March 29, 2015
We got ourselves some coupons from Groupon Australia for the adventure cruise. Initially it was supposed to be the four of us, our family + Azah. Later on, I decided to ask Siti and they were totally elated to come with us. So, it was basically the same group that went to Lakes Entrance, minus Suzy.
A group of friendly seals 'chilling' out at their regular port.
March 22, 2015
Agreed to meet up with a dear friend who is returning to Melbourne for her thesis correction. Thanks Azah for initiating this! As usual, when I need to go out on a non-working day, mini-me oftentimes tags along and this Ia one of those days. Look, she is all donned up for the occasion!
March 21, 2015
Unlike Cavalia, I never intended to bring Iris to the show. But when you see her talking about it with excitement, every time Cirque du Soleil ad appears on TV, you feel like not wanting to disappoint her. So, on _____ I purchased 3 tickets online. Because I am a full time student, I got discount for my ticket. Got them printed out and purposely stick them on the fridge door to surprise Iris.
Her expression was priceless. That morning, as usual, she went to the fridge to get some milk…
May 21, 2014
I am not a big fan of strawberries because I have low tolerance for sour fruits. Oftentimes I would just observe how Iris enjoys them while trying to imagine NOT having that sour taste in my mouth. My office mate, Tony, commented that strawberries nowadays are not how they used to be. Modern day strawberries tend to be larger as that is how the market wants them, but not necessarily sweeter than the heritage breeds. From then onwards, I try to look for smaller strawberries, maybe visibly less attractive, but I hope with greater sweetness in them. Found the smaller variety once at Queen Victoria Market but the taste was disappointing. So I stopped searching for ‘sweet’ strawberries.
This evening I went to Coles with Iris. The trip was initially for a hair cut at the salon nearby but the hairdresser was pretty occupied. I have to go back tomorrow morning.Anyway, we stepped into Coles to get some veggies and Iris asked for the strawberries. Funny how a shortie like her can spot something so high up. Got a box for her brain food for school tomorrow. As usual, she wanted a taste of them and out of curiosity, I tasted one. Oh, I couldn’t believe my tastebuds! It was sweet, perhaps the sweetest that I have ever tasted! It was yum!! Here’s some images of the yummy strawberries, just in case you want to have a go at them too. 
May 20, 2014
Hi! This morning I went to Queen Victoria Market to get these souvenirs for my respondents. Got about 200+ of them and six fridge magnets for my sister in law. The key chains cost $10 for 5 packets, and I bought 35 packets in total. I was contemplating between the clipping koalas/kangaroo but I reckon these key holders are more practical. 😉 In my humble opinion, the clipping koalas or kangaroos are getting too common in Malaysia nowadays. I want to give my respondents something special, something that is rather ‘uncommon’ for the time they spent to participate in my study.
Some people argue that giving tokens are akin to ‘bribing’ respondents into participating into your research. What say you? I believe it is a token for their time and for their contribution, period. And you might think – whaaaaaaaat, only a key chain? Well, it is a one and a half page survey, mostly close ended question and may take at most 10 minutes to complete. And it is all they way from OZ, okay! (Oooohhh, I just hope that they will not be taken by the “Made in China” label somewhere on the key chain…). Emo lah pulak aku nih, mcm orang menjengah kat blog nie pun. Hehehe.
Oh, changed my mind about putting them in a padded bag. Although the bag is tough and able to hold the weight of the items, the nice lady at the post shop advised otherwise. Imagine, she said, a 20kg parcel is stacked on top of your parcel and we don’t provide fragile services… With that caution, I decided to transfer them into a box which, according to the lady, is more reliable for the kind of consignment that I had in it. Anyway, the souvenirs are on their way to Kuching now and should be there between 3-5 days’ time.
With that out of my hand, Afyq, anjang is counting on you now!
Iris and Me 