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Jenny whines about the bad quality of really popular publishedfanfiction

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 10:40:00 +0000

Saw this post on Tumblr and it is quite true.

From the extracts I've seen and the summaries I've read from 'too curious' readers:

1) there is gross depiction of BDSM themes in the book. Dominants are safe, sane and consensual and the 'dom' in the story has none of those traits but instead has traits that are linked with abusers.

2) the 'romance' and dynamics between the two main characters is highly disturbing

3) the writing is so bad. When I read an extract, which was a sex scene, I thought they were written by an average 16 year old fanfic writer so I laughed at their failed building of the atmosphere and the silly euphemisms like 'love cave'. Until I read the reference. This shit gets published and gets made into a movie??

Meanwhile, I'll just keep myself updated with Sunstone by shiniez that can be easily found on dA (chapter one). For free. It's quite enlightening on the topic of BDSM, humorous, and the characters feel real and are relatable. Also, many redheads. :D

Day 8/11 - Kyoto, Japan

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Tue, 21 Oct 2014 03:29:00 +0000

'Time to be an actual tourist' day.

I'll be using the city buses for the first time today. Yesterday, I bought a one day bus pass from the hotel for 500 yen, with a complimentary bus guide. The pass is activated with a date stamp at the back when you first use a bus, I.e. when you use the card for the first time when disembarking a bus. No need to do anything when boarding.

Anyway, I Google mapped my route to the Golden Pavilion (金閣寺) and boarded the bus, which was going away instead of towards my destination...it took me 20 minutes to realise this and change buses.

An hour later than expected, I reached my destination.

Admission fee for an adult is 400 yen.

Since I cannot enter the pavilion, here are pictures hung up nearby of its interior.

These koi fish were huge.

Next destination was Kitano Tenman-gu Shrine, which is dedicated to a person who was both a scholar and a politician. School kids would visit the shrine to pray for good examination results.

There are cows like these all over the place.

It's said that if you are to rub the cow's head, you'll become smarter. So, I found as many cows as possible and rubbed all their heads. I bought a good luck charm for studies (勧学御守) here too. May I survive next semester. I've been procrastinating in taking a particular difficult subject called Project Management and the Professional.

I visited the Udon Museum again for dinner, but with Dale and Vivian this time.

I didn't get to take a photo of my udon before I consumed it but here's a pond at the place full of koi fish. Not as big as the ones at the Golden Pavilion, but they were still bigger than the size of my hand.

Day 7/8 - Kyoto, Japan

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 03:32:00 +0000

Today was lazy day. To feel better and justified about my (lack of activities), I went to a cat cafe and watched my fellow animals indulge in laziness.

"I'm so elegant."

Then for dinner, it was at the sushi train place (から寿司) again. This time, I took more photos.

As you can see, my favourite is the salmon and mayonnaise.

108 yen (1.24AUD), including tax, for each plate. Oh yeah.

Excuse my fingers photo bombing this. Wanted to show the capsule machines above the sushi train. If you eat enough plates, you may get a capsule. Current theme was miniature train front carriages...which I didn't take a photo of. We got a few capsules.

Day 5/11 and Day 6/11 - Osaka, Japan

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Sun, 19 Oct 2014 00:37:00 +0000

Day 5/11

Saturday, and also Universal Studios day! Harry Potter world!

I met with friends (inc. Vivian and Dale) at Saiin station in Kyoto at 8:30am, and took a few trains to get to Universal City station in Osaka. The trip was just below 2 hours.

We went through the gates at 10:50am, and aimed to get a nice time-slot ticket for Harry Potter world. Earliest time-slot turned out to be at 7pm though, so we wandered everywhere else.

I was lucky to get Hermione on my Universal Studios ticket. Everyone else either got Harry (on or off a broomstick) or Ron.

Dale and I got to go on a 4D Back to the Future ride; I waited 100 mins in line for that. Luckily we got in before 5:30pm (at 4:30, actually) because they would change the ride to fit more with the Halloween theme that the rest of the park was having.

To kill some time, we lined up for the Jurassic Park ride that had an expected wait time of 180 mins. The line seemed to go along finely at first; we shuffled forward every few minutes or so until 5:30pm. The line stopped for 20-30 minutes. Then artificial thunder and lightening happened nearby, most of the lights blacked out and school girls screamed. Japan.

At 6:50, we gave up waiting and went on our way to enter Harry Potter world.

What a wonderful world.

