almost famous / Ribs & rump

Just found out last week that we were almost famous.

We were out celebrating Ceez's birthday two fridays ago at the shelbourne and our picture got taken and posted on the shelbourne website. We were obviously the cool kids! Yay!

I refused to succumb to my asian calling even though my arm was most tempted to spring up into a "V". The guys made up for me though.

Everyone (cept my sober self) were so thrashed they had no recollection of this photo. Wahaha!

More pictures will be available soon when Ceez gets round to uploading the photos.

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Went out to Ribs & rump in Gordan last night. I had heard good things about it and was quite excited.

The ribs were quite good. Tasty and tender. Very YUMMY!! but the most impressive thing about it was the size of them. The full rack of ribs were larger than an A4 sheet of paper. WAH!! Took several pictures of the massive ribs and will upload them as soon as I get the pictures of Marty's phone.

I only ordered half a rack which looked pretty attemptable when it first arrived. I got through half of what was on my plate and was beginning to feel quite full and pondering if I should force myself to finish off the rest and I would have had I notflick the rack over and was shocked to find another smaller rack hiding beneath. It was then that I decided to just da bao it all home. It would just be impossible to finish anyway.

Luke was disgusted at my poor attempt at the ribs. hee hee

In my defence, I ate one whole potato as well.

One whole baby potato =)

My emotional state of mind feels like a roller coaster nowadays and it's so exhausting.

I guess it's partly genetic make up. In that way, I'm so much like my mom it terrifies me.

Why can't I be a jack-in-the-box, bouncing back after any setback.

I actually think this kind of "omigod i screwed up hence I'm such a screw-up and it's eating me up inside" attitude is very David but I CAN'T HELP MYSELF.

Even something like forgetting to respond to an email bothers the hell out of me.

I mean, granted I'm not the most organised person in the world, but at the same time, I have a trillion and one work related "to-dos" on my mind and keeping on top of things is no walk in the park so really, i shouldn't be to hard on myself if I forget one thing but I just find it impossible to let go which makes my life miserable.

My greatest fear is one day, I'll become a David.

How very awful.

And it's not only work.

I've just become this worry wart. I worry about everything from work, to what will become of my relationship if I go to the UK for 3 months (which is another story), to how much tax materials I have to bring for my tax exam in the UK and hence I will have less space for my numerous clothes bags and shoes and my potential overseas purchases.

And the worst thing is, it's sometimes even unconscious.

Make mental note to self - "Focus on positives"

Maybe swearing less will make me a more positive and happier person. I'll give that a shot! Happy people never swear. Obviously most people would think that happy people do not need to swear but then, maybe it's the swearing that make people unhappy.

^*&^(*&)(

what can I say?

My life has been pretty excellent this last week.

Firstly, the housemate Gareth has turned out to be a pretty OKAY dude. He joined me in the city for Ceez's birthday celebration but more on that later.

I have done jack all work for this week mainly because I have been in a sort of celebratory mood.

It actually started last week with me feeling absolutely bummed out about work. If ever there were any professions that invoked emotional instability, auditing would definitely be one of the top few. It's so tiring always trying to impress different people and feeling so out of control of most of the factors that impact on your performance. Add to that, everyone hates us.

So anyway, I've been in what some people might have called a trough if they wanted to understate how I felt. I consider rut a euphemism as well and would much rather call it being down in the doldrums.

This feeling of despondency and low self-esteem was a product of a really hard year of work in 2006 without any back patting "good job done" thank yous from the people above and an unexpected lull in work which has given me much more time to think and realise. DAMN. I HATE MY JOB!!

Finally, however hard I had tried internalising this, it started to show and the quality of my work started slipping. I sighed unconsciously all the time. Unable to hold it in any further, I fessed up to Gillian (my manager) that I'd lost my audit mojo who then advised that I speak to Voula (partner) and my mentor aka SDM - Damian.

