My choice of "Chick Flick"

Wednesday (6-8pm)is the cheap day for new releases. I knew the movies I so wanted to watch are finally out in DVD. I drove like a maniac to the video store because I had wasted 2 precious weeks of not being able to rent movies. Well, hubby took me out for dinner those wednesday nights, so I shouldn't complain ( I think I shall refer to him as Big Elf from now onwards, feels more inherent to me).

Anyway, I watched 2 movies as they are only available for overnight rent ie I had to watch 2 movies within one night (Thank goodness, Big Elf had to work late yesterday). I am a very insatiable viewer when it comes to movies I cannot wait to watch. Nevermind the late night!



My first movie was Lust, Caution by Ang Lee starring Tony Leung, Tang Wei and Joan Chen. I know I am almost half a year late of watching since its first release in January, still I'm glad I watched it. One sentence; It's sooooo my kind of movie. It totally left me feeling satisfied in the end albeit sad but necessary ending. The plot is just amazing and it does fill you in and get you on your toes. I feel like researching this movie and write up all the parts/scripts in this movie. That's how crazy I can be. The only disturbing part for me was that the sex scene is too real but that was the hub of the movie, the seduction and passion behind the phony facade. Perhaps its real, I cannot tell. If it wasn't real, hats off to the casts and director. As I mentioned before, I am not good at story telling, so I'm won't summarize the movie but rather I will share with you my thoughts on the movie. If you want the synopsis, go here. There is a plot summary in wikipedia but its not as accurate as it foretells.

1. Tang Wei is absolutely brilliant, considering this is her first movie. She just basically bypassed having to act in trivial roles before becoming a major movie star. She is as lucky as Zhang Ziyi and Cameron Diaz, if you know what I mean. Having said that, she of course graduated from performing acts course, so she must know how to act. She may not be stunningly beautiful, that is if you judge her through modern standards. However, she would be considered a rare beauty through ancient eyes. That was the very reason why she was chosen out of 10,000 women who auditioned.

2. There is nothing fresh with Tony Leung, but I must give credit to his acting, which is not surprising in this movie. He is an excellent actor, no doubt but his violent and aggresive sex scene just gave me goosebumps. Perhaps I've not seen this side of him.

3. Wang Lee Hom, my.. I must admit, he has this amazingly good looks. Every feature of his seems too perfect to be real and he could be a beautiful woman too if he wants. But let's not speculate on his sexuality, alright. I have no interest in that. I just think he is good looking but nothing more than that.

Anyone who has watched the movie and is as fanatical as I am, feel free to email me to discuss. I would looove to discuss the plot just to satisfy my curiosity. You must think of me as crazy!



This is also another thumbs up from me although it's very tragic. I've come to realized that I am a real sucker for romance, just not any romance, but a romance that has to endure hardship, which is why I am so passionate about love-story during war times. To me, these sort of love has a deep and profound meaning, unlike today's love story whereby it's all too straightforwad, effortless, simple and superficial. You meet someone, go after her (yeah, that's the only probable hardwork), a little bit of separation here and there (probably days or weeks or at the most a year), then proposal and marriage followed by having kids. There you go, what a cliché.

Ok, ok reality check. I'm not living in those days and I cannot be overly immersed with these stories.

Never underestimate Thy God!

Believe it or not, I have never had a proper CV nor a resume even. All these while, God has blessed me with everything, studies and jobs. It's really like the saying goes, "money" just rained down from heaven to me of which in this case, its not really money but jobs and everything else. I don't think I ever worked hard for it. I was never the brightest student. I am always unlucky with exams, yet I never lose out. I just did what I had to do at the time, and I placed my worries at God's altar. I could really feel God's grace upon me, as underserving as I am, I was never in want.

Coming to Sydney, was like a dream come true. In fact, as long as it's overseas, it was a dream for me. Not in a million chance would I dream that my parents could afford sending me overseas. Hm.. perhaps, I shall save this part of God's testimony for next time.

When I arrived in Sydney, I had no idea how the next 2 years will be for me. I was here to pursue my Masters Degree, and with the help of hubby (then boyfriend), he found me an apartment, and a christian flatmate too. The money I brought with me was only enough for a month's rent ($1360) and a 2 weeks bond ie $680 (split into half with my flatmate). I have no time to spare, I had to find a job as soon as possible. I had to constantly remind myself, I'm not here for holiday. Frankly speaking, I enjoyed the first week here, and then after I had to keep planning and budgeting for my expenses and looking for a job while diligently attending my masters class. I cannot express my gratefulness to my husband who just found himself a job, and has only earned his very first income then. The amount of money then, was menial. It must be difficult for him should I expect him to help me financially. My family isn't going to be able to support me very long with the sky-rocketing rent in Sydney.

I lived a very frugal life, yet it doesnt look frugal at all, looking back at those days. I made simple meals for myself for the first 3 months. Thank God for sending me generous flatmate, who never ceased sharing food with me. Her name is Leanne, and I must give credit to her. "Leanne, if you read this, thank you from the bottom of my heart!"

