Lai Min & co in Melbourne!

Lai Min, bf Kwang Zhen, sis Lai Kuan n her bf Boon Chun are in melbourne for a few days. they're all studyin in uni of queensland, n graduating end of the semester, how happy! yesterday at around 4pm, jacke suggested we bring them to Phillip Island to see penguins, n so we did! the penguin watch is normally during sunset, when they have come back from a day's fishing, back to their burrows to feeed their children (if any), n their partners dat are takin care of the children. this is my 2nd trip to the penguin parade, n i would say, it is worth the money! i paid $16 for the ticket (under student concession), n i saw a lot more penguins than i did the 1st time! n this is kinda the mating season when they would have kids, usually 2 eggs, then either one or both will hatch. i got to see little furry penguins in the burrows, n they were so so so cute.. imagine the adult being the size of... okay, the height of a 1.25litre soft drink bottle? so the youngs were smaller, super cute! then we got to see more about 100++ penguins comin up from the shore n into their burrows (Lai Kuan was counting them). it was quite close range, at times within reach. but of course for conservation purposes, we're not allowed to touch them.. keke then after the watch, we took some very nice pictures, bought some, actually. we stood in front of this bright green background, n pretended dat we were takin pictures with penguins! of course they were fake, n we couldn't see them. only the photographer could see them in her computer screen. it turned out pretty good, unfortunately jacke wasn't in the picture. he said he had been there already n wouldn't pay to go in again.. huei chyn, peik ai n shuyi were there also.. they ended up sittin in the car with jacke tellin them stories about how we met bla bla bla.

today we went to sovereign hills in ballarat. it's a mining-town-cum-museum-concepted tourist attraction. this would be my 3rd trip there, n i'm still wonderin y i would fork out $22 to go in n see the same things over n over. but it was different, this is the 1st time i went with jacke.. have to go mar.. couple wat.. :D bought some sweets- rainbow mixed, acid drops n eucalyptus flavoured (for my bro). they're sweets made with the old ways, maybe with some new ingredients, but they're hand-made, n really nice. Lai Min n co did get me n jacke a 'leather' book mark each with our names on it. it's really cool, n really pretty! thx u guyz!!

tmr we'll be drivin up to the GREAT OCEAN ROAD to see the 12 Apostles. i've been there once with a whole group already, but this would be with jacke.. hehe, again.. couple mar!! it would be a long drive.. jacke did all the drivin up til now.. we've rented a 7 seater Kia Carnival.. it's so spacious n comfy.. everyone just slept thru the journey. it was quite quiet, considerin dat the car was big, everyone was further apart.. anyway, hopefully everythin will be fine n smooth sailin.. of course it will be fun as well!! yay, trips! n more money to spend.. sigh..

thx for everyone's concern about my 2 dogs sony n spencer.. i've found a pet-carer who would take care of them when i'm gone. it costs $20 a day for both dogs, she comes to my place to feed them, clean them n walk them. it's quite reasonable, altho i would still have to provide all food n toys n necessary things. i hope the bill doesn't come up to a stage where i can't afford it.. i'm kinda dry nowadays, so i think i will use the money my frenz still owe me to pay the pet-carer. hopefully when i go back to KL, i would be able to collect my money IN FULL. the service will start 7th dec n throughout til feb when i come back, n occasionally when my sis comes to my house during january weekends, i won't need the pet-carer's service. so dat would be at least $1k, sigh.. anyone wants to contribute? i should set up a sony n spencer fund.. hehe okay, i should go.. almost 3am, should wake up 6.. sigh

wish me a fun-filled day!

damn laws on privacy

here's my case, in 2001, my 1st year of uni, i signed a contract for a mobile phone under my then bf's name, which i will only name him R, at this point of time. shit, i'm already havin a headache.. we have agreed on this 28 month plan, which ends today, dat i will pay all bills by direct debit, and all letters n bills will be sent to my place. i will be the sole user of the number, n i keep all the contracts. 28 months ago, i stayed in Burwood, n has since then moved to Hawthorn East, Box Hill, then Box Hill again. i couldn't change any details of the contract at all since i'm not the bloody account holder, so i had to call R to change them for me. u see, R was only my bf for less than 2 months, n i haven't been talkin to him much since we broke up. so, imagine the agony of havin to call him to change details. this i have attempted to avoid, thus after askin R to change the Burwood address to the H.East address, which he did reluctantly, i didn't ask him to change any more addresses, so as to save effort n trouble. i had the bills direct debitted to my bank account anyway, i don't need the bills.. a month ago, a lady from the phone company called me n asked for feedback on the service provided. we went on n on with the account holder status n she adviced me of wat the best deals i should go for, for my own interest. bla bla bla, i didn't realize until today, dat it is already the last day of my account service n try to make arrangements. i called them regarding the transfer status, n they said they couldn't do it for me, these are wat they told me today:

• becoz i'm not an Australian citizen, or have a permanenet residency status, i should have a job.
• becoz i'm not employed, n do not fulfil the above criteria, i have to pay a $200 bond, returnable at the end of my contract (which is today, duh)
• becoz i'm not an Australian citizen, or have a permanent residency status, they need me to fax a copy of my passport n visa to them for verification purposes.
• becoz my visa is expiring in march 2005, they are not approving the transfer from R's name to mine, even tho the plan is expiring today. they will not be able to do the transfer (which costs $27.50, btw) until i have renewed my visa, which is ridiculous..
• oh, n for the $200, if my transfer was to be approved, i have to send them the $200 n get it back at the end of the contract anyway.. it's stupid.

thus, i have decided to hang up the phone, becoz there is nothin i can do anyway, so much for payin thousands over the 27 months. altho i must say a big thankyou to Mitch on the other line who talked to me nicely n did make the effort to explain everythin to me. i will no longer use this number adter it has expired, which i dunno exactly when becoz i just called R to have him call the phone company to disconnect the line. after dat, i will be using jacke's number, almost the same company tho. oh, n i can never understand y i couldn't sign the contract under my name in the 1st place? jacke's not an australian citizen, nor a permanent resident, or employed. both our visas were for 3 years.. anythin else? i dunno, it's just plain stupid. those of u who wants my number, plz contact me here, or in msn. thx for readin my rambling.. i hate payin those bills.. they never go less than 100 each month, n considerin dat i've once paid $3000 over 3 months, they should have put me on a VVVVIP status.