Welcome to Laine's Swingin' Shaggedelic Pad!

So excited! Got the keys to my apartment today...introducing,..first time home-owner (oklah, home renter) Laine Ooi! Boy its been a hectic day, Had to take a bus to the real estate agent to collect my keys and then went to the place to clean it up a little, got my fridge moved in and settled phone line, gas, electricity etc. Its mine!!!all mine!! So here are some pics to show off my brand spankin' new super lux apt. Will be moving in the furniture tomorrow, so will be a day or two before I update the blog with apt + furniture pics.

1. View to the right of my balcony

2. View to the left of my balcony

3. View below balcony...holy smokes!! jump on in!! its 26 deg today!

4. View from my loft-style bedroom

5. My bedroom

6. Ensuite bathroom..too bad I dont have a tub..8(..no more lavender bubble baths

7. View from my big ass balcony, which I intend to also use as my dining area

8. Entrance to my unit..love the dark maroon-brown carpet.

So Laine's lux motel will be officially open for business starting 1st April 2007 at these special discounted rates:

1st degree relatives : FREE (bound by blood...boh pian)

2nd degree relatives : Buy me a nice present

Good friends: Buy me nice dinner

DK: Do laundry, dishes, cook, and be the perfect man-slave

Bee yoo tee fool

Last night, Kim and I were in the city visitng Clem's Mamak stall in Chinatown. Golly you should have seen the queue! Roti telur, roti kosong, satay and teh ais...that was all in their simple menu but they needed a 7-8 man team to keep the passers-by coming back for more. We were merely there for support and also to try out their fare. Have to say it scored pretty well on my tastebuds, just dont compare the pricing to our RM 1.20 roti telur back home. Ouch!!

After mamak we headed over to Darling Harbour, a treat for the senses. Beautiful view, fresh crisp air, ignore annoying seagulls, people just chilling out and unwinding a hectic Friday away. Here's a spoiler of what we had:

Harbourside view of the city....check!

City view from Pyrmont Harbourside.....check!

After that, we headed to Star city hotel & casino. Considering Vegas is still fresh in my mind, you would expect this to pale in comparison. Laine's casino rating: Top Genting by leaps, less spectacular than Venetian. Although there are a few things I like about it. 1. There was a large non-smoking section where people actually obey. 2. Tons of 1 cent slot machines! yippee! Mom & Dad are sure to love this place.

Kim & Ernest have been telling me of this place, reputedly a fav. spot for them. The view was supposed to be undeniably spectacular. With no expectations, on the way home, we went to McMahon's Point , hidden in a street corner, almost hiding from the city that surrounds it, when suddenly.........

TADA!!!!!!!!!!!!....the most perfect view in all of Sydney. Must remember to inhale and exhale.

My Banggali

I just thought I'ld put something light-hearted today. Reading about housing all the time is just ZZzzZZ. Danny went to the mountains for his annual snowboarding season last weekend and came home with a bad sunburn. He thinks it makes him look like a racoon, but I think he's a chinese Banggali!

P/S DK: HA HA HA HA....so funny!!!...

Sunday

Last night, Kim, Ernest & I went to the city to meet up with my friend Clement for dinner. They were celerbating their efforts of starting a mamak stall in CHinatown. Yes, roti canai and the works! So we had a good time, it was called the Belgian Beer House and had tons of different imported beers. I had mussels in Hoegaarden (which is a type of beer) and it was very good. Very relaxing night, well spent.

Status of house-hunting: 2 bedroom in Liberty Grove is perfect! large living and dining space, good kitchen, excellent environment and convenient for work too. Only downside is, there were at least 30 other people viewing the unit! So it all comes down to the owner's pick of tenants. Hate this renter's market. I already struck the lottery once this year coming here, what are the odds to get this place? Pray pray pray. If all else fails, there is my super lux! which i just switched to a better unit facing the pool. Only cos the balcony was facing the road and it could get a big creepy at night. The new unit has a big balcony facing the pool that I can use as a dining area. Very nice. At this point, I hope I get the Liberty grove unit cos its more value for money but I wouldnt be too bummed to get super lux cos who can refuse super lux???

This morning, we headed up to a suburb called Eastwood where there is a large Asian community and lots of shops for grocery. There are designated shops for seafood, meat, veg and dried stuff so its so convenient! and did I mention variety? I was surprised I saw the prawn chilli oil Lynn likes and even dried squid for soup. Dad will love this place. I can see him going ga-ga over this place. Its also near where Violette lives, so when you guys visit, dad can cook us a feast!! yay

Off to IKEA sale. tara.

Rhodes, rhodes, rhodes your boat

This morning, back to house hunting. Ive finally settled on 3 final choices.
Option 1: Super lux 1 bedder with split level loft-style bedroom, pool n gym, closest to train n bus and work. (335/wk)

Option 2: Medium lux 2 bedder with facilities, still within easy access to work, mall and bus. Yet to be viewed (340/wk)

Option 3: Very lux 1 bedder with facilities, but small living space. Very close to mall and food and within easy access to train and bus. (350/wk)

Bottomline, its gotta be at Rhodes or Liberty Grove cos my pampered toosh can't bear living in a shithole like Meadowbank and I dislike dirty. Hope I get my pad this weekend!!

