idea to go to Rachel's party as bums before the Lotto results' release on Saturday. I brought the box that originally contained our duvet and it was my home on the street. Richard cut three holes and wore the box in the party. We were the funniest people in the party, apart from two guys wearing sugar sacks. Bevan and the boys wrote on our boxes for amusement, and it was a lot fun talking, eating, drinking and socialising in Rachel's new place.
The journey started in Hamilton. We went to get Rachel a messager/vibrator from Noel Leeming. Richard texted her to ask what her favourite colour is, she replied green so we gave the pink one back to the clerk. I went to Richard's place and he packed up everything. We left Hamilton and enjoy the ride up.
We went to city centre to eat and spent half an hour finding the restruant. It was worth finding, though. We had BBQ pork on rice and steamed rice, BBQ pork and veges. I was so full! We went to Natalie's place and walked down to the beach. The bush was spectacularly wild. Richard couldn't believe that we were in Auckland, and I was enjoying the tranquil scenery. We walked back talking about the future. We asked Natalie about her Europe adventures to get information about our adventure this year.
Rachel put up pink light for the party, the couchs and chairs are very comfortable, but the garage was very cold. I kept sneezing and felt really sick in the garage. Richard and I decided to have late dinner in a Thai restruant. The food wasn't as good as the food in town, but I really like Thai green curry. The waitress looked very young, Richard thought she must be twelve years old! I told him that she's twenty five years old.
I asked my boss about taking a holiday in November. He and my supervisor said it will be ok. I will buy airplane tickets and tell mum and dad next. Sometimes, I feel that mum and dad will say no just to make me feel miserable. I am sure they will be happy about me taking a holiday with Richard. Hopefully, they won't be so worried. I just hope that this holiday will be simple and enjoyable. I am not going to take so many things with me this time, and rest when I can, otherwise I will have no energy to have fun.
The weekend went without a glitch and I felt quite tired after coming back from Auckland. I think I went to sleep too late on Friday and Saturday.
What's in store for me today? I know it will be nice to spend time at Richard's place because it will be relaxing.

Constructive discussion

Dad asked his friend, Motorjin, to write an email to us. He's well and will probably set up an e-mail account later to communicate with us. Mum wrote e-mail to our aunt saying that he's back in Taiwan.
I will ask dad to buy Traditional Chinese Dictionary that Richard can use, and also exercise books so he can practice writing Chinese words on them. I remember those exercise books, green ones for Chinese, pink ones with lines for phrases, and some have extra lines for symbols. Back in the days of my primary school, I used to practice writing Chinese on those everyday. I love them! I miss them sometimes.
I have also drawn up a list of Chinese books that we can read. I haven't read some of these, and they are all interesting novels, poems, historical novels, and storybooks. Richard can read children's books in the beginning, and graduate to storybooks for young adults, and books for adults. I think it will be great for him to read Chinese because there are so many stories that you can only understand in Chinese.
Mum, Fuzzy and I were talking after dinner last night with Richard. Fuzzy loved Richard's farm pictures, and he also showed her what his family looks like. We made jokes about the Chinese book because the book only show you how to pronounce the words and not the tones. When Richard sounded the phrases out, they sounded cryptic and funny most of the time. We have to mark the tones out so he can pronounce those words properly.
I discussed my view on investment and money with Richard last night. He thinks that we are on similar pages, but I still need to educate myself more. He also reckons that we should go to Europe this year or early next year, and I shouldn't change my plan because I have met him. Going to Europe has always been my dream and I think that it's so exciting because it may finally be happening some time soon. Yay! I am going to think about where I want to go now.
Work is going great. We have mixed results, but most of them are indicating that we are on the right track, and have actually found something quite interesting. That's probably the first time in my life that the results can be called "interesting" because it's completely new and meaningful to research science.

