Random Thoughts On... leggings ≠ pants

I'm not about to deny that I'm a lemming – that would just be plain hypocritical of me. However, I will say that I reject the disturbing fashion of wearing leggings as pants. IMO, this is one of those cases of a lemming movement ballooning up a misplaced idea. 

Before anything else, I'll just clarify that I do like leggings. Really, I do. I can see their positive attributes as warm skin-tight coverings. They go great with boots in the winter and are handy to run in when it becomes too cold to show off one's legs. Wait, rewind to the sentence before last. There it is: leggings = 'skin-tight'. So what does that mean? It means that the silhouette of anything being worn underneath the leggings can be seen very clearly. 

So next, I come to the (disturbing) fashion trend that's sweeping through the world:  

I feel like miniature people should go running around Nicorette-style saying, "No (insert name) no! No (insert name) no! Noooooo (insert name)!". In what way is this flattering? Does every passerby really want to see whether you're wearing briefs, bikinis or a g-string? Do I want to observe how floppy your bottom is? No! A resounding no! Please put on some pants, for my sake and yours. And no, jeggings are not pants. You can still see an outline of just about everything. 

And for those poor, unenlightened souls who find it tasteful to wear extra-extra-tight tights (it's possible), please don't. 'Silhouette' is just a poor euphemism in that case. 

On a side note, the weather's been nice! I've been half-expecting Melbourne to turn freezing cold on me but I've been able to get away wearing short-sleeves with a scarf. Yay! 

(Also, what's with Blogger's new format? I can't seem to keep the text of this post in tandem with the others.)

Hiatus No More

Ah, good lord. It's been almost a year since I've last updated. It's slightly embarrassing how much of an undedicated blogger I am compared to all the regulars. But on the upside, it's allowed me to personally evaluate how much I felt I changed since then. Personal benefit = 1.

One thing I should probably bring to light is my past boy-craziness. It's way too shameful to imagine how incredibly boy-crazy I was last year. To my defense, I did attend an all-girls high school for 6 years. I guess that cringe-worthy 1 year of lasciviousness had to happen. In any case, with that chapter safely behind, I think it's a-okay for me to say that there are times when I do enjoy the entirely platonic company of the opposite sex more than the time spent with my own sex. I can't help but bring to mind the irony of saying such a statement since I seem to remember I ridiculed a certain someone in high school for saying it as well. I'm sorry Y. I'm not sure if you remember telling me that but I now know where you're coming from. It just took me a few years s'all.

So updates! I'm living at a college this year. It's sort of more like a faux-college since it has ties with the Lutheran church but it's a place to eat, sleep and socialise. So close enough. I've made some great friends who, I'm pleased to report, are Asian! Yes! I haven't strayed too far from the PLC days! I have been welcomed back into the Asian fold and I'm there to stay. Actually, living at college really does remind me of home since the building's basically all Asian (Ha, take that all the nasty teachers in year 10. We really can work together successfully!). We've had our run-of-the-mill late-night chats, our Munchkin-playing days and our cheese nights. And to boot, it's not even that noisy.

Adelaide's growing on me. It might just be because I'm situated in the nice part of Adelaide - the northern side. It's full of green lawns and nice foliage. The walk to uni is a pleasant one, even if it is uphill one way. There's even a 24-hour bakery to satisfy any late-night hunger pangs (which doubles as a lucrative munchies spot for all the college revelers). I'm still not a great fan of the opening hours of the shops and the lack of Woolworths and Coles in vital areas. How is it that there's only an IGA and Foodland in North Adelaide? Why are they so over-priced? Gah!

