*shucks* exam coming up

just wanna let all of you know i have an exam coming up, so trying to box everything into my brain. it's open book i know but still have to be familiar with the location of the resources.
so most probably will be back next tuesday or wednesday. please pray for me ...

NZ Knight vs Perth Glory (22/09/2005)

got free tickets from work to watch a soccer match between NZ's knight and the Perth Glory.
i have never been to a soccer match before. it was held at the North Harbour Stadium in Albany, Auckland. the stadium is huge and the carpark was really confusing. (for me at least). i had a car park pass for south carpark and it took us about 15mins to find it. there's 'red badgers' (security) everywhere but they aren't much help. anyways finally we are parked and went into the stadium.
our seats were pretty good. most of the stadium were empty since this is not the English Premier cup. hehe. anyhow, the commentator said there were 4,138 spectators altogether.

i saw many kids who came with their parents. (family pass' quite cheap)

i got bored by the 15th minute as it was still nil score. i brought my novel with me but jake banned me from reading. he said we should watch the whole match.

ppl were cheering and clapping for near misses. Gosh, this is real bad isn't it? there were some chaps in front of us that cheered like mad (see row 2 pic 3 -l to r)

finally, the Glorys scored 1 point at 68th minute. hehe.
but all in all, it was quite a good experience. but if there were more free tix, i will think twice before i tell jake:P

aftermath ..

i am very 'kam cheong' about my package to be returned from the consulate. in the morning, i checked my postbox so many times before i set out to work. finally convinced that the courier driver will come some time later.

when i reached home, was told my package hadn't arrived. i quickly logged on the website to trace my package. says has been delivered. i was panicky. i think i am like a broken cassette tape to karen over msn. karen maintains her cool and said the computer system must have cocked up.
she assures me my package will arrive tommorrow. i am still restless.

i looked around and found the customer service number for nzpost. gave them a ring and was very impressed the callcentre is still opened. the gal was very efficient and ask me to look around my front yard. she said the driver could have laid the package anywhere as it's small. i frantically looked at my shrubs, hedges, postbox for the umpteenth time. no sign of package. the gal, btw her name is magnolia ..she was very nice. promised to launch an investigation for me to find out where the driver have placed my package. she took some details from me. said the investigator will ring me tommorrow morning. hung up the phone.

*light bulb shining*

i looked under my doormat. guess what's underneath. the package. i quickly rang the customer service line again hoping to get magnolia but got ian instead. told him i want to cancel the investigation as i found my package.

what a relief.

in restropect, i think i am acting so silly but i am sure you would feel the same if you were in my position.

Consulate

today i woke up at 6 20am (haven't woke up at that hour in ages) and prepared. it is my big interview at the us consulate. i am applying for a tourist visa.

on monday nite, i realised i forgot to buy courier envelope. grrrr. luckily NZ post opens at 7 30am.

the process is almost stricter than boarding on an airplane. the lift to its floor doesn't open until 8am sharp. anyways some super kiasu samoans were way ahead of me on the queue even though i was the first to step into the lift.

i was the fourth person and before i was allowed into the office, I have to past through a metal detector frame. the security guard asks for my pasport and insists that i keep my kitchen sink bag with him or he will inspect everything (eg, asks me to open my small lipstick box to show him what it is) so i quickly told him he could have my bag. so i was admitted into the office. there's a row of seat and 5 counters. booth 1 says cashier, counter 1 is us citizen ...and so on. i was at counter 5. non immigrant visa. there's picture of 4 important politicians in us. i only recognised president bush :P

then there on counter 5 there's an officer that checks the paperworks. mine was short and sweet as i prepared all my paperwork ready in the file. i had bank statements and everything ready but he only wanted employer's letter and rate assessment and my passport.he asked me to take a seat and someone will interview me.

finally my name was called, and here's the dialogue:

officer: Good morning (said over the mike) the counter has plastic window it's just like in bank..

giff: Good morning

officer: could you please put your left index finger on the machine please?

(finger scanned)

officer: now your right index finger.

officer: so you are working with fonterra huh?

giff: yes. fonterra brands. it used to be new zealand dairy foods. recently it was sold to fonterra.

officer: so you majored in accounting?

giff: yes i did.

pause. pause.

officer: ....
i can't remember what he asked me.

officer: so you are going to Minnesota? in NOVEMBER????

giff: yes.

officer: it's going to be soooooooooooooooo cold there.

giff: i'll make sure i will wear something warm.

officer: you better, or make sure you buy something warm when you get there. your passport will reach you tommorrow. (something along that line)

giff: i'll. and thanks.

that was my adventure at the US consulate.45mins altogether inside the consulate office.

