Subiaco sunday

Today, we were late for church, as usual. Mom woke Jedi and I up at 9am, as usual, even though church starts at 9.30am, and she knows Jedi absolutely HAS to take a shower before leaving the house. She claimed she let us sleep longer out of love, but I told her it didn't really make sense, because then she would be nagging at us to hurry up and we'd be annoyed anyway.

So obviously we got there after 10am. It's kind of embarrassing walking into the auditorium late every Sunday, because we're usually at least 30 minutes late.

Speaking of church, the one we attend here in Perth is called FCC - Faith Community Church - led by Pastor Benny Ho, who's absolutely hilarious. The first time I stepped into the church auditorium, I experienced total deja vu. It was like Singapore's FCBC - Faith Community Baptist Church - in every way!
From the singers on stage to the contemporary band to the asian congregation to the style of preaching to the people waving flags along the aisles. Definitely won't be feeling homesick here.

Guest pastor Edmund Chen talked about missions and being available to God. I particularly liked what he said about claiming your faith for yourself.

"Just because you're born in a Christian home doesn't make you a Christian, similarly, just because you're born in a garage doesn't make you a car."

We went to Subiaco again, because we didn't get to explore the area the last time. But this time we only had 2 hours before we had to pick up Jere from the airport, so we didn't get to do much either. So we went to the Subiaco market, a bustling place filled with cheap groceries, quaint stores and delicious food.

(The guy on the right is probably wondering why I'm taking a photo of him. This kind of made me wonder - how many times have I unknowingly been captured in strangers' photos - a nameless face in the background?)

Now that I am surrounded by pizza 24/7, I have become somewhat of an expert at identifying stale pizza. And those slices of pizza definitely look like they have been left on the shelf for at least 3 days.
Other than that, I liked this shop's creative naming techniques - the snail-looking Escargot pastry on the right looked yummy. Although the cheese and vegemite one sounded a little suspicious.

I absolutely adore the apartments near Subiaco Square - they're gorgeous and conveniently located near everything! Wonder how much it costs to rent one (not that I'm thinking of staying here long-term).

And this is Jedi, my brother/grocery carrier. Mom calls him 'Hercules' because he carried all ten bags of groceries without a word of complain. I've decided I like having strong men around when going grocery shopping.
He's also growing out his hair because apparently he wants to cut it a certain style (I think he secretly wants to be Justin Bieber) and streak it grey or something. We try to persuade him out of it everyday, but I guess we all go through crazy hair phases.

And this is our loot from the most adorable little organic shop called 'Angry Almonds.' I loved it. There were all these huge bags filled to the brim with all kinds of wonders - chocolate nuts, gummies, nuts, sunflower seeds, cereals, beans, rice crackers... even turkish delights.

Yummy Japanese snacks. I love how the brown one on the right looks like a cracked egg. And why do the green and orange ones have a tiny rectangle of seaweed on them? Can people even taste it??

Sour cream and chives soy chips. Dee-lish.

I could really use a wish right now

I love this new song by B.o.B., in collaboration with Hayley Williams from Paramore – Airplanes. 

It’s catchy and I like part of the lyrics where it says:

Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars,
I could really use a wish right now.

It just made me think about where I’m at in life… and I could definitely use a wish right now. I would wish to be somewhere with all my close friends doing what I love (i.e. New York City). I don’t know why, but lately I’ve been missing NYC a lot, and thinking about all the fun times I had there last year. It’s probably because my life is boring right now and it’s summer, so this time last year I was having the time of my life. I know if I ever get to go back there it will be different, because I won’t have the same set of friends and do the same kind of stuff, but I just wish I were someplace, any place that is not like a second Singapore.

Because sometimes I really do feel like I’m still in Singapore, minus the excruciatingly hot weather, because everywhere I turn, there are Singaporeans here. It’s like everyone has escaped here, either to run from the difficult education system or from national service. 

Although Singapore is probably 1000x more happening than this place (which is probably the secret evil plan of all the parents – hide their kids away in the middle of nowhere so they have no choice but to focus on studies – great idea, if you were a parent; not so great, if you were the kid).

Anyway, speaking of B.o.B., he’s some new black singer/rapper whose single ‘Nothin’ on you’ I really adore. 

The first time I heard it, I didn’t pay much attention to the lyrics. But then one day I realized what he was actually saying:

Beautiful girls all over the world, I could be chasing but my time would be wasting. They got nothin' on you baby, nothing on you baby.
They might say hi and I might say hey, but you shouldn't worry about what they say
‘cause they got nothin' on you.

