Glorious Dinner

Mood: Very full and content
Listening to: One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey Feat. Boys II Men.

The Dinner Co.

There was an uplifting, fun energy surging through the apartment today - perhaps its because everyone knew that starting tomorrow night, we will all be having a week off of school? The result of it: a laid-back fun & relaxing day, everything was just smooth-flowing....

Therapeutic Baking: Soft-baked Chocolate Cookies

The general ambiance was very chilled and fun. Surprisingly I found that everyone was hanging about downstairs by the living room doing their own thing, as opposed to the usual I'm-going-to-stick-in-my-bedroom behaviour. It was nice to see everyone there together - even though we were all doing our own thing... the warmth of company was very nice and meaningful.

Ms. SG's homemade Italian meatballs.

Time felt neither too rushed or too slow. To pass the day, I headed to the kitchen for some therapeutic baking: soft-baked chocolate chip cookies. Juggling rolls and rolls of frozen homemade cookie dough whilst watching the classic children's tale of Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events.


Mr DG preparing the salad

Admittedly I find the movie to be very good and I'm quite impressed by the author's ability to be very creative and imaginative of his characters and storyline. I love how the movie is tainted with the curious, mysterious feel to it. As my eyes were focused on the events unfolding before me, my attention dwindled as the aromatic sweet, buttery smell of the cookies lingered up from the hot oven and soon began to fill in the apartment space.

.Ms SG's cheese-oozing Italian meatballs.

Today's dinner was quite grand - it happened unintentionally. Ms SG thought it would be nice to invite her friend over to the apartment for dinner, as I was told, her friend was sorely in need of some good company. So at the stroke of six, movement in the kitchen area was hardly at a minimal as Mr DG, Ms SG and I sought to make the best of dinner.

.Ms SG & her friend.

In the process of dinner preparation, Ms SG proudy learnt how to make succulent, italian-herb meatballs stuffed with sliced cheese as Mr DG busied himself with the dinner's salad preparation. Secretly I have to admit it was a nice sight to see: the two youngsters keen on helping make dinner. Eager and determined to make it one of the best meals we've had in a while.

.Ms SG & Mr DG making dinner.

.Degrave's Cookie Monsters.

All in all, it turned out to be a three-course meal. The night ended with soft groans of stomach happiness and stuffed pot bellies as everyone ate to their little heart's content. And this lasted till well over our sahur hour, where at 2 in the morning...still full from dinner's delight, we all sat by the table to sip on hot tea and munch on cherry tomatoes.

.Menu for the night.
Nasi Goreng
Chicken Curry
Broccoli with Grilled Eel
Cheese-stuffed Meatball Salad

Dessert:
Soft-baked chocolate chip cookies and Strawberries with Vanilla Ice Cream



for more photos: Glorious Dinner

.BssMelb's Royal Melbourne Show.

.BssMelb outing to the Royal Melbourne Show.
Everyone say CHEESE!!

This one is definitely for the memory box. Last Saturday was an unforgettable night. I saw, smelt, heard and felt so many things: smiles and happiness, laughter and screams, cotton candies, strawberries and many many more.

Having slept over at a friend's house with less than 3 hours of ZZZzzzZZzzzzs, I admit that I secretly thought I really wasn't going to make it through the day. It was quite an eventful day - one that started 8:30am and kept on till well over 2:30am the very next day. Not that I'm complaining - if more than anything I honestly had fun....Surprise, surprise I managed without coffee - although I was dying for one!...I was very thankful that I managed to sneak in a 2 hour power nap session before the start of the BssMelb meeting...

.After the meeting.
Treasurer & Designer

The afternoon meeting went pretty fast and smooth without much of a bump. It gave us plenty of time to spare so most of us decided to just linger and hang about the apartment. As time ticked on forward, I could sense the general mood of the room pace down and become very quiet... Maybe everyone was too tired due to lack of food?

What can i say?
They were very hungry!

Fifteen minutes before the six, a surge of renewed energy rushed through the room and in a flurry of movements everyone reached for their jackets, bags, keys and what nots before heading down to Gold'an Fork to break their fast.


Future world boxing champions
We were a HUGE group. By the minute, tables and chairs kept being added on as more and more friends joined in for the sumptuous dinner. It was exciting to see everyone laid back, enjoying their dinner in the company of good friends. Catching up on some good ole times whilst creating brand new good ones.

.Leaving Gold'an Fork.

By 7:00pm, we all boarded the tram to head down to Flinder's station and having met up with more Melbruneians, we began to embark on our Royal Melbourne Show adventures. With twenty-two students from various universities in Melbourne, we joined in the BssMelb fun, taking the memorable trip to the showground with almost a whole train cart to ourselves.

For those of who who are not familiar with the event, the Royal Melbourne Show is Victoria's longest and largest entertainment event of the year. Bringing the best all under one roof, it is a ten day carnival event showcasing some of Melbourne's finest ranging from luxury stunt cars, animal livestock shows, carnival theme parks and many many more.

Not sure what it's called.
But the group had fun with it.

In the previous year, Ms DT had the grand opportunity to visit the showground with other friends, mostly the inservice students in Melbourne.

