The longest post I've made so far...

Okay, Kakh. This is in response to me not blogging enough. Nah!!!

First and foremost, HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA!!! Hope you had a good time tonight, and glad you enjoyed the bottle of Merlot. I wish I could be there to celebrate with you.

Despite being more than halfway through my winter holidays in Adelaide, I still can't shake this cloud of laziness around me. I was supposed to blog about heaps of things, but just never got around to doing it. So now allow me to present to you a compendium of significant events in the past couple of months:


1. OMGWTF Hot Water Service Broke on a Saturday Evening!!!

Yup. This happened last month. And Ken had conveniently left for Brisbane. Late in the afternoon, I noticed the pipe coming out from the side of the house, just above the toilet on the top floor was trickling water. Strange..... So I called the plumber. He said it could be either a burst water tank or a broken valve in the hot water service. At first I was reluctant to call him in as weekend plumbing service is super expensive. The plumber said as long as the ceiling or walls aren't leaking, it should hold up till monday. Fair enough. Called and left a message on the real estate agent's phone, but she didn't reply. Then later in the evening, the trickling from the pipe turned into a GUSHING WATERFALL. And water started dripping from the toilet lights! I was like "Ok.... this is not good. I don't think this will hold up another 2 days!" I tried to get a hold of the agent another half dozen times but no reply. I tried to get a plumber in but none would come at that time of the night. The gushing wasn't stopping. The backyard garden had flooded. And to make matters worse, I couldn't bloody find the water main! Wanted to turn off the water supply to avoid wasting water, and to prevent the ceiling from turning to mush.... But no, the water main was so cleverly hidden. Got a neighbour to help me hunt for the elusive water main. We were squatting around in the muddy backyard when I heard sirens and saw huge flashing lights. Apparently another neighbour was concerned over the gushing water and called the FIRE BRIGADE. Not one, but TWO FIRE TRUCKS appeared. I was dressed in my pajamas with my hair all messy and pants rolled up and feet all muddy, squatting in the pitch-black garden with a fucking mini torchlight (you know, those maglites medical students sometimes use for eye examination?), when this horde of firemen descended upon me. They were in full fire-fighting regalia, yellow fire-proof jackets, hats, boots and all. And they shined these mega-huge torchlights onto my face like I was some pendatang haram or something, and said: "Good evening. Did someone report a flooding?" O-M-G. So embarrassing. Anyhow the firemen were really nice and went into the house to look for the source of the leak. Then they got called away to attend to a car crash, and CAME BACK AGAIN! "We decided to come back to see how you're going. Did you manage to get a plumber?" The real estate agent finally called back and was quite understanding of the situation. Apparently this happened to the other units too.... Eventually a plumber turned up and diagnosed the problem: a burst hot water service valve. Climbed into the roof to turn off the hot water. He then came back the following day to replace it. He couldn't find any leak into the ceiling, so I'm still wondering how the water got into the toilet lights. So in the end it turned out alright. Just no hot water for a couple of days. BUT the agent called 2 weeks later and OMG... the plumbing bill amounted to AUD700!!!!! The replacement valve only cost AUD40!!! That is some crazy plumbing bill! Fortunately, my housemate and I didn't have to pay (not our fault anyway). At that point I was thinking, maybe I should have just came here after high school and became a plumber. Why work so hard in medical school anyway? Damn.

2. Celebrated my birthday in Adelaide for the first time.

Winter holidays usually coincide with my birthday, and I'll usually be back home. *Thanks Kakh for the touching, super-cute snail-mail!* The IMU girls took me out for a yummy Italian dinner in Hyde Park that night. Absolutely fantastic. =)

Not the best photo, but the only group photo I've got from that night. :P

3. Lunch at Hahndorf and Glenelg with Jeremy.

The following photos speak for themselves. =)

A Taste of Germany Platter. A monster platterful of Bockwurst, Weisswurst, Cheese Kransky and Vienna sausages, with smoked Pork Kassler Chop and Pork Knuckles. Served with Rhine potato, herb dumpling, sauerkraut, 2 pretzels and assorted German mustard. According to the menu, it's meant for 2 people. They should be more specific and say that it serves either 2 huge Aussie/German blokes, 1 Jee Ken, 4 girls or 3 normal Asian people.

Oysters Tokyo. Deep-fried wanton oysters and oysters with smoked salmon or pickled ginger.

Bloody Mary Oyster Shots! This definitely one of my favourites. The first time, the shots had a generous amount of vodka in it. Second time was more mellow. I preferred the first.

I forgot what this one was called. Alaskan King Crab balls or something like that. Not bad.