I think, in a way, it’s kind of sweet, how he’s saying that even though there are all these beautiful girls in the world, they can’t compete with his girl, and so he won’t waste his time with them. A little idealistic, especially since guys have the most fickle minds in the world, but cute idea anyway.

Also, speaking of Paramore, their song ‘The Only Exception’ is phenomenal! I absolutely love rock bands that produce acoustic songs. The fact that they can go from screaming and yelling to actually singing in a normal tone always amazes me. It’s so rare that whenever it happens, I melt in wonder, and the song becomes my obsession for a few days.

This is Hayley Williams, the lead singer. I think she's breathtakingly gorgeous - the fact that she can have bright red hair, and not look like some fire engine gone wrong, is amazing in itself. I mean, how many people can carry off this look and still look elegant and not like some crazy punk??? She's kind of young too, I think she's 16 or something, and her voice is spectacular. Jealous.

Comfort foods

Food and I share a special bond.

 The type of food I consume has a direct impact on my happiness and satisfaction in life. It's awful, how I depend so much on food to keep me fulfilled, but I can't help it. I wish food and I had a different kind of relationship, maybe one where I eat to live instead of live to eat. 

I don't know why, but when I'm happy, I celebrate with food; when I'm down and out, I gorge on food to lift my spirits; when I'm angry or frustrated, I stuff my face with food to calm myself down; when I'm bored, I shove food down my throat just so my hands have something to do.

It's a problem, but hey - one life, live it, right?

Everyone has their own comfort foods that make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and that's what I love about food - it has the uncanny ability to spark off wonderful emotions in me. So... since food has such tremendous significance in my life, naturally I have a list of comfort foods I love and wish to share with the world (or, more likely, with all of the 5 people who actually read my blog).

My Top 10 Favorite Comfort Foods 

1. Chocolate chip cookies

Who doesn't love a freshly baked, warm, chewy, chocolate-chip-filled cookie?? Not me! You can never go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie for a mood boost. In fact, you can never go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie for any occasion.

2. Dark chocolate 

Anything chocolate makes me happy, especially dark chocolate, and especially during a certain time of the month. Dark chocolate with macadamia nuts, dark chocolate with hazelnuts, dark chocolate with caramel filling, dark chocolate with raisins, dark chocolate with praline filling, dark chocolate covered biscuits... you get the point.

3. Brownies

I mean it when I say that chocolate = the love of my life. 
Therefore, piping hot, moist, undercooked, chocolatey brownies = pure happiness.

4. Peanut butter

Peanuts, I abhor. Peanut butter, on the other hand, I adore. There's just something about its creamy, salty taste that makes my stomach smile. And it's especially good with bananas - for a semi-healthy dessert.

5. Boston cream pie

It's not the most popular dessert in the world - in fact, I'd never heard of it before I went to the States - but it's definitely one of the best. A layer of custard sandwiched between cake and frosted with chocolate? Yum. They served this on the dessert table in the cafeteria from time to time at Taylor, and every single time I savored it was better than the last.

6. Carrot cake

This is actually pretty healthy in comparison, and yet absolutely delectable. I've loved carrot cake ever since I was young, even without the cream cheese frosting, which is, quite literally, the icing on the cake.

7. Oreo cheesecake

Any kind of cheesecake is welcome to my stomach, but oreo cheesecake is one of the top contenders. Or chocolate cheesecake, because you can never go wrong with chocolate. Actually, any kind of cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory is the absolute best, no questions asked. They should open branches of the restaurant around the world; I tried their chocolate caramel cheesecake for the first time in Hawaii, and it was perfect, just like everyone said it was.

8. Mint chocolate chip ice cream

I know everyone loves either chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but I love mint chocolate chip ice cream. Especially the mint chocolate chip ice cream blanketed in fudge and peanut butter and sprinkled generously with chocolate grahams from Ivanhoes in Upland, Indiana. It's one of the things I'll sure miss about that deserted place (besides my college friends).

9. Macaroni and cheese

Another food I learned to embrace during my time in the States. Granted, the school cafeteria usually served up mac 'n cheese that was a little more rubbery than it should be, but it still comforted my stomach. Nothing is better than a steaming hot plate of mac 'n cheese during a chilly winter day. Except maybe a bowl of chilli covered with sour cream and cheese. Yum.