Dale had already gone on the ride so he accompanied a friend who only wanted to see the interior of the castle, whilst Vivian and I lined up for the 4D ride that's also in the castle.

The ride was awesome. The wait was 100 mins or so here too. We didn't need to pay extra for the lockers as they provided us those. Also, there were huge spiders on this ride. The smallest spider was the size of your face, and some of them move up and down on its web. Luckily, Dale had prepped me about them so I didn't wet my pants. I think my fear of spiders has lowered actually, due to this ride and the preparation. Yay.

Anyway, before we got on the actual ride, we climbed up static stairs (thank goodness, I would trip if they moved) AND THE PAINTINGS ON THE WALLS MOVED AND TALKED AND IT WAS DONE VERY CONVINCINGLY. Oh, and they were understandably dubbed over in Japanese. Japanese Ron sounded funny at first hear. My British voices...where art thou?

After the ride, we went to get our robes. Luckily the ones we wanted (Gryffindor and Slytherin) were still in stock. When I got there, there were 2 Gryffindor robes left. After I got my robe, there were 3 left... A few people were taking the robes off the hook, putting them on, and taking selfies before putting the robes back on the hook.

I also got a wand that's a replica of Hermione's. It's so elegant~

Left Universal Studios at 9ish. Because I wanted to visit the Pokemon Centre that's also in Osaka the next day, stayed at a hotel in Osaka instead of returning to Kyoto.

I had late dinner of okonomiyaki and takoyaki! The two foods Osaka is well known for.

Day 6/11

Pokemon! Gotta catch 'em all!

There were also capsule machines, my latest addiction.

Got these pins from them. These pins are apparently exclusive to Pokemon centres.

Then I returned to Kyoto and got this lovely custard pancake at Hoshino Coffee. There's usually a wait list to get in. It was only a 5 minute wait though, for 3 people at around 2:30pm on a Sunday.

Day 4/11 - Kyoto, Japan

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 03:34:00 +0000

Karaoke night. I forgot to take pictures.

Went to Nishiki Markets earlier in the day. Also forgot to take pictures then. Maybe will go back to Nishiki Markets later, eat more and take more snaps.

Day 3/11 - Kyoto, Japan

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Fri, 17 Oct 2014 02:58:00 +0000

I kept forgetting to take pics of food.

There's this store called 'Book Off' that sells second-hand items such as consoles, console games, manga, books, CDs, and movies.

So I bought a few CDs haha.

I'll be going to karaoke on the fourth day, where I'll hopefully remember to snap more pics.

Day 2/11 - Kyoto, Japan

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 06:39:00 +0000

I went to the Udon Museum for lunch. They make various udon dishes that originate from all over Japan.

Got myself Shino Udon, where the noodles are flat and wide, topped with seaweed and negi. What you see below is two noodles that are roughly 50cm in length.

Later, went to a sushi train place. Managed to eat 7 plates.

Here's one: prawns with mayonnaise.

I'll be going there again before I return. And take more pics.

To Japan!

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 16:34:00 +0000

First time I flew via Jetstar for more than 2 hours. It's pretty nice so far. Got free entertainment because most flights that were scheduled a few days ago got pushed to today or later in the week, because of the typhoon in Japan.

I was on the flight from Cairns to Osaka where a Japanese passenger next to me was sleeping, and slowly leaning to the left or to the right. Was it a reminder to me that the concept of personal space does not exist on public transport in Japan?

Food came and cheered me.

And I got given a beef pie (yes, it's a pie in the shape of a sausage roll) and a tim tam 2 hours before landing.

Oh, and the customs area at Cairn's International terminal is the prettiest I've seen. Should've taken a pic when I had the chance.

I took a picture of a toilet cubicle at Kansai Airport. The sink on the left was so deep, I think it could be used as a toilet too.

I then took a JR train to Kyoto. Takes an hour and 20 minutes. And there are toilets on board.

One toilet image (per post) is enough. Chairs here are comfy.

Met up with my friend Vivian and went to have ramen. It has ruined me. I'm never gonna eat ramen again in Sydney, ever.

It tastes better than how I made it look.

My room has a yukata on my bed. And there's a New Testament AND Teaching of Buddha book on my desk.

There is also a heater, empty mini refridgerator and kettle.

I shall explore Kyoto and spam this blog with pictures. For now, it's sleep time.

