Apartment hunting

Sigh.. time is going by so fast and my to-do list just keeps getting longer and longer..

So I tried to be productive tonight and look for a place to live next year.
Firstly, I had no idea where to even start.
Do I want to live in an apartment? Or rent out a room in a house? By myself? Or flat with other people?  In the city? or in the suburbs where it's cheaper?
But I couldn't even ask myself these questions, cause my only priority was that it allows pets.. LOL

I really really want a puppy next year... I know I sound needy but I think it's the only way to stop me from dying of boredom in Hamilton.
I knew it wouldn't be easy to find a pet-friendly place, but I did not know that most places allow cats but not dogs!! Honestly that is so petcist.. I hate cats.
Well I don't hate cats but they are nowhere near as cute as puppies.
And some of the ads have NO DOGS ALLOWED in capital letters, yet they allow cats and smokers and children.. not like those are any better.. ==

So I went through pretty much every apartment in the city, and even in the suburbs and none of them were pet-friendly. Until I found a site called easyflatmate.co.nz or something like that.. the name is pretty self-explanatory. And some of them actually allowed pets. So I messaged a couple of them.. hopefully they will reply me soon. But the annoying thing is that they are all guys.. sigh I don't really want to flat with a guy.. TT
So now I'm thinking maybe I should just give up on the idea of getting a puppy.. cause I probably won't have that much time to take care of it right? I had this idea in my head that I would go home at lunch to feed it, but that would only be possible if I lived in city close to my workplace.
Arghhhhhh so frustrated!!!

Life update

Hellooo guys,

Haven't blogged in so long! It's been a pretty stressful month, with my last ever university exams and all, but glad that it's all over now! The wait for exam results has been nerve-wracking.. every morning I get up I check Student Services, but still haven't got any back yet.. hopefully I passed everything ><

Been super busy after exams. Thought I would be able to finally relax and enjoy my last ever proper summer break, but I've been working at my parents' business everyday cause they are understaffed atm, and really really busy. So I've been waking up early every morning, and working till 5 in the afternoon. Ugh.. so tired everyday, don't have energy to do anything.

Last night was my friend Halle's engagement/birthday party at Crystal Lounge Bar. Everyone is getting married!!! (Well all of Brandon's friends are hah). One of his good friends is even about to become a dad soon.. lol kinda weird when I think about it. I can't imagine myself getting married for at least another five years, but I'm glad we are on the same page about this. Anyways, happy for all my friends who are entering into a new chapter of their lives! :)

Moving on.. so my start date for Fonterra got moved forward a couple of weeks sigh.. so now I am starting work 4 days after I come back from our holiday. I got a new manager too and she called me last week to ask if I can start earlier, since the current grad is finishing his rotation soon, so she thought it would be a good idea for him to teach me everything in his last two weeks, to allow a smooth transition/handover. I guess it's a good thing for me, so I don't go into work the first day and get totally overwhelmed by everything. I must say.. Fonterra is soo.. active LOL. We have a welcome pizza & drinks next week, and then I'm going down to Hamilton next month, to attend some half yearly conference thing. And we get regular e-mail newsletters, and we're getting paired up with a buddy/mentor soon. I guess that's the good thing about grad programs; they offer you alot of support and help you network and all that jazz.

Something that's been annoying me slightly though is peoples' reaction to me going to Hamilton. That's why I don't really like talking about work, but I always get asked so zzz..
Particularly one person's reaction (who shall not be named cause I am a nice person lol) was all like: "Omg, why are you going to Hamilton.. it's such a shithole.. man good luck with that ay hahahah,' and then he proceeds to keep laughing as if it's such a funny thing. And then starts bragging about his new job, and how much he is getting paid (lol I just wanted to say back to his face: 'Pfft I'm getting paid way more than that' but I didn't cause then I would be stooping to his level). Honestly I hate people who feel a need to show off about everything..

