sticks

So that weekend we were up in Macedon (ref. our adventure at Hanging Rock), I took some photos of the Coopers' up-and-coming new house next door to their current house. Had a tinker with some photo apps on my tablet and came up with this..

So I don't quite know where I stand on these photo collages. It looks like an ad for a very poor wood construction company. The idea of these collages seemed pretty cool at the start, but now I don't really know...

Anyway, a few weekends ago the vet kids went up to Mt. Martha, about an hour southeast of Melbourne along the coast. Driving along the Nepean highway to avoid the tolls on the Eastern was a pain but we got to see some really slick looking beachfront houses with cool looking cars. Every year since 2010, Hill's has been sponsoring our alcoholic weekend, with our only obligation, subjecting ourselves to personality pigeon-holing- I mean -typing. 2 nights of drinking, beautiful weather, nature and friends. And not to forget the beach close by. So here are some badly taken photos.

Our binge drinking party was 80s themed. Also, a classmate brought a handy torchlight and I used it to take some... spotlight photos. I quite liked the idea of it but I have to admit the execution is rather poor... I blame alcohol and the shitty quality of my phone camera.

I love my skates. They are awesome, I bought them on eBay for $45 brand new. I don't skate as much as i'd like to but hey the weather's warming up, and it's more fun than running. Have I mentioned how much I love them? I LOOOOOVE THEM.

Absolutely SKATING

spring is here!

The number of days between each beautiful spring day is shortening, the days are getting longer, and I'm starting to feel better. After feeling quite shitty the last 2-3 months, $920 at the neurologist later, found nothing. I don't really know why I've been feeling rather 50% lately. But today is the first day in a long time that I feel pretty good. I'd say about 70%.

I wonder if this has anything to do with our dwindling holidays. I really need some sort of relaxing beach holiday, soon.

(why yes, that is my car, and it is a sexy Holden Commodore)

Every Single Semester.

But on the bright side...
6 school weeks of the last academic semester of vet school...... EVER.

crazy things

So I've been working my new job for about a week now, and it's been great. The animals so far have been absolutely adorable and the work is relatively easy going save for the driving.

Basically I pet sit. When people go on holidays, they call up the agency I work for, and I may get assigned to it if it's west-side. I get their details, get to know them (so far they've all been lovely) and off I go. I've been ridden with I think the worst flu bug possible (it's lasted all weekend and it makes my entire face hurt :( ) which has made the driving a bit of a task but hopefully i'll get better soon. Next week i'll be faced with 9am-5pm days with morning and evening jobs which will absolutely swamp me. I thought I'd catch up on study this weekend but this flu has had me doing the absolute bare minimum. Of life. It's upsetting because I was really getting into the swing of studying but what to do.

What do you do when the Sudafed no longer works? I hate taking any sort of medication but this bug has really been something else.

Back to my job. I usually look up addresses prior to leaving and remember the route there as I don't have a sat nav and I think it's much quicker this way and I just like to look at maps and navigate old school. So this one particular job I got was about a 15 minute drive from mine and I looked it up on Google maps, to find this while looking for a shortcut;

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

But really, how long did he (or she) have to wait for that to show up on on satellite view? Madness. 

I really enjoy reading about Singapore politics nowadays, ever since the exciting 2011 General Election. We're living in exciting times, things perhaps may change now as people are actually standing up to voice their dissatisfaction. Despite being of voting age I have never voted, and probably had my name struck off the registry which doesn't bother me and yet it does, I feel like a bit of an outsider and now all I can do is merely observe.

The Singapore government has warmly embraced hundreds of thousands of foreigners, some highly skilled and some working basic hospitality jobs, allowing them to lead cushy lives and providing them with nearly on-par benefits with us, the native Singapore citizens. I have not worked a tax-paying, CPF-contributing job (had to love being a tutor back in the day) but as long as my dad is a tax-paying Singapore citizen surely I am not a complete outsider. I've only been in Australia nearly 4 years and I love Singapore as the place I grew up in, but all this civil tension is going to boil over sometime and get messy. The government has cited various reasons for herding in foreigners by the masses, and when it backfires they provide weak excuses, insult and threaten Singaporeans and yet keep hammering away at their terrible policies, haha perhaps in an attempt not to lose face? To avoid an I-told-you-so?