A Week On

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 26 Sep 2014 21:48:00 +0000

9km done and dusted! Last Sunday, September 21st, I ran the Blackmores 9km Bridge run, starting from Milson's Point, over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, down Macquarie street, through to Hyde Park and the Domain and finishing back to the Royal Botanical Gardens. This course was relatively easy with barely any inclination. The views running across the city made the course very enjoyable. The day started off wet and windy, but ended on a sunny note. I put myself in the "C" category of the group running > 1 hour. This included people pushing prams. I saw several fathers push their kids in prams ahead of me. One man, with a shirt slogan, "Diabetic. Overweight and In Front Of You" written on the back. Mothers and their sons, and people dressed up for the occasion. There were all types. I managed to finish the course in 1 hour and 12 minutes, which I guess ain't too bad for a first time run. Everyone got a medal at the end after they finished. Afterwards the race, I reclined myself on the sand at Coogee Beach for a bit of a snooze, a well deserved rest and some afternoon sushi.

Sandra

Papparoti is still alive!

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 07:37:00 +0000

At Strathfield Plaza.

24 Hours of Design Studio

noreply@blogger.com (Alyssa) — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 15:30:00 +0000

I worked 24 hours straight on my design project with my group partner. Here's a little recap of how it went.

We met at the uni labs at 1pm and decided that we would have to make physical models of our ideas because they were too abstract for us to figure out on a computer. So we drove to Eckersley to get some foam core and then we headed over to Lincraft to pick up some stretch fabrics that could emulate the work of Ernesto Neto's flexible structures.

My group partner lives rather close to uni so we decided to just work at hers. She began the graphic presentation and I started experimenting with model making. My dinner was my crust-free chicken sandwich with jatz crackers + flat white.

Our physical models were starting to take shape so we played with tulle and the shadows it created.

Architecture is a battle field. This is my first wound in months though. I accidentally pinned my finger and it bled everywhere. Behind you can see us experimenting with stocking material (we ripped apart my group partner's old stockings - fun!)

This photo was taken around 4am.

We managed to get through the 3-5am drowsiness by sharing stories about old boyfriends (in my case old crushes). However by 7am my group partner said she was feeling dizzy so I let her sleep. I stayed up working on the presentation but soon dozed off sitting upright with my laptop in my lap. My 8:15am alarm woke the both of us up. So after that nap we continued working up until 11am. I had really bad pains in my stomach, probably from the 3 red bulls, 2 coffees and lack of food, so I dozed off for a little. We finished everything by 11:30am and then headed to Office Works to print. Our best idea yet was to create a "micro" presentation and have everything printed to A5. It turned out nicely and it was also a lot cheaper to do.

We were very proud of the outcome! Got back to my group partner's place and started getting ready.

The weather was awful as always on design studio presentation days. It was raining heavily and we didn't have any cover for our models so we had to take our jackets off to shield them from the rain and wind.

Our presentation laid out - all the boards were taken but it was probably a better idea to have them on a table to be picked up whenever. We were very happy with our results up until we started seeing what everyone else was pinning up!

We were lucky/unlucky to have been picked first to present. I wasn't prepared so I was incredibly nervous and you could hear it in my tone of voice. My group partner really helped articulate things though. The lucky thing about being first is that the tutors haven't seen the standard of work yet so they don't have anyone to compare you to, hence they are usually nicer with the criticism.

The amazing work that others have pinned up + our work.

I KO'd that evening.

Alyssa.

Keen-wah

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:49:00 +0000

Cooking quinoa again and damn, the skins that peel off from the seeds look interesting but also disturbing.

Skins covering the cover and spout of the pot, with help from the rising bubbles.

Jenny

Sydney Harbour Bridge Run

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Aug 2014 07:32:00 +0000

Here's what I've done. I've entered myself in a 9km run across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday September 21st at 9am. It's nearly a month away and I've been training for the past few months, but the progress has been quite slow. Since the start of the year I decided to push myself more, and focused more on my fitness. So come September time, I can deliver the goods. Even if I don't run all the way, it will be an accomplishment in itself and personal goal just to complete the course.

I'm running with a friend and we're in a small group. I've decided my proceeds will go to Headspace, just because I think its important for young people to develop a strong mental health. It affects you in every way. The reason I got into a health kick was to overcome some things at the back of my mind. Last year I went hiking in Seoul, I never thought I could do it. But once you get to the top, all your worries just disappear.