Anyways back to the point, I am only going to Hamilton for 6 months, so it's really not such a big deal, so please stop feeling sorry for me :) I am kinda excited actually, finally get to have my own place, and be independent and not have naggy adults around me telling me to do this and that.

Ok.. I had heaps of other things to blog about but I am running late now. My friend is here from Australia so we are going to High Tea at Stamford. And then I have work later at the bar TT

So will blog more later!
x

My First's Tag

Hello guys,

I thought I'd do another tag today, since they are actually alot of fun, and so much easier than normal blog posts cause I never have anything to blog about.. XD

So this is the 'My First's Tag', inspired from Youtube. I thought I would be a bit more detailed with my answers this time, since last time my answers were really short.

-What was your first tweet? 

Okay so for those people who know me well, they know I am a Twitter addict. I tweet ALL the time, and I have 13,136 tweets and counting, so it would be impossible for me to scroll all the way down to find my first tweet. But luckily, after a quick search on Google, there is actually a way to find your first tweet without scrolling down your page. So my first tweet was.. *drumroll..*
"I am sleeping at 2am today! An hr earlier than normal.. yus PROGRESS :D" 
hahaha night owl since December 2009 lol

-What was your first YouTube video? 

I think this question is for all the Youtube gurus, but anyways I've actually posted two videos on Youtube. My first video which I have deleted now cause it was too embarrassing was a video of me playing piano, for an online competition I entered haha, and the second video if anyone cares is a surprise video I made for my boyfriend for our one year anniversary ^^

-Who was the first person you subscribed to on YouTube? 

I can't remember who was the first person, but it may have been either Michelle Phan (the most famous Youtube makeup guru) or Jayesslee (the twins who sing awesome acoustic covers of songs)

-What was the first Facebook profile pic?

 My first Facebook dp was a camwhore photo taken with one of my best friends back in the day, in the bathroom in her house. Sadly, I am not really friends with her anymore due to various reasons.. ><

-Do you still talk to your first love? 

Nope.. I don't even know if he even remembers me anymore haha. My first love was this white guy in Intermediate. I was absolutely infatuated with him, cause he was cute, smart, and good at pretty much everything. He was like one of the most popular guys at school - lead in our school production, in every sports team etc. I met him when we were both in the table tennis team in Intermediate, and for awhile I thought maybe he liked me too. But he was a year above me, and then left for high school at Avondale College. Noone knows this but part of the reason why I chose to go to Avondale was cause I wanted to see him again LOL. My parents actually wanted to send me to a private school but I refused.

-What was your first alcoholic drink? 

This question is pretty funny cause most of my friends now think I am a hardout alcoholic. But to be honest, I didn't start drinking till maybe around 19? I used to be really against drinking, and at parties I would be super downbuzz and only drink water haha, but then on a trip to Melbourne with some friends, we went clubbing (which was also my first time), and they corrupted me lolol. My first drink was a Jaegerbomb! I was really noob and didn't even know you had to put the shot of Jaeger into the glass of Redbull haha

-What was your first job?

 My first job was working at my parents' ice-cream shop in Lynnmall. I didn't get paid at the time, cause my mum said she would pay for my Japan trip in high school, so I slaved away for almost 3 years without getting paid.. TT

-What was your first car? 

I learnt to drive as soon as I turned 15, and my parents gave me their old car - a white Toyota Corolla, which I gave to my cousin last year when my parents bought me a new car. I loved my old car to bits though, pimping it up with Hello Kitty haha here's a picture:

-Who was the first person to text you today? 

Eddy Liu, asking me to have dinner with him tonight.

-Who was the first person you thought of this morning? 

My boyfriend ^_^

-Who was your first grade teacher? 

err I don't remember who was my first primary school teacher.. (Simon help me! LOL)I think it was an Asian lady called Mrs March? I don't know.. lol

-Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane? 

I guess it was when I came to New Zealand from China when I was 4? I don't remember anything since I was so young.

-Who was your first best friend & do you still talk? 