Meantime, I tried looking for jobs. Went to uni, searched everywhere for job availability and even walked along the main street where I stayed, visited medical centres, hospitals, companies and gave them my scarce resume like a pamphlet (by the way, I lived near uni and a hospital). It was not easy to find a proper job then. A proper job yet doesn't really require much experience. No one would look at my resume twice. Perhaps, I was asking too much.

One day, we came across an angel who gave us the idea of applying for jobs in supermarkets. My coursemate who was a doctor told me about it. He came from India or Sri Lanka or Bangladesh (I cannot re-call) and was working in a supermarket while waiting to finish his course before undertaking a test to qualify him to work as a doctor in Sydney. My eyes was opened to something I've never seen before, the idea of working in a supermarket. Back home, working in supermarket basically means you have no qualification at all. That was the steoreotype given by the society. Sad, but true.

I did not expect a big pay from working in supermarkets, yet I was in desperate need of money. I had to give it a try and forgo all pride and ego in me. So, I applied. Mind you, to my surprise, it wasn't a simple application. First stage, I had to do an online application. Even then, they tested me on IQ!! Can you believe it? Not so that they can reject you if you fail but rather it's informative to them to place you in the appropriate department. Once accepted, the second stage proceeded. I was notified that it was to be a group interview. I was all in the look out for friends who have worked in departmental stores before and asked for advise. I was so nervous and I wanted to do well. Before I knew it, I was all into it. Some kind friends advised me to be myself and make sure I participated in the group discussion. I have to make myself stand out in order to catch the interviewee's attention. It all seemed so difficult for me as I hated public speaking. I never have strong command for attention. I only needed God's strength to help me get through it and most importantly, be selected.

Time came for the group interview. There were at least 3 groups, each group consisted of 6-8 people. I was literally shaking and kept praying to God that when I speak, I shall be heard. Thank God that the interviewee sat right across me in a rectangular table. We were given a case study, and then 10 minutes for open discussion. One of the case study was like, giving promotional ideas. Somehow, I manage to come out with an idea (in fact, an idea even I thought was brilliant). Ultimately, I was heard and I saw the interviewee glanced at my name tag before jotting down something on his notepad. I hit it, I just knew I did.

At the end of the session, we were given a form to fill in. In case we get through, we have to select our choice of supermarket. Of course, I chose several that I know are closest to where I lived. The closest being Broadway. I left the building, never feeling as contented before. I knew, whatever it was, God will look after me.

A week later, I was contacted by the HR of this supermarket, in BROADWAY!!! I got the interview with the deli department of the supermarket. Hang on, that's not the end. There was the third and final stage of interview. The manager was required to interview me before giving me the job. Can you believe that just a supermarket will require such intensive interview?

Anyway, I made it through the last stage of interview. The manager liked me when she first saw me, and I only got to know later on that she was very strict and not so likeable by her staffs. However, with God's grace, I found favour in her. As I was a casual and my visa sub-class re-stricted me to 20 hours of work, I was given the best shift one can ever ask for working in supermarket. I was given the weekend shift (if you know the wages rate in Australia, weekends pay can be at least 20% more than weekdays). I worked from 1pm to 10pm, Saturday and Sunday, a total of 16 hours. Since I have 4 hours of spare, I can be called in to work anytime during weekdays. To be honest, I earned about $1200 a month by just working 2 days a week. Rental was $170 a week, that leaves me with $520 for food and travelling, which was more than sufficient. I also discovered that being a casual and working in supermarkets, the rates are far better off than anywhere else. Should I get the other jobs I initially applied for, it wouldn't be as much as what the supermarket paid me.

After just 3 months of living in Sydney with my family's help, I was on my own until today. How God helped me with my tuition fees is another testimony to give. I shall save that for some other time.

Coming back to my point of sharing, the reason I never got any job in the medical field was because of my inadequate experience. Of course, it's understandable. I remembered when I had to prepare my first resume, it was tough. I tried vehemently to come up with 2 pages, but that was all I can do.

As I was trying to update my resume and to my amazement, it easily went on to 5 pages. Not that I have many a great achievement, still I was amazed and I began to ponder over God's love and grace for me over these years. How He walked with me, every day of my lives here. I couldn't have seen myself where I am now back then. Even my job today, was a blessing from God. Not one which I had to undergo another rigorous interview like the one I did for the supermarket. It was more of a casual chat with a professor and I ended up with this job. Again, that is another testimony to be saved for some other time.

Before blogging, the title was supposed to be "Never underestimate thyself". Now, it seems so inappropriate as it shows self-centeredness and ungratefulness to God. So, I've corrected it and this is how it should be; Never underestimate Thy God!