So here I am, just over a year from graduation and having to make a pretty big life changing decision soon as to where I am going to be for the next few years. Maybe this is just my opinion, but the veterinary profession is rather politically and economically isolated. Maybe I could go back home and save myself the trouble of moving elsewhere, but I wonder if that is the right decision. Educated Singaporeans are packing up shop to start anew elsewhere, seeking a better life and I have yet to hear anyone who's made the move complain about anything really apart from getting used to paying larger taxes. Surely this is sending some sort of message to the ruling party? How will you one day afford to import highly-skilled labour once the population has been saturated with foreign blue-collar workers? How far will you underpay them? How will you afford to keep the rich Singaporeans rich when there is no local middle class to exploit after you've run your cheaply paid foreigners into the ground?

Ahh... So I wonder what the future of Singapore will be like. Will the government heed and finally listen to the people as a democratically appointed government should? Or will they press on with stupid policies only to buffer them with exponentially stupider, stifling and less accountable policies?

STOP IT WITH THE QUESTIONS ARUNA. Okay. I'm just mind-mapping outcomes. Interestingly enough, I googled 'working in singapore' to find this;


Contact Singapore is an 'alliance' of the Ministry of Manpower.

Next, I googled;



I am probably taking it out of context. But it's just funny how they are on both ends of the spectrum. Amazing.

Haha, I wonder when the kiss-assery will stop and when Singapore will emerge as the badass nation that it truly is. 

"I'm not sure which of these individuals has a radio for a head, whoever he is he ought to try Classic FM and calm down."

This is the 2nd night in a row I am sleeping less than 8 hours. Why am I still up instead of sleeping I do not know, I guess it's because I wanted to blog about nothing at all really, haha. Today I attended Paul's graduation, and the entire nearly-2-hour-long presentation got me thinking about my own graduation (only after Paul received his degree - he was one of the first then I kinda spaced out cos there were a million engineering degrees afterward). And having that sense of euphoria and anxiety at the same time about the future. It seems so daunting, life after uni. But everyone has gotten on with it, I hope my mind will finally settle when I have a daily routine.

I just realised how shit I feel when I don't get enough sleep so I should really be doing that. In the meantime, I never knew how therapeutic weather news was to me until one of my favourite songs was played over it. It was just ultimate therapy. And I don't mean weatherman style news, but just the sort that has a Google-earth kinda vibe and a marquee. It works wonders, my brain just takes off into space and I think about all those other people all over the world with all sorts of different weather and what they're doing. It's almost a dreamlike state and quite reminiscent of what it felt like when I saw planes as a kid. All I could think about was how the people in the plane felt and always wondered if they were excited about going to a different place as I was for them, even if I was on the ground. We all have our own little things I guess.

Now I'm starting to wonder what sort of unconventional therapies exist for other people. Like we all get kicks from certain smells, but I wonder what sort of events happen for other people for them to feel similar. Hmmm....

panoramalama

I am the blanket lady of Hanging rock.

Spent a nice hour or so walking up Hanging rock and checking out the awesome views. Didn`t study a wink this weekend but to be honest i`m glad I didn`t, it was nice and relaxing and got some much needed fresh air while having a bit of a cigarette detox.

Gotta love Android`s ICS camera update.

The main reason for coming up was to bury Roti. It was a beautiful morning and I tried meditating but couldn`t keep it up for too long unfortunately. I'll have to try again soon.

Roti loved beer.

interactions with a cat

This is one of David's cats back in Macedon, Zacky.  He's a bit of a bully and a grump but he didn't seem to mind big squishy bear hugs. He just sat there and took it. I'm surprised he didn't scratch my face off. I'm not well versed with cats, grew up with dogs. I probably won't keep one and I certainly don't hate them, but I will appreciate yours.

one of those days

I hate these days when I feel like i'm just going to suck at everything I'm going to embark on in the future. I know it's too early to call it, we've done fuckall vet work but it's just a feeling of impending doom.

But i'm guessing i'm just having one of those days. It fucking sucks.

