*leave me alone, i'm a twenty something*

the past few weeks have seen me strangely on edge. i haven't been able to put a finger down onto any particular point that resulted in this but it has left me restless and unable to focus. blessedly i haven't had any key deadlines or important projects on at work so it hasn't gotten me into any trouble.

however, i have had heaps of things to do on the personal front - moving house, furnishing it, planning my family's bangkok trip during cny, planning my trip to MEL in Jan and back home in Feb......on top of that, i've been feeling fat and unhealthy, and definitely not on the good end of a beauty regime (i do not like looking at the mirror recently). the latest "excitement" was this burning smell from the car which i ignored for 2 full days before sending it for a check up at the mechanic. turns out, oil was leaking all over the exhaust and i was "lucky" the car didn't catch fire as i kept on driving it (thank God for protection). it cost me a cool $400 though. sigh. 

the stress of having to spend $$ and to search for furniture for the new pl is something entirely new for me. even worse was having to get electricity, gas and internet connection hooked up at the new unit. these definitely got me whinging about how i'd rather leave such adult things for my mum to do - i don't wanna grow up !!

it's a big reality check for me, seeing numerous friends getting married and some of them even having kids. oh gosh... that's one reason why i'm still staying on in australia and not wanting to move back to sg.... being here gives me somewhat a type of freedom which can't be found back home. not having to adhere to the norm of having to get married and then buying some blasted hdb flat and eventually having kids and becoming an auntie. that totally screams not being me (not saying that everyone is like that but seeing some photos of sec sch friends on facebook who seem to become like that doesn't bode well for a lovely crystal ball prediction).

whilst i do like calling back home to keep in touch with my family, it sometimes irks me when the mother starts questioning my plans for the future and reminding me in no uncertain terms that i am not getting any younger. yes mum, i am delusional thinking that i am benjamin button and i need you to give me that dose of reality. for sure it gives me the extra motivation not to become the norm and become like her *gasp*. unfortunately sometimes calling home and speaking to my mum feels like a chore and i breathe a sigh of relief when my sister picks up the phone instead.

i'm not saying that my life is perfectly the way that i want right now, but at least i know that it's all in my own hands (God-given of course). What i need to work on is to stop being lazy and actually doing the things that i want to do and to just stop procrastinating. I love sleeping in on weekends and strolling over to the cafe for a late brunch, or popping over to the beach for a relaxing sun bathing session (the mother would always nag me about doing that *rolls eyes*), or just taking a walk in the park, sitting on the grass looking at the pretty flowers, the occasional night out with the few friends i have here, the occasional (ok not THAT occasional) beer at the pub during lunch or a friday night ....and best of all, staying up in the middle of the night to watch sports and cheer on my team (mummy thinks i shld be in bed by 11 pm)....  sure they aren't the most productive things or highest contributions to society....

But i'm still having fun and I guess that's the key.

Let me lie in. Leave me alone.

I'm a twenty something.

*sea-change*

So last week we received the re-application forms for our current unit, with the accompanying rent increase for next year. at $490 a week, it certainly shocked the socks out of us.

it prompted me to get into an apartment-hunting frenzy, trying to check out the market. after some searching, i stumbled upon a nice new unit by Maroubra beach that got me excited. i enquired about the property via email, fingers crossed.

rental property hunting in sydney is a totally different game all together. horror stories have been told by colleagues of the competitive market out there due to the shortage of supply vs demand, esp during the peak periods (hello international students with heaps of money to throw). house inspections are stipulated on a certain day at a certain time period (usually only half an hour). Those desperate enough already have deposits in hand (cash no less) so upon stepping in, taking a cursory quick look, fill in the application forms and slams the deposit down. that way, the other potential tenants don't really stand a chance anymore.

in any case, this is certainly not the peak period for rental so surprisingly, the property agent emailed me back very promptly the next day to arrange for an inspection.

i went for my very first apartment inspection last Friday. i was very interested in the unit as it was brand new (property development just completed a few months back), right by the beach (how to find a beach house in sg???) and it was my favorite beach! the only problem was that it was just a bit small (pretty standard size in sydney to be honest) and that the place was abit too far for the boy to go to sch next year. anyhow, i took the application form back and was seriously considering applying for it.

attempts to discuss this with the boy failed as he was caught up with his thesis deadline and i found it really hard to make such decisions - it's all so very adult and financially-serious! moving would mean me forking out money for rent (i currently don't pay the rent , just pay for all expenses).

in any case, we decided to go ahead to apply for the apartment, and see where it took us. there was a bit of drama as we were rushing to meet the property agent the next day to submit the application but as usual, we were running late. by the time we were on the way there , he had left and gone to another place to show another apartment. we thus made a detour and found our way to Randwick to submit the application and dumped down one week's deposit as well.

the monday after, i texted the property agent and he said that the owners were still considering. but as there was another couple who also applied, i was quite disadvantaged as i was only willing to move in 1 nov while the other couple could move in ASAP. as it is, moving in nov will still incur an extra month's rent as we weren't able to get out of our current lease earlier. i kinda gave up on getting this unit. but i did find another unit in the same building and i decided to go check it out.

in the end, the same day tt i went to see the other unit, the property agent for the first unit called me and said that he was trying to get an answer from the owners that day. i was surprised as i had already taken that unit as a no-go and was planning to apply for the second unit which was cheaper.