One of the biggest Ferris Wheels

As for us, the moment we stepped foot in the compounds of the fair, adrenaline and excitement sky-rocketed high. Although regretfully, I didn't manage to get on some of the rides that I was really looking forward to trying, I did go on others that proved to be equally as fun.

.A fun and insane session of bumper cars.

For more photos:
.Royal Melben Show.
.Royal Melben Show 2.

.Key to Good Life. ?

.The Key to living a Good Life. - Part 1

The Art of Less Expectations.

Sometimes I think the key to enjoying life is to expect less from it.

If there's one valuable lesson I've learnt over time and in a very hard way is that expectations can always lead to disappointment.

The more you expect things, the higher your chances of disappointments become.

I've learnt that by expecting less from everyone (people, events, things, etc), you may enjoy and treasure it more.

But of course, things are easier said than done.

But hey... I'm trying...

.From the Memory Box.

.For Old Time's Sake.

Moomba Fair, Melbourne 2008

.Rock On.

.The charming ladies.
From left to right: Ms.Chaplin, Ms SS, Ms V & Giggles

Mood: A combination of many things (is that even possible?)
Listening to: Belaian Jiwa by Innuendo


Sometimes I find myself wishing that time had a pause button - that way, there'd be some flexibility in life. Catch up on so many things lost. Do things that you regretted not doing. Say things that needed to be said. See things that should've been seen. Take a photo of the good times and lock it up in the memory box...

Street performers on Bourke Street

Now just a random question for you guys to ponder on:
If you could pause time, playback your life like a film and pick still-pictures of past moments that took place in your life, which would you choose to keep? which would you throw out?

Wouldn't that be interesting, huh? :)

---------------------------------------------

Ms V & DT waiting for the tram



Ms DT aboard the tram on to Bundoora

Over the weekend, I had the humble pleasure of being invited to break fast with some other Melbruneian students in Bundoora. Again a slightly different crowd from the usual and it was certainly fun. A more family-oriented occasion as most of the people there were in-service students (Brunei Government working students) living and studiying in Melbourne with their family, so it was altogether a different scene compared to the usual.

M7 & Kim awaiting oh-so-patiently for the tram

Nevertheless, being able to see everyone there together having good times was really heart-warming and nostalgic. Maybe it was the general atmosphere and the place: festive and homely. It had me thinking of home very much. *sigh*....

.Some of the faces in Bundoora.
Ms.STP & Mr Architect

But all was in good fun. After dinner, the men and some of the ladies had a little prayer session in another part of the housing area. Just everything reminded me of Brunei...the layout of the housing area, the food, the people, the call for prayer... the only thing I thought missing was seeing kids run around the compound, playing with fireworks.

After mingling around with the Melbruneians, Ms DT, M7 and myself decided it was high time to
pop by Rockband & Scarymovie's place for a quick visit. Please note: the word "visit" was an understatement for we all ended up staying over the whole weekend. hahaha

What did we do? We went through a marathon of movies and games till well beyond the break of dawn. I think. hahaha, yes it was that bad that I don't even remember what time i finally dozed off. Personally I thought it was really nice of MrRockband and MsScaryMovie to invite us for a stayover despite the fact that we didn't bring any extra clothes.

Note to self: starting now on, I MUST carry around with me an extra toothbrush!

Buzz Time & Rockband were the two interesting games that had managed to keep us going throughout the night. They were quite fun and very interactive. . Let's just say that now i know what i feels like to be part of a rockband hehehe. After tons of practice with the game, I think it's safe to say that we can now form our own band and go professional. hahaha.

.The Bundoora Rockband.
Singer: MsScaryMovie, Drummer: Mr Buzzer, Guitarist: M7

For more photos: .Rock On.

Movie Outing: the Son of Rambow

.Bill Milner as the main character in the story.

Mood: Content.
Listening to: No Air by Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown

From left to right: Ms V, CameraGuru & Mr Silhouette

I feel so left out - there are so many friends I haven't had the chance to hang out with lately. I miss them. Tonight, I went for a movie outing with some good ole friends whom I haven't had the opportunity to spend time with. It felt good being able to hang out and catch up with a different crowd. There were definitely tons of photo ops, added to the fact that I went camera-trigger happy after CameraGuru let me play with his Nikon d200.

The ever popular & always in demand, Nasi Uduk from Es Teler.

After what appeared to be a rushed sungkai-dinner session at Es Teler Restaurant, with huffs & puffs Ms V, Crocs, DT & myself speed-walked up to Lygon's NovaCinema Theater to meet up with Mr Silhouette and CameraGuru for the movie show: Son of Rambow.

Outside the NovaCinema Theater in Lygon
P1: Ms V & Ms Crocs
P2: Ms DT & Ms V

Son of Rambow was an enjoyable film - I was quite impressed with it as the film had good directing and a humourous story line. For sure, I wouldn't mind getting it on DVD once it comes out. In case you're not sure what Son of Rambow is all about: the film is a light-hearted comedy about two English boys who were inspired to create an action movie of their own after watching "Rambo:First Blood"! Because of the innocent nature of the kids, expect to see many hilarious moments that will have you rolling with laughter. Quite good!

Images from Son of Rambow taken from here.

.CameraGuru clicking away in Nandos, Melbourne Central.
For more photos: .A movie outing.