Also.... Ever since my A Levels I have absolutely lost the ability to take any sort of study seriously enough till the last minute. Every. Single. Semester. I sit here at my desk at the start of the evening all determined, and actually not go on Facebook every 5 minutes but this shit still isn't productive! It's never nearly as productive as panic-mode study. Why? I take 3 hours to get through a 1 hour lecture. Why? Especially this year. But I guess now lectures are getting more condensed, like those new canned soups in the supermarkets that give you MORE soup for the soup you're getting. Are you feeling me? Yeah.

Yet another unproductive evening, I could've perhaps watched a nice movie, read a book, played my keyboard, but instead, I AM WASTING MY LIFE AT THIS DESK. Like I have for the past four fuckin' years. SHIT. I am so glad this is the last formal uni semester. I feel like i'm losing my fucking mind.

Alright.

Time for bed. 

TANKS UNIVERSE

I am now unofficially employed!! I am just a police check and an ABN away from becoming a pet carer! I honestly couldn't ask for a better job. No stress of recalling vet knowledge while still being able to cuddle as many animals as I want. Perfect.

The pay isn't fantastic but if I'm good at it i'll end up with more dogs to walk/visit which means more money then more animals and more money it's just brilliant, really.

I'm not sure how much good it'll do my resume upon graduation but I'm sure something animal related has to be a plus.

Yay! Cairns (hopefully) here I come!

little wing

Click

My little Roti, I had you for over 3 years and i'm glad for most of it you were a little nutcase. I hope you are happier without your tilty head and blindness up there in ferret heaven.

It was hard with you when I first got you. You hated everyone and everything and we didn't get along. I'm sorry I didn't make it any easier for you. I didn't know how to deal with an upset ferret and had to keep putting you in the bathroom every time you scratched the carpet. You had a funny smell and pooped wherever you felt like it. And slowly I grew to love your stupid habits. Lots of bites and scruffs later coupled with raisins and chicken fat, your cute sleeping noises won me over.

You always kept me company while I watched the stars from the balcony, even during the coldest days I don't know why you'd come out to the balcony but you did. You had this cute little stretch against walls, you'd stretch out your paws then slide off to the side. You had mood swings, and loved to nip my feet sneakily and run away so i'd chase after you. We'd play tug of war sometimes.  You had this annoying habit of getting into the garbage bin though i'm pretty damn sure you knew it was wrong. 

People stepped on you sometimes but somehow you always recovered immediately and did your backwards dance. ANGRY ROTI RAR! You always looked so comical.

Little one, I wish I could've done more for you, but I hope you are in a better place now. I will always remember you, the one I could always count on. RIP Roti 2004 - 2012.

Well she's walking through the clouds 

With a circus mind that's running round 

dear universe,

I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job.
I would really like a job so I can scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef at the end of the year. And also so I can afford miscellaneous other things like online shopping and red hair dye. And beer.

Thanks,
Aruna

break break break down

A few entries ago, I mentioned that I had come across men who blatantly stare at my chest despite my somewhat inconspicuous dressing.

What was I on? I was totally kidding myself saying that. Hah.

Exhibit A. And this isn't even that bad. I've asked people to take pictures off Facebook just because there was just... too much going on. So anyway I'll stop kidding myself because I really hate wearing anything with sleeves.

So that is David and I in Bugis eating some tangyuan. To be honest that day it was rather mediocre and we just barely were able to snag the last couple of balls (1 peanut and 2 sesame) and let David try most of them. Also no almond/peanut pastes left! So we had some gingko nut base instead which wasn't too bad.

David left for Melbourne today. A good 12 days we've spent just being with each other, complaining about the heat, fatigue and lack of time amongst exploring places together, discovering new things about each other and simply spending some really good quality time together.

The breakdown of where he went (from what I can sort of remember);
22nd June (Friday): Landed at night, beers with the boys, took David for a drive to Changi Village to see Old Changi Hospital and bapuks

23rd : Packed lunch for Ashwin and drove down to see him, David got him some Top Gear magazines which was really sweet of him :D Checked out Lorong Buangkok (Singapore's last kampung) with Ash, then sent him back. Chinatown afterwards, walked around for almost 3 hours before paying for his trip to Pulau Dayang with me then driving back to Tampines to pick up cousins and visit my grandma (Nani) for dinner, followed by a mini chill session at East Coast with my cousins. Man what a day that was!