4. End of Semester 1 celebration at the Pink Pig, Spatz and Elysium!

Lovely dinner with Jebbrine, Su Chuen and Ken at the Pink Pig in North Adelaide. Then met up with Jason + Cynthia and Chris + Christine at Spatz for dessert. Later headed to Elysium on Hindley Street to join the celebration for the entire 6th year batch, organised by DC. A fantastic, whirlwind night indeed. ^_^

Yes, I had to camwhore before going out. I couldn't help it. Ken's camera skills are improving.












*PHEW!!* Man that feels good to finally blog so much after so long! This is probably one of the the most productive 2 hours of my winter holidays so far. More posts to come. Goodnight!

I wanna cosplay too!

Was randomly searching through the net one earlier and found some pretty good cosplay photos. Kudos to these dedicated individuals for bringing well-loved anime/manga into flesh! Sorry I didn't reference every single photo...

Thought those cosplayers were good? Well, This one here below is the best!! KAKH IT'S YOUR FAVOURITE MUAHAHAHAHAAA!!! May it haunt you in your sleep! *evil grin*

'Personal Matter'?

Article from here: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5620461/teen-model-escapes-abusive-malaysian-prince/

Teen model escapes 'abusive' Malaysian prince
AFP June 1, 2009, 6:36 pm


JAKARTA (AFP) - A teenage US-Indonesian model has returned to her family in Indonesia with tales of abuse, rape and torture at the hands of a Malaysian prince, after her dramatic escape with the help of Singapore police.

Manohara Odelia Pinot, 17, told reporters she was treated like a sex slave after her marriage last year to Tengku Temenggong Mohammad Fakhry, the prince of Malaysia's Kelantan state.

Her mother, Daisy Fajarina, said she would press charges against the 31-year-old prince, and blamed the Malaysian and Indonesian governments for trying to cover up the alleged abuse.

"The things I've been afraid of were revealed to be true. Manohara has suffered physical abuse. She's got several razor cuts on her chest," Fajarina told AFP on Monday.

"No parent could be silent if their child was treated in such a barbaric way."

The Malaysian government had ignored her pleas for access to her daughter and had blocked her from entering the country, she said, while the Indonesian embassy had said that Manohara was fine with her new husband.

But the young woman -- a well-known socialite in Jakarta -- said her life at the royal palace involved a "daily routine" of rape, abuse, torture and occasional drug injections that made her vomit blood.

She said she was usually held under guard in her bedroom at the palace and was injected with tranquilisers whenever she complained.

"I am still traumatised by all that happened and it has left an impact on me," she told reporters in Jakarta on Sunday, after escaping the royal family during a trip to Singapore over the weekend.

"Sexual abuse and sexual harassment were like a daily routine for me, and he did that every time I did not want to have sexual intercourse," she was quoted as saying in The Jakarta Globe.

"I could never think a normal man could do such things," she said, adding: "Some parts of my body were cut by a razor."

"I've been treated like an animal. I'm like his property and I was in his room and whenever he wants to play with me he just goes into the room and plays with me. I'm like an object."

The teenager -- whose fairy-tale wedding to a prince captured the imagination of Indonesia -- said she would be tortured if she did not appear to be happy when she attended social functions with Fakhry.

She said she secretly called Singaporean police and pleaded for help after the royal family took her to Singapore when they accompanied Fakhry's father, Sultan Ismail Petra Shah II, for medical treatment.

"The police told Fakhry that he would be held in jail if he did not let me go. No one could force me against my will in Singapore and I knew I had a chance to escape," she said.

The model once voted as being among Indonesia's "100 Precious Women" said she escaped her guards by pushing the Singapore hotel elevator's emergency button.

They were reluctant to chase her because they knew the scene would be captured on security cameras.

She blasted the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia, saying: "They made it worse by telling lies, saying that I was fine while I was suffering in Kelantan."

A spokesman for the Indonesian foreign ministry insisted the embassy had done everything it could to help Manohara and said the government would assist her if she wanted to file charges against her husband.

But Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the government would not investigate the allegations.

"I think this is more of a personal matter. To date we have not been dragged into it, so we want to leave it as it is," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia's royal rulers used to enjoy immunity from criminal and civil charges but the privilege was removed in 1993.

There has been no comment from the Kelantan royal family.

Manohara's lawyer, Yuri Darmas, said she would have a medical examination to back up her allegations of abuse.

"We need one to two days to gather evidence before we file a lawsuit to the Malaysian police," he said, adding that he intended to pursue criminal and civil lawsuits against the prince.

Manohara has already filed for divorce, her mother said.