working at the gizmo is too much fun

Morgan is my friend who lives in the basement.

She is tall and thin, has an afro and long, spindly arms.

--

me: *struggling to reach over the sub bar to wipe it clean*

morgan: *walks by with a bucket*

me: MORGAN. HELP MEEEE.

morgan: *looks over at me*

me: Come save me, spider woman! (this is a reference to her spider-like, spindly arms)

*beat*

morgan: You know, just for saying that, I'm not going to help you and let you struggle with your stubby little arms.

--

:)

and before i left

Someone said to me:

"Have a safe journey, stay close to God and continue to touch peoples' lives. Because you know what? I think you have that gift. You've been such a blessing."

--

Hope you're all doing well.

:)

gizmo makes us crazy

A kindle is a electronic book reader thing that amazon makes.

See more here.

--

me: *leans over kindle* What are you reading?

emily: *looks at me blankly*

me: What are you reading?

emily: Sense and Sensibility.

me: *makes a disgusted face*

emily: You know I do it to make you vomit, right?

me: I wouldn't put it past you.

--

Hope all is well.

:)

we refurnished

and our suite looks really cool.

But for some reason, I can't post pictures today. When I figure it out, I'll have them up for you.

Fo' sho'.

Also, colour is spazzing and I can't make that happen either. :s

In other news, I've got a lot of homework and am sitting in semi darkness eating Scooby Doo fruit snacks which are muy delicioso.

And I have to get back to it because it's important for my future and all that stuff.

Hope you're doing well.

:)

fall weather makes pretty things

And marshmallow toes. :)

Hope you're all well.

:)

look what i put on today

Fall is here!

I'm wearing jeans for the first time ever, and FLUFFY SOCKS! :D

Hope you're all well.

:)

i have met the nicest people

this is my brain

this is the crazy person i am now living with

She's actually a space gremlin and lives in the cage under my bed,

but people still call us roommates.

Haha.

It's been really good here.

The food is a lot better than I expected it to be (though I have started to miss some of the spices that I have grown to be used to) and the weather is great almost everyday.

My professors are cool and the people I've met all seem to be crazy, just how I like them, and my room is as messy as my one at home. :D

There will be more news to come, I assure you.

And now that I have an iPod touch to take HD photos for you, there'll probably be more of those too.

Hope you are all well.

:)

--

edit: For some reason, blogger isn't letting me use colour. :(

i should start doing this again

hi.

Now that I have very comfortably settled in, I no longer have an excuse to not do this.

:)

first stop: taipei, taiwan

"HMPH. AIRPORTS MAKE ME LOOK DISHEVELED."

*oh no people are staring, try to look normal*

Haha.

I've landed safely.

Next leg starts in about an hour and a half. That's gonna be a 13 hour plane ride.

Wheee.

Hope you're all well.

:)

--

edit: Rach thinks I look like a poser in the 'normal' shot. I suppose that's why people are still staring. :P

sam 'scrumptious' schmidt shiew

There is a new addition to the family.

His job is to replace me when I go.

His name is Sam.

But we all call him Scrumptious.

No, he is not for eating.

:)

meet jeffrey

Guys, this is Jeffrey.

He is freaking awesome.

I stole him from my dad.

He's happier with me.

I HAVE NEW TEETH

This is the post in which I am going to blatantly ignore the fact that I have not blogged in more than a week.

Oh wait..

..whoops.

--

IN OTHER NEWS:

I HAVE NEW TEETH.

Or rather, just a new tooth.

I'd take a picture of it, but I'm actually sitting in The Coffee Bean and popping out my denture at the table, taking a photo of it, and popping it back in would be, as my mother would say, quite unbecoming.

So instead I'll just tell you about it and how awesome it is to talk with my mouth wide open to show it off.

Though it's done so well no one actually notices it.

Hmph.

That is all.

Hope you're well.

:)

calamity magnet parts iii and iv

I have rashes.

They go from my face to my knees and they tingle with the intensity of a million ants running all over.

And on Sunday, I threw up a caterpillar.

I think he was living in my caesar salad. He made me real sick before I spewed him. I was too sick to take an actual photo of him, so please accept this poorly drawn cartoon of him as a substitute.

So yeah. Hope you're well.

:)

--

P.S. It's hard to take yourself seriously when you're frowning like that at the camera for long enough for photobooth to take the shot.

THE GREAT TOOTH EXTRACTION

[WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL AND IS NOT SUITED FOR THOSE WITH WEAK STOMACHS. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.]

Hello.

Here is the post that you have been (or at least SHOULD have been) looking forward to:

The morning was uneventful because I was sleeping it away. My appointment was at two, and I got out of bed at half past twelve. Heh.

I spent my time in the waiting room chatting it up with with the receptionist and my gramma who was there to pick up her new dentures.

But that's not what you want to know.

What you want to know happened in the dentist's chair.