10. Sweet potato fries

These bad boys are ridiculously amazing. Once you've tried them, you can never go back to regular fries. I love potatoes in general - mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fries - but sweet potatoes, sliced up and fried, take the experience of eating fries to a whole new level. Top them up with some cinnamon, and you'll never look at fries the same way.

Just thinking and writing about all these finger-licking foods makes my mouth water. 

But it's almost 10pm. Resist the urge, resist!

Burn wounds

Burn wounds on my sad muffins, which are hard as rocks now. Even Jedi refuses to go near them. That says a lot, coming from the boy who once licked ice cream off the ground because he didn't want to waste one bit of it.

Burn wound on my arm - one of the various scars scattered around my hands and arms. It doesn't look like much, but it hurt like hell when my arm grazed the scorching lights glaring down on the pizzas. I had to 'ice' it for an hour with rotating cans of Solo (Australia's version of lemonade) so the numbness would overwhelm the pain.

Hopefully the scars go away, because Jedi showed me his battle wounds (they look like he just got them yesterday) and told me he got them months ago.

Stuck in a job you can't get out of

Today we worked from 10am to 9pm, and it was pretty hectic around breakfast time, lunch time, and dinner time. I liked being busy, but not so much the working-for-11-hours-straight part. That... was kind of long.

And as I looked around the food court, I realized I see the exact same faces every single day. The two asian females working at the Chinese stir fry store, the asian guy and girl manning the Japanese sushi place, the indian guys working at the Indian food store, the middle eastern-looking guy taking orders at his kebab place... Some workers are pretty young, probably around my age, give or take a few years. So I'm assuming they're working as much as they can during their school holidays to earn money to pay off school loans and stuff. That's fine, we've all done temporary jobs to get by and make ends meet for the time being.

But then I looked at the older workers, and I wondered how long they've been working there and how they got to this point in their lives. Granted, most of them are probably the store owners or something, but then there's also the cleaning ladies, who are such sweethearts, and other cashiers in huge department stores like Kmart or Woolworths. 

And so I thought, how did they end up working at this kind of dead-end job? I mean, I'm pretty sure no kid grows up thinking, hey, I want to be a cleaner one day, or maybe even a food court worker or a cashier.

I guess for most of them it's probably circumstances in their lives that led them here. Maybe they started working here right out of high school or college, and somehow never made it out to find other jobs. Maybe they settled into a pattern of familiarity and comfort after a while and just didn't feel like taking the risk to do something else. Or maybe they're here because the awful economy affected their previous company badly and they're desperate to do anything that can put food on the table for their families.

Whatever the case, I just felt rather bad for them. I'm sure they had dreams and aspirations once upon a time, and they probably held high hopes for their future... only to have it turn out like this. I wonder if they just gave up on their ambitions because it was the easy way out, or if they were pressured into it, or if they just forget about it gradually. Are they truly content with life as it is? If given the chance to turn back time and change things, I wonder if any of them would do things differently.

Life just happens, I guess. 
But it's kind of a scary thought, because no matter how much I appreciate them and respect them for finding pride and joy in their job, I really really really hope to God this doesn't happen to me. I think life is too short to settle for second best, or even fifth best.

Well, like a friend of mine once told me when I was in LA:

"Shit happens. That's the way life is. You just gotta deal with it and move on."

Movies, sequels, and... threequels?

Some movies should be left alone, because their sequels and those that follow after just do not live up to the original film's greatness. Case in point: Bring It On. The first movie was great in its time - funny, original, and interesting - but the follow-ups don't make the cut at all.

There's Bring it on - Again, Bring it on - All or nothing, Bring it on - In it to win it, Bring it on - Fight to the finish... It's like a never ending stream of mediocre wannabes, all featuring the same plot, just different actors. I'm not unashamed to admit that I own probably 3/4 of the above movies, but hey, they make pretty good background noise when working on class assignments.

I really don't know why Hayden Panettiere agreed to do the movie. Watching her dance and cheer was a bit awkward, but I guess that's why the film pretty much went straight to DVD.

There's also the Shrek movies, all four of them, which progressively get worse. I don't know why they didn't stop at magic number 3.

 

I remember being pleasantly entertained by the first one, with its unexpected hero, somewhat disappointed with the second one, with the annoying Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother, completely umimpressed with the third one, so much so that I don't even remember what it was about... And the latest one totally lost my attention about 15 minutes into the movie.

