A Week in the World of...

Hello! :)

Initially, I meant to update 9 days ago. But then, with each day, I felt less and less like doing it. Actually, I'm still intermittently procrastinating as I'm typing right now. As a side-note, I've recently found Minesweeper to be mind-numbing, but in a good way. I'm playing it so often now I think I'm developing RSI on my right index finger. Also browsing through the 200 or so gigabytes of anime I currently have on my hard drive to see which I might make a start on this holiday. Anyways, onto the actual entry. Nine days. I know that's slightly longer than one week, but I kept procrastinating,



Okay, a little more procrastination later, and it's now been 16 days since I meant to update, LOL. The title should now more appropriately be "Two Weeks in the World of...", but oh well. Presenting all events as they occurred in chronological order seems a little bit pointless now, firstly because there's some days with heaps of stuff happening, some with nothing, and secondly, because I don't really remember anymore the exact time when everything happened. But I'll try to record everything as accurately as I experienced them, minus the time and date.

The VERY first thing is that on the day that I originally meant to update, my sister Wendy went for her 8th grade piano exam. For those who don't know, 8th grade is a big deal, because it's the pinnacle of piano tuition without heading into the insane depths of A-Mus, L-Mus, etc. which do literally drive one insane. Also, once you have your 8th grade cert, you can teach, if you can stand it. For the record, she passed. I didn't have doubts for a second :) .

After the exam, we went to Sunnybank to celebrate, and got solids from KFC, liquids from Gloria Jean's and Easy Way for me and Wendy, respectively. Two funny things, explainable only through photography.

This is the tiling that's underneath the counters at the KFC at Sunnybank Plaza. I'm not sure how clear it is, but I've captured the KFC logo to the left to verify it IS KFC. Anyways, notice that while the fries are correctly coloured yellow, the hamburger has been strangely shaded purple, and the drumstick is extremely hairy. The drink, while not really in KFC colours, had nothing inherently wrong with them. But I would suggest firing whoever designed those tiles for them. No one in their right minds would purchase a purple burger (I would hope).

Next thing...

This is the Easy Way drink that my sister ordered that day. There was nothing wrong with the drink itself, but I noticed something interesting on the side of the container. I think that the shape of the cup made it difficult for my camera to focus on the text, but take my word for it when I say that the green text spells out: "Drink slowly. Beware of choking on toppings." Personally, I would make a warning just a little bit bigger, and possibly in red too, if it really is a warning. Essentially, they've made it the same size as the Easy Way website. LOL.

Other things that happened on Friday the 7th of December. Successfully passed through three yellow lights while driving, that made my day. Parking at Garden City? What parking? I couldn't find a parking spot, so I dropped off Wendy and Nat, drove back home, parked in the garage, and took the bus outside my house instead. The bus was stopped at two yellow lights, but not me driving, so I didn't mind.

Pass this date, things start getting fuzzy. Like Saturday the 8th, one day after. For some reason, I don't remember what I did that day. Anyways, on Sunday, went to Yum Cha with family friends, including Yvonne, Heidi and Sally. Went shutter-crazy, and have plenty of photos as a result. Enjoy.

First to set the mood.

Okay, now the photos

This was the beginning of a whole chain of conversations regarding mobile phones. Incidentally, this was also the day that Heidi's phone died. Died is probably a polite way of saying it. A more appropriate term would be quit. That phone was a quitter. Good riddance. Can't wait to see her new one :) .

This is my lovely sister. Three things about this photo.
1. Yes, this is a pose apparently.
2. No, I didn't ask for it.
3. Yes, she does look normal sometimes.

This is my other sister Esther. Luckily, this photo caught her at one of her cuter moments. Tantrum mode is slightly less attractive. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of that yet.


The "other" Yau's, Heidi (left) and Yvonne (right). For some reason, they look extremely alike in this photo, at least to me.

For some strange reason, people have this tendency and desire to self-shoot a photo, despite the presence of other able-bodied quasi-photographers who would be more than happy to take a picture without risking cutting half of someone's face out of the frame or getting a weird angle. In case you were wondering, yes, they took this photo themselves, and I pointed out the previous fact to them straight afterwards.


People also have a tendency to "pose" for a photo. It's decorative, but then, there's really no need to "decorate" a photo, after all, isn't your face pretty enough?

Un-posed (above) vs. Posed (below)

Really, what's the difference? By the way, pictured above is Sally, family friend of 14-ish years who apparently used to call me "big brother". I have no recollection of this, but it sounds kinda cool. As long as you smile, a pose adds no merit or attractiveness to a photo in my opinion. Opt for the "natural" look :) .

Oh yeah, parents were also at Yum Cha, but we teens had a table all to ourselves (although me and Vonnie aren't technically teens anymore). I had a photo of them, but they're boring in comparison to us. ;)


On a Monday, possibly the 10th, had a few on-the-road encounters that made me think. First of all, I was driving mum, Esther and myself to Sunnybank Plaza at around noon-ish for shopping, heading along Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Road. Going through the Logan Road intersection on the middle lane, the situation was reversed from normal; for once, the right lane was stationary and the middle lane was moving. I had just entered the intersection on the middle lane, when suddenly a car from the right lane veered into my lane in front of me.

