It's Not About How Good You Do It, It's About How Fast You Do It

Thank you Jesus for blessing my week, providing me with a wonderful week and a great week to come~

Sunday, you won't believe who I met up with! I really found that Eliza came to Melbourne. Turns out that KPMG did not provide her a sponsorship, so she had to go back to China. Now, she's giving Australia a shot at getting permanent residence. We finally caught up on Sunday after not seeing each other for three years. I never would have thought I'd see her again after visiting her for her graduation haha... She was more of an acquaintance than as a friend. But it was good to catch up with her. She told me and I totally understand her situation that it is hard to settle down in a new country and not knowing anyone here. I'm glad that I was able to make her feel better to have someone here that she knows. I know she'll meet a lot of new friends from school once she settles down! :)

Satie's co-worker told her about this event called Mundo Lingo where people from different backgrounds around Melbourne meet up every Wednesday to practice speaking different languages. Apparently, this group started from Europe and it spread all the way to Australia. Satie and I attended this for the second time this Wednesday. It's more of a place for people to meet new people and practice speaking different languages rather than a place to learn new language. I think this is a great event and they don't charge any money, so I take this opportunity to meet new people and maybe to practice Japanese hehe... I noticed that there's A LOT of Japanese, Koreans, and Latin American people coming to this event to practice speaking English. With that demographic, there's also a lot of creepy otakus coming to this event hoping to meet Japanese girls... @_@; As for me, I'm just taking this opportunity to go out and meet new people instead of sitting at my apartment wasting more time on Reddit I guess haha... There are some genuine people there when I actually go and talk to them. This is also an opportunity for me to develop a bigger courage to go and speak with stranger since there's a reason to start a conversation with people. Though I feel more comfortable sparking up a conversation when I have alcohol in my system... I'll work my way up to being able to do it without alcohol! xD I'm a few awesome people from Japan, Colombia, Spain, and Hong Kong. I plan on continue going until my time here in Melbourne ends.

Care group~ I'm still going. :) I don't even have to make an effort to go. I just simply feel good going every Friday. They are like a family in Melbourne to me. They are genuine people and they give me a sense of belonging; a sense of knowing that someone cares. Although religion is not that big of a deal to me, this family is very valuable to me. Josh kind of stopped going once he started dating Cindy and care group always asking me about Josh's whereabouts. Oh well. Though this family is important to me and gives me a sense of belonging, I feel like they're not the kind of people I would hang out on all occasions. I enjoy care group, church, after church activities, and nature walks. But during Melbourne White Night, I got a different sense of feeling. Satie describe it as what they think is a fun way to spend the night and hang out. I completely love a good night of staying inside and playing board games, but there are times when I like to just go crazy and live the night. Melbourne White Night is a yearly festival held only in Melbourne that started 3 years ago. One night from 7PM to 7AM, the city of Melbourne is lit up with performances, music, art, fashion, decorations, non-stop action for the whole night. People from all over the world come to Melbourne to experience this event. Care group and I walked around for maybe half an hour and in my opinion, it was just another event with an excuse for people to get drunk and do stupid things. The whole city shut off all the streets for the night because just THAT many people come and celebrate which fills the whole city with people. Yes, people are getting drunk and doing crazy things. Yes, I would love to join them and just have a fun and relaxing night. I ended up going with my care group friends and they didn't seem like they enjoy what was going on. In my eyes, they felt a sense of out of place; like people are ridiculous and why are they doing this to themselves. That's when I felt something that I cannot relate to them. It's Melbourne and it's a special event. Enjoy it; whether you're part of the crowd or just on the sidelines watching and judging. But they seemed like it was a mistake coming out so we ended up calling the night off at around 1:30AM. I was going to go back out at 4AM to take pictures, but I valued sleep more, so I decided to just sleep.

My week has been relaxing and great, but I was scolded at work twice this week -- by my manager and supervisor. They say instead of getting faster at working, I've gotten slower. -_- I feel under appreciated. If anything, I do as many beds if not more than some of my colleagues. I do the best performance at cleaning the showers and bathroom. But to them, it's all about how fast I can clean and make beds and not how well I can do them. Due to these scolding, it made work feel like a lot longer. I'd be making beds and these bad thoughts fills my mind thinking "Ugh... I can't believe I have to deal with them. I want to quit." But I know it won't resolve anything if I try to talk back and justify myself. I guess I have slowed down a bit because it's tired A.F. Only until mid-April, so deal with it Henry...

I'm tired. It's 3 AM. This Sunday, Satie and I plan on going to Mornington Peninsula. We're going to invite some friends and rent a car. I invited Eliza. :)

Value what I have and stop seeking for more

Man, doing housekeeping still drunk is a horrible idea, especially when I have to fix bunk beds! I woke up feeling sick so I ended up leaving the apartment without eating anything because of that hangover feeling? Never again. D:

I must confess again. I've been extremely moody and negative lately about insignificant things again. I'm not sure why, but I guess I am a bit home sick. I kept feeling like I didn't really have any close friends here in Australia. Chris was one of those close friend that I love to hang out with even if he drives me nuts sometimes. I still message him from time to time, but there are times when I wished he was around and annoying me rather than walking down Yarra River by myself looking at Lunar New Year decorations. I'm sure that he'd enjoy seeing that too.