Sandra

Saturday Procrastination

noreply@blogger.com (Alyssa) — Sat, 16 Aug 2014 03:31:00 +0000

There's this temporary installation (which I think is no longer there) of hundreds of egg shells at my faculty building and every day the number of egg shells would disappear. Thought it was an interesting use of gallery space. It stopped lots of people outside to come in and see and take photos.

2 days to go till our first brief is due. Group work is hard to manage. It's only a group of 2 but the girl I'm working with doesn't seem to like working alongside someone and admits she gets more work done alone, which totally defeats the purpose of a group assessment if our ideas aren't linear. It doesn't help that I have work tonight. I've decided to de-stress by blogging but find myself only talking about the presentation? I even had an awful dream about Monday's presentation going all wrong before being woken up by my 6:30am alarm, only to snooze away into another dream state where my group partner and I were working alongside enthusiastically.

Hoping the next 2 days go smoothly.

Alyssa.

My Room

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Tue, 12 Aug 2014 02:52:00 +0000

So I finally have sorted out my room. Here is it, from the doorway and going clockwise.

Most of the stuff on the desk Diem and Josh gave me is just there temporarily. Going to move them back to my Bass Hill place this weekend, so it'd be wonderfully blank then for other stuff.

Kalafina, my favourite band (as you can see from my two posters and calendar of them), does acapella covers of various songs on their radio show. They just did Moonlight Densetsu, which is the opening theme of Sailor Moon (the English one has the same melody but entirely different lyrics) and gaaah, why did you stop Wakana, Keiko??

Now the song is stuck in my head.

Anyway, I received a Bulbasaur nanoblock from my friend Vivian.

The making of Bulbasaur. Apparently all of those pieces go over 120.

Our Apartment

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 23:33:00 +0000

Early Hours

It was very early before but now its 9:19am. I was up at 5:45am this morning and decide to take some photos of the apartment JUST for this blog, so somebody better be reading this. Yes you Jenny.

I had a shot of our balcony with lights at 5am but I couldn't make it fit into this compilation so you'll have to wait for another post maybe.

I think only Alyssa's seen the apartment in full. When Jenny and Sandra first came over we didn't have much because we clearly blew our baby bonus money on the TV and couch. When in Bankstown.

Need to put more work into our bedroom, it's pretty boring at the moment, apart from the new desk. Somewhere down the track hopefully we'll buy some artwork to jazz the place up.

We've stop furnishing the place because we're simply too poor now, just waiting for that next government hand-out, plus we need to start saving for the holiday in December.

Diem.

Spiegel im Spiegel

noreply@blogger.com (Alyssa) — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 14:56:00 +0000

Credit: Rebecca Mock

Spiegel im Spiegel for Violoncello and Piano by Arvo Pärt on Grooveshark

I'm looking at Rebecca Mock illustrations and listening to Arvo Part's Spiegel im Spiegel. I've decided I'm going to watch all the films that feature this piece.

Alyssa.

On Special

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 10:48:00 +0000

I have learnt how to keep track of grocery specials. Yeah!

I just bought two Kleenex Toilet Paper (8pk) for $7, saving $5.98. Today's the last day, apparently. My fear of being like the guy in Wonder Girls' Nobody video clip has been squashed.

Nobody's gonna help you get your shit done.

Pasta again today, but with creamy, mushroom sauce. Yummy. Again, I didn't take any pics because I was too hungry and wanted to devour it.

Now that Alyssa's back in uni, I'm gonna be the only active blogger here, aren't I?

Jenny

Day 5/8, Day 6/8, Day 7/8 and Day 8/8 - Surabaya, Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 10:40:00 +0000

Day 5/8

Lazed around all day.

Ate maccas. Got sick. The usual; I'm never gonna learn.

Here's a rice burger that's exclusive to Indonesia.

Day 6/8

Went to Galaxy Mall to try the gaming centre there. On the way there I managed to snap a picture of the icon of Surabaya.

That is indeed a statue of a crocodile and a shark you see there.

Found another version of the Australian 'The Rocks'. Finally ate from there. Pretty tasty. No, I didn't get a mini Australian flag in my meal.

Played several games of 'how many shots can you get in before the time runs out?'

Our highest score. It was counting down the 'Continue...?' time. There were at least 3 stages. Each stage offered around 40 seconds (I forgot exactly how long) of shooting time. To get past stage 1, need to get a score of 40. To get past stage 2, need to get a score of 140. And I think to get past stage 3, a score of 300 is needed.

