Greetings, 2009!
31 December 2008, 10:58 pm. 11 Comments. Filed under Holiday, Miscellaneous, Work.
New Zealand is coming up to a whole new year in 10 minutes! (Ignore the time of the blog, it's actually 11:58pm) Then all you others will follow up because we lead the world. 
I have to give a BIG Thank You to my Santa Crystal for my awfully sweet (albeit embarrassing) gift, dubbed "The Rilla Book". I love it and I'm definitely doing Secret Santa 2009 again! This design was my Secret Santa gift to Emma if you're curious. I spent quite a lot of time into it too! 
Oh. Fireworks outside. New years. HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! *sigh* Work tomorrow morning. *throws another fit*
And another Merry Christmas
25 December 2008, 11:47 am. 14 Comments. Filed under Holiday, Web-related, Work.
I never expected taking up two jobs in the Christmas period to be this tiring! I've been working eight days straight but I finally got a break on Christmas day! Because of that I had some trouble getting the Snark Secret Santa present done on time but I got it in yay.
Trip to Asia
Sorry for the immense lack of updates! Right after my last post I took a great 18-day trip to Taiwan and Japan for seeing friends and relatives and maple sight-seeing in Japan.
It was terribly tiring touring with a tour group in Japan (waking up at 6am and getting back to the hotel at 10pm), and I ate like a pig in Taiwan for the love of cheap and godly foods. It was also crazy how the Taiwanese Winter was hotter than our New Zealand Summer. I walked around with sleeveless clothing in Taiwan and people looked at me like I was mad. No, they were the mental ones wearing scarves and huge coats under such heat!
New MacBook
My lovely new baby. With the low New Zealand Dollar, New Zealand was probably the cheapest place in the world to get the new unibody MacBook. But I bought it in Taiwan during the Info Expo because they had slight discounts and some 'deals'. I also spent a fortune to get it upgraded to 4GB RAM. However much I spent on it, I feel like every dollar was worth it; fast, pretty and awesome new trackpad 'moves'. I don't have a lot of Christmas presents (only two or so because most friends are overseas), but this is the best Christmas present I gave to myself.
Yes I now have my stubbornly PC-loving friends jealous. 
End of 2008
I've had a year of mad up's and down's, and I'm ready to take on a new year of challenge—I think. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. 
The Phantom of the Opera
18 November 2008, 10:29 pm. 18 Comments. Filed under Holiday.
Made of WIN.
The $120 NZD ($65 USD) was so bloody worth the live stage show a few metres away from me. If you thought the 2004 movie was amazing (as I did), this was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G with capital letters.
I was sitting in the middle-middle of the theatre, and almost the entire time the chandelier was hanging right above my head. And for those who don't know the story of this musical, the chandelier falls and crashes to the middle of the theatre. But W-O-W at the music and stage effects.
I came home, sat down at the computer, and am replaying the musical soundtracks and singing along to it. I remembered the entire script and the lyrics since years ago. I'm obsessed. I'm definitely going again when it comes to Auckland again in ten years' time.
What a great treat to myself to celebrate end of 2008 exams. If the show visits your way, make sure you throw in your money, and for the premium seats too. It's going to Perth after leaving Auckland at the end of the month. Again, made of WIN.