Saturday night was going to be a lonely night lol... Cindy and Josh went to Tasmania. Johnny the new housemate is on a business trip until Tuesday. Satie was meeting up with some co-workers for a farewell dinner party for her supervisor. I had nothing planned for Saturday night and I was going to be home alone. I don't know... Sometimes, I enjoy my alone time. But I don't know why the thought of being alone at home on a Saturday night was haunting me to no ends! So I was preparing myself to spend the night marathoning anime haha (loser alert!). Satie called me and tell me to go out and have dinner with her and her co-workers. She remembered me telling her that I felt lonely in Australia because I don't really have any close friends. She wanted to take this opportunity to introduce her co-workers to me; people of similar age group. I ended up going and it really made my night. I met a lot of new people and I hope to have more opportunities to see them again. I also got really drunk ahahah... Soju is so good though. I was also partly competing with Satie to see which one of us is a stronger drinker. I can't say I win, so I'll just leave it at a draw because both of us were out by 12:30.

After the call with Satie ended, I finally came to my senses that I'm stupid for having all those negative feelings in myself. I have some of the bestest friends right in front of my face and I didn't even try to acknowledge that. Satie and I do a lot of things together, we talk with each other into the nights, and she told me she felt comfortable talking to me about anything. Although she works 6 days a week into late hours, she's really someone that I can say I feel close to. I clouded my mind with silly thoughts and I'm sure it wasn't healthy for my personal growth. I need to learn to value those around me and stop seeking for more than I deserve. I'm really grateful to be in Melbourne and I'm really grateful for the friends that I've met over the past five months, which includes John from Perth lol... I should thank God for the things and people that he has provided me and introduced to me. Not only Satie, but even my care group friends make me feel like I am part of a warm family. They're really sweet and caring people.

Value what I have and stop seeking for more (Greed)... Rewards will come to me when the time comes (Patience)... Live life in the present and learn from the past (Knowledge).

The Popular Only Gets More Popular!

Oh my gosh! Yesterday, I had work and it was almost like any other usual day. We fix beds, clean rooms, clean bathrooms, tidy up the lounge, etc. Last week, we started sorting out trash by recyclables and rubbish. We were on the second floor clearing out the rubbish bin in each of the rooms. For room 219, I accidentally pour the rubbish into the recyclable bin and we were all screaming and laughing at me for being dumb. So I started reaching into the recyclable bin to sort out the trash back to the rubbish bin. All of the a sudden, I felt something sharp tapped on my palm... I immediately threw it back into the bin and said ouch! Turns out it was a hypodermic needle..... Someone has disposed a needle in a regular bin and worse of all without the cap back onto the needle head. The rest of my team freaked out while I checked my palm if it punctured through my skin. I went to the bathroom, cleaned my hands with soap, and sanitized it while my co-worker brought the needle downstairs to the reception to properly dispose of it. I was called down by my manager and he helped me filled out a form. I said I'll be fine and went back to work. I don't know if I'm fine, but here I am, survived a day of it lolol... I'm pretty sure that it didn't puncture through my skin, but I was thinking... If it was for medical purposes, I'd assume that the doctor has told the user on how to properly dispose of the needles... My co-worker told me I should get a blood test just in case. I spoke with my manager after I got off work and he said most doctors would just tell me to wait a week to see if anything happens. After a week, if I do want to go forward with a blood test, I can go to a clinic and bring the bill back to work so YHA can reimburse me since it happened at work. I just hope I'll be okay. T_T If I don't make it back home, you'll know what happened!

Aside from that though, Charlie that I met from Melbourne Knowledge Week messaged me the night before to see if I want to join him for a food event. He's an event planner and loves to blog about food, events, theatre performances, etc. and he was invited to attend the Motorhome Majestic restaurant +a friend to try out their food free and blog about it before the launch of the restaurant to the public. I guess it's a nice way to gain publicity for business. Apparently, a lot of famous bloggers and food Intagramers with 10k+ followers were invited to attend this event. It was like a VIP thingie because we had the first dip on the food -> media press gets to attend the day after -> open for business. I had a fun time, ate a lot, and drank a lot hahaha... But damn, the popular will only get more popular and get exclusive stuff, huh... I hear people talking about seeing other people like they were celebrities. Also, they get to attend these food events for free! Oh, how I'd love to be part of that all the time hehe. We saw the menu and the food was not cheap at all. I must have eaten more than $100 worth of food and drinks. My thoughts? The food was pretty average to be honest. It was like traditional American diner food. Fries, onion rings, burgers, chicken wings, mac&cheese balls, shobert, ice cream, etc. The food was definitely fresh and well made, but that's because we had the first batch of deep frying oil. They say the burgers have a "special sauce" but it tasted a lot like spicy mayonnaise that we use for sushi + regular mayonnaise. The drinks on the other hand was pretty cool to me. Their signature drinks with salted caramel and Kinder Surprise cocktail. The salted caramel drink includes a scoop of vanilla ice cream, two shots of burbon whiskey, salted caramel syrup, and a load of full cream milk +a piece of bacon on top. I didn't see them making the Kinder Surprise cocktail, but both drinks were pretty good. I drank one of each +white wine, and red wine on an empty stomach. I pretty dizzy at the start of that haha... While I was eating, I had one more Kinder Surpise, a margaritas, and a daiquiri. Hey, free drinks are good drinks. I can't pass on those when they walk around passing them out! But boy I never learn. I slept for three hours last night and was up for the rest of the night. Overall, it was a great night. I wandered though... This is the owner's 3rd restaurant. If such food can become successful, what is preventing myself from opening a restaurant that's also successful. All I need to be like Disney; they put more money into advertising Star Wars Episode 7 than the money put into producing the movie. They ended up earning $2billion. Business is all about marketing and awareness as I've learned from Capsim project. I'm sure if I put my mind into it, I can success as well.

