it is late. am rather sleepy. thought perhaps blogging at this time might be sort of therapeutic though. a few things went wrong today. but knowing how the Lord wants us to behave in these circumstances and reminding myself "now, what would Jesus do?" helps to calm me down. and that is good. =)

weather since yesterday has been quite difficult. rain, strong umbrella-destroying wind, low temperatures (7 deg C lowest); i can safely say winter isn't my favorite season in the year. especially when a person has to utilize one's own two legs to get around most of the time.

went to watch shrek 3. it was a poor shadow of shrek 1 and 2, not as witty, and the plot wasn't as solid. at the cinema, 90% of the patrons were school children and their parents. felt a bit out of place! haha.

after that went shopping at coles, to prepare for tonight's dinner. was rather happy with the pork i selected, unfortunately, by the time we got back, i realized the pork had upped and self-destructed. another more logical explanation was that the customer in front of us had accidentally paid for my pork with his items and went off with it without realizing. well, that left me with no pork for tonight's intended dish. sigh. so, ran across the road to foodworks to get the pork, although the stuff there isn't as fresh or as economical. got there to discover that pork was sold out. fine, decided to buy chicken instead. even though the dish was 'vietnamese claypot pork' but, i could improvise i guess.

crossing the road back to unilodge, the traffic light was blinking, signalling that the cars were going to move soon. since we always have to wait an exceptionally long time to cross at that traffic light, i rushed across the road. unfortunately, the light changed just as i was at the third lane. the cars all started moving, and the front car accelerated straight at me. what, am i that transparent? the driver skidded to a halt; thank God i skipped to the left a few steps when i heard the sound of the screeching tyres (the wind was whipping the hair around my face and partially obscured my vision at that point of time. i heard, more than saw the incident) and thankfully the car stopped about a foot away from me. hurriedly crossed the remainder of the road safely and made it back to unilodge, shaking from the close call. i really thank the Lord for protecting me. i am sure that a guardian angel was looking out for me at that moment, praise Jesus i am safe and not flattened meat on the road. although it was partly my fault, i know, i am so never going to walk when that little red man in the traffic light starts blinking anymore!

when i got home, realized that chicken thigh fillets looked okay all wrapped up, but once you take them out, there is lots of fat and goodness-knows-what-else stuck to the meat. had to slowly clean the chicken. my hands were numb from the cold outside, and the cold meat, so i didn't realize i was sawing my finger as well as i was attempting to remove the fatty parts. till the blood flowed of course. but at least it's just a flesh wound, nothing serious.

decided to cook two dishes instead of one; since there was so much chicken anyway: the afore-mentioned vietnamese claypot chicken and salt and pepper chicken. coincidentally, tim, adam and mike produced yet another unnamed chicken dish, making tonight a very clucky one. at least the meal turned out great, as is always the case with our pooled dinners.

salt and pepper chicken

vietnamese claypot chicken

the unilodgeans' saturday dinner

returned back to my room and cleaned the stove and washed everyone's dishes and dirty pots and pans. scrubbed and wiped and threw away LOADS of rubbish. why is it that no one bothers to throw their bags of rubbish but sits them on the floor and the DINING TABLE for crying out loud? finally cleaned everything by 3 am. feeling quite proud of my room and the kitchen now! although the toilet still has a wonky smell. why? cigarette butts found in the tiny dustbin reveal the source of this unpleasant aroma. can't you do this somewhere else. sigh. it's not like the bathroom is such a wonderful place to spend time in to begin with.

tomorrow: study! it's stuvac (student vacation) now for a week before the exams. felt so guilty today when i was told others skipped the movie to study. JIAYOU stef! help me to be less distracted Lord. and to always put you first in my life. in Jesus' name, amen.

my ENGG1000 teammates: (left to right) katharine (fearless leader), david, asqa, me and hanisah at musashi, a posh japanese restaurant in the city. went there on wednesday to celebrate the finalization of the course. cost a bomb (for me anyway) but was worth it, both the delicious food and the company. =)

"He gives us His angels charge over us, to keep us in all our ways. they hold us up in their hands lest we dash our feet against a stone" Psalms 91:11-12