I also finally found CBA ATMs. Pretty good conversion rate and there's a $2 International ATM withdrawal fee. Gonna stop exchanging my monies at Sydney airport now because I always have a lot of rupiahs left over and the service fee kinda kills me a bit.

Side-note: went to the pharmency and found this shampoo.

Looks like 'our' advertisement *mumble* years ago succeeded in getting a product and it went global. Only the people (especially the people in 'our') who know how the advertisement went will be amused by the pic...

Day 7/8

Went to Regina's house and hung out with a mutual friend. Regina's mum cooked us deep fried tempeh.

Then we played Warrior Orochi 2 and Tekken 4 on the PS2 for a few hours. Which is great, because the last time we played together it was a Digimon MMO.

Day 8/8

Checked out at noon, and walked out of the hotel in time with a taxi making its way in. Felt like VIP to get into the taxi so soon after leaving the hotel hohoho.

Ate lunch at the new Terminal 2 of Juanda Airport. Left soup is soto daging, right is rawon.

Close up of the rawon.

I was gonna get another roti bun before I left but I ended up buying large fries and a lychee slushie and got too full. :(

Boarding time was 30 mins delayed. During boarding time, a flight staff was all 'terima kasih' to the people before me, and she was about to say the same thing when she saw me. But she glanced at my boarding pass, my name, and went 'thank you'. Haha.

Boarding time at Bali had a longer delay. At least an hour! Imagine a waiting room packed with confused people going to Brisbane, Sydney or Adelaide. Apparently the new, bigger airport there wasn't as smooth in transporting us than the old one that was 1/4 its size. I think the continuous delays (at Jakarta, Surabaya and Bali) is mostly because it's the end of the public holidays though.

Anyway, back in Sydney. And dried skin. :(

Back to Uni

noreply@blogger.com (Alyssa) — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 16:14:00 +0000

It's back to uni time for me and another stressful semester of balancing work and uni, sleep and a social life.

First week back, they gathered first years through to fourth years in one great lecture theatre for a motivational and inspiring "chat"(our program Director liked to call it, but it was just a lecture) about the years to come. Our program director talked about how failure didn't represent your overall success in life and that some of your best work is not in your first, second or third but your fourth year so don't stress. He addressed student concerns about employment and admitted that we may not all graduate as designers but stem into other positions in the built environment field. He also addressed the "great conundrum of architecture students" - having no life - and said that they've compressed and changed the course over the years so that the workload and the time you spend on projects is not wasted energy. He basically said that 4 years of giving up your life is nothing compared to what you will be achieving. So yes, no life if you want to do extremely well.

Then we had another one hour lecture with our year lecturer who I've never had before. She's really nice and passionate about teaching and not biased towards certain styles of architecture (she loves all kinds from minimal to grandeur). She sounds a little OCD to be honest. The workload that she's set out is a little extreme - 25 hours of research a week, a pitch to our "client" aka tutors each week, and 2 fast-paced briefs over 4 weeks. That's a brief given and due every 2 weeks.

I'm scared. I'm nervous. I've done this before yet I'm not used to it. I don't think I'll ever get used to it.

I like finding quotes from architecture students because I feel less isolated when I'm experiencing a mental breakdown.

Let's try not to get into them in the first place, I guess.

Day 4/8 - Surabaya, Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 02:15:00 +0000

Food poisoning. x_x

Avoiding iced drinks, no matter how trustworthy the place is, from now on.

Went to Pizza Hut for dinner though.

Custard and peach dessert.

The main meal. Cheese Deluxe with mushroom topping and Cheesy Bites as the crust.

Day 3/8 - Surabaya, Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 13:26:00 +0000

I forgot to bring my phone down when I had breakfast so I'd spare some of you from breakfast food pictures. Instead, have some lunch pictures.

Top is 'Ramen Rider' and bottom is 'Ramen Power' at Hanashobu. Yes, eating Japanese food in Indonesia, haha.

Regina showed me an Australian restuarant. Here's the menu.

"Marrickville Crispy Chicken Steak". Haha. Apparently, on Regina's word, it's really tasty. They serve it with a non-edible, mini Australian flag pinned on top.

Besides tempeh, there's something I'd been craving that I cannot sate in Australia (anymore).

Papparoti's parent: Rotiboy!

9.000 IDR for this yummy smelling bun.

Then we went for karaoke.

Some Chinese songs have pinyin. This was playing when our mostly galau themed selection ran out.

After karaoke, we went for drinks to soothe our throats.