24th : Diving lesson in the pool, David stayed at home to catch up on rest. Dad came to pick me up and left 2 hours early to take David on a massive tour of Singapore haha! They even ended up watching some Kuda Kepang which David took surprisingly well despite the nature of it. Got home after 8 hours of breathing underwater, changed and met the boys at Kairen's then went on to 283 for a big few hours of drinking.

25th : Marina Bay Sands Skypark, walked to Marina Square, then through Citylink, then train-ed down to Orchard Rd, then basically walked the entire stretch occasionally stopping to see stores. Finished finally at 313 Somerset, had dinner with Yigang, then had tangyuan at Bugis before FINALLY calling it a day (phew).

26th : Woke up relatively early to catch a ride with my dad down to Singapore Poly so we could borrow the car for the day. Drove up to the zoo, spent a good few hours there. Drove to Kranji memorial which I think was very significant for David considering the vast number of Australian soldiers that died on Singapore soil in WW2. Explored a bit of Lim Chu Kang, the abandoned HDB estate, some Chinese cemeteries before driving back to pick up dad after work.

27th : Checked out all 3 malls at Tampines, David pretty much cleaned out their supply of shorts. He bought a million pairs. Cotton On, Uniqlo mainly. That night since we had no plans, I took him to some of my favourite hangout spots so he could take some night shots of the city - at Marina Barrage, the Esplanade, Mt Faber and the Henderson Waves bridge, followed by waffle fries and iced milo at ECP

28th : Took a bus to Little India where I did my eyebrows, he tried some masala tea and masala thosai, and we checked out Mustafa centre where he bought $50 worth of tea for his family. Took the bus home only to drive out again to Arab St to meet the boys at Nabin's.

29th - 1st July : Pulau Dayang Trip! Probably needs an entry on its own. But long story short I am now a PADI-certified Open Water Diver! I can dive with a buddy down to 18m! Again, thank you Bidina for the amazing experience and not forgetting the awesome people at Gill Divers and some of the funniest people i've met were in my dive group. One of them has my pack of cards haha.

2nd July : Botanical gardens. Kinda boring and was being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Had a very nice Chinese vegetarian steamboat buffet at Quality Hotel in Balestier with my parents. Mmmmm.
(EDIT: I just remembered we drove to Clarke Quay for a walk around. I expected it to be rather dead on a Monday night but how wrong I was. Pretty much every bar/club was pumpin' and the music was jumpin'. People everywhere. The bigger clubs like Zirca and Rebel were closed. We decided against diving headfirst into the noisy madness and instead bought ourselves some beers from 7-11 and sat by the river across from the madness and watched it from afar while we talked about stupid things. Afterwards we went to Geylang on the way back so I could show him the red light district. David was rather amused and I regret not buying any durians for him to try.)

3rd July : Bugis Junction and Bras Basah to check out the cool music stores. David bought a fair amount of gear for his guitars and a kick-ass melodica. Was tired as hell but threw a huge BBQ for everyone who loves booze. Stayed up till 7am.


Haha we had a good time with the melodica that night.

Died today. (But met Rafidah for dinner afterwards) 

I dreamt I finally went to California and it was full of amusement parks and little shops selling quirky things.

And it felt amazing. 

peeves

1) For a country where people are so conservative in their mannerisms and where acting like I normally would in Melbourne would be considered too boisterous for Singapore unless in Clarke Quay after 10pm.... Men really do not hide it when they are staring at your tits. Especially mats. I do not dress in a way to show them off.

2) For a country where a single certificate to own a car costs $70,000 on top of the price of the car, THERE SURE ARE A LOT OF FUCKING NEW CARS ON THE ROAD

location update : In Schwingapore

So much for blogging loads on holiday! It's not been a week since exams ended but I feel like i'm failing myself already. But this time I really have been feeling absolutely shite since the end of exams party.

In short, massive hangover on Saturday somehow spilled over into Sunday, then Monday, and now Tuesday. I've been feeling nauseated all day since the hangover and my gastrointestinal tract has been disagreeing with me completely. Imagine being on a 7 hour flight feeling that way! Not fun. Which sucks because there's all this food I want to eat. I treated myself to chicken fried rice (which was soooooooo god damn good i'm hungry again just thinking of it) but paid for it today.... Bad times. But i've found ways to enjoy the things i've missed. Like Yakult. And my grandma's home made yoghurt on plain rice (mmmm). And porridges of various flavours from Simpang Bedok.

