Sizzing Vaccination

There's something scary about a medical center that I can't quite put my finger on. It seems every time I'm there a bad memory is created.

First I'd only go because I'm feeling under the weather, so that in itself is an unfavorable start. Contrast that to going on a shopping trip... no prize for guessing which I'd prefer... or anyone would prefer for that matter. My childhood memory only fuels the unpleasant feelings. Mum said I was in the hospital a lot when I was young; from the NICU to having a very high fever that mum was by my bedside for 3 days straight, the wires and heart monitor thing that made me miss out multiple sports classes, needles, stitches, motorbike accident, and of course, Dr Wang from Chinese herbal medicine center who magnified the pain from a sprained neck and wrapped funny herbs on a sore thumb. Looking back now God's grace is evident in so many stages, only by His grace I am still alive today.

Now days I hardly get sick. In fact, I don't even remember the last time I had a cold, although I did sprain my neck during Christmas, went to the ER for severe tummy ache a few months back and cough from time to time because of a bronchitis 6yrs ago. OK, so maybe I'm not bullet proof, that's probably why mum booked a vaccination appointment for me 2 days ago.

As usual, my brother and I were mucking around in the doctor's office while mum and dad chatted to him. We were measuring our heights, weights and playing the "do you know your organs" game (courtesy of the huge poster on doc's wall). Then he sent the nurse to give us our vaccinations. Mum and dad were as relaxed as if they were having a dim sum lunch, Stevo had to wait till next week due to a small fever. I was all smiles, took my seat, rolled up my sleeve but as soon as the nurse took off the cap off the needle, I chickened out. I absolutely refused to let her come near me, wriggled around in my chair and covered my arm with my hand. The nurse was least sympathetic and instructed boldly for me not to move or she'd miss and I'd suffer... I was in tears and she comforted me not, how unprofessional? (LOL it was my fault acutally :P) In the end challenged by Stevo's smart comments, I had to let go. "Just like a bee sting" I self-hypnotized, "AWWWWWWW" and screamed ever so loudly when it WAS NOT LIKE A BEE STING!!!

Seeing the cotton wool being sticky taped to the needle puncture was great relief, finding out I had 3 more shots was not. I urged mum to quickly make payment and left without making a formal booking, "YES!" I thought, Julia 1 : Medical Center 0... : Julia's health 0. THAT'S IT, I'll ring up next week to make appointment for next week's next week, that'll provide 2 weeks of self denial, i mean prep.

For dinner, we had Sizzlers. The buffet hype is still well and alive. Dad wasn't impressed, he likes his food from a hot wok and has little love for cold salads and tiramisu. Mum tried to eat heaps but felt the same as dad, I was happy with lots of ice cream drowning in strawberry topping =)

The night ended with a full stomach and sore arm... t'was all good!

Wii-ll go a Vroom Vroom... "Here we GO!"

My last entry mentioned briefly about Mario Kart Arcade (see above) which resides in Timezone alone, much to my disappointment. I remember the first time Yorks told Rowas & I about how it takes photos of the players and then let them battle it out on the racing course I was intrigued. "What awesome idea" I thought, "too bad we don't have them in Perth". Well, you can imagine how excited I was finding them in Freo on Saturday night. When Caleb, Adrian, Terry and Stevo (in that winning order) challenged it and threw banana peels and turtle shells at each other, I watched with great enthusiasm. I remember back in the ancient N64 days then a long pause to the NDS MK version where Stevo beats me in every race by taking short cuts, the game has been forgettable... until TODAY!

Today the Suns decided to hit city for a bit of shopping and lunch after finding out that Myer's having a sale on a couple of games. We purchased 6 wii games and 9 xbox 360 games from Myers (rather cheaply) then Stevo went to JBHifi to get Vegas2 and Condemned2. There, I saw Mario Karts for Wii and all my childhood memories came flooding back (good and bad ones both). True, MK for Wii has been announced long ago and true, MK has been advertised for pre-orders for a while now but only today, I came out of my shell :)


So there you have it, on Thursday I'll be officially reunited with Princess Peach for a little catch up session :) I was suggesting to Stvo that we should have a MK and Scene It? battle over butter popcorns! The next game that I'm looking forward to is Wii Fit!! O it's on like Donkey Kong :)

April is the fourth month of the year and also the month that Julia went broke. There appears to be a few April babies and a wedding too. April babies (that I know of) include myself, Juanita, Merilyn, Darrell and Terry. Yesterday we went to celebrate Merilyn & Terry's bday.