Left is Es (Ice) Cincao and right is Es (Ice) Cendol. The stuff in Cendol isn't showing clearly here...

Then we aimlessly wandered around, trying to find wifi that consistently connected us to the Internet with no avail.

Day 2/8 - Surabaya, Indonesia

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 02:41:00 +0000

The view of the hotel room.

Breakfast time!

There was tempeh too! But it was covered with chilli so...sad face. Another time. Another time.

Today, Regina and I went to Ciputra World (yes, she's been asked that question many times. And no, she's not related to the person the mall is named after) because there's karaoke there.

And my favourite tea store!

24.000 IDR for large pearl milk tea. ^_^

Waiting for my meal to arrive at the food court.

The food court is connected to the game centre, so...

Kids can take a ride at the centre and watch their parents below eat at the food court.

The food has arrived!

Left is gado-gado (mine), which is vegetables with peanut sauce, and right is HK-styled noodles (Regina's). Finally, tempeh for me!!!

More pictures of the mall:

The Jakarta and Surabaya version of N2 in Sydney.

Hello kitty cafe

Here's Pizza Hut but they're closed for today because of Eid Mubarak (there's a public holiday for it in Indonesia)

The karaoke place ended up being closed too for the same reason so we went to the game centre.

My childhood memory, magnified.

Then there was dinner (which I forgot to take a picture of). End of day 2.

On The Flight Again

noreply@blogger.com (secret address) — Sun, 27 Jul 2014 10:03:00 +0000

Luckily I can save a drafted post (with pictures!) even in flight mode. (Ssh, it took years for Google Drive to get there.) It's my first time in taking Garuda Indonesia, as I usually took Qantas or Singapore Airlines, and I'm quite pleased with their service so far. I also like how they provide both Indonesian and English throughout the flight. It helps with the language immersion.

Got shafted to a seat next to the window. I should've checked during check-in that my online request via a third-party for an aisle seat got through. Oh well, might as well take advantage of the lovely view of the Australian desert.

Got some chicken~ The dessert that came with it was lovely too!

Now using the entertainment system that provides the latest Indonesian pop songs amongst other things. Which is great! There's a restless baby in the row before me.

Even found a band that sings in both Japanese and Indonesian! Oh yeaaah. I foresee buying some CDs when I land... I need some new music to listen to whilst driving.

They also have immigration officers on board who can verify my Visa On Arrival (VOA) so I can skip the queue when I land. I got the VOA when I checked-in for 37 AUD (it's worth 35 USD [dunno if that's a permanent increase from 25 USD or temporary])

Also, I finally got offered candy before touchdown! Thank goodness for something to chew on to help prevent blocked ears. I'll be flying with Garuda again. Yup.

The surroundings of the rooms in Jakarta airport where people wait for the gate to open.

Day 1/8

The fanciest McDonalds I've ever seen. Two storey building.

Here's another one! With half a guitar attached to it.

Reached my destination at 8pm, so now, I must sleep for another day of adventure.

Jenny

I Moved Out!

noreply@blogger.com (knockycode) — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:05:00 +0000

Bye bye, Bass Hill!

I now live right next door to an Anglican church. I use its car park a lot.

No photos of my room whilst it's in disarray, but here's my new swivel chair.

My gosh, it took a fucking long time to assemble this seat here. I was actually sweating as I tried to connect the arms to the body in a way where the holes could align so I can screw them together. Also, please do not read the previous sentence out of context.

Tonight, I cooked pasta by myself for the first time. Thank goodness for its existence and ready-made sauces.

No picture of the finished product because I got too hungry and it's best to eat food whilst it's hot.

Tonight, I'm also trying natto, which I bought with my dinner at Mappen last night.

Large bukkake ontama udon, 2 takoyaki sticks (one's been eaten before this picture was taken), small potato salad and natto for less than $14.

As you can see, the large udon and side dishes filled me up so I couldn't eat the natto ... until now.

Staring down at it.

Opening it and emptying the condiments onto it.

90 minutes later...

I should've known when I emptied the condiments that it would be a big challenge to finish it. I mean, the way the mustard arranged itself as 'the finger', Hikaru's 'you're seriously not go ahead with that-darou' expression. Yeah, I should've known.

Oh well. I'll be flying out of the country in 2 days for Indonesia where I can eat tempeh with Regina every day (for 8 days).

Selamat tinggal. (It's sad I cannot translate that into Vietnamese, but that'll be fixed soon. First Vietnamese class tomorrow!)

Jenny