Because at the end of every chess game, the King and Pawn both go into the same box.

Above was an Italian proverb found on the cup of my gelati serving from Gelatissimo. It tasted so good and it has huge chunks of chocolate in it. This beats Cold Rock hands down. I don’t think I could eat Cold Rock after this experience. Yes, it is an Experience. *sigh* I want more. >.< It was Steph's birthday yesterday and instead of the movies, we went to a play instead, presented by the State Theater Company of SA. I finally got to go to the Adelaide Festival Centre down by the Torrens River which is beautiful by night. All the lights and buildings. Of course it doesn't compare to those in Melbourne / Sydney but this is Adelaide, nothing compares. -_-"

Anyway, we watched and abstract play called ‘Attempts on her Life’. Even the title is open to interpretation and I must say, it was very interesting to spend the whole duration trying to figure out who this ‘Annie’ was. It started off rather abruptly with different people trying to contact this elusive ‘Ann / Annie / Anya’ (whatever you want to call her) and throughout the play, we were presented with differing scenarios of people, people from all walks of life and background and social status, discussing the character of ‘Annie’, as they knew her. Her childhood, past conduct, her more outrageous exploits, the shockingly cruel deeds, her uncertainties… Some were hilarious, others acceptable, one or two were very disconcerting. You kinda feel that someone was going to take a gun out and start shooting the audience. -_-” In the end, it is up to the audience to decide for themselves whether Annie was one person, or many. Whether the people whose lives she has touched knew here well, or understood her. Whether they forgave her or will they simply forget her? Uh, I am confusing myself now. Some of the scenes really stood out and they made me think, even right now as I replay the thing in my mind. The ending was on a very laid back mode, carefree chatter over bottle of beer, casual and relaxed. Sort of like releasing the audience from mental strain of trying to follow Annie. Lol, I thought that this is just so Aussie, to finish of with a beer. But I did some searching on the net and this play isn’t new. It was written by Martin Crimps some 10 years ago and has been translated into more than 20 languages. The National Theater put it up last year in London. So it wasn’t a new production after all. =P

Again, some photos taken after the play, I skipped the dinner party this time round. Going broke >.<

The Girls =)

The guys!!

some pretty lights that change colour every few seconds, the scary thing is the child-like voice that come out from it. The inquisitiveness of the tone. Not something you want to walk past at night.

Enjoying our gelati after that

I sneakily took a picture of the interrogation scene of the play =P

On Friday though, Amanduh (Amanda) had her housewarming party for us meddies. This lucky girl just moved in to her new apartment which is like the best place ever. Situated right smack in the middle of Rundle Mall itself, on top of David Jones departmental store!!!! Omg, the convenience of things!!! See, she is now 5 mins from uni, Rundle Mall in front, North Terrace behind (that means, library, art galleries, Casino, Festival Centre, Museums), and Hindley St joins off Rundle Mall on the west (read: night spots aplenty), Rundle St on the east (read: cafes, art house cinemas, boutiques, more cafes, and Gelatissimo!). Plus the place itself has its own indoor pool, gym, lounge, function room, rooftop patio / garden etc etc etc…. You get what I mean. =P

Me and the girl herself - Amanda


I made this myself. There was so much dessert that night. Apple pie, Chocolate Pudding, Chocolate Brownies, Cheese Cake, Ice cream, Poppy Seedcake… Oh and Mahesh made us curry which we ate with yoghurt =) and we have the usual pizzas, garlic breads, salad, lagsana.

Then we got bored, so Radikha got out her hair straightener? and James Sagi had a go at Richard’s Hair. Note the curls in the begining..

Dion did some styling…

Note end result. Pretty cool =)

Tim wanted to have his done too…

but I guess some things just can’t be helped. =P Haha…

They tried to make mahesh look like one of our more eccentric lecturers but he messed it up before I managed to get a pic of him so here he is with puppy eyes instead. But we’ll let him go this time on account of his good curry. =)

And so exactly 1 month after me turning 21, there is finally a time for us to get together and have some fun. =) This time it is with the meddies. It is pretty annoying to have your birthday fall right smack in the middle of winter hols when everyone has gone back home. What with med convention being held in Melbourne during that time and rural week clinical practise right after that, trying to coordinate everyone’s timetable just wasn’t feasible. We made do with celebrating it after everyone was back. So many post birthday parties to hold. We’re running out of things to do now… -_-”

It was not exactly planned actually, I just mentioned that maybe might go Karaoke and ppl seemed quite keen on the idea so some last minutes emails were sent, bookings made and before we knew it, it was Friday and we were heading off to enjoy the start of our weekend. (I think it was more of an excuse to go out rather than stay home) Honestly, weekends here are crazy, everywhere is full and bookings are a must. And there were like 3 other people having their birthday’s on as well. Lol, imagine having to go from one party to the other…

Went to the Strathmore Hotel (on North Terrace) for dinner, it was packed!! They have these stone grill dinner where you cook your own meat on a 400 degree slab of stone. Really fascinating to watch but I didn’t get those. Had a delicious serve of Beef Wellington which was something new for me. I never thought that pubs can serve such nice meals. I was expecting decent meals but it was way beyond my expectations. It was nice to be able to try something new. Cept that most of us were too full to finish the cheese cake later, pity… cos it was really nice. =P

After that, the rest of us went over to K Box (yes, they call it K box here too -_-”) to start the entertainment while some others had to leave for other birthday commitments. Personally, I like Buddha Bar better but it just wasn’t appealing having to walk across the city especially when it kept threatening to rain. K Box focused more on Asian artistes and therefore have a smaller selection of English songs and they couldn’t help laughing at the fact that English songs were listed under ‘Foreign’ category. -_-” But we made do with what we had and omg, you never would have believed that some people can be so passionate (and shameless) about singing. Haha…. Opened my eyes yesterday. Should have joined them during their other karaoke excursions next time…..