More honorable mentions include Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde (which just about killed the legacy of the first one). But I still love Reese Witherspoon. She's gorgeous and absolutely talented.

Despite these failures, great movie sequels do exist. Like the Toy Story trilogy, the amazing X-Men trilogy (which opened my eyes to the sensational world of X-Men comics), and Spiderman 1 & 2 (the third one is excluded because it was downright awful).

I also liked Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights, and I actually thought it was better than the first one. Maybe it was because I saw the second one first and the first one probably appealed more to the generation before me. Or maybe it was because the lead guy, Diego Luna, looks like this.

I mean, who wouldn't want to watch a movie starring him??

Anyway, all this was inspired by my viewing of Twilight: Eclipse today. I read all four Twilight books a while ago, so I didn't remember a thing about the third book, but I was super duper excited about the latest movie. It just brought back awesome memories of last year, when I saw the entire cast at the Twilight: New Moon premiere in LA. Good times.

The movie was actually pretty good. An improvement from the second one, which was an improvement from the first one. Plus I totally think Bella is stupid to go for the cold, soulless vampire when she has the hot (in every sense of the word) werewolf right in front of her. So I was glad to see Jacob finally getting some action, even though I know the ending isn't great for him.

*spoilers ahead*
The fourth book was a total disappointment, what with its weird half-vampy baby, Jacob's pedophile behavior, and the horribly anti-climactic Volturi retreat, but... I'm excited to see how this much-anticipated series will end on the big screen.

And on another movie-related note, since I have all this free time now, I recently watched:

• Hot Rod
  Another one of those idiotic comedies my brothers love. It was mildly entertaining, seeing this grown man acting like a kid, attempting all those stunts, failing miserably, and still thinking he's all that.

• When in Rome
  I thought the premise was kind of cute, but those stereotypical guys who chased after her were kind of predictable and boring. It could've been better.

• The Other Boleyn Girl
  This was, hands down, the MOST fascinating movie I've seen in a while. Sometimes I get distracted while watching a movie, and I go on facebook or chat with friends or do something on the side... But during this movie, I was completely captivated. It was just absolutely compelling. The storyline, the acting, everything was brilliant. Great story about ambition, greed, innocence, temptation... all set in ancient times. I was so caught up in the entire thing that I even googled the story after the movie ended, and I found out it was loosely based on a true story. What can I say, I'm a sucker for true stories.

• Leap Year
  Remember how I just said I usually get distracted while watching movies? Well, I was totally distracted when watching this. It wasn't very interesting at all. Very predictable and monotonous. I already forgot most of it, and I literally just watched it.

• Remember Me
  Okay, so, I'm not a huge fan of R.Pat, so I was a little reluctant to watch this. But I'd heard good things about it, so I decided to put aside my prejudice and take a chance. And although R.Pat was his usual Twilight self, all mysterious and brooding, the storyline was actually rather riveting. And the ending just blew me away. I literally had goosebumps on my skin.

• Kick Ass
  This was another one of my brother's favorite, i.e., stupid movie. Violent, horrific, and downright dumb. I don't know who produces these movies, really.

People watching escapades

Human nature is so fascinating. I love observing strangers and watching them interact with others. Sometimes when I’m bored at Sarpino’s I look at the people in the food court and make up life stories for them, like where they came from, how their childhood was, what career they're in, what they're thinking about... the possibilities are endless.

Also, it’s funny and mildly entertaining to see how different customers behave differently when they stop by Sarpino’s.

• Some of them are on a mission – they know exactly what kind of pizza they want, whether they want to eat it there or take it away, and they sometimes even have the exact change to pay – so they take and go, no questions asked.

• Some of them – I call them the ‘flightys’ – are so fickle that they have to scrutinize every single pizza and its ingredients before picking one out. These people also usually choose the piece of pizza they want, which is normally the one that looks freshest/biggest (so they get more bang for their buck). They can be incredibly polite and friendly – some of them make jokes about their indecisiveness – or they can be taking all the time in the world to discuss their eating plans with whoever they are with, leaving me to stare at the pizzas, the lights, the cash register… anything to avoid eye contact with them for fear of, god forbid, scaring them away by pressuring them with my stare.
  
  I like to predict what these people will choose; it's interesting, watching them stare at the pizzas as if the pizzas themselves will call out to them to help them in their decision-making. You can practically see the wheels turning in their minds as they go from one pizza to the next, and back to the first one.