But I want to travel more before I head home... 
                                         Life without excitement is boring...

Lalala...

Is it weird that I get extremely satisfied when I encounter a clogged sink and being able to use a plunger to extract a monstrosity ball of hair to see that the water flows down the drain just as it was completely new and working properly?

It's almost Lunar New Year! My daily life just feels the same, go to work, come home, relax, dinner, and relax some more haha... I ended up playing Blade & Soul for two days and decided to re-format my laptop. I was on a 8 game losing streak on League of Legends ranked games. :( It's just impossible to play on the American server. My ping is 280 which feels like all my actions are like 1 second delayed. By the time I see team fights happen and I decide to use a skill, I am already 2 seconds behind. Additional to that, I was getting pretty bad team mates, so yeah. I decided to stop playing. Blade & Soul was causing my laptop to heat up really badly even playing on Optimize for Low End PC with a resolution of 800x600.

Lunar New Year is pretty big in Melbourne since this city is like the 2nd most Asian population in Australia. Walking around the night food market seeing all these couples together makes me sad. :'( But I enjoy taking photos of night views.

The new Japanese housemate ended up leaving after a week. He said his mom had pneumonia and he had to go home. My new housemate is an Australian with a Vietnamese background. He seems like a good guy, so it's all good.

Currently, I am planning out what to do for my last half of my visa. I've been reading into the Australia 462 Work & Holiday visa changes. Turns out that it's still on "white paper" which means it has been brought up but Parliament will not make any official ruling until the end of fiscal year (30th June 2016). I've read that work done before the declaration will not count, while some people say it will count. I was talking with my co-worker and thought that maybe I can ask to be transferred to a YHA in the northern part for my second half of the 6 month max per employer rule. If the ruling passes, hospitality will be one of the choices that will qualify for 2nd year. A part of me want to try to work for the YHA for 3 months to qualify since I won't have to worry about finding another job which qualifies (farming, mining, construction, and hospitality). That means I will have to leave Melbourne at the end of February so I get March, April, and May to get the 88 days. Another part of me wants to just leave at the end of April and find another job up in the north because I want to experience something else aside from being a housekeeper...

But then again, I don't really feel like spending another year in Australia. I am kind of a bit home sick. I miss my family, I miss my friends, I miss Dexter. I definitely want to do a year in New Zealand though! So maybe I'll return home when in 2017? Two years away from home sounds like a good amount of time spent outside.

I've recently finally finished watching Full Metal Alchemist. Satie keeps telling me that Brotherhood is a lot better than the original one and that I should watch it. I gave it another chance and both of us basically binged that anime to the end over a course of like 3 days ahahah... Surprisingly, I learned about the Seven Deadly Sins from that which I thought I've never heard about... Then I found someone posting up a picture on Facebook on how to achieve Zen. Due to this, I'm slowly trying to be more aware of myself and aim to be a better person. :) Every morning, the first thing I do when I wake up is to tell myself that it's going to be a good day! I think it really works! Well... If I wake up feeling like it's a good day, it'll be a good day. If I feel like it's going to be a bad day, it will turn out to be a bad day. But reminding myself that it will be a good day really helps. I try not to complain about minuscule things and look at the positive side of everything. I hope to return home as a changed person.

Just today, I took a first step into changing. Who cares about what other thinks of you? No one has time to judge you because if they're judging you, then they're insecure about something relating to themselves. I guess that's how I feel too I guess. I went to the gym in my apartment basement. There were about a group of 20 people there partying and blasting loud Hispanic music because it's Saturday night. I ignore the thoughts that maybe they're judging me as a loner working out on a Saturday night and I kept doing what I want to do. I don't it for anyone else but myself! The more I do this, I think I will be more comfortable at not caring for other people judging me! :)

I just found out Eliza is in Melbourne. WHAT?! I need to dig more into this and catch up with her! Maybe.

It's 4 AM and my thoughts are all over the place. Nothing makes sense right now and that I should sleep hahaha... I've been watching McDull @_@;