Now, I'd never met this dentist before. My usual dentist, Dr. Ling, in this clinic is on maternity leave so she left me with another dentist. Dr. Amy. Dr. Amy was very nice and we had a quick little chat about the whole procedure and what was gonna happen and then she started getting ready.

And of course she was getting ready behind me.

So I tried to see.

And mahm was outside parking and thought that it would be a good idea to start texting me repeatedly during this very stressful time.

I try to stay calm during dental procedures, but my brain betrays me and makes my palms clammy and my face wince involuntarily.

Normal extractions usually require two numbing injections.

But not mine.

NOPE.

I needed four straight up.

And then another three as the procedure went on.

Dr. Amy said it's because the tooth had been chronically inflamed for so long.

For those of you who don't know of the root canal tooth, it's kind of a legend. I had it done when I was thirteen and then it was maintained for five years. It was a weak tooth, undoubtedly, but it was strong enough to act normally for the longest time.

And then it cracked.

No, I was not chewing on rocks. I don't know what it was. It just cracked. And it cracked down the middle. So it HAD to be taken out.

The top came off easy.

The crown. The part you can see.

But the root?

It was as stubborn as I am.

What the dentist eventually had to do is drill/crush it to small pieces and then fish the pieces out with a pair of tweezers.

It took an hour.

And was a ridiculous experience.

But now extractions can never make me nervous again.

And here is a photo of the remains of that traumatic day.

Hope you're well.

:)

i am in pain

Will do the nice post with pictures and details tomorrow.

Right now, I just wanna sit here.

Goodnight.

calamity magnet part ii

When I was thirteen, we discovered that I had faulty tooth that refused to complete it's growth. I had a root canal procedure done. Over the years, the tooth was repeatedly opened and sealed again, each time being filled with calcium to encourage growth so that there would be no more risk of infection and the tooth could be sealed permanently. And other than the fact that it needed all that attention, it did not actually present any problems.

A month ago, it finally closed up.

In two weeks from now, I was supposed to go in and have it sealed just in time for my departure.

Last week, the tooth cracked down the middle.

Tomorrow, I'm going to have it removed.

*sigh*

Hope ya'll are well.

:)

comedy gold

Husna Qureshi: hey have you heard the name tamsin?

Amanda Shiew: nooo

Husna Qureshi: huh

Husna Qureshi: me neither

Amanda Shiew: is it made up?

Husna Qureshi: no i saw it twice today

Amanda Shiew: where?

Amanda Shiew: in different places?

Husna Qureshi: two actresses

Husna Qureshi: both acted in jane austen films

Husna Qureshi: coincidence?

Amanda Shiew: NO

Amanda Shiew: THEY ARE ALIENS

Husna Qureshi: maybe it's a popular british name

Amanda Shiew: hahah

Amanda Shiew: always the logical one, aren't ya?

Husna Qureshi: nah

Husna Qureshi: they probably are aliens

--

Hope you're all well.

:)

common curtesy

In the car on the way to dinner, we were complaining about how a woman was just sitting in her van in the parking lot without any indication of whether she was going to drive out or just continue sitting there.

I was going on about how it was a 'common curtesy' and Alex was talking over me about 'common curtesy' and Adam who was in the backseat and felt excluded decided to include himself.

Yes, he does this all the time

--

And then Alex and I had an idiom fight.

me: A rolling stone gathers no moss.

*long pause*

him: Uh...sharks have more teeth than you!

me: What?! That's not an idiom!

*loud burst of laughter*

mahm: Yeah, it's an idiot.

--

Haha. Win.

Hope you're all well.

:)

calamity magnet

Hello.

You may have noticed that I have not been writing here as often as I usually do.

That's attributed to two things.

One:

I was busy. :)

Two:

On the last day in Perth, I closed the car door on the ring finger of my right hand.

This is kinda how it went down.

I was sleeping in the car on the way to Woolworths because I was recovering from a short night of rest.

Groggily, I got out of the car when we pulled into the parking lot.

And then

DISASTER STRUCK.

And of course everyone wanted to know what happened.

But I was in too much pain to talk.

So we rushed over to the pharmacy to go see if they had instant ice packs.

Which they did.

But none of them would work.

So I had no choice but to hang out in a cup-o-ice and water.

And my day was kind of ruined.

But then I got home and was given a tiger print plaster to keep my finger protected.

And then my day was better.

--

My finger is healing. Slowly. I'm going to go re-dress it right after I post this.

And I'm fine. It's just just slightly inconvenient to write and type and play the piano.

Heh.

Hope you're all well.

:)

figure it out

Tonight, Alex and I spent a bonding session in front of the television.

And as we contemplated ordering McDonald's and leaving the tv stuck on Nickelodeon, we decided to revisit some classic Nick and opened up the laptop to see if there were any Figure it Out episodes up there.

We adored that show.