There are so many things to do it's not funny

I was so busy on Tuesday that I almost fainted around lunchtime. I left the lab to eat lunch and immediately felt better. I should have slow things down a bit, but there was simply too much to do.
Richard and I went on a frantic trip in city. We first went to Dick Smith Powerhouse to exchange the handsfree device for our mobiles, but the shop didn't have any stock. I dropped Richard off in front of Dick Smith in Barton Street and drove around the block a few times. I finally managed to find a park in Shearer's Music Store. I was just going to find Brooke Fraser's music score when Richard called. I ran out of the door quickly to pick him up, and drove back to the music store. Brooke Fraser's music score is too expensive, and we only want to play one song from the book anyway. We went on a search for tea with balls, but Cool Cup was under renovation. Damn! It's a nice drink and I really want to have some, but it just wasn't meant to be. We bought pies in Five Cross Road bakery instead and went back to work.
I worked with my boss and Ken in the Mouse House in the afternoon. I wore my new shoes from the Warehouse! It's new so it's a bit tight at the back. The next Mouse House visit will be on November 1, and Ken will be on holiday in Fiji. I will help Chris.
I had to finish what I was doing from the morning, and ran a PCR at the end of the day. By the time I drove to the Warehouse, I was so tired. I found the dark Navy shirt for Richard, and bought a very beautiful diary. It's got a thick cover and a nice photo of a woman in a dark dress and a huge hat. I will write in it everyday.
I relaxed beside Richard at his work, and he spent twenty minutes finishing his work. We went home for dinner. Fuzzy was sleeping when we ate dinner. Dad couldn't have a second bowl of rice because he had too much snacks when he was surfing the net.
Richard and I played The Marriage of Figaro on the piano together for 45 minutes. Fuzzy came and played two piece of music, and told us that she likes someone in university. We recommended her to ask him out, and she will feel happy and not regret not doing this. We also showed Richard our doll from way back, my pink doll, the three legged dog, and my bunny. Richard thinks my bunny is cool. I love it! It's a very well-hugged bunny.
We watched The Tudors with mum and I sent Richard home around ten. The Tudors is a new TV show about the life of Henry VIII. It's quite raunchy and there's a lot of court intrigue. The wardrobe is quite stunning, too. There's a lot of drama, and we will see how Henry go through his eight wives.
Dad had taken the window frame off the car. He will have to put the new one on in the weekend. There are many things for him to do before he goes back to Taiwan next Monday. I hope I will be able to take care of everything while he's away. I should be fine because I have done it before. I have to take mum to the supermarket and Frankton market on Saturday. I have to drive Fuzzy to university when there's no bus. I have to stay home a bit more. It's not too difficult.

Emma's Christening and Urenui

Richard and I drove to Urenui on Friday after work. We checked the tyre pressure and filled up the petrol in Mobil. Richard bought two pies and some V for our journey. I was singing songs on the way, and we talked. Urenui is close to the beach, and even though it was quite dark, I saw the ocean and it's very beautiful.
I have seen Richard's home's picture, but the real thing is nicer. We are greeted by Shirley Ann and Alan. I didn't feel too well because the bug has finally caught up with me, my throat is hurting and my nose kept running. I was hoping that I wouldn't get sick, but it still happened.
Dinner was delicious and simple. We were tired after all that driving and work.
Richard took me to explore the farm on Saturday. We rode to the back of the farm, up a very steep hill, and saw 27 goats, lots of sheep and cattle. The Stop sign was really funny. Richard put the sign up in the middle of the farm, and of course, we have to stop and look both ways. Dan put up some new fence and races in the farm, still some unfinished fences to put up.
I love the water fall, but it was really difficult to access. I thought I couldn't do it, but I am glad that I made the effort to see it. It started to drizzle, and I was really cold. We got back for lunch, and I ate so much!
Bronwyn and her family arrived that evening. Sam is very cute, and Emma is a very good baby. She hardly cried the two days she was at the farm. She laughed a lot, and was curious and looking at everybody. Sometimes, it's difficult to understand what Sam is saying, but I got used to his speech after a while. He's very energetic.
We went to see Stacey and Dan's farm in Stacey's company car. She is a rural manager for National Bank. I almost fell asleep because I had too much to eat.
I fed the lambs that were running around in the paddock. They are so cute! They are also very strong so I had to hold on to the milk bottles.
Richard and I went to Urenui beach on Sunday. It was very quiet and beautiful. We walked from Urenui River towards the beach, and Richard said that he and his family used to come and hang out in the beach in the summer. We went to his primary school and climbed up the fort, also visited his grandparent's graves in the cemetery. Looking at the graves, it's difficult to believe that one day we will lie here and our spirit will depart.
Emma's christening was short and sweet. The pianist was a bit wobbly and we didn't know most of the songs. The ministers were very kind and funny.
All the relatives came back to Richard's place to have lunch. We took photos with Emma, and talked outside under the sun. Bronwyn likes the present. The cuddle bug and socks are cute and handy for the baby and Sam.
We washed the car before leaving Urenui, and watched half the rugby match.
This weekend is filled with happiness and I am glad that I am with Richard. His family is cool. I miss my family. Annie has written to us saying that we haven't seen each other for a such a long time! It's time for me to plan a trip back to Taiwan.

