A made up friend called faith

SuperJesus!
We saw a series of Jesus sculptures, this being one of them,
at Darling Harbour during World Youth Day.
Below is the description for the sculpture.

I am my father's daughter, and I believe that there is absolutely nothing I cannot solve as long as I put my mind to it.

That was before I came to Sydney.

What I have learnt here so far about perseverance:

- that people won't hire you for a stupid part-time job even though you've got years of professional, but unrelated, work experience
- that I am slow in the brain and no amount of reading can help me catch up in class
- that there are a lot of academic snobs and I would like pour acid on their smug faces. Ops, sorry. That has nothing to do with perseverance

Maybe I'm as small town as I think I am, and this going to uni to prove that I am not a small town girl business has just proven otherwise.

This is one of the rare times when I really hope I am wrong.

God, where is all that wisdom I prayed for all those years ago? It'd really come in handy right now.


P/S Just read my earlier blog posts from three years ago. DAMN was I an emo bitch. Prolly going to read back on this three years from now and say the same thing about these posts too. Whiny whiny whiny boo hoo. :P

Job snob

Went for the interview today, what a disappointment.

They're not looking for outlet sales reps, or over the phone sales reps, but door-to-door sales reps.

As in, "Hello mam, how are you, would you be interested in - *door slammed in face*"

I thought to myself, as I sat there in that group interview and the guy was showing us slides about how much we could earn if we managed to sell (a bit MLM if you asked me), would I be a snob if I turned this one down?

Beggars can't be choosers right? I shouldn't be picky about jobs when I'm so poor I think a KFC meal (which costs 10AUD here, but only RM10 for the same in Malaysia) is a bit of a luxury. Seriously.

So instead doing what I really wanted to do: get up from my chair, walk over to him, shake his hand and say "Thank you, but this is not for me", I answered the "why did you apply for this job" question with a lie:

"Because I love dealing with people and would love to learn how to do it properly."

Two loves in one sentence is way too many, if you asked me.

He probably knew it too, because I didn't get a callback.

Thank goodness for that.

On being

A project by the people at Washington Post, On Being uploads videos (all quite short) of everyday people like you and me, talking about everyday you and me things.

New videos are uploaded every Wednesday to let you in on what that sad looking woman or that man smiling creepily to himself on the street is thinking about.

Makes me feel not so alone in my weird little head.

Whinging works

Apparently.

Got a call while I was still in bed this morning from Foxtel about a sales representative job I applied for yesterday afternoon.

Have set an appointment to do an interview with them this Friday in Burwood, and because I am poor, spent most of the morning looking up Sydney's train and bus site to find the cheapest way to get there.

By train 15 minutes, by bus an hour. Train it is.

Then spent another hour or so reading sales rep interview tips.

Now I have been to a total of... four? interviews my entire life, and have aced all of them. But doing sales is something I'm horribly ill-equipped for.

I hate sales reps (vultures, all of them!), and I don't see why they don't hate me (fussy customer).

But anyhow, must think up appropriate lies to tell when asked if I am good at dealing with people as I am quite impatient most of the time. Maybe I can tell them that I want to learn that in the 'why have you applied?' bit.

Also, must remember not to be too friendly and start telling crude jokes or say something rude, like how I told my IELTS examiner that I didn't give a rat's ass about something - to which he giggled. Thank goodness for British humour.

Must sort out what to wear, but since I don't have a lot of clothes with me - 20kg didn't allow me to bring much, and I can't afford to go shopping yet, I guess that wouldn't take too long.

Poverty is such a drag. But here's hoping to getting the job (and that it's in the CBD and not in Burwood).

Keep your toes crossed for me kiddos.

(Looked for a picture of crossed toes in google images to put here but they were all disgusting. Mission abandoned.)

Unemployment sucks

This has been a reoccurring scenario for the past weeks.

I'm at home doing my work or watching some show while Moobs is at school.

The phone rings. I look at the caller. It's Moobs. Disappointment.

Getting hired for a part-time job has been quite a pain lately. I've submitted dozens of resumes online and have also scanned shop windows for "casuals wanted" postings.

My funds are running out quick, and it's not on food or any luxury item. I spend maybe a total of 20 bucks a week on groceries and the occasional bus ride (I walk as long as it isn't dark yet). Rent is the killer although it's only at 235 bucks per fortnight.

By my calculations, I won't have cash to make rent in approximately a month and a half's time.

Now people have told me that I am being silly to panic, that this is plenty of time and considering how friendly I am (and how friendly I look), getting hired shouldn't be a problem.

And to be honest, I didn't think it would be either. I speak multiple languages and have professional work experience. I don't look like a hobo (when I go out in any case) and I'm not timid so serving people would not be a problem.

I've not been picky about jobs either. Nothing to low for me to do. I've applied for work as customer service, retail assistant, waitstaff, cleaner, dog walker, data entry, receptionist. Anything that offers casual hours.