Uni is busy. I don't know how, but I'm already behind in Contracts notes. Fingers-crossed I'll be able to catch up during the holidays. Physiology is great! I'm half in love with the term 1 lecturer. She's American and has a voice that's reminiscent of the narrated science clips on Youtube – so incredibly calm and collected. Biochem is so-so. I'm not too keen on the lectures but the material itself is interesting. How is it that the nerd/dork factor in my Biochem lectures is so high? Tank tops that show one's midriff paired with jeans and sneakers, anyone? Forgive the hypocrisy. Personal style still = 0

Random Thoughts On... Justin Bieber vs. Jesse McCartney

As any Borders lover will know, the third level of Borders Chadstone has comfy armchairs scattered around the place. Now, any lover who has been there recently and has a good geographic sense as to where everything is positioned will remember that there are two particular armchairs near the children and young adults section (adjacent to the escalators). Two days ago at around 2pm you would have found me happily ensconced in one of these armchairs reading a racy Sara Douglass novel. However, my reverie of romantic fantasies was shot when I overheard the following conversation, triggered by the key word, "Twilight",spoken by a squealing tween:

Tween: "MOMMYYY!!! THE TWILIGHT SERIES IS ON SALE FOR ONLY $25.99!!!"

Tween's Mother: "Darling, please try to be quiet."

Tween: "But Mommy! It's the Twilight series and it's on sale!"

Tween's Mother: "Darling, $25.99 is a bit much for one dvd like that."

Tween: "Gosh! It's Twilight! I need to have it!!!"

Tween's Mother: "...No."

Tween: "GRAH!"

(Tween stalks away and I breathe a sigh of relief. The tween's mother continues to read until the next disturbance.)

Tween: "OH MY GOSH. OH MY GOSH. LOOK LOOK MOMMY. IT'S A JUSTIN BIEBER BOOK."

Me: 'Holy Flying Shite. They make stalkerish books about Justin Bieber now. What is this world coming to.'

Tween's Mother: "That's nice darling."

Tween: "Can I have it? Can I have it? Please mommy?"

Tween's Mother: "..."

Tween: "Please? It's a book! I'll be reading!"

Tween's Mother: sigh. "Fine."

Tween: "OH MOMMY I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU. I HAVE A JUSTINE BIEBER BOOK. EVERYONE'S GOING TO LOVE IT. I mean look at it! It even has a poster of Justin Bieber and quizzes..." She proceeds to unfold an A3 poster of Justin Bieber.

I feel that I can safely speak for a large majority of the Y generation when I say that Justin Bieber and Twilight are some of the more disreputable vices of the tween generation. Such things threaten the equilibrium of society and the sanity of every individual over the age of 17. But wait a sec. I suppose it wouldn't be entirely fair to cut in at this point in time and say, "When I was your age, I was never like that". Surely we must also have some sort of shortcoming that accompanied our growth pains.

So on we go to the timeline of our lives.

Perhaps the closest thing we had to Justin Bieber was Jesse McCartney. To be honest, I wasn't on that bandwagon but then again, I was the dork back in those late primary school-early high school days. And just as a refresher, here's some eye candy (if you can call it that):

But hey, at least he wasn't a pre-pubescent kid who had yet to go through the puberty blues. What you saw was what you got. Instead, you have Justin Bieber who has yet to go through the throes of puberty unscathed:

Yes tweens, that cute baby fat is likely to melt away. Sorry darlings.

And perhaps our equivalent to the Twilight series was the Saddle Club or even Harry Potter. I don't think it takes any genius to find the big differences between these series. Twilight has a sequined Edward Cullen, a constantly breathy Bella and a baby destined to be soul mate of an overly-muscular werewolf (lolita anyone?). Instead, Harry Potter has a serpentine Lord Voldemort, wands and broomsticks. The Saddle Club had horses, saddles, girls interested in horses and benign bitchiness. Yes, I might be biased but come on! Harry Potter and Saddle Club win in being healthy G-rated fads for kids who aren't yet teenagers. Furthermore, in our day, headlines like, "Girls ask me to bite them on the neck -Robert Pattinson" or "Young fan asks Twilight star Robert Pattinson to 'Bite Me'" never made the news. All we had was, "Thousands line up to see 'Wizarding World'".