There's so much to do on Friday

I was packing last night for going to Richard's place in Urenui. Just felt like bringing a lot of stuff, but I know I don't need that much. I will wear my new pink and white stripe skirt and the pink top. I have also brought some clothes so I can change.
I am looking forward to see Richard's family and the farm. However, I have a fear of horses. I hope I can overcome that fear this weekend. It's strange, I am not afraid of sheep and cattle. Cattle and bulls are larger than horses. Maybe it's because horses are taller than cattle? This will surely be a good adventure for me.
Mum gave me some gifts that I can send to Richard's mum and sisters. I have managed to wrap them when my experiment is running. Mum suggested that I send Richard's mum a nice scarf, and I think the bag will be suitable for Bronwyn, make-up for Natalie, and the flowery scarf for Stacey. What should I get for Richard's dad? It seems kind of funny that I have got the gifts to the woman folks but not Richard's father.
I asked my boss about compensation for the glasses and he said that it's fine. The policy is that the company will pay up to $280 for the lenses and the eye test. It will help a lot.
The rugby world cup will be on tomorrow. I don't know if I can get up that early after the long drive, but I will certainly try. The rugby players are learning French and the publicity is great. Kiwi blokes are certainly invading Paris as I am typing. Good luck, All Blacks! Richard also promised that we can go goat shooting. Saturday will be a man's day.

Running off my feet on Thursday

Mum called this morning to say that dad's not happy because the tyre had been punctured by a small nail on the road. Dad's angry because he reckons that I have drove to weird places. I told Frank about this, and he said that his tyres had been punctured twice. Once the tyre was irreparable, and he had to change the new tyre because the nail went through the metal mesh in the wheel. This had never happened to me before, and I dread going home now.
Work is full on today. I had to run a gel in the morning, purify DNA and transformation in the afternoon. However, busy is better than doing nothing. I also annotated the primers and typed up my notes from the papers I read.
Richard is a bit tired, I couldn't get away at twelve o'clock so we spent half an hour hanging out. The weather outside is really good. I love walking in the sunshine, even though this morning, it was quite cold.
Vic had given us a great morning tea this morning. Her sister and her made spring rolls and mushroom bread. I was so full!
I still haven't got the right lightbulb for my room, will have to get one somewhere. I tried to put it on last night, but it didn't fit. I also have to go to Farmers to sort out the receipt.
Richard had checked the weather this weekend. It's going to rain on Sunday. We will probably take the car. I hope dad will calm down a bit when I get home. I will just have to explain to him that the nail can come from anywhere. I haven't driven to weird places anyway.
Found some good songs on the internet, I have also tracked down cello and piano music in the library. When we have time, we can go to the library to borrow these music.

