Weekdays can be great too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! it's FRIDAY again! if time's going to zoom past like that every week.. i'll be 30 before i know it!!! Geez.. 30 actually isnt that far away~ wahaha! anyway, it's been a good week.. actually it's been the best week i have had since i started work!

i'm not sure if i have mentioned it before.. but work officially ends at 5pm every Friday evening for our 'Highs & Lows' session! it's a gathering where everyone announce what they are particularly happy (High) or unhappy (Low) about that week.. we could get away with not mentioning a 'Low' but there must be a 'High'.. and for every 'Low' that was mentioned, there must be a 'High' to balance it out..

it is also a session where we get to know one another better.. we would gather at the lower ground floor and have a few drinks.. normally white wines and soft drinks.. both of which i dont really enjoy! every week i would get asked if i want a drink, and every Friday i would politely decline.. they probably thought i was being shy but this is the week they know i seriously cant drink.. i told them the story of last Saturday's Midori with lemonade! wahaha!

it's been a really good week because for the first time since i started work, i dont have a 'Low'!!! i'm happy about that, really.. and my 'High' was that i dont have a 'Low'!!! wahaha~! i finally felt like i'm on schedule this week, though not without the help of SR! i'm also better prepared this week and have started to fall into a routine.. and i now handle the newspaper delivery guy really well! HAHA! i have also cleaned up the mess at my desk and it's now neat and tidy the way i like it!

also, there's no 'Low' this because i received confirmation that Sinnie is coming from Perth next week and Y is coming the week after!!! BUT, the ultimate 'HIGH' is that Sis is coming in December and from tomorrow onwards.. i can say that my Sister is coming NEXT MONTH! Yippie! what's more, i have gotten her cheap tickets to and fro Melbourne!!! A$67.90!!! wahaha.. i can only cross my fingers that Tiger Airways doesnt cancel their flights as and when they like it (they are apparently quite notorious for doing that here)!!!

ALSO, i have booked Sis and myself for the Murray Expedition*!!! we will be going on it the first weekend she's going to be here! now now, with all these upcoming visits, how can i have a 'Low'?

i also received a letter (snail mail!) from Hello Kitty (you know who you are!) and Hello Kitty's life is going great! Zen is working on his personal project and is almost done with it now.. i'm waiting to view it! Kor is finally having his exams next week after so many years of hard work and studying!!! i cant wait for him to 'graduate'! Mum & Dad are going to Taiwan (again~!) and Miyuki went home to JAPAN today!!! i can feel her parent's joy! i hereby announce that my crazy Japanese house mate will be back in 2 weeks and i sincerely hope that she remembers to get to the airport on time this time round! ha!

and so, i feel great because my aim to enjoy weekdays has been achieved this week! i'm pretty sure it's not 'happily ever after' from here.. there will bound to be days that i would feel down because of work, friends, family, life in general, etc.. but at least for this week, i can be certain that there is one office worker who has enjoyed her weekdays!

*Murray Expedition will be explained later in a separate entry because it is of utmost importance that i explain it correctly!

another weekend gone!

well, it's Sunday again~ the life of a office worker.. looking forward to Friday evenings and trying to shunt the ever dreaded Sunday night? hmmm.. maybe that is the case.. but if office workers all around the world can enjoy their weekdays too.. wouldnt that be fantastic?

in order to enjoy my upcoming week, i stayed back in the office till 7pm on Friday, so as to get more work done.. it was something that i was supposed to do but i didnt know about it because really, no one told me about it.. so i cant really do something i dont even know existed, can i? anyway, it was completed and i also get all my filing done! i dont need to go back on Saturday!

i did however, brought back the Job Notes file and read through it.. there was also a case left behind by J which wasnt solved when she left.. i brought it home too.. but i'm only going to try to see if i can work it out later.. because i had been occupied with Game Boy Micro since yesterday!!!

wahaha.. there's only the Mario Brothers and Super Mario 2 on it.. but the Mario Brothers kept me occupied for a long time.. and still is actually.. hehez! this cute little gadget belongs to Miyuki.. but it's now sitting on my desk calling me.. Miyuki passed me the charger for it too! just in case, you know~!

as for Saturday, i went down to The Parade to get brunch at Cibo Espresso before grocery shopping at both Foodlands and Coles.. i came home with a whole trolley full! i vacuumed and mopped my room after keeping my groceries away.. and also wiped all surfaces! it's really due to the weather and the fact that we are situated right next to the road that there's so much dust..

the weather's really strange yesterday, it was hot and humid but it wasnt a sunny kind of hot.. it was cloudy the whole day.. and windy too.. i was in the TV room the whole afternoon with the air-con switched on! hehez!

in between Game Boy Micro sessions, i was doing laundry and cooking a pasta and a fried rice.. enough for all my lunches next week and maybe dinners too.. hehez..

last night we girls went to Maylands Hotel, just round the corner, for a drink.. i really cant take much alcohol! one Midori with lemonade and i am down! wahaha..

that's pretty much to it for my weekend.. i'm hoping that the coming week will be fulfilling!