For our beloved Merilyn, Regens + Vicks (y180 rep) headed nice and early to Bluewater Grill for some hot buffet Breakfast. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we have been given a nice "room" with open access to the alfresco dining area complete with awesome view of the hill + river. The food was nice and fresh, although having lamb chops for brekky was a little weird!

After brekky Rowas and I decided to crash Y180 + CYPG's outing which was just around the corner from where we were. As soon as we got there seeing how busy they were playing their games plus we weren't in our gaming clothes (ie in heels + boots + skirts), we opted for a light stroll around the river banks then hit Garbo with a force!

At Garbo we met up with Shirls and gave her unhelpful advises on 2 jackets, bought a pressie, "tried" to bargain hunt, walked around some more then decided to call it an afternoon! Both of us were rather tired from the big breakfast and had to reserve energy at night for Terry's bday dinner at Freo.

Dinner time came around pretty fast so Stvo & I drove down to "Cappuccino Strip" where we've arranged to meet outside Timezone at 6pm. As I wasn't too familiar with Freo's parking system, we headed off with time to spare and after a few confusions in the car not able to find "cappuccino strip" in the street directory, Stvo called CJ just to be laughed at by them. Well, apparently, Cappuccino Strip = South Tce. DO'H!

Terry the birthday boy was fashionably very late. The Chengs, Truc and Suns stood in harsh cold wind waiting for the unknown. But thank God, He provided an opportunity for Truc & AJ to talk to the "mushroom man" (toy) vendors. Truc gave them the This was Your Life track and bought a white little mushroom man for Terry as his pressie! The vendor tried to upsale by tempting Truc with the old "u-buy-a-couple-i-give-u-good-price" trick of the trade, our smart little Truc stood her ground, gave a million dollar smile, and thanks but no thanks. It was a pleasant little interlude to the evening's main event... or was it the other way around!

For dinner we had Italian. Food was alright, maybe cos I've never really been that passionate about pizzas or pastas. The only one place that I really liked was Sienna's on Beaufort Street, their pastas are soo yummy! Afterwards we went to the Merchant cafe to continue fellowship, Stvo and Vicks bought out a choccy mini cheesecake thing with a candle and we sang Terry the happy birthday song.

Since we started with Timezone, we finished with Timezone. There, we saw the much hyped about Mario Karts (courtesy of Yorkie). Rowas & I challenged the motocycle racing game and it was really fun! Nicole lost to the sneaky skill tester and I won 170+ tickets with just $1! My parking ticket had expired 2 hours ago and thankfully I didin't get a fine. Stvo & I got home and chatted in my room till pretty late and the night was complete!

The week that was...

The week that was... was very busy. 2 assignments, 1 exam, a couple of outings left no time to blog. So after Monday's exam, I was more than happy to be heading off to Seoul BBQ Buffet for my belated b'day dinner. I must say, the place was nice, food was yummy and I overate once again. There were heaps of food to choose from and on the table we have the choice of BBQ hot plate or steamboat. Since my dad is Korean, we eat Korean food ALL THE TIME so for me to praise a restaurant, it's definitely worth a check out for those willing to try.

The best would have to be bbqing the massive prawns! They reminded me of back in Taiwan how we used to bbq 'em!! The fish was nice too so were the squids (not the octopuses). Finishing the night with a cup of black tea and some ice-cream, i was barely in walking condition! That night I couldn't sleep well cos of indigestions but no regrets, I had a really good time!!!

the small 2-4

Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to Juliaaa, Happy birthday to meeee!

Yupp, no prize for guessing that it is my birthday... actually, it was, on Saturday the 5th. This year my parents had wanted to treat my friends & I for a nice dinner with lobbies & crabbies but since David & Maryann chose 5th April to be their wedding date (nice choice by the way, best date of the year!), mum took me shopping instead. I also found out that Juanita is 4 days younger than me so we figured that next year for our 25th we should do a combined celebration :)

Saturday began with good old Maccas brekky at 7:50am (cancelled y180 SSS due to the rain). We had a nice time of fellowship over golden hash browns and coffees when suddenly Fred & Jon delivered a pink cupcake in front of me and everyone sang the happy birthday song. I was totally embarrassed but felt very loved! Thanks guys!!!

1pm was the wedding ceremony, I was 5 minutes late but 40 minutes earlier than the bride!! When Maryann walked down the aisle with her mummy, it was such a beautiful moment. Maryann looked absolutely stunning and David couldn't wipe off his massive grin!

After the ceremony a few of us headed over to the Merchant cafe and Formosa before arriving at the Dinner reception @ Jade Dynasty. The night was going fine until I got "jellyfish poisoned". I'm still feeling gluggy today hence the crappy blog entry... I blame the chef!