Gardens are beautiful

The sky was filled with grey clouds, but we decided to have lunch in Hamilton Gardens. It was a great decision because we need to get out of the lab and the building without open windows.
Richard and I went to the bakery to get lunch, I picked a small Sally Lunn. It's a delicious bun with coconut icing on top. We sat in the Herb Garden, enjoy the view in the afternoon.
The experiment didn't go very well, but the one that I ran overnight went quite well. Fuzzy was still doing her homework when Richard and I arrived home. We tracked down our glasses in Richard's room. His was under a pile of towels, not easy to find. Mine was on his desk. It's funny how we both lose things.
Mum made lamb chops last night. It was delicious. I also liked her preserved raddish. It's cool and sour, just to my liking. Dad talked with Richard about where his parents' farm is in Urenui. He remembered that Urenui was the home of a bird that sang beautiful songs. I am looking forward to the visit in Taranaki. Mum suggested that we should go to Taranaki on Saturday because we will be quite tired on Friday after work. I will discuss this with Richard.
Richard learned six more symbols last night. He's a very deligent student, but right now these symbols don't make much sense. They will make more sense when they are combined with the others to make Chinese words, but right now he's learning the top symbols. It's a pity that we don't have the first few textbook from primary school.

Mice and men

I spent most of the morning doing experiment with my boss. It's great to learn new techniques, and I had the opportunity to learn how to freeze tissues yesterday. You can't get away from reading papers when you are doing research, even though some of them are quite boring. I spent the afternoon reading away and making notes. Grant, the new father, poked his head in to our office yesterday afternoon. He's very happy about the baby, and we are very happy for him.
I managed to fix the chair in the afternoon as well, with my boss's help, I don't think I need to buy a new one. This will save some money for the group.
Richard came in lunchtime and gave me the beautiful red rose. I made a card for him in the morning. I drew dolphin, rabbit, cat and a flower on the card, and wrote some nice verses in it as well. However, I don't have vivids so I couldn't colour them in.
It was quite warm today, and spring is definitely here. Every time it rains, the temperature raises a little.
I went to the Warehouse to buy cheap shoes for mouse house, nice clothes and lint remover because there are three cats in Richard's place. There's a lot of cat hair on our clothing and hopefully the lint remover will get rid of the cat hair for us. Jasmine loves curling on Richard's bed. Candice and Scraggles also like to hang out on the couch. They are all nice cats, but it's inevitable that their hair will get on our clothes.
Richard cooked me very nice steak and tasty potatoes and veges. We finished our blueberry/raspberry ice cream.
I went home around ten and caught the end of The Medium last night. It was an interesting episode about Allison being possessed by a diseased woman.
Dad asked me to look for any sign of car trouble and have to inform him. He said he will also look at the car if we are taking it to Taranaki. Richard suggested to me this morning that we should hang out in Hamilton Gardens. What a great idea. I hope the weather holds out, though.