My first best friend was this Asian girl called Joanna in primary school. We weren't super close, but she was the person who I thought was the closest to me throughout primary school. It was funny cause I remember one time in class, the teacher asked who everyone's best friend was, and when it got to me and Joanna, we both didn't say anything. I think we both thought of each other as best friends, but then we didn't want to admit it in case the other person didn't think so hahah. Anyways I don't talk to her anymore, but I do have her on Facebook :)

-Where was your first sleep over? 

I don't really remember my first sleep over, but my mum was really strict so she wouldn't let me go to any in primary school, so I think my first sleepover was at my friend Meili's house in Intermediate, since my mum knew her dad so she let me go.

-What was the first thing you did this morning? 

Err I went to pee. LOL and then I took a shower, and made brunch.

-What was the first concert you ever went to? 

Mayday 五月天! They are an Asian group/band, and Amy is really obsessed with the lead singer, so I went with her when they came to New Zealand. She was so funny.. at the concert, she screamed "I love you Ashin, marry me!" LOL

-What was your first broken bone? 

I've never broken a bone, and I hope I never will. Cause my brother's broken his arm twice and it looked pretty scary..

-What was your first piercing? 

My ears and that's it.  I kinda want a second upper ear piercing though.. but I'm scared it'll hurt lol

-What was the first foreign country you've gone to? 

Well besides New Zealand and China, the first other country I went to was Japan on a school trip, like I mentioned earlier. I would love to go to the US in the future! Maybe next year if I am lucky :)

-What was the first movie you remember seeing? 

Does this question mean in a cinema? I think it was the Pokemon movie in primary school.. in the super shitty old cinema in New Lynn, that later got shut down cause it was so shitty lmao

-When was your first detention? 

I think I've only ever had one detention in high school.. and it was for something really trivial like I was late to class or something.. 

-Who was your first roommate?

I've never had a proper roommate.. I guess it would be either my brother or my cousin Heidi? lol Heidi used to snore really loudly and annoyed the shit out of me. (HAHA jokes don't kill me)

-What was the first sport you were involved in? 

Table tennis! My dad is a table tennis pro so he's taught me since I was little. I joined the school team in Intermediate, playing both singles and doubles.. but I think the best result I got was only third at Regionals? 

-What is the first thing you do when you get home? 

Take off my bra. LOL sorry if this is tmi but I really hate wearing bras.. lmao

-When was your first kiss? 

During a game of 'Spin the Bottle' in first year of high school. Ugh I hate that game. 

Damn, this tag was actually alot longer than I was expecting.

Hope you guys enjoyed reading it :)

x

Feeling a lil sentimental

So my friend posted this picture/comic strip on Wechat last night.. and it made me cry, and I felt like I really had to blog about it. I just feel like I can relate so much to this picture.

For those who don't understand Chinese, it's basically about how much parents love their children.
The grey cicles represent when the child isn't at home, and the pink circle represents when the child is at home.

So the reason why I can relate to this picture is because I don't see my parents that often anymore.
Either they are really busy working, or I'm not at home.
The only time I properly get to spend time with them is in the weekends, and even then, sometimes things will come up so I won't get to see them.

Growing up, my parents have always been workaholics.
I think I already mentioned this in a previous blog post, but my parents work 24/7, from 7 in the morning to sometimes midnight.
They've never had a proper holiday; even on public holidays they sometimes have to work.
I remember I used to resent them alot when I was younger because when all my friends were going on family vacations, I never got to go anywhere. Obviously I was really immature; my parents were working so hard to give me and my brother a better life, yet I was always making them feel guilty for not spending time with us.
I used to have a really bad relationship with my mum especially. Maybe all adolescents go through that rebellious stage? But I used to constantly rage and swear at her, run away from home.. I remember I even hit my mum once or twice. Lol I'm actually tearing up right now even thinking about that. In Shanghai families, the mum is the boss of the house and the dad is the weaker one, and I guess my family is a really traditional Shanghainese family? (But my mum isn't like those snobby Shanghai women! She's actually super nice and caring; she's just also really strict)