It is quite worrisome to think that these tweens will grow up and enter into society as adults. There is no way in telling what their EQ will be like but rest assured, at least the more grounded Gen Y will be there to take all the managerial positions and rule the world with a grip as strong as Hagrid's.

Random Thoughts On... boyholism

One of the things that makes me wish I went to Melb Uni (mind you, I haven't checked out Monash's campus) is the availability of on-campus food. The many eateries on the Melb Uni campus wow-ed me because not only did it satisfy me gastronomically but also economically. I could spend less than $7 for a decent lunch! Instead, if I wandered to Adelaide Uni's Mayo, I could purchase a 'large' serving of either pasta or a curry (which, I should note, has made me frequent the second floor of the Law Building quite often) for $7.20. So like any (lazy) Uni student who didn't bring a packed lunch , I trundle over to Rundle St. (yes, I hope you noticed that sneaky usage of rhyme) for a comparatively expensive lunch fare.

It was on one of these food-foraging expeditions that I happened to be crossing North Terrace, the street that separates Adelaide Uni to the rest of the city. As a healthy girl, fresh from the gender-homogenous confines of an all-girls high school, I kept my eyes peeled for eye candy. Lo and behold! I wasn't disappointed. Coming towards me was a handsome guy with brunette hair fluffed in the cool winter wind. As my eyes appreciatively (but efficiently) violated this blissfully ignorant boy, I realised something that made my face look somewhat like this:

(thanks to Marshall Vandruff, whoever you may be)

I'm a boyholic.

I'm addicted to ravishing the silhouettes and selves of the various specimens of the opposite sex. You can be assured that if a member of the opposing gender were talking to me, in the first three seconds of the conversation I would have assessed

a) his legs

b) his nose

c) presence of body hair

d) height

e) everything else

I blame my habit on the lost years of high school when I should have exercised raging hormones to their fullest extent. But no matter, those years will never come again and I still possess this grave affliction.

The good news is that I have found a rather successful solution. Said solution comes in the form of being immersed in my Biology and Chemistry classes. In a week, I would have almost 9 hours of contact with Zelda-talking, ponytailed and scrawny guys. Because of them, my aesthetic appreciation of the other half of our race has dwindled and now, most males may be safe from my once avaricious and rapacious gaze.

(Please note, not all Science male students fit the aforementioned stereotype. In fact, there are quite a few blonde and Ralph Lauren model-esque guys in my lectures of whom, I should note, are not safe from my oggling)

And then they all lived happily ever after.

(or so they think)

Landmark: End Of Term 1

Two posts ago, my attitude towards Adelaide may have been one that was slightly condescending. After five weeks of uni and about a week of holidays, I'm proud to say that I have a reformed opinion of the place.

Adelaide's freaking awesome.

Writing that statement's a bit like waking up from a night of drunken revelries and telling someone you had an "awesome night" without ever elaborating on the sordid details. So I'll fill you in on all the stories that range from average to juicy to ignominious that finally led to the epic conclusion of Adelaide being a truly cool place.

Story #1: How I Came To Make Adelaidian Friends

As I mentioned in a previous post, I attended the debating dinner for AUDS members. It was there that I met my present friends: A., C.M., H. and J. During that dinner, I only talked to H. and C.M. H and I bonded over our stalker-ish activity of drooling over any attractive Law boys, of which there were many. Later on, I was introduced to E., the psychology student who is a vegan and also a closet Anime/Manga fan. After trading favourite Animes titles, E. showed A. (who was a not so closet fan of Anime/Manga after exclaiming loudly in the packed food court, "I LOVE ANIME TOO!") and me the secret store of everything to do with Anime and Manga that is conveniently located in a discrete location right next to Millers and EB Games. So really, the only ones who'll ever see us entering said store will be fellow fans and grandmas. A. has a tendency to bring randoms to lunch and one random was P. (of whom some of you may already know through my frequent exclamations) and A.P., who is nice but so annoying. Also, Y. the third year med student comes to lunch with S. who is gay and extremely attractive.