Ratatoullie

Richard and I decided to watch Eagle Vs. Shark in a spur of the moment. We took a while shopping in the Warehouse, trying to get Richard's niece a Christening present. I bought the triple chocolate cookie mix from Aunt Betty so Richard can make the cookies later, if he doesn't have time, I will make the cookies. It's very easy and the cookies are very tasty. We got home eventually, and Bevan was cooking dinner. I ate mum's hot curry, which was yum, and watched Richard eating his peanut and butter sandwiches.
We drove fast to Chartwell Square, but spent a long time trying to find a parking space in the parking lot. There was no parking space! The car in front of us was going so slow that we missed the first few minutes of the movie. It was quite cold walking outside, too. I was glad that I had my new jersey on.
It's a quirky movie with lots of small funny jokes. Lily and Jerrod are two misfits in a big city where people are not noticing one another. They meet in Lily's Meaty Boy fast food outlet, and went to "come as your favourite animal" party together. I quite like the part when Lily spent time with Jerrod's family because she is such a lovely girl. She seems to get on with Jerrod's family better than Jerrod. She also knows Jerrod better than his family. The animated apple/sleeping bag parts of the movie are also very well done. I enjoyed watching this movie.
We went back to Richard's place and cut up 36 cards for Chinese phoneic symbols. Resting together, I think this must be the great life Richard and I deserve.
Today is rubbish day so I took the rubbish from the bin out this morning. Mum made me sandwich, but I didn't eat it during lunchtime. Mum told me about Fuzzy's doctor's appointment. I repeated yesterday's experiment and got a very good result today. We will use this condition in future experiments.
Richard and I went to Chartwell Square to get Richard's dad a Father's Day. He got a funny card for him and some cash for him to buy fishing/boat stuff. I shouted him roast beef for lunch. It's the first time that woman shouted Richard lunch! Haha. I guess there will be many meals to come when I take him to places to eat in the future.
I am glad that it's almost the weekend. Jeanie, Richard and I are going to watch Ratatoullie tonight.

Busy bee around town

I started my first experiment yesterday, which went as well as I expected. I was quite bored before and almost fell asleep at one stage. It's good to be doing something, and I am repeating the experiment today.
I was even busier after work, drove to town and parked outside Foodtown so I can shop after getting the key cut. K gave me his house key so I can have a copy, that's very sweet of him, it's also practical since I get off work earlier than him most of the time. However, the key cutter wasn't there so I went to Lippy to shop for a short while. I found a brown jersey that's suitable, and a pinafore that's really cute. I tried on a size 8, which wasn't very wise, and tried a size 10 that fitted perfectly. I finally got the key cut and went to the supermarket.
I didn't know what I was thinking when I went into the supermarket, I was supposed to buy two packets of crackers, and by the time I got to my car, I realised that I haven't done that so I had to go back into the supermarket again. That was very silly of me. I got toothbrush, facial wash and moisturizer the first time I went in, though. It wasn't a completely waste of time. I also got rice milk that I can drink at K's. After buying the crackers, K texted me saying that he's going home. I confused him by telling him that I will go meet him, which in fact I am driving to his house.
I was sorting out the Weetbix box and talking to Bevan when K reached home. Bevan said that Stat Attack cards from Weetbix box are very popular when he was young, it's still quite popular now. Carole sent me an e-mail asking for these Stat Attack cards for Mitchell and Logan. I don't know whether K collects them, but since they are not mine, they are not mine to give away.
K made a very delicious chicken soup, and I thoroughly enjoyed our evening together. He showed me War of Warcraft as well. It is a fascinating game with great graphics, and a lot of attraction to people who love gaming. It's got a new area developed recently, the Outland, a land broke off from the original planet. He also created a character for me. Maybe I will train the character later with him, but I have no idea how I am going to do that. I don't know how the buttons and controls work, he will teach me in the future.
I managed to cut the cardboard into large pieces, they need to be cut into smaller pieces and Chinese phoneic symbols pasted on them. When K can remember them all, he won't need the symbols anymore. Kids in Taiwan took ten weeks to learn these symbols and keep using them throughout primary school from standard 1 to standard 4, and gradually learn Chinese characters during schooling and can do without them around standard 4. It will take K some time to learn these, and he will be able to learn Chinese characters in the future. I will teach him.
We are going to Iguana for lunch today. I have successfully bought the crackers (!) Miel brought Meyer Gouda Cheese from his factory. K and I are going to watch Eagle Vs. Shark tonight. I am so happy! We are going to watch the French film in the weekend as well. The New Zealand film festival is on in Rialto cinema.

