Marie Antoinette

Phill and I went to our local cinema to watch Marie Antoinette and I enjoyed it. He didn't although he enjoyed the choc top ice-cream we had (which we think is the best we've had so far).

I enjoyed the movie for the fashion! The accessories, dresses, shoes (!!!) were gorgeous! But other than that, it wasn't a character-driven movie but was successful in flashing flash out the excesses of those times.

And I thought Rose Byrne who was Duchesse de Polignac in the movie was gorgeous, more so than Kirsten Dunst was.

What a Week!

I started on my new job on Monday and was slowly introduced to the workings of my section. I was really shy (being my first week and all) and preferred to sit by myself eating lunch and reading planning materials (some of which were interesting while others were abit dry). =P

A colleague and I went with our manager on a site visit on Wednesday to a local area and were educated on a planner's perspective when viewing an area. We were also told what was good or poor planning and had to make observations during the trip which we were quizzed later on. Fortunately, not a serious quiz but a casual conversation about what we've noticed and our manager peeling away more layers so we understand where we should look and how neighbourhoods could be set up so the best amenities could be achieved for the community.

Then yesterday, I was tasked to research on some data for a presentation my manager was making next week. I felt abit thrown out of my depth cos I didn't know certain trends but I did my best with an outline given to me on some current issues. My task was to find evidence on the issues, such as population growth and trends, the aging population, the exit rate of farmers from their farms.

I wanted to work fast and hard so I can hand in the work early but it got abit frustrating sometimes because I couldn't find the data I needed, such as where people in a certain region were moving to cos it's data that is not easily tracked. Data on no. of people moving out or moving into a particular district was easier but to track where they were going to wasn't easy unless it was in general categories of Melbourne, interstate or other parts of Victoria.

I made several revisions after recommendations by my supervisor and another planning colleague and got to work again. I'm not done yet and felt really tired from staring at data. Sometimes graphs and trends weren't available so I had to obtain the raw data and convert them into bar graphs (which I find the easiest to read data) and also theoretical explanations to support the graphs.

I'll be glad when this is done... =O)

Eildon Dam

Phill and I visited his parents at Alexandra cos they were helping their friends house sit while they are away holidaying.

While we were there, Phill suggested driving to the Eildon dam (20 mins drive away), and we were sad seeing how low the water levels were. It was so different to our last trip there in 2001 when there were so many people visiting (car parks were full) and the water levels were so high. This time, there was only 2-3 other cars besides ours.

After visiting the dam, we went to a local cafe a short drive away and I had an iced coffee which was a great relief from the heat, while my parents in law had banana milkshakes and Phill had a banana thick shake (which wasn't very thick).

And not long after we arrived home, we (or rather my father in law and Phill) got the bbq going and we had a yummy dinner of sausages, chicken, kebabs and salads made by my mum in law - YUM!

Danny Bhoy cracks me up!

Image by Photobat (www.photobat.net) and taken from www.dannybhoy.com

Phill and I went to Shepparton (about 1.5 hours drive away) yesterday to watch a dishy Scottish comedian, Danny Bhoy, at the Shepparton Arts Centre.

It was a fantastic and hilariously, laugh-a-minute, comedy act by the talented Danny Bhoy (stage name, no idea what his actual name is) which lasted about 2 hours and worth every cent we spent on the tickets (an affordable $24 each).

My voice was quite hoarse from laughing so much while Phill's jaws ached.

On our drive back home, we broke out into laughter remembering certain segments of the comedy act and we'll repeat it and then laugh together.

We laughed so much, we added years to our life! ;O)

And we enjoyed it so much, we've bought tickets (at S$32 each) to his 1-hour show at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in April! We can't wait to laugh again, with Danny!

My first sponge cake

I decided to bake a passionfruit sponge cake today and took the recipe from the Australian Women's Weekly magazine.

Everything went fairly well although I over whipped the whipped cream and it turned to liquid and buttery....arrrgghhh! I had to send Phill out to buy me another bottle of whipped cream. Other than that and the fact the preparation took me over 2 hours instead of the prescribed 20 mins in the recipe, everything went well. The cake was really light and fluffy - YUMMY! I can make this again although I hope the preparation will be shorter than 2 hours the next time.

Getting anxious

I had rung the company I'm joining to enquire about my offer letter when I returned from Singapore on the 18 of Jan and was told they were still working on it. When I still hadn't heard from them a week later, I was getting increasingly worried. I thought perhaps they are not going to give me the job...

Then I received a call this morning from a company representative and she said they're waiting on one last signature on the document so they can proceed to send me all the application forms. Several minutes ago, about 4.30pm, she rang me again to say they've got the signature and we fixed my start date for work on 19 Feb. I was also told to wait for documentation from the recruitment officer which I have to complete and return to them.

Yipppeee..............! My break is coming to an end..... =P