Danny's Thai Bistro

Miyuki came to meet me on Grenfell St after work today.. her work ended at 5.30pm, which is a rare coincidence.. our plan was to head to Danny's Thai Bistro.. for Thai food, of course! we actually planned this dinner on the day that we were having Indian food at Taj Tandoor!!! eating one cuisine and thinking about another?! wahaha..

we took Bus 123 from Grenfell St straight to Norwood and we were the first few customers there.. we ordered one entree and one main each.. which means lots of food!!!

Fresh Cold Rolls
with fresh vegetables, vermicelli, prawns and pork with special sauce dipping sauce..

Salt & Pepper Fresh Local Squid

Special Fried Rice

prawns & chicken with egg, Chinese broccoli and fresh tomatoes..

Pad Thai

Thai rice noodles with chicken and prawns, ground peanuts and egg..

i must say the Pad Thai was way too disappointing!!! it can in no way be called Pad Thai, really! i can only say it is some kind of stir-fry rice noodles with loads of tomato ketchup~

the Special Fried Rice is not really that special either.. i must admit i dont know what Thai fried rice constitutes or taste like.. but that Special Fried Rice we had tasted just like any Chinese fried rice..

on the menu, it says that the Salt and Pepper Fresh Local Squid is 'Danny's all-time favourite!' and so we paid A$10.90 for it.. Geez, it doesnt seemed all that worth it now.. it's neither wonderfully delicious nor horribly disgusting.. it's.. just alright, you know..

the only saving grace of tonight's dinner was the Fresh Cold Rolls.. but the dipping sauces were again kind of Chinese!!! Sweetened black sauce? Spicy Chilli sauce? isnt that more Chinese than Thai? Gosh, i'm confused now..

i sat facing the interior of the restaurant while Miyuki sat facing the al fresco area.. when we were almost done with dinner, i turned around and saw that other than us and another table of Koreans.. the whole restaurant was catering for Australians!!! i am now appealing to Simon to switch to another Thai restaurant!

Jowin's theory: if you ever see a foreign cuisine restaurant in Australia catering only for Australians, dont bother walking in if you are looking for an authentic foreign cuisine .. that said, you should look out for restaurants like Dumpling King (Karine and I will be lunching there again tomorrow! Yippie!) , they cater for their own nationality too.. which means the food they serve is pretty authentic.. or at least decent, if not cheap!

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Danny's Thai Bistro
123a The Parade
Norwood SA 5067

Work & life..

i am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! 3 hours on a Saturday has paid off! *smilez*

My dear friend C turns 26 today! she is also going to be a new Mum coming January!!! Gosh.. it's still a little unbelievable.. i actually called C to wish her but got to C's Mum instead.. what's amazing is that we chatted for more than 10mins!

i guess with C's pregnancy, it made me realised that we have indeed grown up.. even though we may not feel like we are and even though we may not want to.. but we are indeed adults now! *gasp* wahaha.. anyway, we are all excited and happy for her!

Oyster Bar, Scampi's & The Pier

it's been a good weekend.. i went back to the office yesterday to get my desk and in-tray sorted! was there for a good 3 hours and i decided to pamper myself by doing some shopping at Marion Shopping Centre after that! it was a hot day and i'm glad to be spending a couple of hours shopping in an air-conditioned shopping centre.. wahaha..

work on Friday was still quite a mess but at least it's not nerve-wrecking like Monday and Tuesday.. the whole week simply flew by and i constantly felt that time was not enough!!! i felt the same on Friday and soon it was time for dinner at Scampi's! YIPPIE! was looking forward to dinner at Glenelg!

there were 12 of us.. 8 of us colleagues, and 4 of them brought their respective partners.. we first went to The Oyster Bar for drinks till about 8.30pm.. dinner was at this seafood restaurant called Scampi's, which sat on the beach facing the sea..

at that moment in time, i really felt that everyone should have dinners like that too.. the weather's perfect with the sun setting into the horizon.. the sound and smell of the sea.. and a soon-to-be-filled stomach!

our order was taken at about 9pm (more like supper, huh?) and we actually spent a good hour chatting!!! because our food didnt arrive till about 10pm (becoming more and more Italian!)! in my opinion, an hour was really a little too long as most of us ordered deep fried food.. anyway, dinner was made enjoyable with the company, not the food!

after dinner, Jo and Miyuki joined us.. and so did Karine and Tony! we headed to Pier One Bar for more drinks.. time was forgotten until AC mentioned that we really need to go if we want to catch the last tram! we half walked and ran but we missed the last tram still! haha! we took at cab home in the end.. it was great fun!

Work

i finally feel like i'm breathing again!

Work

if Monday was tough and Tuesday was a disaster.. then today must be a real challenge!