Red roses hot couple

My room was so messy this morning and I didn't tidy it up. Two ladies are coming to visit, but I had to leave the important task to mum to go to work.
K wasn't at work this morning, probably too tired like me. He got there, and we spent some time together in his office. I love mornings, the crisp air in my face and K's kisses are so sweet. I planned to go to check out new glass frames with K this afternoon. I hoped that I will be able to find a sexy pair of glasses and it's always great to look nice. It's time for me to have a change in my life.
There wasn't much going on at work except reading for me. I couldn't find Ric so no mice handling training was done today. However, I managed to find more papers on the subject so I will read them when I finish reading the ones that I've been given. The tissue package came and I put them away in the cupboard, at least that I've done something constructive in the lab.....
Kelly asked me to help her to start an experiment, and she rescued me from my boring afternoon. It was a shortlived action packed five minutes.
K called me at lunchtime, we went to town in the car together. Something unexpected and fabulous happened, I thoroughly enjoyed the adventure. We didn't have enough time, though. After looking at at least twenty frames, I have decided to take one black frame. This will be the third pair of glasses I purchased in OPSM. I love this new frame, hopefully they will be ready soon. The Irish optometrist is pregnant with baby, she will soon have a new one in her family.
I will see K's niece on 9 Sept, and will spend time with his family down in Taranaki. I am not nervous about this at all and I don't see why I should panic about this.
We may go out to town this weekend. Yay! I haven't been out to town for ages. It just shows how deprived and undernourished my life is lately, however, I didn't feel unhappy or unfulfilled at all. I am content with my life.
I wrote to Jo tonight telling her about what's happening in my life, it's also time for her Scottish update. I hope she's fine in Dundee. I should catch up with Alice and Mimi as well, hope they are doing well, too. I wonder what Summer is up to, her blog doesn't reveal much but it's an indication of what's happening.

Ski trip and catch up with friends

I have spent the first weekend with my lovely man in Mt. Ruapehu and Taupo. It was an action packed fun weekend. We spent time on the slope and at the end of Saturday, I could ski down the Happy Valley. It was such a great experience! I think I will go back to the mountain if I am not too busy. It's relaxing.
We stayed in Adventure Lodge, a beautiful cozy motel in National Park Village. I spent some time making dinner and packed lunch before leaving each day. The wines we bought with us were really nice, too. I wish that we can spend more time together, and this romantic getaway was just what we need.
Taupo was as beautiful as ever, we spent the afternoon in a heated pool together. There were some kids having fun. I just chilled out in the pool with K. Sitting in the cafe, eating chips with him, I think this must be the life I want to lead in the future.
I have officially move upstairs today. Just getting my head around what I am going to do is not easy, but I am settling in today. I have moved everything upstairs. I have also done some work today.
Lunch with Cindy and Tess went well. We went to Nami because I, Japanese wasn't open on the first and the third Mondays in a month. I had fried beef with rice, miso soup, steamed egg and salad. Cindy quit her job to come to New Zealand, she is doing well in her old job but wasn't happy about it. She will move to Auckland with her family next year because her sister is going to Auckland University, studying music, majoring in piano and violin.
This reminds me that I must find some music for K and I to play. It will be something to do in town.