Story #2: The Night Of Solidification (Solidification of what?!)

One particular Saturday night, we went to dinner at a pub in North Adelaide. The dinner itself wasn't that interesting except for various faux pas on my behalf. Some of them include me saying, "I'm coming! I'm coming!" while vigorously chewing on a piece of steak so as to answer a question. Y. choked on his Lemon and Lime Bitters. The drinking session that occurred after the dinner was when things became eyebrow-raising. For instance, A.P. threw up and urged us at the top of his voice to "CALL THE AMBULANCE!" and "PHONE MY MUMMY. SHE'S A DOCTOR." Apparently, A.P. has no recollection of the night but we all now know that he's a mommy's boy. Also of interest was this rather peculiar photo that was taken while playing Kings. Have fun guessing who it is:

(In the background is H. who is in her pajamas)

It turns out that this was the night that friendships were solidified (as well as relationships considering how Y. and A. are now going out) whilst mopping up chicken breast puke. For the record, I am now in love with Pine-O-Clean and I swear by its hospital-grade antiseptic qualities.

Story #3: The Law library And Embarrassing Moments

While in the law library, I happened to sit across from an attractive older year student. I believe he was a halfie who was in possession of manly shoulders that filled out his polo magnificently. His hair was tussled carelessly like that of a Ralph Lauren model. His white teeth flashed periodically as he muttered a few sentences as he wrote them. Alas! My contemplations of his Adonis-like beauty would not last as my stomach grumbled audibly. His light brown eyes looked up and met mine and a look of puzzlement flitted across his features. My mind was blank and I dimly thought, "what if he thinks it was but a bout of flatulence?". And so I quickly reassured him that "it wasn't a fart! It was my stomach grumbling!"

FML. I hope I never see him again.

Story #4: At Bradford With A.

A. and I actually live at Bradford, a hostel, together. She's on the 1st floor and I'm on the 6th. Since there's an elevator, we frequently visit each other. On one particular occasion, A. found it necessary to visit me in order to use my laptop. However, I had no knowledge of her intention that day. Before she came to visit, I had stripped down to the underwear because for some strange stroke of logic, I decided that hanging around nearly naked was a more sensible decision than turning on the air-con. Thank you Adelaide weather. You befuddled my brain. In any case, A. knocked at the door, and wanting to not show off my taste in lingerie I scrambled to find an appropriate t-shirt and shorts. Lots of banging of closet doors occurred as I called out, "Err... Just hang on a minute. I'll be right there!". Having opened the door at last, I found A. collapsed on the floor shaking with laughter wheezing, "You don't need to hide your porn from me, KL! I'll find them anyway soon enough!".

Please note, I don't stash any porn of any form anywhere. That includes computers.

Conclusion

So after that display you may think that I'm having a great time in Adelaide. You'd be right, I am. But heck, I'll be sentimental and say that time and time again I can't help but think of all of you. I sometimes wonder what you'd be like when you're drunk. Or whether you'd like what I had for lunch. Or maybe, if you'd have another Dress Up As KL Day again. High school friends have an advantage over uni friends. There's almost six years worth of history right there with all the puberty dramas sandwiched in for good measure. 5 weeks with a bunch of uni kids doesn't replace those PLC days. Even if one of those uni kids is pretty attractive. ;)

Random Thoughts On... clothing and delusions

I have to admit that one of the aspects of uni that I'm hating at 7:20 in the morning is not the morning classes, as one might expect, but the matter of clothing. In my sleepy state this morning, I pondered as to why I couldn't go to uni in my bath towel. No worries though, I woke up from my stupor. Although the thought of wearing just a simple towel to uni really does appeal to me. Besides the impracticality of the arrangement (i.e. said towel falling down and causing scene) the whole thing about wearing just one simple garment without the hassle of wearing clean, okay-looking clothes is just awesome. Just what happened to those days of wearing leaves and bear skins?