Cramp..

had bad p/cramp today. wish i could lie in bed with a hot water bottle on my tummy. weather's not helping either. it's stormy and even hailing. just 2 weeks ago, i thought spring was here. nevertheless, i decide to have a picture blog today. more pics of orchids from the spring show i went.enjoy.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

or also known as happy mooncake festival amongst south east asian.
pinkcocoa has written brilliant entries about mid-autumn and mooncakes in her entries.visit
pinkcocoa's coverage pinkcocoa covers about the origin of the festival and also fanstastic tasting of all sorts of mooncakes.thanks pinkcocoa :)

for me, mooncake festival reminds me of my paternal grandma (my ah ma). her birthday fell on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. before she past away, we celebrated her birthday every year and all my cousins will return to sibu to celebrate grandma's birthday. her first big celebration was celebrated in my house. mom made a corsage for me and my two other cousins besides for grandma. three of us were all born on the same year.i remembered i was so happy that day i was running about and one of the petal of the vanda orchid dropped from my corsage. so much for the running around. *paiseh. as the years gone by, there are more additions in the family, we moved the birthday celebration to restaurants. i miss grandma's birthday.

as for 2005, i had a steamboat. or hotpot (all the different term used depending where you come from). the weather has been wet and rather cold in auckland so steamboat seems to be a great option. here's a photo i took of the ingredients before steamboat started. there're the typical fishballs,squidballs, etc etc homemade beef wontons, chicken, veggies, wooden ears..btw, i prepared the chicken stock myself.
chicken bones,celery, carrot, ginger, garlic. it was nice steamboating in front of the tv ;) following the result of election 05 in NZ.

passport photos..

i promised ccie i would write about my passport photo adventure. at first i tot there would be nothing to write about since it's just going to the shop, stand/sit, snap, pic developed, VOILA.. passport photos ready.

mine turned out to be an unexpected adventure. i rang and checked a shop first and went there to be told they no longer offer that service, but on the same arfternoon, i actually rang and spoken to somebody from their shop. how can they be so misleading. they direct me to their other outlet. i am a little annoyed.

i decided to go to a nearby mall to take pics from those camera shop but no parking available so went to that other outlet mentioned by the first shop.

guess what? the machine at the other outlet was broken and they shut down the machine. i told the poor lad who's at the photo counter that i am really annoyed and have been sent by the other store. he couldn't stop apologising..then decided he would do it differently and get it developed by an instant machine or something.

and these days, you are not allowed to smile on your passport photos. so i have to appear very grim which is not me at all.

my passport photos turned out real ugly (as usual, all my passport pics are disastrous). this one makes my face looks so damn oily but oh well, i can't complain when the lad kindly helped me. he must have sensed my despearation

p/s: this post is longer than my usual ones. it's just me whinging

Spring Orchid Show-Saturday 10/09/05

i was lucky to be able to go to the Spring Orchid Show this year at Mt Albert War Memorial Hall. there're mostly oldies that was at the show. (i think i must be the youngest age group that was present). there's heaps of species, classes that was being contested and there were trading tables too. i refrained from buying this time, plus the society i joined will hold our own orchid show next month. i snapped lots of pics (brought 2 memory cards) but some pics turned out blurry. i still don't know how to use that digital camera of mine.

here's some samplers of the plants i like:



p/s: my first attempt on making a collage :)

Handicapped Badminton Tournament

yesterday i was dragged to a handicapped badminton championship, not as a spectator but constestant. i have been playing in the local badminton club for several months and it was my first tournament. it was handicapped because players of different grades compete together. to make it fair, the less competent player will have points ahead of the other player. i played the in the females double and came out first (in descending order) hehehe..

Pisang Tandok Anyone?

i saw these green bananas at the grocery shop at southcity, otahuhu(an old suburb in Auckland). i only ever go to otahuhu to do asian grocery shopping. anyhow, these bananas really attracted my attention. it was labelled as 'tandok' $1.99 per kg. i was really surprised to find the pisang tandok here in auckland as i tot pisang tandok can only be found in msia. that's what pisang goreng is made of if my memory serves me correctly. it makes me wonder where pisang tandok originated from?(btw, most of the tropical fruits/root vegetables are imported from the Pacific islands to New Zealand)

the pisang tandok reminds me of aconversation i had with a fijian colleague of mine. she told me her grand dad fought for the British army in malaya in the 40s. what she also claimed was that the fijians were the ones who brought taros (ubi keladi) to malaysia.

Friday's Drinkies

it's just going to be a short post today. i had to go to a farewell drinkies for a colleague. nothing much, the usual wines, beers, cheese and crackers. i am quite sick of the cheeses, there's havarti, double cream, brie, camembert and what have you. there's also the new bbq flavoured dip, (which we discovered was made of 'halal' gelatine) and also this Capsicum and Chipotle dip (whatever chipotle means, but it tastes like a relish, chutney thingie). visit Puhoi Valley Cheese for the variety of cheeses and dip i was talking about.

Just Another Pretty Thing

recently my orchid flowered. as an amateur and budding gardener, i was really thrilled.
i have a collection of 12 pots and they are from variety of species. i chose the ones which are tough, easy to plant and idiot proof (according to the book). anyhow, one has flowered in the last 9 months that i owned it. here goes ...sixteen flowers in all...it might not win a prize in the competition but it's enough to make me feel so proud and so pleased ...

First Attempt

ehem...my first attempt at blogging after months of following my friends foodblog.
recently two of my best friends started their own blog and it was really a good way to catch up- to find out what's been happening to his/her life.
gone were the days when I could type 10 emails to 10 different friends.