Ski

The weather was great yesterday. The sun came out and I heard that people on the mountain were having lots of fun skiing. I am glad that I am going away to enjoy the deep white powder for the weekend. Dad and mum have already warned me not to break anything so I can go back to work on Monday, and believe me, I will be careful. I have heard lots of horror stories about accidents. It is slippery. It is dangerous. Just try not to fall down too much is good enough for first timer, I guess. No matter what, I am not going to let them dampen my spirit. I am looking forward to spend some time relaxing and having fun!
I went shoe shopping and found a pair of boots suitable for motorbike. It was not easy to find all the accessories to go riding, but I enjoy riding with K immensely. This pair of leather boots was on display so they didn’t have a box, and I don’t need a box anyway. I rushed out of the shoe shop because it was closing, paid for parking and left city to go home.
I thought dad was going to use the trailer so got everything out of the car. He asked me to help him put on chains for the car, but none of them fit. We tried the short one and the long one, and pushed the car forward and backward for a few times. It was not so heavy because I was pushing the car with dad. However, the gravel parking space was not exactly flat so the car slipped backwards a few times. It was funny! I wasn’t even pushing the car and the car moved. It just showed that momentum is very powerful because car is heavy.
K came just on time to pick me up at home. I had to slurp down the herb and spice noodle, which was delicious. I should ask mum to make herb and spice noodle again if we can get the package from New Save or something.
We waited in the dark for K's workmates. The Quiz Night started with some spot prizes questions. It was a great night, I had lots of fun, K answered a lot of questions about computer and movies, and I answered questions about math. It’s interesting to see how much people actually know about trivial stuff. You will be amazed by what you know without even thinking about them. I think winning or losing doesn’t really matter because we have worked hard and had fun.
K and I went to his place after quiz. It was a cold night. I think he’s enjoying his new life, and I am enjoying it, too. I don’t know how to describe my feelings anymore because they are quite intense sometimes, which scares me, but in other times I feel extremely safe and calm. K calms me because he’s methodical and doesn’t rush through things like I do. I also think he’s very gentle and thoughtful.
I have packed up all my stuff to bring to the ski trip before going to sleep. We still need to get food, beanie for K, and chains on the way to the mountain. I have to remind K to bring camera, but I think he knows already.

State of K

Apart from saying that I am living my happy good life and not blogging, I am going to leave this blog and start a new one since a huge change has occured in my life. Wish that I am in the State of K until the end of time. Sign out.

Daffodils and camellia

This month marks the beginning of spring. Our daffodils at home are blooming, and camellias are opening like mad, too. Spring is back to greet us and even though it was frosty yesterday, every time it rained, the temperature raises a little bit. Winter is unrelenting, but it will give way to spring eventually. Dad planted the strawberries in our vegetable garden.
This week is very busy both at work and after work. I went to watch Floorplay: Burn the floor last night. It was such a good show! I love Latin dances, Tango and Pasadoble. Dancing with the Stars, both in U.S. and in New Zealand, has made ballroom dancing popular again. I think it is a great way to exercise and socialise. It is not bad to watch other people doing it, either. Very entertaining and hot.
Fuzzy has three tests this week so she's flat out studying. I have Quiz Night tonight, then on Saturday, the cocktail evening. I need the relaxation because work is so hectic this week. I have so many Westerns to run that I lost count. Good time management is the key, I can do this. I am learning new techniques and the chance of running a full Western with ECL does not come everyday. I've also been helping/teaching Erik how to do full Westerns, too. It's not easy! Especially when I put on the iBlot and it just wouldn't work. So frustrating.
The weather let up a bit yesterday so it was sunny. I hope this weekend the weather will not be too wet so I can enjoy the party.