Don't these people look positively happy in their garb?

Coming back to the main topic, wearing clothes is a bother. Especially since most of the girls in my lectures seem to look really... fresh and good-looking? WHAT'S WITH THAT. Especially the law girls with their Gucci bags and gladiator sandals! It's like they want to make me look like a slob.

In any case, I like uni, I guess. I'm going to attempt to make friends tomorrow night at the debating dinner. Hopefully, fingers crossed, the future boyfriend will be there. He'll be sparkling under the soft tones of the lights with his splendid blonde hair carelessly ruffled and arms lightly tanned from playing sport. There he shall smile softly at me and we shall talk the night away, until he will offer to drive me home. Woot. Just had a thought, it's going to be pitch black when I get back. Maybe I should get a taxi home or something, if Mr. Boyfriend happens to have a cold/broke his leg and makes a no-show tomorrow night. Hmm. Something to ponder surely tonight.

Random Thoughts On... Adelaide

So after being in Adelaide for 6 full days, I thought it was high time to blog about the place. The following are pictures of the room:

(the room at an angle, and boy does it look kinda messy)

(the bed with ever faithful Elmo sleeping peacefully under the sleeping bag)

(and finally, last night's concoction that has a strange and uncanny resemblance to puke in a bowl. yum)

I would include pictures of the bathroom, but it scares me. Especially at night. The black toilet seat gives me the shivers. So in fact, I've taken to using the downstairs disabled bathroom which has a white toilet seat and is clean. I sense a trend appearing here. I seem to have a special connection with disabled toilets. Actually, when you think about it really closely, A LOT of people have connections with the disabled toilets. (*wink wink* hahaha. I know you got that reference.)

On the topic of toilets and bathrooms, sharing amenities with another person is an awkward business. For example, I have found myself in rather awkward situations where I have wanted to do my "stuff" whilst knowing the interconnecting door is not entirely soundproof. The solution? Loud music. I still don't know whether it works but it gives a heck of a lot of reassurance. Then again, I'm not sure whether she appreciates Lacrimosa blasting out in its full glory at 7:15 in the morning. Probably not.

I guess the inevitable question that might crop up is: How's Adelaide? What's it like compared to Melbourne?

I shall endeavour to answer both questions with simple comparisons:

Melbourne has trams with multiple tram lines.

Adelaide has trams with one tram line.

Melbourne has trams that either smell like sweat, BO or nothing.

Adelaide has trams that smell like poo.

Melbourne has China Town.

Adelaide has China Street.

Melbourne has Melbourne Cup.

Adelaide has Adelaide Cup.

You get the point. Adelaide's pretty much a mini-Melbourne. Although, bagging it as I did, I didn't give it fair justice. Adelaide does in fact have its perks.

For instance, the other day I wandered into China Street and saw an awesome sign that immediately made my stop in my tracks: "Any servings for only $6.50". That's right. It was, self-served servings of asian things, ONLY FOR $6.50. That meant, limitless amounts of fatty spring rolls, chow mein etc. FOR ONLY $6.50. Sorry Melbourne, Adelaide just wins out in terms of gastronomic needs. Good work Adelaide.

Just as a 'btw', I think I should add that my puke-in-a-bowl concoction was dangerous stuff. For the past two days that I've been consuming it, it's given me lots of trouble down under. I have now used the law building, the Barr Smith Library, the Napier Building and numerous other locations' restrooms. Actually, while using the Napier Building's restrooms, the lights turned off for some reason. It scared the bejeebus out of me and I started to worry since I couldn't find the flush button. However, the block mobile's awesome yellow light helped immensely.

I have a feeling it was the egg. Just my sneaky suspicion.

Look out for more updates coming your way. Ooh. I think I'll be coming from the 6th to the 8th! :D