i feel a need to apologize to all those asking if i'm back or not etc. i AM back. since tuesday morning 1 a.m. to be exact. but since i do not have internet connection at home and i haven't been travelling with my laptop to wireless hotspots lately... you know how it is.

there's a great story about my flight back which i'll talk about in a bit. then on friday my cousins from malaysia came over. they're only leaving tomorrow so the past long weekend has been spent with them visiting sentosa, adam road, island creamery, all sorts. and tomorrow its back to soccer training which i do miss a whole lot. so yes, back to normal. and how can i forget, results tomorrow. i've gotten past and am now resigned to my fate, whatever it may be. i refuse to leave my life in the hands of 5 alphabets every end of semester- quite the boring life.

10 days away from home was great- lessons learnt, such. and i realized just how close i've became to the nehneh, not just in terms of physical presence but for just that reassurance that if i screw up or go wrong he's there to help me out, sort things out and make it all seem better and have a good laugh together while at it.

expectedly, i miss melbourne. not all the time but at random moments; like when i entered Giant @ IMM today i longed for Big W at the basement of QV Square with the Brunby's Bakery in front and Safeway right across. the giant durians and watermelons and the pretty clothes and cheap dvds at Big W... man i love that place.

i also miss their "summer". yesyes, i grew to enjoy the slight cold. BUT only when its slight. it was nice. i sweat less.

pictures? here's some. i don't want to risk uploading it all and losing it since i'm relying on a certain "mr. azhar's" wireless connection. like i said, thief. with wrinkles, cuz apparently i got wrinkly eyes. EGAD.

















great ocean road was GORGEOUS.






















that's the 12 apostles behind me. i know its just stacked limestone but its still rather breathtaking.


















fiza all nice and bundled up, warm and cozy in... summer. -_- the dumb part is you can only see the bright sunny- ness reflected in my shades but you can't see the wind (unless you look at my hair!! its blown away!!), the COLD COLD wind freezing my ears off.


















have i mentioned the shopping was DAMN good? and the weather allowed me to wear hats and not feel stupid. but MAN the shopping. this was bridge road, which provided much therapy relief. i am OFF shopping for the next 10... days. heh heh.


















the boy who made it all nice and lovely in melbourne. :) welcome back, mate.

















in the forthcoming story you will read about how i met these 2 boys- one's Deki from China, but he's been in Melb for 10 years and visited Singapore for a few days. and the other's Ben, half Aussie and half Indian, backpacking Asia till 15th Jan. nice boys, made my flight so much more bearable.

"The last day in melbourne was sweet. Last- minute purchases, tram ride to bus terminal with diz and sab, then goodbye to sab, bus ride to the airport with diz, long queue to check- in, checked in, made the luggage allowance with my 2 big bags and hafiz’s puma bag, fillet o’ fish at Macs, sit and chat in front of passport control, then in I go. Passport control, walk to Gate 11, sit and read my last Melbourne news, wait till the queue was shorter before going in.

And then.

Entered the plane, walked towards my seat. I didn’t get a window seat but at least it wasn’t the middle aisle seats. Saw my seat, saw a guy sitting at the window seat and thought of asking for a swap but changed my mind, in struggle to keep luggage in overhead cabin guy by window seat says hi. His friend next to him, or at least what I thought was his friend, had dreadlocks. Random point to note but yes. Kept my luggage, sat down. Dreadlock boy was between me and ‘hi’ guy. Read my paper while waiting for take- off. ‘hi’ guy asks to borrow it later for horoscopes. Said okay, and passed it to him. Talked a little while waiting for take- off, ‘hi’ guy was Deki, china dude living in Aussie for 10 years, Ben was half- aussie half- Indian, living in geelong, near bell’s beach. Talked and talked and talked. Played games on the monitor together. We all suck at Trivia. I suck at Tetris. Deki’s good at that one. I aced scramble- dash. Ben won Trivia. And then it was dinner- chicken curry! And orange bread butter pudding! Traded my roast beef appetizer with Deki’s pudding. Lovely.

Hardly slept in the flight, played lotsa games, talked a lot, laughed a lot, and when the lights did go out for a bit I napped for a while, but then it was snacks time, and I got a peach. Swapped numbers and emails, and I’m now supposed to set up a MySpace account. Haha.

But the fun didn’t stop there.

Upon arrival was long wait for my 3 checked in luggage, and they were convinced I am a shopaholic. Mum fetched me at the airport with her friend, who drove a van. Ben was gonna take a shuttle to town for $7, but it was all booked out. He was gonna stay at Hang Out @ Mt. Emily’s, near Little India before his flight out to Bangkok on Wednesday. Deki’s hotel was booked under his friend’s name, who was arriving at 5 p.m. from China, so he was accommodation- less from 1 a.m. till 5 p.m. Ben got a cab- but they wanted $47. so long story short- mum’s friend dropped Ben off, and Deki slept over at the guest room at my place. Uhuh.

So more yammering in the van, snapped a picture together, dropped ben off, Deki came to my place, I unpacked, mum got her stuff and her chocolates, and walla.

I’m home."

so yes, the entire trip from beginning to end, was LOVELY and its been great to be home too. at least it will be, till the holidays end. hah. blog more soon, hopefully.

so HO HO HO and a Merry Christmas to all!