Even with quick reflexes, I stopped within two feet of that car, with the ABS screeching protest at the abruptness of my braking. My life didn't quite flash before my eyes (I don't really know what that experience is like) but my heart was certainly racing after that near-crash. Not the first time something like that has happened, but the first time it's happened with passengers (especially a toddler) in the car with me.

Lesson 1: Bad drivers consider other cars and their drivers expendable. Good drivers realize that no one is expendable, and that driving is not a simulation.

Heading to Bible Study that night, I noticed two things. The first of which was a three-car accident on Logan Road, just before the Gateway onramp. Crashes are bad enough, but this one involved three cars, and at least three drivers. From what I could see, no one was badly hurt, but still, three heads are not better than one here.

Lesson 2: Prevent crashes wherever possible. If not, try not to involve other people (i.e. a one-car accident). At most, inconvenience only one other person (i.e. a two-car accident).

Later, on Mains Road, there's a section where no one travels the left lane until they have to make a turn, just in case the bus decides to stop and either delays you or forces you to merge right anyways. But new drivers can't be expected to anticipate this, I'm sure, and so, some people do the right thing and give way to them when they need the space. I did, to a driver with either an L or P plate, I don't remember which, who was stuck behind a stationary bus. Usually, the giving-way car slows, and the merging car merges without the giving-way car having to stop completely. But I think this one was a little hesitant, merged a little, than stopped mid-road, before flooring it. But this was enough to make me come to a halt too, and though I wasn't annoyed, other drivers behind me were, enough to high-five their steering wheel.

Lesson 3: Give L-plate/ P-plate drivers a little slack. You'd give it to open drivers, why not them? Some drivers intentionally withhold given way from these green drivers. I say we boo their behaviour and do our best not to imitate them. We all started as newbies.


On the topic of driving, I am, as of the 20th of December, on my open licence, which means more demerit points, a new licence (as I only got a 3 year P licence) and lower insurance premiums. Score! But... instead of updating the licence with a new look photo, I found myself with the same face, same hairstyle, same expression and... the same shirt! I don't know how it happened, but I wore the same shirt on both occasions where I had my photo taken for my licence. What are the odds? So essentially, they might as well have stuck with the old photo, LOL.


During the past two weeks, a little event called Holiday Sunday School also happened. I think the day Vivian sent the email out, I happily volunteered to supervise cooking and boat-building for the oldest group, grade 6 and 7's. Then, days before the event, she asked me again, forgetting that I had already previously already agreed to do some activities, to help out. So I happily volunteered to supervise cooking... again (boat-building was already being tackled by the intrepid Emily).

Next, I heard the budget for each activity, and my face was really this shape -> o_O
Knowing that it would be next to impossible, I told her I'd just donate the ingredients. Among other things, she was already worried about the financing, and the aim to keep everything in the black and not drop to red was at the forefront of her mind. Fiscally sound, but I wanted the kids to have a lot of fun cooking, or else they might be haunted by the memories of the inane boredom cooking at Holiday Sunday School and decide never to cook again.

The settled menu dé jour? Pizza and choc-centred muffins. Wendy also made Christmas cookies at my request in case we had time to spare to decorate with icing and stuff (i.e. act like grade 1's). I think they had fun cooking, expectedly, at their age, boys and girls are natural enemies, or at least never in alliance with one another, so two groups formed by gender, which was convenient; things were done twice as fast (I think). I didn't get photos, disappointing, but I think I made the right choice. Bringing a camera phone to the beach was risking damage. Bringing a camera phone to a kids cooking area was risking turning a handy electronic appliance into a paperweight.

Also, I thought I had forgotten it. Turns out it had just fallen out of my pocket when I was driving. I omitted the price of my three bags of groceries, but other people read the receipt, even after I scrunched it up and threw it in the bin, and Viv managed to suspiciously estimate a figure pretty close to the actual. So much for mystery. -_-"

The day ran smoothly, and the ledgers were actually black at the end of the day, and not red, which was good news for anyone planning to go to camp next year.


Also, I have now officially equaled both of the Bible Study records, firstly with leading a single chapter for four weeks (it'll be my fourth week once we resume anyways) and secondly with only going through a single verse in one week. This coincided with the return of the AYC goers, including Girl Power (whoever they are) and Rev Lui, which accounts for the hour-long discussion on something. It's not that I don't remember what we discussed, but if I told you, you'd lose the incentive to come along to Bible Study ;) . Come along when we resume if you want to "know".

Well, either I've forgotten the rest of the interesting stuff, or that's all folks!

I bet you're feeling a little like this

Hardly spellbinding material here, but it is 2:22 in the morning. And 16 days is harder to keep a track of than I'd thought. Due to the current length of this entry, I will save stories of Michael's Christmas Party and the MYF Christmas Party for another entry. Thanks for reading!

Till next write --