• Some of them (the more rude or annoying ones,) will walk past, stare for a second, ignore my ‘hi’ and glower in response to my friendly smile, and then walk away as if the pizza has offended them in another life.

• Some of them (the rare ones), are extremely skittish, and will jump nervously and scamper away the moment I open my mouth. It’s as if they think I will devour them if they dare to ask me a question about the pizzas.

• Some of them (also rather rare) are Muslims, and they will walk up to the store in a determined manner and ask me 1001 questions about our halal meat – where it’s from, what it’s made of, and demand to see certification so they can be assured it is truly halal, and not (gasp) pork.

Yeah... that's how I spend my time.

Funny inventions

I saw pictures of these Japanese inventions online, and I could not stop laughing for the life of me.

A toilet paper hat thingy?? I wonder if anyone really used that.

But this is my fave: The baby-outfit-floor-cleaner. The innocent look on that little baby's face is just priceless. It's like he's wondering why on earth his parents want him to crawl all over the floor. Haha.

What I wouldn't give for a voice like this

Brooke Fraser.

Absolutely adore her voice. It's incredible, it's amazing, and I wish to God I could sing like her. If I had a voice like hers, I would be singing every second of every day. And my life would be somewhat like a Disney musical :)

A friend introduced me to this song a while ago - Shadowfeet - and I really love the lyrics. That's what I like about her; she doesn't just sing wonderfully, her songs are actually meaningful and inspiring.

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
Every fear and accusation under my feet
when time and space are through
I'll be found in you 

I like that she branched out from Hillsong and did her own thing, although I think she's a little underrated. I don't know why more people haven't heard of her. Every time I listen to songs like 'Desert Song' and 'Lord of Lords' and 'Lead me to the Cross,' I can't help but feel God tugging at my heart strings.

Spirit now living
And dwelling within me
Keep my eyes fixed
Ever on Jesus' face
Let not the things of this world
Ever sway me
I'll run 'til I finish the race

Easier said than done... but I'm trying.

Sunday escapades

I love Sundays. 

Because...
1. It's a day off from work.
2. I get to explore Perth and discover all it has to offer

And so I found out not all of Perth looks like this...

The first Sunday it was just mom and me at church, and afterwards we got lost in the city (even with the help of a GPS).
But we ended up a quaint little area in the city called Subiaco, explored the markets, and then went to Harbortown, an outlet mall. We tried some Japanese ramen, which was really salty and just overall bad. And I got a pair of black heeled boots :)

The second Sunday it was still mom and me, and this time the legendary Pastor Benny Ho preached; he was pretty funny. Afterwards we went to the Fremantle markets and had Japanese ramen again, this time it was delicious. We also tried a spinach-mushroom-tomato-cheese crepe - BEST tasting crepe I have ever had! It marked the start of mom's obsession with making crepes and perfecting them. We've been having crepes a lot for breakfast - with nutella, chocolate, bananas, even tuna.

This Sunday all of us went to church, brother and cousins included. We had a picnic lunch at a lake with mom's cell group afterwards. Hamburgers, hot dogs, satay, subway sandwiches, homemade sandwiches, carbonara, bee hoon, pasta, fruit salad... It was a feast.
And the lake was so pretty; it was filled with adorable little ducks and the sky was so blue it looked like it was photoshopped.

We went to the movies later and watched Toy Story 3! It was excellent, just like every other Disney/Pixar movie.

Seriously, I have yet to find any horribly bad movie by Pixar or Disney. Films like Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and Up were pretty much awesome. Except maybe Wall-E, which was a tad too boring for me, with its lack of dialogue in the first half. Although... even though everyone else said they cried, I didn't. I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the part where I was supposed to cry, but it never came. The last part was a little nostalgic, but not really terribly sad. Overall, a great movie though.

During the ride back, a huge truck packed to the brim with sheep passed us by. I was very much amused, for some reason. Those poor little squashed sheep.

And then... home sweet home.

Food makes the world go round

Some people say 'money makes the world go round,' I say that's false. Because food definitely triumphs money in the area of connecting people and building relationships. Think about it. When was the last time you shared a bonding moment with someone? It was probably over a cup of coffee, a bowl of noodles, a plate of pasta, a mug of hot chocolate... You get the point.

All that to say... I am learning more about food now than ever. Everyday I discover something new about cooking via the amazing TV show - Masterchef Australia! It's incredible the way they make cooking look so fun and interesting.

