Finally getting there! :D

"So you must've done heaps of field work" - what's your interpretation of this? I think she's actually a lil impressed with me.. ;) So it really made my day so much that i need to blog about it and share my joy! ;) Cuz this actually came from viv (the "princess") i mentioned in an earlier post! All my perseverance has finally paid off. The last few days it has been getting really busy in the early afternoon till night, and i've been lazy to blog cuz it's troublesome to upload pics too. They must think i'm crazy, to jump at every chance to do work haha.. Okie gotta go for dinner~ ^^

"Crocodile distracter"

"Which of you wants to be the crocodile distracter while we are diving?". That was the question viv posed as a matter of factly to Miin & I. Ouch again. I don't know why she is still so mean to us, even though i have tried my best to be helpful and friendly. To the extent that i sometimes hate myself for allowin her to ridicule me and treat us like maids :( Miin & I have helped them wash their huge tanks today. I offered to do the dishes. We're the minahs and she's just the princess. To think that she had the cheek to ask to join me for my daily jog, after saying such horrible things to me!

Ha you might be scratchin your heads in wonder-what crocodile distracter? Well apparently a croc was spotted while they were out diving today, so they got chased outta the water by the police. But being ever so full of herself & willful, she insisted on going into the water hours later. So she expected us, the freeloaders/nuisances to take on the croc to save her precious life.

Sorry if i really sound like i'm ranting like a super duper sarcastic mad person, but I just need an outlet to release.. What constructive work have i done here so far? Nothin much, except for talking to Andy, and getting good advice from him. I'm upset that i have come all the way here, spent so much time and money, just to 受气. It's the end of the day, and everyone's gone to sleep. So the minah can now finally do her own things in peace, not having to fear stepping on anyone's toes :( Thankfully for the sound of the soothing waves outside (we are next to the beach).

Back to things that cheered me up a lil, OMG i saw a handful of baby (?) rock wallabies today, bouncing on the rock bunds, just by the sea!! They were like so tiny, about 30cm tall only! SO SUPER CUTE but i did not have my camera with me! :s Will go back again tomorrow. Apparently there are koalas here too. Hee sorry i forgot to introduce, I have finally come to Maggie (aka Magnetic Island) today...

Unwanted? A nuisance? :(

So sad i feel like crying! Miin (the newbie Malaysian PhD student i'm following around) and i were supposed to go to Magnetic Island today to start setting up her tank experiments. Just as we were loading our stuff onto the vehicle, one of the other PhD students says she doesn't want us around today. Said she wants to just have time alone with the other gal. Are we (or just me) really such a nuisance? :( :( I know those gals must be stressed by their own work, but still.. Miin is new and needs help and guidance. I can totally understand it from Miin's point of view cuz this is like deja vu of my own coral spawning work earlier this year, and i was left totally helpless and frustrated! :( Well at least Miin is strong. Ha why am i the one crying when she should be the one to be really upset...

Wallaby in my backyard!

Finally settled down in the hostel here in JCU, after the crazy series of plane rides. Between dozing off and transferring planes, at some point i kinda lost track of where i was! But it's been really good and i feel so pampered - can you imagine Andrew Baird (aka Andy), the "boss", personally fetching me from the airport, bringing me back to the airport later to pick up my luggage cuz it got delayed (hehe at least it's my luggage that lost it's way amidst all the transfers, and not blur ol' me)! ="= Goodness gracious me, i don't know what to say! He's really very friendly too =) *blessed me*
HAHA and guess what i got a pleasant surprise when i was shown to my hostel room - there was a wallaby hopping around!! :D Heehee, it was munching on the grass while i was munching on my banana :p Apparently they are common around here! Check out his super muscular arms too..

AND there were many really lovely birds flying around! Only managed to catch a picture of this pair of kookaburas though. Hehe anyone find this bird familiar? Think it is in one of the camping songs we used to sing in secondary school! Esp the guides/scouts, think you will find it familiar ;) Aren't they just adorable!

By the way, to all the people who complain about food at NUS, you really should stop complaining. The food's great, compared to here! I mean, I've never complained about the food at Science faculty (in fact i quite like it), so can you imagine, if i say the food here is terrible?! :p If not for the fact that i was starvin, i don't think i coulda had my dinner tonight haha. Plus i swallowed my food most of the time. Hee to think i didn't really believe my friend when she said the food was bad (she said she lost 4kg in 8mths here). Well, she's used to yummy Malaysian hawker food! :p

Finally conquered it

A dream come true. After years of dreaming since the beginning of my 'trekking career', I've finally gone up Mt Kinabalu in Sabah! :D After a long trekking hiatus, to boot. If i remember correctly, one of the last treks was to Gunung Tahan in Peninsular Malaysia back in 2005:

A great big thanks to YK for organizing this trip. Some 'mishaps' along the the way, but in retrospect, that made the trip even more interesting ;p Was therefore also another trial for me, a test of my patience. Well at least I did not lose my temper outright hehe, so that's a good start? :p Kudos to the 3 incredibly patient guys and PY! Thanks so much *muacks*
Unfortunately there is no complete group shot on the summit, and this is the most complete shot we have of the group near the summit :p

In the process of lookin for the Tahan pics, guess what i found? This picture of my trek mates to Mt Ophir in 2004! Recognise anybody in there? Hehe it seems some of them have not aged at all! ;D

Hmm now the wanderlust in me is wondering what's next on the cards.. Kilimanjaro? Mt Fuji? Trekking in Nepal? Anyone interested? ;)

First entry!

Hello everyone, I am back with a blog again! Hehe for some strange reason I suddenly had the urge to start a blog while lying in bed last night, so here I am :p Will be a bit different from my previous blog, cuz that was dedicated entirely to my stay in Okinawa. Hopefully, my insignificant existence on Earth will have some interesting stories, so stay tuned! ;)

Hehe first things..I kinda struggled with naming the blog. Initially wanted "kancheongspider.blogspot.com" but the link was already taken! Sad thing is it's not even an active blog! :( Then i toyed with mariney versions of it like "kancheongnudi", but suddenly remembered I'm supposed to be a Tough Cookie right. And again, "toughcookie.blogspot.com" was taken, by another inactive blogger!!! *growl* This time i was a bit more persistent with havin "Tough Cookie", so here it is, Tough Cookie Rambles! :p