Gentle lady under pile of clothing fighting pirates

Fuzzy spent her morning with me before I drove her to university for her eight o'clock lecture, and today her language in the morning was appallingly dirty that's too obscene to repeat on my blog, so I choose not to type them here. However, it was also my happiest time and I love spending time with my sister before the day officially begun. She is opinionated, loud, and true to every word. She is not pretentious, vicious, or even defensive. The best thing about our car ride is that I know I can relax without the music, and I know that she will talk to me without parent's worrying thoughts, or the chatter of our friends. We are two sisters bullshitting together, and we love doing it.
The day started with all the people working on Vic's trial. I had the scale all to myself, making new broth and putting on my experiment in the morning. They didn't even come for morning tea, as Erik complained in the afternoon when he took out his morning tea from the fridge. It was a complain you can ignore because he certainly wasn't bored.
Miel came back for a while and I badgered him with the development of the discussion with Matt and The Simpson movie. He said that Matt will just see how it goes with Sophie, and the movie is hilarious. I am glad that he enjoyed the movie, but he didn't bring me back my money so I will have to get it off him sometime this week.
I managed to get my experiment going on schedule, but the protein just kept coming, and coming, and coming. Yay! I am glad that I got some this time because there weren't much last time.
The gang came back after lunch. I told Carole the good news about my experiment. Erik quickly ran out of the door for his lunch, and Kelly stayed behind. I walked to Innovation Park for my lunch. It was delicious! Cajun chicken melt and savoury muffin were both nice, and mocha was sweet and warm. The walk back was a good exercise.
Ai was sad about me leaving the group and joining the upstair people. I won't be there all the time and she won't be able to do experiments with me. Oh! I will still be there, don't worry, girl. I can always go to Japan and visit her if she goes back, too. There's airplane now.
The discussion started when Erik and Miel labelled the casettes and weight boats for tomorrow's experiment. Erik was talking about bargirls in Kremlin. He talked about some Russian chicks and Cuban girl he met up North. God! I almost fainted listening to him talking about other girls. I had to pull myself together in front of the computer when I was entering the data. I almost started crying right there on the spot. That wouldn't be a wise move, and will be highly embarassed and difficult to explain, but I was lucky that it didn't happen.
Erik went on to say that his family's boat was anchored down 18 years ago and the trees have grown around the boat. If you want to sail it, you have to cut the trees down, otherwise it's impossible. I think his parents are determined not to sail again for a long time so trees have blocked the yacht/catamaran. Just trying to picture the monstrous trees that can block a ten metre yacht from moving, they must be huge. Miel was so excited about this that if Erik ever move the boat, he's gonna tell his dad who loves sailing. They then exchange the details about snowboarding boots. Miel has got an old pair that he can part with, and Erik wants a new pair. Miel will bring the boots to work tomorrow, and Erik will bring them home to try. He loves snowboarding, and will go at the last week of August and first week of September. That's when his work finishes here, and Murray will put up a small do for him in the tearoom. We are going to have some beer and have meaningless/meaningful discussion about absolutely nothing. Haha.
We talked about child abuse in the morning, and the topic in the afternoon was a bit more positive. Kelly said that she used to hide under a pile of clothing, and Erik said that she can just sleep under a pile of labcoats. They have to be clean labcoats, of course. Hmm....it's so cute and warm. Pirates! Erik said his dad, Alphonse, is a pirate. A lot of people say that he is. Hmm, Alphonse the Pirate. Ken reckons that he just doesn't sound like a pirate, but I looked it up and it meant: ready to battle, so it can be a good pirate's name. It's just not baudy enough. The boat discussion went on, and he said that the boat is too small for more than three people. You've got to settle down somewhere, too. I guess that his mum just decided that it's time to live on land again, or maybe they both decided to live in New Zealand for good. He smiled when I asked him whether his mum was a pirate or not, and that smile was so gentle and sweet. His mum must be a nice lady to have such a gentle, caring, and sweet son. We talked about more pirates, pirate flag, mullet roe, and Alex joined in the discussion about catching big fish. I had to go back to my experiment then. I had to finish.
Erik was reading Tommo and Hawk before I went to TC to sterile filter the sample. He went home when I came back.
I drove home feeling tired and turned on the radio. Some strange new music came out, but Stables was on. He's back after extensive sick leave due to mystery illness (maybe I am just not in the loop enough so I don't know what he's got). Anyway, mum was the only one there at home and we talked about everything that happened today. She complained to me about dad not doing anything and I told her that is just how he is. If you tell him to do something, he's not going to do it. Weird man.
Fuzzy is already asleep, and I am going to have a shower and sleep soon. I have wrote a poem on Cornershop of Seashell and Turtle today. I also told Monica that I am going to take up her offer of working for the upstair group after my contract finishes. It's just amazingly easy for me to find another job. I also received an e-mail from the company that I applied to. I will wait when the time comes and if they want to interview me, I may still go ahead with it. I am thinking of not going to the interview if the whole contract thing is sorted by then. It will be better if I stay in Hamilton.
I am so tired after all this typing. However, I have more time to write now.