Anyways yeah that rebellious stage continued till around university, when I finally grew up and matured. I started telling my mum everything about my life.. and we became super close.
But I guess with my parents being workaholics, it taught me to be independent from a young age. And I kinda got used to it. I started working lots of part-time jobs and paying for most things myself, very rarely asking them for any financial support. Of course they always supported me whenever I needed it (like buying me a new car and new laptop etc, but most everyday items I paid for myself)

I guess the good thing about my parents letting me be independent is that I got to do whatever I wanted. I didn't have curfews, I could just stay at my boyfriend's place if I wanted to, I even went to Melbourne twice by myself. And now, I really thank them for not being over-controlling, and over-protective, like most Asian parents. It helped me mature and face the real world. It doesn't mean they loved me any less than other peoples' parents; but sometimes the harder you hold on, the more they pull away. Of course they still had high expectations of me; I had to get good grades, find a job etc, but when they saw I did those things, they let me be happy and do whatever I wanted in my spare time.

But despite how much I love my independence, sometimes it makes me feel guilty that I'm being a bad daughter for not spending a lot of time with them. Especially after reading that comic strip above, I feel like I should go home more often. My parents aren't getting any younger, and me moving to Hamilton next year means I'll get to spend even less time with them.

I feel really grateful to have such amazing parents. They've always been so supportive through everything; I honestly don't know what I would do without them. They are so inspirational and constantly teach me how to be a better person through their actions. My only wish now is to repay them and have the ability to give them a better life, so that they can stop working so hard and go travel the world together, like they've always wanted to.

<3

A boring day in the life of serawera

Actually don't have anything to blog about but I can't be bothered studying so here goes some rambling lol

Today was actually the first day in over two weeks that I didn't have work and could just stay at home the whole day. I was looking forward to sleeping in till late, having a nice BBQ dinner and then doing some study. And none of the above happened LOL.
well the BBQ was quite nice I suppose.. but I felt nauseous all day (dunno if it's from the pill that I just started going on.. or from lack of sleep).

So I finished work pretty late last night, came home and was drifting off to sleep when Jeannie drunk calls me telling me Cathy had her keys and she couldn't get into her apartment. I didn't wanna go out by myself so I made Brandon drive us to her place to get her.
When we got home, she was still super drunk haha it was so funny.. she just kept mumbling in Chinese; couldn't even understand a word she said. And she refused to sleep so I started playing Tetris while she continued to mumble to herself.. lolol drunk people are so funny..
Anyways after an hour or so, she finally fell asleep but I couldn't sleep for some reason as I started to feel super nauseous. It was already around 7am by this time, and she woke up around 3 hours later, and we realized that her keys were in her jacket pocket the whole time..
LOL lesson learnt = never believe anything a drunk person says hahaha

So we dropped her home, came back and slept for around 3 hours before bf's mum made us get up to help out with the BBQ. They were having a dinner party at home to celebrate bf's dad's birthday.
So I made a salad (which everyone said was super nice muhaha.. dammit I should've taken a photo) and helped cook on the BBQ.
And then we were just sitting at the table eating, when one of their family friends started talking in Shanghainese and I was like: 'Oh you guys are Shanghainese too' and they were like 'yeah~!' And then somehow the conversation got to them asking about my parents and I jokingly said: 'Oh you guys might even know my parents since the Shanghai circle is so small' And they asked what my parents' names were and I told them my mum is a twin. And they were like: 'Oh! We know of your family! You guys are famous in the Shanghai circle.' And I was like lol wtf...
It was a bit creepy cause they knew everything about us.. like the businesses my family have been doing and what school my brother goes to and shit.. I guess the world is super small.
So don't do anything bad! Cause everyone will know about it haha

Anyways, the BBQ itself was quite nice. We had heaps of food - sausages, my famous mushroom balls with wasabi + yumyum sauce, kumara, steak, lamb, salad, vegetables and heaps more.
I wish I took a photo now :(
Haven't had a BBQ in so long! Made me happy cause it means summer is finally coming!
And then we also had two cakes.. here is one of them.