Learning to smile again

The number of comments popping up have tremendouly increased. I never knew I had "phantom readers". ehhe..but obviously, Im so glad for all your support and kind advice. Today I conquered the city! well oklah, not the whole city, but I managed to get to where I needed to go and didn't get lost! HOORAH! One thing about Sydney, so many Asians...like a mini Malaysia..altho most are koreans, jap and china-mari folks, still nice to see oriental faces. You can definately pick them out from a crowd. The japs will always be in their harajuku-inspired clothing, the koreans are heavily overdone and the chinese ...well..you can tell by their accents and when they ask you if you can speak mandarin.

Middle of Darlington campus

As you can tell, today was a pretty good day. I feel abit better after I got some things done. Met up with one boss, and he's pretty nice. Tomorrow will meet with another boss in the lab, but will only take the bus since it's close by. Hope that goes well. Real work will probably only start in 2 weeks, since I have to discusss the direction of my project with both bosses only next week. Ah well, in the mean time, I can keep studying and keep looking for a place to live in. I really like this area Im at now that I've seen more of the suburbs. Some just look old and dingy, but this is nice, clean and very modern. I likey very much.

View from the Biochemistry & Microbiology building

So maybe I can learn to like this place over time. Who knows?

Homesick or lovesick?

I havent been feeling very well for a couple a weeks, got a general feeling of unwellness which 2 of my dr. friends have failed to diagnose. I even WEBMD-ed myself and i got mild anxiety syndrome! characterised by consistent worrying, palpitations, tingling and numb hands and feet, etc. but dont worry, its not serious enough to be a panic attack.

Im beginning to wish Mom came along with me. Haha so hard to admit ok! but don't worry mom & Dad, I'm going to at least try to be alone awhile and if I really beh tahan, i'll give u guys a ring. Everyone tells me what Im feeling is normal, but that doesnt help me feel better now. I wanna feel better now!

Tomorrow will be my first day in the city, all ALONE. scary shit for 12am curfew girl like me. Im more afraid of getting lost, so i got all my directiosn mapped out as detailed as possible. Hope I find my way and get my imprtant stuff done. Will be meeting Prof. Conigrave also, I purposely made the appointment so that I have no reason to procrastinate like I did today. Will update after, hopefully with good news of my well-being.

I was kinda surprised that I didnt cry after arriving here, but im beginning to feel the loneliness of being alone. I miss all the things Im used to, being home and also miss Danny. If only he could be here NOW (hint hint).

Out from nest blues

Today is my 3rd day in Sydney, got practically nothing done till today cos everything is usually closed on the weekends. Managed to get banking and mobile phone stuff started and hopefully, will be able to find my apartment soon. Was very hopeful before I came here that things will be fine, until I went to see some of the units for rent that I was KIV-ing. Wah lau...cannot man, although a short 5 min walk from the train station, there were no street lights, and the apartment complex was dark and damp and dodgy. Definate NO NO.

Im living with Kim & Ernest for now, at their fab unit in Rhodes. Its perfect, conveniently right outside a mall with easy access to food, bank, work and most importantly,..its SAFE!!! and did i mention utterly gorgeous as well? Can put Mont Kiara to shame!. So Im going to look at some places nearby called Liberty Grove, its an area right opposite Rhodes which is still good and hopefully I'll be able to secure a 2 bedroom at LG compared to a 1 bedroom in Rhodes for the same price.

I have IKEA!! its right outside and so good for me. Suddenly even IKEA seems expensive for a poor student like me. Looks like I'll have to make do with simple furnishing (2nd hand mind you!) Hopefully, I'll get a good place to call my own very soon. Feels like Ive taken for granted having utter convenience back home with the car and all. SIgh..woes of leaving the nest

t- 22 hours

As of now, I currently have 22 hours left in Msia before fluffing off to Sydney tonight. I was telling everyone that I dont feel any different, given this is such a big step for me, moving out of the nest on my own. Tonight, during last minute farewell drinks with Subang United, I really felt antsy for the first time. Coming home also feels weird now, it feels like Im paying extra attention to everything I set my eyes on at home, knowing that I probably wouldn't set foot at the SS 15 house again. (We recently sold the house and are moving to EcoPark in May). Maybe its like a feeble attempt to store all this in my long term photographic memory of the house I grew up in.

Although I am scared of the unknown, I think I'm feel secure enough cos I know what I have to do there. Step by step, I'm sure I'll be fine, or so I tell myself. Thankfully my old friend Colin will be picking me up from the airport and ferrying me over to Suyinn's cousin Kim's place, where I'll be staying for the first few weeks till I find my own pad. So upon arrival I'm in good hands.

I also got a new do. Looks like im 18 all over again. hehehe. this is to fool all those siao ang mohs that this cili padi isn't to be messed with!. Im looking forward to the challenge, not so much the loneliness since Im used to being surrounded by people I know. Well, if I need to feel sorry for myself, I'll pull out my shoe collection and try to smile.

Freaky Friday

I was flipping through the local papers today and came across the daily horoscope section. It read " You will encounter soomeone unexpected this evening". Weird as it may seem, one would think generalising the world's population into 12 categories wouldnt be very specific. But funny how things turn out, this column actually gives pretty good hits. I received a surprising email from an old friend I haven't spoke to for the past 8 months. It really made my day to hear from him and that we're back on talking terms. The feeling of losing a friend doesn't seem very dramatic but the feeling of rediscovering one seems to flood me with alot of emotional baggage. People say you won't appreciate what you have untill you lose it, but this is quite different. Getting it back from neverland seems to be the best thing since colour TV. OK OK, I take that back...best thing since mobile phones.

So Thanks AC, for bringing our almost-lost friendship back from the dead. Now I can leave for Sydney with a clear conscience knowing we're on the same side of evil. Good people never have any fun anyway! HAr Har HAr