So why aren't the calls coming?

This is getting seriously demoralising.

--------------------

Edit:

So moments after I put up this post, I got a call from this talent company looking for extras, a job I applied for weeks ago.

So there I was, all eager and relieved that I don't have to eat garbage and sleep in the park. Moobs and I even joked about how I would be his sugar mommy and buy him all the toys he wanted when I became famous (quite unlikely, but one can fantasize).

When the email with the application form the lady promised came, I thought, hey, this is for real. I am gonna get a job. Whinging on the net does help. There is a God.

But what is it? One of those "upon successful application you will need to pay this fee to get a professional photo thingy done".

DRATDRATDRATDRATDRATFUCKDRAT.

People who scam desperate people like me should just go die.

My thoughts on: Law and Freedom of Speech

A scholarly essay I read said laws (i.e. Defamation Act) are used to limit freedom of speech, so that racist slurs etc do not occur in our marketplace of ideas, as defined by John Stuart Mills.

I think that the laws do not limit our freedom of speech, but instead, holds us accountable for what we say in public space.

This, I feel, is a far better interpretation as it means that while we are allowed to say whatever we want, those who are inclined to make derogatory remarks would be rightfully put in their place by the community from which they inherited that freedom from.

This is of course assuming that these people don't think that they are racially superior too.

Seriously?

Moobs: Have I lost weight since I got here?
Me: Yeah, a little bit I think. Maybe your face isn't getting thinner cause you've got aggressive genes.
Moobs and I: HAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHA


A rounder face 'means men are more aggressive'
Telegraph UK
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor


Men with round faces tend to be more aggressive, a study of sportsmen has shown.

The male sex hormone testosterone makes faces more circular and now scientists have studied whether this characteristic is also linked to behaviour.

A Canadian team studied 90 ice hockey players and found the rounder the face, the more aggressive the players.

For male varsity and professional hockey players, the facial ratio was linked in a statistically significant way with the number of penalty minutes per game, report Justin Carre and Prof Cheryl McCormick of Brock University, Ontario.

The penalties were incurred by players for violent acts including slashing, elbowing, checking from behind, fighting and so on.

However, there was not a link between facial shape and aggression in women.

"The facial structure of a man provides an indication of how aggressive he will be in a competitive situation," says Prof McCormick.

"Therefore, we are able to predict, with some accuracy, the behaviour of men on the basis of their facial features.

Here's the full story.

Haven't they got anything better to do, like, finding a cure for cancer?

It's confirmed.

I love this place!

For now anyway. Don't know if I will love it less when money runs out and I fail to get a job and I get expelled from uni and... yeah. But for now, everything is lovely :)

Little girl enjoying her ride on the merry-go-round at Darling Harbour.

Possum at Hyde Park which we fed bread to.

Have been busy vegetating (weather very conducive for this), walking (because public transport costs a bomb) everywhere and trying to cope with angmoh university education, which is forcing me to think more than I am accustomed to.

And because it's difficult to tell you about how awesome (and freakin' cold) this place is, I will just show you.

First of all, University of Sydney.

It's a humongobongo campus this one. Has like four museums, numerous libraries (a few on campus, and several others spread over Sydney) all within this Victorian-esque campus.

The uni spreads over several suburbs (I'm in Camperdown), and is really like a little town on its own (there's a travel agent, chemist, doctor, cafeterias, clothing stores and a bar on campus).

This is only one of the buildings.

It takes me ages to get anywhere in uni, which makes me really thankful that my classes are pretty spread out (one on Tues, another on Weds, and two on Thurs).

Classes - so far so good, although I am having panic attacks now and then and in my dreams that I will flunk and do terribly in class. They are so angmoh and I am just so... Chinese girl from Malaysia :P

Main Quadrangle

Have gone out and about to Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, the Botanical Gardens (which I love) as well as seen the Opera House which is impressive and all but the Fish Market (near Pyrmont)... oh, man, makes me wanna stay here permanently (and people who know me know that migrating to another country is a big no no for me).

There's like fresh everything here - sashimi, oysters, lobsters. So cheap too (even after conversion)!

Food - God's gift to mankind!

At the back are oysters baked with bacon, which we had and was totally yum.

The oyster shelling man shells over 1,000 oysters each day.

My 'in heaven' face.

We had cheese baked lobster, bacon baked oysters, raw Sydney Rocks oysters and lots of raw salmon and kingfish.

So many other things I wanted to try but was so bloated already :(

Moobs finishing up the last piece of salmon.

After the trip to the Fish Market, Moobs and I invited ourselves over to LC's place nearby.

LC making us scones.

LC I swear those were the most perfectest scones we've ever had. You must teach me your craft.

Alternatively, I could invite myself over again and you can make me more!

:D

Tak malu (not shy), hehe.