So I tried my hand at cooking. I helped my mom make dinner sometimes... And now I have graduated from simply washing the dishes to washing the veggies to chopping them up to stir frying them to making my own chapati (Indian pancakes) from chapati flour and water and other stuff! It tasted good too. I was proud of my achievements. It's actually kind of exciting, making dinner every night.

Plus we get to have different types of food for dinner; so far we've had chapati and minced beef, curry vegetables and rice, Japanese ramen noodle soup, turkey porridge, stir fried vegetables and rice, baked chicken and lettuce... 
And last night someone brought over red bean soup with orange peel. It was especially good to have that in this cold-as-ice, uninsulated house.

Having homemade food is definitely an improvement from all that American junk food I've been consuming over the past 4 years. Just thinking about pasta or burgers or fries or macaroni and cheese makes me pale.

So the fact that Sarpino's is located right by Sumo Sushi is total cause for rejoicing. Now I can have all the tuna/chicken teriyaki sushi I want, anytime I want! (There's a Chinese buffet-style place too, but the food looks like it's awfully greasy and loaded with salt, just the way Americans love it, so naturally I avoid it like it's the plague).
I love that the soy sauce from the sushi place comes in a little fish-shaped packet :)

Sometimes we get sushi or bubble tea for free too, because my mom has made friends with all the other asian stall-owners in the food court (of course). It's like our very own little asian food community. The plus is that we get free food occasionally, because we all exchange stuff at the end of the day - a good way to get rid of leftovers.

I'm sure they're as sick of sushi/chinese stir fry as we are of pizza and pasta. Everyday, the aroma of freshly baked pizza wafts into my nostrils, and I feel like it haunts me even after work. You can just call me a walking, talking, breathing pizza, because I smell like oil and grease; my pores are probably clogged with pizza oil too. Not cool.

But I still get a kick out of making pizzas and selling them. As long as I'm busy doing something, I'm not complaining.  
So I found something new to do when I'm bored at work - BAKE!

Baking is so much fun, and yet so hard. It's so easy to get things wrong, especially when you don't know how to change the temperature on the oven! Today I baked chocolate chocolate chip muffins and berry cheesecake muffins in the oven at a whopping 220 degrees celsius. They were burnt on the outside and undercooked on the inside. Stupid oven. But they still tasted alright... just didn't look so appetizing.
And the other day I baked chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal nut cookies... Same thing happened. Looked awful but tasted not-so-bad.

I have resolved to slowly improve my baking skills. I will be baking up a storm in the days to come!

To end with a quote - as a wise friend of mine (named Cartoon) once said, while grabbing all the candy she could, "I love food!"
I couldn't agree more.

Pizza-making Adventures

It's been... what... 2 weeks since I first came to Perth? I think so. Not sure though. It's hard to tell because the days just pass by ridiculously quickly and it's becoming rather monotonous.

This is what I do everyday:

Wake up at the break of dawn (okay, 9am).
Go to the pizzeria.
Start making pizzas.
Sell pizzas.
Make more pizzas.
Sell more pizzas.
Make even more pizzas.
Sell even more pizzas.
Clean up.
Go home.
Help make dinner.
Wash up.
Shower.
Go online/watch a movie/watch TV.
Bug my brother. Persuade him to use face mask to remove pimples.
Sleep.

And repeat cycle the next day.

Unless I go to the office, in which case it will be:

Wake up at the break of dawn.
Go to the office.
Surf the net.
Do some data entry/filing.
Eat lunch.
Pretend to work/look busy typing on the computer.
Watch a movie while doing more data entry/accounting.
Go home.
Help make dinner.
Wash up.
Shower.
Go online/watch a movie/watch TV.
Bug my brother. Persuade him to use face mask to remove pimples. 
Sleep.

Relaxing? Boring? Happening?

Well, at least today was exciting. We worked from 9am to 9pm because Thursdays are the only days malls in Perth open late (I have no idea why they don't do it on Fridays), and so people kept coming all day to buy pizzas. Which was much appreciated, because being busy is definitely preferable to sitting down all day bored out of my mind (like on Mondays or Tuesdays, when no one apparently is in the mood to eat pizzas).

So minus the burn wounds I got from accidentally touching the blistering hot pizza pans, and my poor, throbbing sore feet, I'd say today was a good day.  
And I thank God for that.