I would look forward to it, so much so that I'd arrange my schedule around the times I knew it was gonna show.

Watching it today was a different story.

Let's just say that I can understand why our parents weren't too pleased when they caught us watching reruns of the episodes we had seen.

It's...not that great a show.

The host fumbles over her lines a lot, the kids 'talents' aren't that interesting, and the prizes kind of suck. I don't know whether I feel this way because new game shows that have elevated my expectations, but it was extremely disappointing.

In a weird way, I guess I still love it.

The way you come to love anything that defined a part of your life, if even only for a little while.

So if you asked me to watch it with you, I would without a second thought.

--

Hope you're well.

:)

the beginning of an end

The sun is going down on our time here in Perth.

It's been a great week. The weather's a welcome change and the clarity of the sky is something I will sorely miss. We've had too much sugar, ice cream and alcohol, which is what probably made it such a good time. :)

The family we've been staying with has been wonderful to us, and I can't think of a way to pay them back properly.

But as much as I'm enjoying myself in the land down under, I think it's about time we get going. We're at that perfect point in time between being comfortable here and too clouded to see anything that's severely wrong with it.

This will leave us with a kind of perfect memory of this place.

And that's perfectly fine with me.

Wishing you well.

:)

alex

We were walking through Perth city when we walked past a couple and this happened:

(Note the way I spell things. It's important to the story.)

random woman: -and the pooblic reelayseeons-

me: and the pooblic reelaysions...she's Spanish.

alex: and the pooblic reelaysions and taaacos.

me: Dude. That's so wrong. Plus, they eat those in Mexico. *beat* Well I suppose they DO speak Spanish in Mexico...

alex: Yeah, so I'm not wrong to say that. It's safe to assume that she's from there. TECHNICALLY, I'm not wrong.

me: Yeah, but I bet most people there couldn't afford a holiday to here. Plus, she didn't look Mexican. She looked Spanish.

alex: Yeah.

*beat*

I just don't know what Spanish people eat.

--

Haha.

today, i ate too much food

Which is why I'm going to bed early.

Goodnight.

:)

new norcia

Today, we visited New Norcia; a monastic town about an hour and a bit's drive away.

It's a place of fat cats,

ancient petrol pumps,

pretty skies

and naked trees.

In one word?

Breathtaking.

I had a great time.

Hope y'all are well.

:)

chewy caramel tim tams

are the bomb.

And tonight's company.

--

Today was spent in the city, the block of the newly opened Apple store.

In what seemed to be an endless line of people all waiting for the new iPhone that was released today.

We got in the line at eight.

We got the phones at three.

Only Apple could generate this kind of hype. The line was ridiculously long. It's funny, though. The guys standing behind us in line were complaining a lot (as were we) about the ridiculousness of the wait.

Yet none of us actually were ballsy enough to give it up and get out of the line.

I overheard more than one person postponing meetings/presentations to continue standing in the line.

Yes, that was a very interesting and informative experience.

But unless someone wants to pay me for it, I'm not going to be doing that again anytime soon.

Hope you're all well.

:)

perth: day three

This is going to be another picture post because I'm watching TV and don't really have that much to talk about. :)

This is my day in pictures.

We started it off by visiting the Wildlife Park.

This kangaroo is really comfortable with in his natural habitat, eh?

bunny.

baby goats!

And then continued along the road to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory.

Where we ate as much free chocolate as we could.

That came from these MASSIVE bowls.

We also visited a winery and drank a bunch of different wines and ate yummo cheeses. :)

I'm having a good time.

Hope ya'll are well.

:)

--

Cheryl, here is your mention.

MENTION.

And here's Harold the wombat for good measure:

PERTH

HAI GUYS.

We've got a steady supply of internet now, and I've got a bunch of cool posts lined up.

Problem is, they're all still in my head. SO.

You'll have to be patient for a bit. It won't take too long, I don't think. :)

Oh.

And I had to get rid of the cbox. The spammers found me.

All comments are to be directed to the ACTUAL comment button.

(Sorry Fifa.)

HOPE YOU'RE ALL WELL.

:D

macaroons

Look like this.

Cheryl and I had a full discussion about how we imagined macaroons to look differently than they actually do. And how it ruined the romanticism a bit. So I decided to show you so no one else would have to deal with this horrible universe implosion.

--

We're leaving for Perth tomorrow morning and gonna be staying there for a week. Apparently we don't actually have a confirmed place to stay or any schedule of sorts so it's gonna be quite the adventure.

Because we don't know where we are staying, I cannot say that there will be consistent posts this upcoming week.

I hope there will be.

Because, contrary to popular belief, I find blogging very enjoyable. :)

(Yes, I did make up that popular belief. DON'T JUGDE ME.)

So yeah.

Expect sporadic posts.

That is all I really have to say about today.

Oh. And that my suitcase is muy awesome looking. :)

Goodnight.

Take good care of yourselves.

:)