I like taking photos of cakes cause they always look so pretty
I didn't have much food though cause I was still feeling nauseous..
maybe it's a good thing that I started the pill so it can help me lose weight lolol
But I shall see how I feel in the next few days

After dinner, me and the bf made some Hong Kong milk tea for everyone.
It was a practice round for the HKESA Food Festival next week where we are all bringing some foods/drinks to sell at uni (kinda like a night market thing)
Surprisingly, it's really easy to make milk tea. All you need is some strong black tea and condensed milk. And our first try was a success! Everyone said it even tastes better than the ones you buy heheh but they were probably just being nice :p

And then for the rest of the night, I caught up on Grey's Anatomy, Fei Cheng Wu Rao, and also watched the ATP Shanghai Finals where my hubby Del Potro was versing Djokovic!
lol me and Esther spammed Snapchat while watching cause it was so damn intense, but unfortunately, my hubby lost in the final round tie break :(
Oh well.. at least he got into the ATP World Tour Finals!! SO EXCITED.

So that was my day in a nutshell.
LOL I really don't know why I blogged about this cause it wasn't a very exciting day, but Carmen told me to blog so there you go.
This post is dedicated to you Carmie :3 I miss you!
Now you know how boring my life is hahaha

Probably should sleep now. Got our final auditing group presentation tomorrow!
Hope we get full marks again like last time ^^
Goodnight world.

Oh here are some photos of dinner from the other night with Eddy and Jeannie at The Grill by Sean Oconnolly. Haven't had fine dining in a while, and this place was super yum! (But also expensive TT)

Monthiversary

Today was me and the boyfriend's 27 months so we went to a nice Thai place called Jungle Flavour Thai Restaurant for dinner.

We haven't been on a proper dinner date in awhile since we're trying to save up for our holiday, and we haven't had Thai food in like a year, so we thought we would go and celebrate our monthiversary for a change.

Haven't taken food pics in so long! haha I remember I used to take food pics and post them on Instagram all the time.. lol the lighting was kinda shitty at the restaurant tonight so these photos don't look that nice.. or maybe my food photo skills have deteriorated haha

I got the Penang curry with chicken and bf got the Red Curry with duck, and we shared a Tom Yum soup which is one of our favourite soups (the combination of hot and sour tastes so good! And it's also got coriander in it which I love. If you guys haven't tried it, you definitely should :)

The portions were actually huge! We were both soo full afterwards
Some of the Thai places we've been to in the past have had really shallow plates with small portions.. but this place was definitely good value for money. And it tasted quite good too. Not the best Thai place in Auckland but not bad at all. My fave Thai place used to be Khao near Chancery in city.. but then it closed down :(

Can't believe it's been 27 months already.. I'm actually starting to lose count haha,
Time goes way too fast

趁早

So I had a pretty lousy day today..

• Overslept and missed my tutorial
• Ran out of milk 
• Went to fuel up and the petrol station was closed
• Got to uni and couldn't find parking (I usually park outside OGGB)
• Went to Princes St and saw a parking warden so I had to pay till 6pm
• Got to work and the elevator was broken
• Tried to study but barely got anything done
• Stayed late in my office to do more work but then my laptop ran out of battery

I guess it wasn't the most awful day ever or anything, but it just left me feeling tired & restless.

But then I came home to a cute package from Fonterra, had some dinner and made myself a big cup of green tea, and now I'm feeling better. I shall try and get some study done now; got 2 assignments due on Thursday and I haven't started on either.. sigh all-nighters here I come again :(

But I'm super looking forward to watching the finale of The Voice China later!

Goo mushroom head! I hope he wins.. his voice is so nice I could listen to it all day long.

ok gonna go study now :)