It's astonishing how much of a difference a little complement can make. After the brainwashing from two partners who heaped loads of praises, audit suddenly didn't feel too bad. I felt inspired. I felt I could change the world with my audit procedures. I felt like... SUPER AUDITOR!!

NOT.

A half hour later, I was spotted moping around the office waiting for time to pass. As a saying in Hokkien goes, Pa Bang!

But at least, now I know where I stand at work. Gillian advised me to ask for the moon saying, "Mindy, the partners are willing to bend over backwards to help you out. You should demand for things. Get what you really want for once."

If only I knew what that was.

The secondment to the UK may sound really exciting but I think my main purpose is just an opportunity to rock the boat a little by changing my surroundings. It's really an opportunity to escape really. And if I don't get it, nothing would have changed because something tells me it's not so much the environment but the work.

But i guess, I'll just have to wait and see how things happen in the next few weeks.

Some somber news to share.

Last year, I met Chris whilst holidaying in Melbourne. He was such a sweet soul it was hard not to like him. Gentle, generous and with a slight sense of humour, he was easy to get along with and the few days we hung out with Jean and bobo, to Mount Dandenong, Mrs Marples to his favourite breakfast place, to bortsch, vodka and tears were enjoyable in a peaceful relaxing way.

Last year, Chris' cancer metastasized and he passed away peacefully in his sleep last Saturday.

which then makes me wonder about mortality. I know it's so cliche but isn't it always the case? and then when you think about death when you're not reminded by it, people think you are morbid and avoid talking to you.

One thing I've realised, most people unconsciously avoid talking about death. It's the epitome of a taboo subject. How morbid, to go around thinking of the hundred and one ways one could leave this world.

But then again, if there are scientists out there who invest their time studying wasps to the extent that we now know how a wasp can hijack a cockroach by injecting a chemical into its nervous system which then allows it to manipulate the cockroach feelers much like a joystick, allowing it to ride the cockroach like a horsey (and this is true or the internet is lying), then surely the contemplation of death should not be frowned upon because it sure as hell (no pun intended) appears to be more important.

I don't mean to sound like I'm poking fun at the topic of death.

I do feel sad.

Just that random thoughts in my head got the better of me I guess.

On a lighter note, it's great that Gene is here now. Haven't hung out really in two years almost? At first it seemed that perhaps this arrangement was a potential recipe for disaster (jolene suggested we would be tearing each others throats out or maybe she suggested I would be the one tearing?) but after the first few hiccups which were ironed out quickly, things seemed to have settled into a nice routine. I hope I haven't jinxed it by writing it out.

Marty poo (yes it's his new name) has a new playmate and so have I.

We found another housemate over the weekend. He's Gareth. English. Very stiff upper lip. To the point. Little sense of humour or at least our brand of humour. Very into sports I must say because he mentioned that if we were getting foxsports, he'd spend all his days at home glued to the telly. Gene suggested tweaking his upper lip when we get to know him better.

Interesting times ahead.

It's been a while since the last update.

Lots of things have been happening.

First, fell kind of sick and without realising, lost enough weight for everyone to start making comments about it which is good in a way because which girl doesn't want to be thinner? even tracy goes on diets!

Eugene has managed to get his room set up. More set up than mine anyway. He's going to be officially moving all his stuff in tomorrow morning.

It's been really hectic getting the house set up and finding a housemate. Really wish things could settle down into a bit more of a routine. Unfortunately, the housemate we decided on flew our kite with the excuse that he felt pressured to say yes to us. Bummer cos now we have to go through the whole hoohah again.

work has been kinda up and down.

Up because everyone at work has been really nice and encouraging but down because I feel miserable at work. Really unmotivated.

I have the best boyfriend in the world.

He's so great everyone who meets him loves him.

He's always cheerful and optimistic.

He's always good for a hug and a cuddle.

He's always game to meet up and hang out even though we see each other everyday and even meet up for lunch during the day.

And after all that, he's still not sick of me.

How good is that?