Best vacuum cleaner

One can never fathom how much dust there is in the air. I personally do not know how it originated but I learnt that dust consist mainly of human dead skins and of course, not to mention the outdoor contribution to the dust at home. I wonder how people in the olden days clean their house. They sweep and sweep and sweep, yet little do they know, the amount of dust swept is really modest compared to vacuuming.

We only live in a very small flat (don't ask me how big or how small, it's really small) and we used to own a fairly old vacuum cleaner. Despite the weekly vacuuming, I can sense that there are still so much dust around. Thanks to my sensitive nose. I will sneeze non-stop as I'm allergic to dust.

Till one day, the call for a new vac came when ours finally died. It stopped whilst vacuuming and smoke just came out of the filter part, or whatever engineers call it. It freaked me out for a moment. But twas a good thing, I can finally get a bagless vac.

We looked around a few websites and compared different brands and prices, but none caught our eye. Finally we went to The Good Guys, and tested out a few vacs. We narrowed down our choices to a Samsung and Volta. Brand wise, of course Sams are more well-known. Anyway, we finally decided on the Samsung one cause of the better features offered.

We came home, excited with the new vac and hubby couldn't wait to try it on. One interesting feature about this vac is the collection of dust (primarily) in a little cylinder-like case attached to the handle part. The length of the cylinder is about 7inches long and 3 inches in diameter. After vacumming the whole flat, we had to literally empty the cylinder casing not once, not twice but three times!! It was a shock finding. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw the dust. Anyway, that was perhaps the worst time to vacuum because of the breakdown of our old vac. The dust must have accumulated that much after a couple of weeks of not vacuuming the house!

A picture of the Samsung vac.


An empty cylinder just before vacuuming!


Amount of dust after just a week of not vacuuming!!

I strongly recommend this vac for a small home.
Bro ~ check this vac out if you have it there. Rather than checking the floor for dusts using torchlight, here's a simpler solution!!! =)

Special gift

As I was cleaning up the house (actually, correction: it's a granny flat, not a house =)) today, I decided to dispose of some unused little boxes I keep, for memories sake. I can be very sentimental at times. I like to treasure certain stuffs and until a point when I'm willing to part with them, then I shall discard them.This little box received that fate today. It's a perfume box, which my husband bought me when we re-united in Sydney after 9 months of separation (I know, it's not really that long a separation). But it was so nice of him, and I love the perfume so much that I barely use it, afraid it will finish too quickly. It's been 4 years and I've only used less than a quater of it (there's a picture below to proove it). So, I thought of taking a photo of the box before throwing it away, just to keep a visual memory of it. In my life, only 2 special man bought me perfume. One is my husband and the other is none other than my father. I loved that perfume so much and it lasted me a good 10 years. It was Cool Water by Davidoff. Perhaps, I should get that perfume again as it suited my natural body scent and I love the fragrance.

My usual Saturdays

I work Monday to Friday, and there are days I really didn't feel like going to work. However, that rarely happens, the only reason for that was because I do like my job unlike school days where almost everyday I didn't feel like going to school. Anyway, without a doubt I always look forward to weekends especially Saturdays because it's the only day I get to sleep in late and wake up say 10-ish. There are days when I do wake up earlier, feeling refreshed, then I would start with the housework or go to gym (the latter happens only recently).

Anyway, my typical Saturdays will always include doing housework such as cleaning, ironing, washing and vacuuming. Thank God for husbands who loves to cook ie my husband. While doing all these "hard" work, he will prepare food for me. We had bible study last night and I thought I've 'trained' my body to take more tanin/caffeine as I've been drinking tea. Actually, not really. Come to think of it, I've been drinking just rooibos tea, which is caffeine free. Sigh, really, nothing's changed. So, during bible study, we were served tea and I drank 2 small cup. Only TWO and I can't believe it affected me the whole night. We came home and I didn't feel sleepy at all. I was wide awake until 3.30am! It's so frustrating.

As a result, I woke up really late ie 11 something. Hubby woke me up to let me know breakfast or brunch (if you like) was ready (where to find such husband??). I woke up to a really nice breakfast served before me (I love the eggs!).


After breakfast/brunch, we normally run some errands and do some shopping. Then if there's time, we will come home and just throw ourselves onto our lovely bed and just snore away. However, if it was after 3pm, we try not to as we would prefer to be able to sleep at night and not disrupt our normal sleeping routine. We didn't take our afternoon nap today, of course, plus I have to do my housework. So, off I went to do my cleaning, washing and vacuuming. Hubby went to play some basketball with friends and he came back to a clean and tidy house, a feeling he always loves!

Soon it was dinner time and our menu for dinner includes sweet and sour prawns. I've been craving for it for so long and was looking forward to it. I made white raddish soup with pork bones and cooked a vegetable dish. Hubby finally cooked my favourite dish and it really tasted as good as it looks!



After dinner, we normally proceed to the couch to watch TV. If there's something on we will watch them, else we will watch a movie instead if we rented them. Or like what I am doing now, I will just blog.

Hence, that conclude my typical Saturdays!