to my surprise, an hour later, the property agent called and informed me that i had gotten that unit !!!!!! what are the chances??? seemed that the property agent was pushing for us to get the unit (i later found out that the other couple didn't put down a deposit so that was prob the reason why - the property agent had figured we wanted the unit more). but i shall attribute it to immense favour that the property agent had with us !!

the only downside to this whole saga was that i gave the property agent for the second unit a week's deposit before applying. as it is, 4 hours after that, i got the first unit. the second unit's deposit apparently can be refunded less one day's rate!!! i was incensed as she didn't inform me of that and i didn't apply as well so technically i couldn't be liable for it. i lodged a complain with the office of fair trade - hope i get my full refund back !!!!!

so anyway , finally get to sign the lease to and the realisation is starting to hit me that....... I GET TO LIVE BY THE BEACH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE GOD !!!!!

getting so excited on furnishing the place - gotta be prudent though, coz it's gonna be very costly and well , it's still a rental place , not my real home.

sneak peeks to our new place:

  front door leading up to the rest of the unit // bathroom // bedroom // laundry room

kitchen leading to living room (bathroom behind kitchen off laundry room) // proximity view of beach right at the front door

*THE ENERGY NEVER DIES*

no words can describe the energy on stage.

however, at most times, the energy on stage did not translate up to the seats. all the crowd-pleaser songs were performed, but the bantering from the Peas were not up to par. each had their own individual acts as well , of which most were brilliant except Fergie's as she sang all her old songs. also, does anyone else think that she's very slutty ?  do not like "my humps" and her pandering to the demeaning lyrics tbh - did you really need to jiggle your breasts ?? final word on her - not very excellent singing voice , which was really bad on that night with it being very high pitch and sharp.

will.i.am was the most brilliant one of them all. the crowd really got going when he transformed the whole arena into a club and was spinning some great dance tracks including MJ's Thriller. awesome stuff that.

CL and I went nuts together with some others who got out of the seats and went to the open spaces to dance. unfortunately the security ushers had to spoil the fun by ushering us back to our seats. huh like SERIOUSLY ?!??!?!?

going back in time with "where is the love?" , slinging on a philosophical side to it by pushing world peace ; lights turned out and all encouraged to turn on their mobile phones lights to add to the atmosphere of "love"

while we partied inside , it was still raining outside. we ran through the rain to reach the car where the boy awaited -

thoroughly drenched but still on an adrenaline-pumped high

and this completed my outfit on a cold, wet, rainy night

*full blooded, dry-aged, marble-scored 9+*

so back during the last week of august, our full years results was released and the big boss was in town as per normal.

the usual orphan's dinner was slightly different this time round as there were guests from china to entertain in our usual chinese restaurant dinner + karaoke night out. the next night however , a second dinner out was in the books as well.

I got really excited when the choices for restaurants were either the Galileo or the Quay restaurant. i've always wanted to try out Galileo and this was a perfect chance. however, disappointment hit when both choices were all booked out. well, i wasn't surprised as it was a Friday night (28 aug for the record).

In the end, there was another choice that had a private room available -  Rockpool was the scene and it's also considered one of the fabulous restaurants in Sydney.

we happily headed to the restaurant and i was quite surprised to find that it was really quite noisy on the lower level where the other patrons were dining. good thing we had our own private room which made the ambience far better.

when deciding what to order, we were super tempted to order the wagyu beef. however, at $110 a sirloin steak and $90 a rump steak, we were wondering whether it was polite to do so. however, with some specially-crafted conversation and questions to the big boss , got an open invitation to try the extremely expensive and extremely fabulous-sounding piece of meat.

for the entrees, i ordered this fantastic Charcoal Roasted Tasmanian Scallops with Herb Butter ($38 for 6 pcs). the waiter however came in after this point informing us that the sirloin cut was sold out for the night ! he offered the rib off the bone instead , saying that it is also very good. oh well, what else can we say right ?

the lead actor of the night came out in fine style and when my cut landed in front of me , i almost drooled. cutting off the first piece was such an anticipatory moment and when i finally placed that fine piece of fabulous-ness into my mouth , it was just pure heaven. i never liked marbling on beef coz ,well i couldn't eat fats. my body system simply rejects it . but this marbling was the real deal - picky me actually loved it ! it was melt-in-your-mouth awesome and juicy and gosh  , simply the best steak i've ever eaten thus far.

unfortunately we didnt bring a cammie so i had to use my mobile . photos do not do justice to food since it was pretty dark in the room.

various sides were also ordered to share around the table. some of them were pretty good (onion rings, potato salad etc) while some were just so-so (there was this dish that absolutely tasted like "kiam chye").

dessert time soon swung by and we had a tough time deciding what to order as everything looked so yummy. we decided to just order different ones to share. we had a great time tasting all the desserts:

my Black Forest Trifle (inspired by The Fat Duck's BFG)

JP's Prune & Armagnac Creme Brulee

CL's QLD Strawberry Tart with Balsamic Ice Cream

YK's Apple Galette with Brown Butter Ice Cream and Candied Hazlenuts

Other desserts tried: Passionfruit Marshmallows (very very nice!!!!!) and Dark ChocolatebArk with Cashews and Sesames

Coffee and tea were served. I ordered a tea and the tea came in the cutest teapot. matching milk jug etc made the whole family thing even cuter:

the menus were so pretty i decided to keep them.

Extremely satisfying meal. not quite sure if i can afford to go back though!!!!