But what I REALLY WANT is a god damn McSpicy.

Also the heat has not helped but it's nice to shave my legs again, wearing dresses and shorts. Seemed like a lifetime away back in Melbourne, rugging up for all those weeks studying. Thermals (top+bottom), slacks, uggs, and about 4 layered tops under a jumper. NO MORE OF THAT FOR 3 WEEKS!

Today I had my first diving theory lesson and it was really good. Straight forward stuff all taught in videos. Don't think I could bother studying a book after the last few weeks. It got me looking forward to the hands-on practical stuff and especially the dive trip next week. Felt a bit awkward alone, and the ill-nausea-tummy-bleh-feeling made me a very anti-social person but hopefully i'll feel better soon.

Anyway, the flight over was delayed by almost 2 hours because someone tried to flush something ridiculous down one of the upper deck toilets which didn't get fixed in the end but it didn't bother me too much. So I found a power point, set up my laptop and watched a couple of episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm while waiting. That show has kept me sane throughout 9 exams.

So as I was watching, this scene popped up... And I struggled so bad to maintain composure sitting on the floor.



Larry David is fucking hilarious.

fahashion

[11:49:19 PM] aroona: i swear it's so easy to pull off any clothes when you're thin
[11:49:22 PM] aroona: rahh
[11:49:54 PM] David Cooper: whatever man
[11:50:28 PM] aroona: you think i can pull off clothes like her?
[11:51:00 PM] David Cooper: her clothes are pretty shit
[11:51:51 PM] aroona: haha really
[11:51:55 PM] aroona: some of them are nice
[11:52:38 PM] David Cooper: being skinny just means you can wear shitter clothes

FACT.
It's time I stopped wondering about how i'd look in that neon-lacy-scalloped hem playsuit and enjoy the way I look in my sense of style. This shit's just getting out of control.

;

6/9 exams done!!! HOME STRETCH! I cannot wait to resume life starting this Friday.

to-do list for the next 5 weeks.

1. Dye my hair red
2. Get Ashwin's mp3 birthday present together
3. Get my scuba license (thank you Bidina <3)
4. Read and finish at least ONE book
5. Make a list of places in Singapore to bring David to, and COMPLETE ALL THE QUESTS!
6. Pierce my nose (QUoi?!)
7. ^^ Learn French (properly this time)
8. Catch up with everyone twice over AT LEAST

#3 I always wanted to but never had the balls to actually do it, and Bidina got some vetties together to buy me a scuba trip! And I get official certification to dive up (or down, rather) to a certain depth.

#4 I started reading the Qu'ran (English translation) but never got around to finishing it. So either I read that or.... read the Lord of the Rings again.

#5 I shall make the list and put it up here when I get around to making such a list. I've got a mental list at the moment.

#6 WHY THE HELL NOT. I've always wanted to know how that'd go down. Since I cannot afford a new tattoo at the moment, this will have to do.

#7 Yeah just one of those things. I will live in France briefly at some stage in my life. Well at least I want to.

2/9 exams down! Time to study some sheep!

t minus 11.5hours

So here I am. Swot vac has come and gone and I am about 5000% further behind schedule than I initially planned to be. The biggest shitter of an exam is tomorrow, although this year has been different. Since each subject is now an animal i.e Cattle, Birds, Pigs are all a subject each, they're all pretty much of equal difficulty because they all involve knowing the same depth of knowledge. Although tomorrow's exam is the most content heavy, doesn't mean it gets easier from there :(

So..
Monday : Dogs and Cats
Tuesday : Clinical Science
Wednesday : Small Ruminants (sheep and goats basically)
Thursday : Birds
Friday : Cattle

Each 30 lectures, (except Clinical Science). None of which I have finished in full :/

To all that I say....


All the bread was in the freezer so a hat of bread would've been unpleasant. Spawned from one of my favourite memes of all time. If you've seen it too, you are awesome.

Alright back to 90 pages of gastro notes in the next hour unless I want to sleep less than 7 hours tonight.

PS: DAVID HAS (APPLIED&PAID FOR) HIS PASSPORT! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH BOYYYY. Singapore adventures here we come!