Anyway, presents!!!! Some really cool ones and others downright embarrassing… =X

From the meddies, which turned out to be…

1. A book (book!!!), ‘The Chocolate and Coffee Bible’ which is quite ‘me’. Well, the chocolate part anyway. It has everything about the different types of chocolate, history, recipes etc =).
2. A Candy Bra. Lol, you’d probably know about it if u’re in Aus long enough. Unless it is an SA thing. =X
3. DKNY Red Delicious EDP spray. Smells lovely and I have to say, this is my first bottle of fragrance. =P Took me 21 years to finally reach here. Quite a milestone eh. According to their website:

A second bite of temptation. A bit more tantalizing, a bit more daring. Champagne, exotic lychee, red raspberry and Crisp Apple combine with violet petals, vanilla bean and patchouli. Completely irresistible.

Below are the presents that I received from a month ago

Okie, so what was I doing the past few weeks since school started???

1. Phyllicia’s 22nd. The fun loving bubbly girl whom I am sharing my apartment with now. =) We had it at Fasta Pasta bcause we love pasta… Lol no. She is from Singapore which explains why she is 22. Haha, honestly, almost every single message from the card I got yesterday had my name and the word ‘old’ in the same line. Made me feel quite ancient really. Anyway, phy is the President of the Singapore Students Association. Well, not for long cos they’ll be handing over soon but wow, I never knew that when I first met her last year. We both love to read although the stuff that we read couldn’t be more different but I did manage to get her hooked on historical fiction. =)

2. Romain’s 19th at the Stag Hotel which serves the best Pub Steak in Adelaide (among the pubs, that is. Lol) Nobody tried the Wagyu beef but apparently their T-bone is delicious (Chong is the strongest advocate for that) but I had to settle with something less expensive >.< " Again, this is a pub that serves better than average tasting meals. A place I would definitely recommend. Plus, it is situated on the east end of Rundle Street which basically houses heaps of good eateries, desserts and etc to satisfy every taste bud. Romain acting crazy as usual. =) Can't wait to watch him in MedRevue next month.

Yeah, we sort of set his cake on fire =P

camera shy… -_-”

3. Next was Vish’s and Dish’s night of blackness. =) This time, we went to the Pancake House which I think is the one and only outlet in Adelaide city. Pathetic really, having only one pancake place. I think they’re trying to make up for it by opening 24 hours. Haha… We choose this particular place because this was where Vishnu met most of us for the first time last year. =) It was on Pancake Tuesday which was basically all you can eat. Satish was supposed to have his own birthday party on another day but Amanda, who organised the thing spoiled the surprised by including Dish’s email in the mailing list as well. -_-”

4. Jack’s birthday which I did not attend since it was held at Dion’s house and it’s too far to walk. Ok, that was a lame excuse. I guess I had enough of parties for that week. =P

Ooh, and it will be Steph’s birthday coming up next. I think I mentioned that we’ll be going to a play this time. Looking forward to it. =)

Ending on a very different note, I recently got this idea for a lovely oatmeal brekkie. =) I am not normally a fan of oatmeal. I still remember the tasteless, thick, lumpy concoction that I had the misery to consume when I was in high school. Not the easiest thing to do when you’re late for school and trying to force down something with the consistency of glue.

Anyway, the Quaker Oats sold here seemed much more easier to eat and I noticed that adding milk to the thing helps give it a much better taste as well. What got me really excited about oats now is Gingernut biscuits!!! What I do is pop 2 pieces of those at the bottom of the bowl, pour your dry oats on top, add some milk, and then add some boiling water to cook it! =) The gingernut taste is lovely with the milk and there is no need to add sugar / honey after that. What I also do is add apples slices and cinammon to it. Delicious! The wonderful thing is that you can go wild here and make up any combi of toppings for your bowl of plain oats. I’m thinking banana and chocolate, nuts and dried fruits / raisins, tim tams??? Lol… make it thick with lots of milk and freeze it to be eaten as dessert instead.

Busy busy busy… =)

Lol yeah, after spending hours in the surgical lab every week. I think I’m starting to smell like the prosections themselves. >.< There are just instances outside the lab where I catch a whiff of scent which reminds me of these things and like, it makes one wonder what will happen by the end of this semester…… not pleasant. Thing is, it gets so engrossing and you end up elbow deep in everything and next thing you know, your hair is in there as well and by the end of 2 / 3 hours, your back and shoulders go stiff from hunching over the table. -__-” And they’re absolutely heavy! Removing the fat was no easy job. I am so totally off fatty foods for the moment (until maybe Hungry Jacks come calling). But its totally fun though, no lectures or tutes and we get to do things at our own pace, explore stuff as we go along. Best of all, there is four to a table so it really informal and we have a nice long chat with each other while working away until someone’s blade slices too deep. Lol. Cept that our table usually end up singing the whole time and it annoys the heck out of the other people working on other tables… Haha…. Okay, not really, we don’t sing that loud or that bad either. We went through a whole score of Disney songs today. =X

Going to the theater next weekend for a play. “Attempts on her Life” showing at the Adelaide Festival Centre which is this really nice collection of three theater halls down by the Torrens River. Lovely view at night. It’s for a friend’s birthday. Haven’t been to the theater earlier this year. Can’t wait.

Breaking Dawn is coming out in 5 hours time… I am in a state of distraction!!! I do not understand why USA can get it on August 2 whereas we have to wait till the 4th but omg, I am so going to the release party. So not missing this!!!